Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Obsession: resistance mounts

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Obsession DVDWriting on his Guardian blog Roy Greenslade provides an update on the controversy over Obsession, the anti-Muslim “documentary” distributed by a pro-Israel lobby group, the Clarion Fund, in an evident attempt to boost Johns McCain’s bid for the US presidency (see here and here).

Greenslade’s piece does provide welcome evidence of hostility to the Clarion Fund’s campaign which extends well beyond the US Muslim community.

One reader responded to the Denver Post‘s decision to distribute 553,000 copies of Obsession by demanding: “If I paid you to distribute an anti-Semitic DVD, would you be so obliging?”

In North Carolina the Greensboro News & Record rejected the ad, calling the DVD “fear-mongering and divisive.” The paper’s editor wrote on his blog: “Of course it’s not free speech… Newspapers decide not to publish information every day. Most of the time we call it news judgment.”

In Portland the mayor pleaded with the The Oregonian‘s publisher not to distribute it. “The tenor of the video contributes towards a climate of distrust towards Muslims that holds the entire Muslim community accountable for the actions of a dangerously misguided few,” he wrote.

Muslim graves vandalised at west London cemetery

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Southall cemetery vandalismNearly 40 Muslim graves have been vandalised at a west London cemetery.

Several headstones were damaged or pushed over, and flower pots and ornamental fencing were broken at the cemetery in Bridge Road, Southall.

Most of the vandalism is in the Muslim area of the cemetery, but there is also damage to the Christian area, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said. Police are treating the incident as racially motivated, although no-one has been arrested.

The discovery was made after Muslims had finished praying all night for Layat Al Qadr, one of the holiest evenings of Ramadan.

“Pillars that have been embedded four feet in the ground have been uprooted, said Dalawar Chaudhry from the Central Jamia Mosque. “This has been a calculated attack. Glass smashed all over the place, two inch thick marble stones have been smashed in two with sheer determination.”

Muslim community leaders said it was possible the incident was timed to coincide with Ramadan. “Because this was the month of Ramadan we had a special evening the previous day and so I think it may have been targeted for that specific reason,” said Javed Mirza from the Muslim Funeral Society.

BBC News, 29 September, 2008

See also “Stacey attacks grave vandals”, Ealing Times, 29 September 2008

Cameron: I’ll curb Muslim fanatics

Posted on by Bob Pitt

I'll curb Muslim fanaticsA tough package is being drawn up by David Cameron to tackle Islamic extremism. One of the key proposals is to ban sharia law courts from operating in this country.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express, Mr Cameron’s security adviser, Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones, said the Tories were determined to “integrate” British Muslims into mainstream society.

Lady Neville-Jones, a former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee which advises the Prime Minister on terrorism, said: “We are not going to have any status for sharia courts. Absolutely not.”

She said the party would abandon the “blind alley of multiculturalism, which has deliberately gone down the road of separation for its own sake”.

The Tory plans also include:

  • Banning a string of groups blamed for encouraging Islamic extremism.
  • Working with other EU countries to change the Convention on Human Rights which has blocked the deportation of hate preacher Abu Qatada and others believed to be a threat to Britain.
  • Changing the school curriculum to encourage teaching of British values and make youngsters “proud of their country”.

The Conservatives are also looking at extending the list of Islamic groups banned from operating in this country on the grounds they foster extremism. Islamic extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which critics accuse of encouraging the killing of Jews, is a likely target. Lady Neville-Jones said the Conservatives would also look at the activities of certain charities, including the “charitable” arm of the Palestinian terrorist group Hezbollah, which operates freely here.

The major Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat, which wants to build Europe’s largest “mega mosque” near the London Olympics site, will also be examined. A spokesman for Tablighi Jamaat said: “Tablighi Jamaat is, in Muslim terms, the equivalent of the Methodist Church. The trustees do not condone terrorism of any kind.”

Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “Sharia courts operate with the blessing of UK law. As for banning organisations, we believe in a democracy it is far better to allow all organisations to operate freely, and if individuals happen to break the law then they ought to be prosecuted.”

Sunday Express, 28 September 2008

Don’t be soft on Islam, says EU terror chief

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Europe’s anti-terror chief has launched a stinging attack on the political correctness that he says is hampering the campaign against militant Islam. Gilles de Kerchove, the EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator, said last week that concern about stigmatising Muslim populations was hampering policy-making and thus prevention. “One of the problems … is that some member states are extremely reluctant to be explicit about the link with religion,” said de Kerchove.

De Kerchove’s statement comes against a background of infighting within the EU over counter-terrorism policy. The European Commission has been working for several years on a paper analysing militancy in Europe and outlining policy to combat radicalisation. The Council of Ministers is still waiting for the now long-overdue paper, on which future policy will be based.

EU officials claimed last week the delay was because Jacques Barrot, the French Commissioner for justice, freedom and security, had grave reservations about the definition of terrorism in the commission’s policy paper and had delayed signing the policy document as it “went too far in blaming Muslim communities”.

