Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Express opposes ‘burka-style’ hospital gowns

Posted on by Bob Pitt

express hospitalsThe Express reports on plans to offer “burka-style” gowns to Muslim women hospital patients:

“Last night Conservative MP Philip Davies, who has campaigned against political correctness, said the dress would stir up resentment on wards because patients would believe others were getting special treatment…. ‘It is another example of political correctness because it is the sort of thing that has been brought in because the words “faith” and “race” have been mentioned. The average patient on a ward will look at this and be resentful because they will say to themselves: “This has been brought in because it is a Muslim request”. They themselves may have other requests, like more visiting hours, more flexible meal times or a brighter lamp for their bedside table, but they know they’ve got less chance of achieving this. A burka-style hospital gown is only high on the priority list because of the politically correct world we live in.’ … The burka is the latest move to stir debate on priorities in the hard-pressed NHS.”

Of course, the garment in question has nothing in common with a burka, but the term is presumably chosen because it has associations with Afghanistan and the Taliban.

Daily Express, 5 August 2006

The bigger cultural picture

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Soumayya Ghannoushi“Is there anything inherently wrong in placing multiculturalism under the spotlight to critically examine it and assess its ills and virtues? The obvious answer is no. The problem is not with the question itself, but with its context, assumptions and terms.

“The current debate about multiculturalism takes place in the wrong context: terrorism. Like the non-heroes in Kafka’s tragic plots, who find themselves embroiled in situations in which they had no hand, multiculturalism has been dragged into the discussion of terrorism. It does not belong there.

“Those who have forced the subject into discussion start with a false diagnosis of the problem of terrorism. For example, that the problem is not political, but cultural. That policies and strategies are blameless. That culture and religion are culpable.

“The conclusion of this ostrich-like analysis is that the cultural pit must be drained if we are to get rid of the troublesome mosquitoes. Cultural diversity is at fault. It has allowed Muslims to continue behaving like Muslims.

“The now ubiquitous question about multiculturalism is, in reality, a question about Islam and Muslims. For ‘Has multiculturalism failed?’ read: ‘what is to be done about Muslims?’. The ‘multiculturalism problem’ is, in other words, a euphemism for ‘the Muslim problem’.”

Soumaya Ghannoushi at the Guardian’s Comment is Free, 5 September 2006

Media stereotyping in the ‘Molly Campbell’ case

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Misbah and fatherMolly’s case holds lessons for us all

By Sarfraz Manzoor

Guardian, 4 September 2006

When the news first broke that a 13 year old girl called Molly Campbell – also known as Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana – had been “abducted” by her Pakistani father and taken to Lahore the media appeared certain what kind of story this was: a vulnerable Asian girl is plucked from her Scottish home and forced into an arranged marriage.

The Independent quoted Molly’s grandmother claiming the schoolgirl had been taken to Pakistan and forced to marry a 25 year old man. Meanwhile, in the Times, Mary Ann Sieghart was bemoaning how “even the Outer Hebrides failed to provide sanctuary for Molly Campbell against a father determined to take her off to Pakistan”. Fellow columnist Camilla Cavendish waded in, noting that Molly’s “abduction” raises “fundamental issues of equality that cannot be swept under the carpet to protect ‘cultural sensitivities’.”

Cavendish was right that the alleged abduction raised fundamental issues, but wrong about everything else. On Friday afternoon Molly appeared on television with her father to announce she had left Scotland of her own free will and that she wanted to stay in Pakistan because she wanted to remain with her father. When the reporters continued referring to her as Molly she told them: “My name isn’t Molly, it’s Misbah.”

What I find particularly powerful about the case of Molly/Misbah is that it illustrates the dangers of racial profiling as practised by some of the media. No sooner had the story emerged than the news editors were preparing special reports on abductions and child brides, and the white middle-class columnists were busy revealing their lack of insight.

