Author Archives: Bob Pitt

‘We need a political solution’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The fundamental mistake made after 9/11 was that any stirrings of a debate addressing the root causes of the terror were ruthlessly suppressed…. Rather than addressing the known political causes, the terrorist attacks were portrayed as a religious struggle: radical Islam v the west.

“Al-Qaida was supposed to have conducted the 9/11 attacks because it deplores western values – its freedom, its democracy – and desires the establishment of a global empire of Islamic emirates. But as Robert Fisk makes clear in his book, The Great War for Civilisation, Osama bin Laden’s rage against the US arose from its support for Israel, the Saudi monarchy, and the garrisoning of US troops in the land of Islam’s holiest sites.

“The very deliberate policy of converting political struggles into religious ones had a very specific purpose: to induce fear of an impending threat to western way of life from encroaching radical Islam so that the population of the west would fall in line behind Bush and his neocon policies. Radical Muslims – and now ‘Islamic fascists’ – were as deadly as communism and Nazism. Unless the American public blindly supported every Bush policy in countering terrorism, the whole of western civilisation was imperilled.”

Imran Khan at the Guardian’s Comment is Free, 26 August 2006

Tiptoeing around the truth

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The plain fact is, in a diverse, multi-faith society such as ours, it would be foolish to believe that we can continue to unleash devastation upon peoples abroad while expecting there to be no social consequences back at home.”

Inayat Bunglawala points out that Ruth Kelly’s call for an “honest debate” on the causes of extremism rings a little hollow when the terms of reference of the new Commission on Integration and Cohesion explicitly exclude”foreign policy’s relationship to radical Islamism”.

Comment is Free, 25 August 2006

Muslims on front line as racism rises across EU

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ENARRacism, xenophobia and far-right extremism are on the rise across Europe, according to a comprehensive survey which found that Muslim communities face mounting discrimination and prejudice. The report, by non-governmental organisations in 20 EU countries, criticises governments for losing interest in the battle against racism, and says the political reaction to terrorist attacks has made life harder for ethnic minorities.

The inquiry by the European Network against Racism highlights a trend towards “increased tolerance for discriminatory behaviour particularly against immigrants and Muslims”. It adds that “a lack of political will to address racism is sometimes evident and disturbing”.

Victims of racism range from Europe’s Jewish communities to its Roma minorities. But a separate document on Islamophobia reports a dramatic increase in incidents against Muslims, particularly in France. It says: “The rise of intolerance and discrimination towards Muslims has risen in the last year and the underlying tones of Islamophobia have infiltrated all forms of public and private lives for Muslims in Europe.”

Independent, 26 July 2006

The ENAR report “Islamophobia in Europe” (pdf) can be found here.

Calling them Islamic fascists can’t help

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“After 9/11, President Bush described our fight against terrorism as a ‘crusade’ – a statement he later retracted. In his first press conference after the recently thwarted terrorist plot to blow up planes flying from Britain to the United States, the president said, ‘This nation is at war with Islamic fascists.’

“The phrase ‘Islamic fascists’ has drawn the ire of the American Muslim community. We use ‘Islamic ethics’ to mean ethics based on Islamic teachings that guide our behavior. Similarly, Islamic art draws its inspiration from Islamic teachings that discourage certain types of art (immodest imagery or certain life forms). When the president uses ‘Islamic fascists’, it conveys that fascism is rooted in or inspired by Islam. This is the way the Muslims see it, regardless of what Bush may claim he really means.

“Bush earlier said that Islam is a religion of peace. Now, caving in to extreme right-wing pressure, he’s equated the religion of peace with the ugliness of fascism. Such rhetoric contributes to fear of and backlash against American Muslims. A recent Gallup poll shows four out of 10 Americans feeling ‘prejudiced’ against Muslims.”

