Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Pro-McCain group dumping 28 million terror scare DVDs in swing states

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ObsessionThis week, 28 million copies of a right-wing, terror propaganda DVD are being mailed and bundled in newspaper deliveries to voters in swing states.

The 60-minute DVDs, titled Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West, are landing on doorsteps in a campaign coinciding with the 7th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Funding is coming from a New York-based group called the Clarion Fund, a shadowy outfit whose financial backers are unclear.

The program was originally shown on Fox News in the days leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections, and far right-wing activist David Horowitz toured the country screening the film on college campuses during 2007. Mainstream religious groups have called Obsession biased and divisive. It cuts between scenes of Nazi rallies and footage of Muslim children being encouraged to become suicide bombers.

The DVDs were distributed last weekend in national editions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal within selected swing states. These included Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Iowa, Florida, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia.

Huffington Post, 12 September 2008

‘Muslim massacre’ computer game condemned

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim Massacre

A computer game in which players control an American soldier sent to “wipe out the Muslim race” has been condemned as offensive and tasteless by a British Muslim group. The goal of Muslim Massacre, which can be downloaded for free on the internet, is to “ensure that no Muslim man or woman is left alive”, according to the game’s creator.

Players control an “American Hero” armed with a machine gun and rocket launcher who is parachuted into the Middle East. Users progress through levels, first killing Arabs that appear on screen and later taking on Osama bin Laden, Mohammed and finally Allah.

The game’s creator, a freelance programmer known as Sigvatr, described the game on the SomethingAwful.com website as “fun and funny”. In a “How you can help” section, he writes to visitors: “Don’t whinge about how offensive and ‘edgy’ this is.”

British Muslim youth organisation The Ramadhan Foundation expressed its “deep condemnation and anger” at the game. The group said: “This game is glorifying the killing of Muslims in the Middle East and we urge ISP providers to take action to remove this site from their services as it incites violence towards Muslims and is trying to justify the killing of innocent Muslims.

“We have written to the British Government to urge an inquiry into this game and take action to shut down the site. This is not satire but a deliberate attempt to demonise Muslims.”

Independent, 11 September 2008

Update: See also “‘Muslim Massacre’ computer game blasted in Britain”, AFP, 12 September 2008

‘How Britain has given in to religious fanatics’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Mohammad Sidique Khan grew up in Dewsbury, a little town where 18 years earlier the parents of 26 indigenous Yorkshire children were demonised by the chattering classes for withdrawing their children from the local primary school because it had become largely Muslim.

“Here is encapsulated the enormous fissure between the kind of people who bomb a train and the kind who want England, and Christianity, to continue as they were before mass immigration began.”

The Daily Mail publishes excerpts from A.N. Wilson’s new book, Our Times: The Age of Elizabeth II, which claims that “mass immigration and political correctness have turned Britain into a haven for Islamic fanatics”.

‘Review mega-mosque in wake of bomb trial’ say Tories

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Neville-JonesMinisters should review plans to build a “mega-mosque” in the East End in the wake of the airline bomb plot trial, the Tories urged today.

Shadow security minister Dame Pauline Neville-Jones said the case had shown that the group behind the mosque may have given cover to extremist activity.

Tablighi Jamaat, which describes itself an Islamic missionary organisation, is pushing for the mosque to be built next to the 2012 Olympics site in Stratford. But the group was revealed in court as having links to some of the terror suspects, with several having passed through other mosques run by the group.

The organisation, which has 80 million followers worldwide, insists it is a peaceful, apolitical revivalist movement that promotes Islamic consciousness among individual Muslims. But intelligence agencies have cautioned that its ability to radicalise young men could lead to jihadist terrorism

Dame Pauline, former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, said today:

“The news that the terrorists convicted of the liquid bomb plot attended Tablighi Jamaat mosques is very disturbing. This is not the first time this has happened. Those convicted of the 7/7 bombings read Tablighi Jamaat sermons. Tablighi Jamaat claims to be solely a missionary organisation with a religious and charitable purpose.”

But Dame Pauline believes it gives cover to extremist activity. She said: “This must be taken into account when considering the planning application for the Tablighi-Jamaat mosque in east London.”

Evening Standard, 9 September 2008

Update:  See also “Patrick Mercer MP calls for investigation into orthodox religious group” in the Times, 10 September 2008

And “Airliner bomb trial: Fears raised over fundamentalist Islamic group in Britain” in the Daily Telegraph, 10 September 2008

Racists gather for Cologne anti-Islam rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Racists gather for Cologne anti-Islam rally

By Hans-Peter Killguss

Searchlight, September 2008

SEVERAL HUNDRED racists from all over Europe are expected to flock to a so-called Anti-Islamisation Congress staged by the German fascist pro Köln (pK) organisation to discuss “the foreign infiltration of our cities”.

