Tom Mills and David Miller investigate.
Author Archives: Bob Pitt
Islam has waged war on the West since its inception, BNP meeting told
“Islam, far from being a ‘religion of peace’, has encouraged its followers to wage violent war to spread its message ever since its creation in the eighth century AD, the monthly meeting of the British National Party in Tameside was told last night.”
BNP news report, 27 August 2009
The speaker was Arthur Kemp, author of the BNP publication Jihad: Islam’s 1,300 Year War On Western Civilisation. Kemp is also notorious for an earlier book, March of the Titans: A History of the White Race.
Salma Yaqoob | Birmingham united against fascism
Birmingham city councillor Salma Yaqoob, joined by Adrian Goldberg, Khalid Mahmood MP, John Hemming MP, Cllr Judy Foster, Chief Insp Adrian Atherley and Apache Indian, calls on the West Midlands Police to ban a march by far-right groups planned for September; following the violence erupted amidst an EDL-Casuals United demonstration on 8th August in the city.
Date: Sunday 23rd August 2009
Venue: Birmingham Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1.
Michigan courts given leeway to force veil removal
Michigan’s Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday allowing lower state courts to “exercise reasonable control” over the appearance of witnesses and parties, a rule change proposed after a Muslim woman refused to remove an Islamic garment in a small claims court.
The order allows courts “reasonable control over the appearance of parties and witnesses” so as to “ensure that the demeanor of such persons may be observed and assessed by the fact-finder and ensure the accurate identification of such person.”
The order, which amends a rule of the Michigan Rules of Evidence, is effective September 1.
The amendment was prompted by a 2006 small claims case in Michigan filed by Ginnah Muhammad, who wore a niqab – a garment that covers the entire face and head, except for the eyes – to court, the order said.
See also “Woman sues, claims judge forced her to remove hijab”,CNN, 26 August 2009
How Quilliam smears anti-fascists
On 18 August we posted a piece entitled “Quilliam accuses anti-BNP protestors of ‘thuggery and hooliganism’“, which criticised an article by Lucy James of the Quilliam Foundation that had appeared on the Progress Magazine website.
Our criticisms provoked a hostile reaction from one of the Harry’s Place wannabees who run a blog rejoicing in the name of the Spittoon, where we were accused of producing “an amateurish bit of slime” against Lucy James. I hadn’t intended to post on it here, but as the Spittoon piece is being punted around as a “comprehensive rebuttal” of our article, I think it’s necessary to place an answer on record.
FBI investigates vandalism at South Carolina mosque
Carved into concrete, the words outside the Islamic Center in Taylors might be hard to see. “Some of our students came in with their moms,” Omer Ahmed describes. “They found written on the floor ‘Death to Muslims.” The anti-religious message was written sometime in the early morning hours Saturday.
For members like Miriam Abbad, it’s hard to see. She’s worshipped for 10 years at the center. “When they say death to Muslims, that means me, my young children, my husband, my whole family. What did we do wrong to deserve such mean words to come out?”
Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones. Just last week, vandals hit the Prince of Peach Catholic School and Church right down the road. There, they left not just works, but shattered windows from bricks too.
At Ahmed’s center, the message was written just feet from the playground. “Especially since it’s going to be a school for the children, that’s even more thoughts of what’s going to happen next,” says Abbad.
It’s too early to know if the cases are connected, but deputies and the FBI are investigating every possibility. Since both cases involve anti-religious messages, they are considered hate crimes.
It’s the Islamic Center’s 3rd incident in several years. Many years ago, someone tried to burn the center down. Now, leaders are looking into extra security and warning members to be on guard.
Interestingly enough, they’re also inviting the culprits back, so they can learn more about the faith. “This is why they have this negative and very bad view of Islam,” says Ahmed. “If they know Islam, I believe they’re going to accept it.”
If you have any information on either case, call the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office at (864) 271-5210.
‘Muslim immigration: the most radical change in European history’
“Christopher Caldwell is a mild-mannered Financial Times journalist who over the past decade has covered continental Europe (France especially) and its relationship with Islam in particular.
“That Caldwell is so mainstream, well-respected and analytical makes his conclusion all the more devastating – that the mass migration of Africans and Asians into Europe since the Second World War was an unprecedented, economically unnecessary and ill-thought-out plan that has had a profoundly negative impact on our way of life. Furthermore, he says, the mass importation of Muslims at a time when Europe has lost its own faith and Islam has developed a dangerous and powerful radicalism threatens the very freedom of Europe.
“… self-loathing was at the heart of the immigration experiment and later experiments in multiculturalism and political correctness; only a society so racked with self-hatred would have invited foreign labour in such numbers despite the economic benefits being so thin….
“Can Europe be the same? Clearly not. Can we reach some happy compromise that peacefully integrates such large communities and avoids the conflicts that have plagued such multi-cultural countries in the past? Probably not.
“Pim Fortuyn in Holland offered the best hope of a non-racist [sic!], liberal Europe that believed in itself; after his murder the future lies either with Nicolas Sarkozy, who believes in republican integration, or the likes of Geert Wilders, whose implacable hostility to Islam is increasingly shared across Europe.
“This is a fascinating, earth-shattering account of the most radical change in European history.”
Yet another adulatory review of Caldwell’s paranoid anti-Muslim tract, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, this one by Torygraph blogger Ed West in the Catholic Herald, 21 August 2009
Somali-American professors angered over repeated searches
Two Somali-American scholars at the University of Minnesota say they’re outraged by what they consider invasive questioning and searches while traveling abroad this summer.
Abdi Samatar chairs the U’s geography department. He’s married to Cawo Abdi, a sociology professor. Since June, the husband and wife say they’ve been pulled aside a total of six times at airports for lengthy interviews that have lasted up to two and a half hours. They believe customs officials targeted them for being Muslim and ethnic Somalis.
Earlier this month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan – the “Brad Pitt of India” – made headlines around the globe when he was stopped at a New Jersey airport. Khan said, at the time, that he believed he was questioned because his Muslim name raised red flags in a post-Sept. 11 world.
But countless Somali-Americans who don’t enjoy Khan’s level of celebrity say they’ve been subjected to similar searches, called secondary inspections, upon re-entering the U.S.
Samatar and his wife are both U.S citizens with American passports. In August, they were returning from South Africa on separate flights and were steered into a waiting room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. “We looked at each other, and we smiled, and we said, ‘OK, let’s see where this takes us,” recalled Cawo Abdi, Samatar’s wife.
But now, Abdi said, she feels indignation. “It’s a very unpleasant experience to be interrogated for two or three hours when you have never committed a crime, when you are doing your job, and you of course care about the security of every American,” she said. “Being a citizen, I expect, and I have a right, for a certain level of protection, and I don’t feel like I’m treated like an American.”
US pastor uses 10-year-old daughter to promote Islamophobia
GAINESVILLE — A 10-year-old girl was sent home on her first day back to school in Gainesville for wearing a shirt that was deemed offensive.
Faith Sapp wore a shirt to class Monday with the words “Islam Is Of The Devil” printed on it. The words are the same as those at an outreach center where her father serves as the pastor.
The girl’s dad let her wear the shirt, but the school says it is against the dress code. The code states that a child must dress in a way that is not offensive or inappropriate. The school board says that Sapp is not suspended or expelled and can return to school Tuesday, but she must follow the dress code.
Update: See also the Gainesville Sun, 26 August 2009
Fathima Rifqa Bary custody case becomes anti-Muslim circus
Richard Bartholomew has the details.