Parvez Ahmed of CAIR at Scripps News, 24 August 2006

Multiculturalism and ‘the British way of life’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ruth KellyIn today’s Daily Express Mark Palmer writes: “Yesterday Ruth Kelly, Labour’s Communities Secretary, warned in her own, typically fuzzy way that multiculturalism might not be such a brilliant idea after all. Well, not at the minute, at least, when there are Muslim extremists waiting for every opportunity to stir the racial-religious pot…. ‘We’ve moved from a period of near uniform consensus on the value of multiculturalism to one where we can encourage that debate by questioning whether it is encouraging separateness’, she said.”

Palmer broadly welcomes Kelly’s intervention. But he has his criticisms: “For starters, we have not moved from a ‘period of near consensus on the value of multiculturalism’ because for many of us it has never existed. Indeed, I would hazard to guess that the majority of tax-paying Britons have always regarded multiculturalism as a bad thing, increasingly so in a world where young men are prepared to drive aeroplanes into buildings and take bombs onto buses and Tube trains.”

He also raises another objection: “Kelly wants us to look at faith schools. She says Muslim parents should not be denied opportunities offered to Christians in sending their children to faith schools. But it is disingenuous to pretend that that all such schools serve the same purpose. Church and Jewish schools instil discipline and a moral framework. But unlike their Islamic counterparts they do not seek to keep children separate from British society.”

Palmer has his own recommendations as to how we should learn to live together: “Multicultural harmony will only be achieved when those from other cultures are prepared to accept the British way of life. And, lest we forget, Britain is a Christian country. The Church of England remains an institution worthy of respect – it’s a part of our heritage and has our sovereign as its supreme governor.”

Terrorism – blame the parents

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ginny Dougary is unimpressed by “all the sympathetic coverage in the liberal press about the poor, puzzled Muslims who feel that they are being picked on in airports and flights. If the parents of the young men who are attracted to this murderous martyrdom have lost control of their sons, then they must shoulder part of the blame. If the Muslims who choose to live in our society, with all its so-called tempting freedoms, do not protest against those who wish to destroy it, then how can they expect our tolerance?”

Times, 25 August 2006

Islam poses a threat to the West, say 53% in poll

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Telegraph Islam threat to westThe alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners and last year’s terrorist attacks on London have made more people fear Islam as a religion, not merely its extremist elements, a poll for The Daily Telegraph has found.

A growing number of people fear that the country faces “a Muslim problem” and more than half of the respondents to the YouGov survey said that Islam posed a threat to Western liberal democracy. That compares with less than a third after the September 11 terrorist attacks on America five years ago.

The findings were revealed as Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, conceded that the multi-culturalist approach encouraged by the Left for two decades had probably been a mistake and could have contributed to the alienation that many young Muslims said they felt and experienced.

The YouGov survey confirms ministers’ fears that the country is becoming polarised between Muslims and the rest of the population, which is suspicious of them, and that a belief in “a clash of civilisations” has taken root.

Since a similar poll was conducted after the July 7 bombings in London last year, there has been a significant increase in the number of people worried about some of their Muslim compatriots.

The proportion of those who believe that “a large proportion of British Muslims feel no sense of loyalty to this country and are prepared to condone or even carry out acts of terrorism” has nearly doubled from 10 per cent a year ago to 18 per cent now.

The number who believe that “practically all British Muslims are peaceful, law-abiding citizens who deplore terrorist acts as much as any- one else” has fallen from 23 per cent in July last year to 16 per cent. However, there remains strong opposition to the security profiling of airline passengers based on their ethnicity or religion.

A higher proportion than last year now feels that the police and MI5 should focus their counter-terrorism efforts on Muslims and far fewer people are worried that such an approach risks dividing the country or offending law-abiding Muslims.

Most strikingly, there has been a substantial increase over the past five years in the numbers who appear to subscribe to a belief in a clash of civilisations. When YouGov asked in 2001 whether people felt threatened by Islam, as distinct from fundamentalist Islamists, only 32 per cent said they did. That figure has risen to 53 per cent.

Five years ago, a majority of two to one thought that Islam posed no threat, or only a negligible one, to democracy. Now, by a similar ratio, people think it is a serious threat.

Daily Telegraph, 25 August 2006