Observer, 28 September 2008

‘SNP making wrong deal with Muslims’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“A look at the statements from Osama Saeed, the chief executive of SIF and the SNP candidate for Glasgow Central indicates that he shares much of the world view of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) which is committed to establishing theocratic states across the Muslim world.

“It’s time for those who don’t want to see Scots forced into narrow religious postures to carefully scrutinise the SNP’s plans for Scottish Muslims. Perhaps the SNP aims to ensure that they fall under the sway of activists who make the younger generation conform to a rigid form of Islam.”

Tom Gallagher continues his efforts to provoke a witch-hunt against the Scottish-Islamic Foundation and Osama Saeed.

Sunday Herald, 28 September 2008

‘We’ve done something terrible to ourselves in Britain’ – Grieve attacks multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dominic_GrieveThe Guardian interviews Tory shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve:

“Grieve has also been thinking deeply about the ‘terrible’ impact of multiculturalism which has, he believes, compartmentalised people from different traditions and downplayed the identity of white Britons.

“‘We’ve actually done something terrible to ourselves in Britain’, says Grieve who was asked by former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith to look at community cohesion in 2002. ‘In the name of trying to prepare people for some new multicultural society we’ve told people, particularly long-term inhabitants, ‘Well your cultural background isn’t really very important, or it’s flawed, or you shouldn’t be worrying about it’. And then we’ve been shocked that far from producing the new model citizen who easily adapts to multiculturalism, people are very resistant, very fearful and very lacking in self-confidence. And we have the same problem with some second- and third-generation immigrant communities who say they don’t know what British values are and that they’re alienated.’

“The vacuum created by multiculturalism is to blame for extremists on either side of the spectrum. ‘In this vacuum, both the BNP and Hizb ut-Tahrir rise. They are two very similar phenomena experiencing a form of cultural despair about themselves and their identities. And it’s terribly easy to latch on to confrontational and aggressive variants of their cultural background as being the only way to reassure themselves that they can survive.’

“Grieve feels uneasy about the restriction of debate by what he calls ‘fundamental Islam’. ‘Our country has adapted because people have been tolerant, which has often required a lot of forbearance and acceptance of things they didn’t like. That is how Britain has evolved. When I address an Islamic audience I always point this out’.”

So Grieve buys into the myth about the damaging effects of multiculturalism, for which there exists no evidence at all. He claims that the culture of “long-term inhabitants” (read “white people”) has been ignored. And he can’t tell the difference between a peaceful if highly sectarian Islamist organisation like Hizb ut-Tahrir and a neo-fascist party like the BNP, many members of which have convictions for violence and incitement to racial hatred.

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No trial for Preston BNP man over leaflets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP heroin leaflet

A member of the British National Party in Preston who delivered hundreds of leaflets blaming Muslims for the heroin trade, will not face criminal charges, it has emerged.

Race hate unit officers at Lancashire police have been told by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) there is “insufficient evidence” to prosecute Tony Bamber who distributed the pamphlets. The 53-year-old, who stood in local elections for the BNP in the Tulketh ward in 2006, previously admitted he was involved in distributing the leaflets across Lancashire and at the University of York.

This week, a defiant Mr Bamber insisted he was not surprised the CPS had decided there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute. He said: “This decision is most welcome from our point of view, it legitimises the campaign and shows that our demands are fair and just. We will continue to distribute the leaflets and educate the middle-classes.”

But one of the county’s top police officers has slammed the BNP distributors, saying the leaflets risked creating tensions between racial groups. Lancashire Deputy Chief Constable Mike Cunningham acknowledged the CPS’s advice that no criminal act had been committed, adding:

“While we understand that this advice is based on established case law, we roundly condemn the contents of these leaflets and those distributing them. They can only be described as inflammatory in nature and we are obviously concerned that their distribution in Lancashire could damage community cohesion.”

They were also condemned by the mother of heroin victim Rachel Whitear after a picture of her dead daughter was used on the flyers without permission.

A CPS spokeswoman added: “We advised Lancashire police that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute for inciting racial hatred or to prosecute under the Public Order Act. We advised the police that if they come to us with more evidence, we will look at it.”

Preston Citizen, 25 September 2008

Yusuf Smith replies to Douglas Murray

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yusuf Smith reproduces his letter to Standpoint magazine, in response to Douglas Murray’s article attacking Peter Oborne’s exposé of Islamophobia. Note that the version of the letter published by Standpoint omitted the closing passage which pointed out that the publication of inflammatory Islamophobic material in the press is often a precursor to actual violence against Muslims.

Indigo Jo Blogs, 27 September 2008

FBI investigating torching of Missouri mosque’s sign

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The FBI has taken over an investigation of the torching of the sign for the Islamic Society of Joplin’s mosque as a possible hate crime.

Somebody set the sign for the mosque at 1302 Black Cat Road on fire early Thursday morning. The Carl Junction Fire Department responded to a 1:26 a.m. report of the fire.

Fire Engineer Bill Nauta said there’s no doubt that the fire, which ruined the wooden sign, was deliberately set. Nauta said he could not tell if an accelerant had been used. “I didn’t see anything spilled,” he said. “They would have to sample something at a lab.”

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