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‘Winning the War on Terror’ – fascists offer their advice

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The British National Party responds to the deaths of British soldiers in Afghanistan:

“If we are to bring about a victory in the War on Terror, then we must do so the British way. Uncuff the hands of the soldiers, and ensure that no lawyer in this country, can bring about any charges of any kind against any soldier for his/her actions in a foreign land…. We can win this war, and in doing so, put the fear of God into those British born, hate filled Muslims, that the only recourse for them, is to repatriate themselves back to their country of origin. Continual appeasement of the Muslim ‘community’ in Britain, by this treacherous New Labour regime, is the biggest crime of treason this country has ever seen. Whilst our boys are dying in a remote, inhospitable land, our politicians and senior policemen seek to ’embrace’ the Muslim community, rather than to fight it. ”

BNP news article, 4 September 2006

US Muslims see a growing media bias

Posted on by Bob Pitt

On a typical workday, Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations talks to a dozen or so print and broadcast reporters.

“The vast majority does a pretty good job and they need to be congratulated,” he said.

It’s another story when Hooper watches cable TV commentators, listens to talk radio or surfs hundreds of anti-Islamic Web sites. “The level of anti-Muslim rhetoric is growing in quantum leaps since 9/11,” he said.

Hooper and other experts addressed “Islamaphobia” in the media during a panel discussion Sunday at the Islamic Society of North America’s annual convention at the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center in Rosemont.

Web sites are especially virulent, Hooper said. Consider these comments recently posted on the blog of Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades).

• “If I happen to wax hateful and angry from time to time when it comes to the subject of Islam, that is the fault of Islam and its thriving terrorist establishment. . . . It is good to hate your enemies: We are going to have to kill them.”

• “Islam is not only a cult, it’s a political movement. As such it contravenes the constitution and espouses treason.”

• “I hate is-lame with an incandescent intensity.”

(Spencer says he does not hate Muslims. Postings from others “are unmoderated and do not necessarily reflect the views of Jihad Watch or Robert Spencer.”)

Anti-Islamic prejudice “is increasingly bleeding into mainstream media,” Hooper said. After Sept. 11, columnist Ann Coulter wrote, “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”

Before Sept. 11, Coulter “would have faced swift repudiation from her colleagues,” Hooper said. “Now it’s accepted as legitimate commentary.”

Chicago Sun-Times, 4 September 2006

Basildon Islamic Centre gutted by fire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sarfraz Sarwar and Basildon Islamic CentreBasildon’s Islamic Centre has been almost destroyed in a suspected arson attack.

The fire raged through the Triangle Community Hall in High Road, Laindon, which is leased to the Muslim community group, at about 3.30am yesterday. A large crowd gathered to watch as five crews of firefighters battled to contain the blaze. It severely damaged about one-third of the building, with the roof worst affected.

Sarfraz Sarwar, the centre’s founder and leader, said: “We are just lost for words at the moment. The building is completely gutted. The police think it was arson. But my aim is to get this busy place sorted out one way or another, and to keep on working. We are not going to run away or be defeated. We would like to carry on our community services as usual in a small corner of the town.”

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‘Speak out against terror’, Australian Muslim leaders are lectured

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic leaders must do more to denounce terrorism and direct young people away from extremists, Treasurer Peter Costello said yesterday. In a wide-ranging critique of the failure of Muslim leaders in Australia to speak out against extremism, Mr Costello also backed calls by the Prime Minister for Islamic migrants to learn Australian values.

“This is where we really need the Islamic leadership of this country to stand up and contend unequivocally that terrorism, no matter who it is perpetrated by, is never justified under the cover of religion and to make it clear to would-be converts when you join this religion, you do not join a radical political ideology,” Mr Costello said.

Daily Telegraph (Australia), 4 September 2006

White extremists use terror videos to threaten Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Far-right extremists have adopted the tactics of Islamic jihadists by posting videos on the internet in which they threaten to behead British Muslims.

