Mehdi Hasan replies to Wole Soyinka.
Author Archives: Bob Pitt
Tory MP backs ban on veil
An MP has called the wearing of burkas the religious equivalent of “going round with a paper bag over your head”.
In a parliamentary debate, Conservative MP Philip Hollobone said it was “offensive” for women to cut off face-to-face contact with other people. The Kettering MP said he had “huge sympathy” with those who wanted a ban on face-covering veils in public.
Cambridge University Israel Society cancels invite to Benny Morris
The Cambridge University Israel Society has cancelled a meeting at which the Israeli historian Benny Morris was to speak, after objections by the Islamic Society and others who drew attention to Morris’s record of anti-Muslim statements.
See the Facebook page “Cambridge protests Islamophobia on campus“.
BNP backs National Secular Society over ‘Sharia threat’
The National Secular Society (NSC) has warned that Britain is “in a race” with France to see who can be the first country to formally incorporate Sharia law into their legal systems.
Although the NSC [sic] did not point out that this headlong flight into Sharia law is caused directly by mass Third World immigration, it did warn that Britain is “rushing into law a set of new regulations that will make the operation of sharia finance easier and facilitate the issuance of corporate sukuk.”
Sukuk are a broad class of financial instruments designed to replicate the economic function of bonds, but with a structure which complies with Islamic principles. The Treasury has laid before Parliament the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, Order 2010 that will clarify the regulatory treatment of corporate sukuk, reducing the legal costs for these types of investments and removing “unnecessary obstacles” to their issuance.
The British National Party is the only political party which has consistently pointed out that if a people are replaced though mass immigration, then the culture which those people created will also be replaced. The spread of Sharia law into the financial sector is only the beginning of this process. Left unchecked, Muslim numbers will soon reach the position where they will be able to demand – and get – full Sharia law implemented in Britain.
BNP news report, 31 January 2010
See also “Sharia makes its first incursion into British law”, NSS website, 29 January 2010
Ministers slammed for speaking at meeting with Muslim who justified killing British troops
Taking advantage of another eccentric ruling by Mr Justice Eady, the Mail returns to its witch-hunt of Azad Ali.
UK poll shows backing for limited restrictions on the veil but opposition to ban
The British people support some restrictions on wearing the burka in public but oppose an outright ban, according to a new poll for The Independent. The ComRes survey found that almost two out of three people believe it should be illegal to wear a burka in places such as banks and airports. But six out of 10 people oppose a ban on wearing it in all public places.
The ComRes survey of more than 1,000 people found that 52 per cent disagreed with the proposition that there should be no legal restrictions on wearing a burka, while 43 per cent agreed. But asked if it should be illegal to wear a burka in any public place, 36 per cent agreed and 59 per cent disagreed.
Some 64 per cent of people believed it should be illegal to wear a burka in places like banks and airports, while 33 per cent disagreed. By a similar margin (61 to 35 per cent), people thought schools should be allowed to prevent teachers wearing burkas if they wish.
The most striking variation of opinion among different groups of people was by age. Only 15 per cent of 18-24 year-olds believed that wearing the burka should be banned in any public place, compared to 57 per cent of those 65 and older. Women were more opposed to restrictions than men. The South east region, including London, was the most liberal, and northern England the least. The AB social group was the most liberal, with C2 skilled manual workers and the bottom DE group the least.
Full poll here.
These results are more positive that the recent Angus Reid poll which found that 72% of respondents favoured an outright ban on the burka in public places and 66% a ban on the niqab. And the strong support for religious freedom among young people (61% of 18-24 year-olds agreed that “there should be no legal restrictions on wearing a burkha”) is a hopeful sign.
Update: See also ENGAGE, 2 February 2010
French Catholic Church speaks out against veil ban
The French Catholic Church warned Paris today against banning Muslim full-face veils. It said France must respect the rights of its Muslims if it wanted Islamic countries to do the same for their Christian minorities.
Bishop Michel Santier, the top French Catholic official for inter-religious dialogue, said very few women in France wore full veils and Muslim leaders agreed it was not obligatory in Islam.
“The French, including the Catholics among them, should not let themselves be gripped by fear or a ‘clash of civilisations’ theory,” he said in a statement calling for distinctions between the majority of peaceful Muslims and a minority of radicals. “If we want Christian minorities in Muslim majority countries to enjoy all their rights, we should in our country respect the rights of all believers to practice their faith.”
Veiled threat
“The woman in niqab is the figurehead of a subversive movement that threatens all democratic nations.”
Nidra Poller in the Wall Street Journal, 29 January 2010
Veil ban will increase Islamophobia, boost far right and oppress women
“Raphaël Liogier is right to point out the problems with France’s proposed ban on the veil (Comment, 27 January), which will pave the way for similar moves against other visible expressions of religion. Shutting down the right to choose to wear the veil will only further embolden Islamophobia, the far right and fascist parties. The debate has had the net effect of demonising a minority of Muslim women, who number less than 2,000 in France. It will mean the only option for many of these women will be to stay confined to their homes. All this, ironically, in the name of integration and the liberation of women. We are one society and many cultures; respecting and allowing all cultures freedom of expression, as long as this does not impinge on the rights of others, means all communities can fully contribute to society. The debate in France is already impacting here, with Ukip calling for a ban on the burka and niqab.”
Letter from Ken Livingstone and others in the Guardian, 29 January 2010
Tory MP says rapist was influenced by migrants’ ‘barbaric and medieval’ attitudes towards women
David Cameron was last night challenged to deselect a Welsh Conservative MP who linked the case of a teenage Muslim rapist to “barbaric and medieval” views towards women “imported into this country”.
Monmouth MP David Davies made his controversial comments during a radio interview while discussing the case of Bilal Khan, 13, who was jailed for three years for raping a 20-year-old woman in a park at Stoke-on-Trent.
He said: “I think there is a wider question here. What is it about this young man’s upbringing, what about his community or his parental upbringing, that led him to think that women are second-class people whose rights can be trampled over like this?
“That is a very interesting question, and there are some sensitive issues here but there do seem to be some people in some communities who don’t respect women’s rights at all and who, I may say, without necessarily saying this is the case on this occasion, who have imported into this country barbaric and medieval views about women, and that is something that also needs to be addressed.”
Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said: “David Davies should be ashamed of himself. His was a knee-jerk reaction based on ignorance. Rather than concentrating on the facts of a shocking case, he chose to malign entire communities in a wholly unfair and divisive way.”
Naz Malik, chief executive of Awema, the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association, said: “By linking in this instance the rape case to undefined migrant communities, David Davies displays the thought processes of a racial bigot. I think it is time David Cameron reassured Britain’s ethnic minority communities by sending a very strong message to him that his remarks are wholly unacceptable. That could be achieved by deselecting him as a Conservative candidate in the coming general election.”
Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, a group representing young Muslims, said: “We in our communities find what Bilal Khan has done evil and totally unacceptable in Islam and for Mr Davies to suggest that somehow these rapist attitudes are engrained in some parts of [black and minority ethnic] communities is deeply offensive and of no substance.”
Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood said: “These comments not only display a crass ignorance of different cultures, but are highly inflammatory. To suggest that ‘backward, medieval and barbaric’ views towards women are being ‘imported’ into the UK is dangerous and irresponsible. Discriminatory attitudes towards women have to be tackled in all communities, regardless of race or religion. For David Davies to claim otherwise, suggests he is either very ill-informed or trying to court the anti-immigration brigade.”