Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Most Dutch say Islam incompatible with Western society

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Islam is incompatible with modern Western society, according to a majority of those responding to a recent Dutch survey. Most of the people polled expressed a negative view of Islam and Muslims. The survey was released the same week that a Dutch Justice Ministry report said radical Islam had made significant inroads among the country’s immigrants, posing a threat to the nation’s security.

“Known for its laissez-faire social attitudes, the sharp turn in public opinion against Islam in the Netherlands has sparked a debate that has prompted criticism of Queen Beatrix and the government for allegedly abandoning Western values in the face of Muslim pressure.

“The poll conducted by Dutch research firm Motivaction for the GPD newspaper chain on June 2 found that 63 percent of those surveyed believed Islam was incompatible with modern European life. More than a quarter of respondents said Muslim immigrants were rude, lazy, intolerant and prone to criminal behavior. They said the increase in Muslim immigration has had a negative effect on civic and social life….”

Jerusalem Post, 21 June 2006

Media campaign in US to dispel Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A survey conducted by Cornell University recently found that around half of Americans have a negative view of Islam and would like the US government to curtail the political activity of Muslims in the US.

Addressing a press conference at the headquarters of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), Paul Findley, a former US Congressman, said that the cancer of anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiments was spreading in American society and requires corrective measures to stamp out this malaise.

It was also announced that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) would be launching a massive $50 million media campaign involving television, radio and newspapers as part of its five-year program to create a better understanding of Islam and Muslims in the US.

Referring to the anti-Islamic sentiments in the US, Findley said that the campaign was being spearheaded by a tiny but influential section of society, including some politicians, academics and opinion-makers.

Arab News, 21 June 2006

Ha’aretz boosts Bat Ye’or

Posted on by Bob Pitt

bat ye'or“Bat Ye’or’s most recent book, Eurabia – The Euro-Arab Axis, which was published in English in 2005, could not have been published at a better time as far as she is concerned, precisely when the question of the Muslim immigrants’ integration into the continent and Europe’s cultural coloration is coming up repeatedly for discussion. The terror attacks in Madrid and London, the Prophet Mohammed cartoons, the murder of the Dutch director Theo Van Gogh and the riots about six months ago in the Paris suburbs have made these questions more critical. Europe, with its pluralist and democratic ethos, has hesitated in its reaction to these phenomena, although today there is a move toward policy changes.

“Europe’s hesitation has helped bolster extremist attitudes toward Muslim immigration in particular. In the political realm, this is seen among the far-right movements. In intellectual circles, this is evinced inter alia by people like the provocative Italian journalist and writer Oriana Fallaci, Dutch member of parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and also Bat Ye’or. Although all of these individuals are opposed to the extreme right and its violence, they are warning that Europe as a secular, enlightened civilization with a Judeo-Christian background is dying. In its stead, says Bat Ye’or, will come a civilization subjugated to Islamic forces and their jihad ideology.”

Ha’aretz, 20 June 2006

Muslim conference decries Western ‘Islamophobia’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BAKU — A conference of Muslim countries in Azerbaijan this week has decried growing Islamophobia in the West in the wake of a furore sparked by the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in several European newspapers.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) blamed anti-Muslim sentiment on “the rising dominance of the extremist right wing in Europe” in a report obtained by AFP and addressed to Muslim diplomats.

The document, which conference delegates are expected to approve as a resolution ahead of the close of the three-day meeting on Wednesday, described Islamophobia as “spreading” through Western media.

“This phenomenon has been spreading in the impactful areas of information, education and art, which are fertile grounds for the dissemination of the open hostility to Islam and the entrenchment of hatred against it,” it said.

The OIC chief described a “pathological fear” of Islam caused by “cases of total ignorance of Islam and its teachings” in Western public opinion stemming from rivalries between Christians and Muslims that have existed since the Crusades.

In order to counter Islamophobia, Ihsanoglu called on OIC members to support Islamic non-governmental groups in Europe and strengthen ties with international bodies such as the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

He urged Muslim countries to enact a “new media strategy” to highlight the “true image of Islam” and said pro-Islamic television programs should target a Western audience.

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Cohen gets it wrong again

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nick Cohen, with characteristic disdain for the facts, tells us in connection with last Sunday’s demonstration outside Scotland Yard: “… in the event, only a hundred or so people turned up, many of whom were white Islamists from the Socialist Workers party. Since then, nothing.”

Observer, 18 June 2006

Yusuf Smith replies: “Sorry Nick, but as one who was there I can say that the majority of attendees by far were Muslims. Yes, the usual contingent of Marxists of various hues, or perhaps I should say tones, was in attendance, some of them trying to push bits of paper under our noses (though interestingly, I didn’t see any copies of Socialist Worker), but most of the demonstrators were Muslims who were demonstrating against attacks on Muslims. As for the ‘since then, nothing’ bit, there is another demo planned for today in Plashet Park, which is as it happens very near to Forest Gate. The likely reason why last Sunday’s event was not as well-attended as some might have hoped (though it was a couple of hundred at least, not just 100) was that the local community had decided to make their views known at Plashet Park.”

Indigo Jo Blogs, 18 June 2006

Blame it all on multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“… both Canada and Britain need to face the fact that multiculturalism, which for both countries is an article of faith, has brought havoc in its wake. This doctrine holds that all minority cultures must enjoy equal status with the majority, and that any attempt to impose the majority culture over those of minorities is by definition racist…. In the wake of the London bombings, people came up with a litany of excuses – such as the war in Iraq, poverty or Islamophobia – to explain what had happened. There was a widespread determination to avoid discussion of the actual cause: religious fanaticism. The orthodoxy of minority rights means any criticism of minorities is deemed unsayable…. The greatest exponents of this morally upside-down grievance culture are those Muslims for whose pathological inferiority complex it seems to be tailor-made.”

Melanie Phillips offers her thoughtful advice to Canadians following the arrest of 17 suspected terrorists in Ontario.

National Post, 16 June 2006

Meanwhile, Matthew Norman has his own advice for Mad Mel: “I beg Melanie to learn meditation, yoga or some other technique for finding inner calm. This constant hysterical raging cannot be good for the health.”

Independent, 19 June 2006