The films show balaclava-clad white British men brandishing guns, knives and clubs, calling on all Muslims to leave the United Kingdom or be killed. One appears to be a soldier who has served in the Gulf. In one film a man tells Muslims to “go home” or risk being burnt alive. He threatens: “I’ll cut your head off,” and claims to have “comrades” across Britain who have “had enough”.

The videos have all been made since the arrest three weeks ago of suspects connected to the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic jets. Their style mimics the “martyrdom videos” of Islamic radicals talking about their plans for terrorist outrages against the West.

The release of the videos on YouTube, an American-based open-access website, coincides with reports of a rise in the number of attacks on mosques. Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the videoed threats were extremely worrying. “There is no question there has been an increase in attacks on mosques and Muslims,” he said.

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US Muslims plagued by discrimination after 9/11 attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Discrimination and harassment by law enforcement have come to plague American Muslims in the years since the terrorist attacks of September 11. There have been suspicious looks, slurs, physical attacks, extra screening at airports and arrests on groundless charges. And it seems to be getting worse. A recent Gallup poll showed that 39 percent of Americans admit to being prejudiced against Muslims and that nearly a quarter say they would not want a Muslim for a neighbor.

“Most Americans don’t know Muslims except for those they work with in an urban environment so all the information they get is through the media,” said Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

After having shown some restraint in his rhetoric after 19 Muslim men affiliated with Al-Qaeda flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President George W. Bush has of late been using far more inflammatory language such as “Islamofacists”, Walid said. “When the religious and political leaders use polarizing language these are the unfortunate side effects. It stretches from the likes of (Christian Coalition leader) Pat Robinson all the way up to President Bush.”

AFP, 3 September 2006

Charles Johnson is not impressed, seeing this as yet another example of the mainstream media falling for “CAIR’s spurious claims of an ominous rise in ‘hate crimes’ against Muslims”.

Little Green Footballs, 3 September 2006

Another hate-filled rant from Mad Mel

Posted on by Bob Pitt

madmel“More than 30 Muslim groups, along with Muslim MPs and peers, demanded that the Government change its foreign policy in order to placate terrorists. This blackmail was followed by a demand from other representatives [in fact, just one representative – ed.] that a pair of Islamic religious festivals should become official holidays and that Islamic laws relating to marriage and family life be applied in Britain. These were not moderate attitudes.

“In Australia, the government has adopted a robust approach to such extremism. It has said that those Muslims who want to live under sharia law should leave the country, and that Australian Muslim leaders need to denounce terrorism in all its forms around the world.

“By contrast, rather than challenging the ideology driving Islamic terror, Britain remains paralysed by the back-to-front thinking which blames its own policies for the terrorism that threatens it. This paralysis is largely caused by multiculturalism, the doctrine which holds that minorities cannot be held responsible for the wrong that they do since they are always somehow the victims of the majority.

“This doctrine has pushed Left-wingers into the arms of Islamic radicals who are sworn enemies of the West. When Trevor Phillips, the black chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, repeated his concerns about the failure of multiculturalism, London’s mayor Ken Livingstone jeered that he expected Mr Phillips soon to join the racist British National Party.

“This was the same Ken Livingstone who last year publicly embraced as a ‘reformer’ Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the Islamic extremist who calls for suicide bombings in Iraq and Israel and perpetrates gross libels against the Jews. Yet despite such an endorsement of true racism and fascism, the Mayor remains popular — and still remains in the Labour Party.

“Such a state of denial goes far beyond the Left. The political and security establishment still refuses to grasp that it is not enough — vital though this is — to thwart terrorist plots and break up terrorist cells. Action also needs to be taken against the paranoid, hate-filled ideas driving so many to these terrible acts….

“Virtually nothing is being done to prevent the recruitment to terror still taking place on university campuses, which have long acted as hotbeds of radicalisation, or in prisons or youth clubs. Even worse, Islamic extremists have been recruited into the very heart of Whitehall as government advisers, in the wholly misguided belief that appeasing religious fanaticism will draw its venom.”

Daily Mail, 2 September 2006