The congress, in Cologne from 19 to 21 September, comes amid growing racism in Germany. According to one poll, more than 50% of the population favours a ban on mosques. Echoing this, Markus Wiener, a “scientific staff member” of pK, claims there should be “no mosques, no minarets, no muezzin” because “the native population is justifiably worried about creeping Islamisation and the danger of Islamist terror.”

PK was set up in 1996 to campaign against prostitution and only really targeted Muslims after 2000. It recently protested against a new mosque in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne, distributing tens of thousands of stickers, leaflets and posters and gathering almost 20,000 signatures on a petition.

Although many pK officers and members have been well-known activists in fascist and openly nazi parties, pK claims to be a democratic citizens’ initiative. It styles itself as a “populist” party for the man-in-the-street in contrast to the other parties, which it denounces as corrupt, arrogant and “in hock to the false ideology of multiculturalism”.

After pK gained seats on Cologne city council in 2004, a carbon copy called pro-Deutschland emerged in 2005 followed by pro NRW (Nordrhein Westfalen) in 2007. The primary purpose of September’s Anti-Islamisation Congress is to kick-start the racist campaign for next year’s regional elections in NRW.

Another aim is to improve collaboration between ultra-right groups in Europe ahead of next year’s European Parliament elections. PK already has close links with the Belgian far-right Vlaams Belang whose chairman, Filip Dewinter, will speak at the gathering alongside Andreas Mölzer and Heinz-Christian Strache from the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ).

Henry Nitzsche, a former Christian Democrat from Saxony, will also appear. Nitzsche, who is still an MP, once claimed patriotism was vital to prevent Germany from being ruled by what he termed “Multi-Kulti-Schwuchteln” (multicultural poofters). He is an important figurehead because pK is now trying to appeal mainly to conservatives.

The most prominent speaker invited is Jean Marie Le Pen, president of the French Front National. Another well-known speaker will be Mario Borghezio of the Italian Lega Nord (see below).

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France: Racist slogans spray-painted in college

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Agde fascist graffiti (1)

Racist, antisemitic and xenophobic slogans were spray painted in the yard, stairs and walls of the Rene Cassin college Wednesday night in Agde (Hérault) in southern France.

The Minister of National Education Xavier Darcos visited the place and saw close to fifty swastikas and racist inscriptions in the yard of the school. Inscription such as “Kill all Arabs”, “Fuck the Muslims”, “White Power”, “White Front 34”, “Fuck the Jews”, “Allah = PD” (ie, gay), “Heil Hitler”, “Sieg Heil” and “Fuck Islam”.

Islam in Europe, 5 September 2008

Israeli MP forms anti-Islam coalition

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Arieh EldadA new front being formed by representatives of the Israeli Right and European lawmakers is threatening to ignite flames of hatred. Knesset Member Arieh Eldad (National Union-National Religious Party) announced Wednesday that he would be hosting a convention in Jerusalem under the banner, “Standing Up to Jihad.”

“The spread of Islam threatens the foundations of Western civilization,” he explained, and screened a scene from a film produced by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, which sparked a row in the Arab world several months ago and was banned in many places in Europe.

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Belgium: How Islam corrupts the schools

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Le Vif Comment l'Islam Menace l'EcoleBelgian French-language magazine Le Vif/L’Express has come out with a five page spread in its August 29th issue about Islam in the Belgian school system.

The headline on the cover – “How Islam Threatens the School” – and the article’s title – “How Islam Corrupts the School” – have already drawn criticisms.

Sadly, the article itself is not available freely online, though I understand it doesn’t really bring any new data. Most schools in Brussels ban the veil, but there are other Muslim requirements from the school system – offering halal food or banning pork, enabling girls to drop gym and swimming classes and not to attend school outings, enabling students to fast at Ramadan, and giving students a place to pray at school.

The article claims that teachers and principles feel they can’t handle the situation. Not only in the case of science and creationism, teachers feel they’re being forced to adapt the curriculum in other subjects such as geography and history so as not to offend students.

Part of the criticism is that besides noting that 30% of schoolgirls in Brussels are Muslims, the article does not give factual data on how many such cases of demands there are from Muslim students and parents.

I received a response from Karim Chemlal, head of the League of Muslims in Belgium, who accuses the exposé of being shallow and not going into the real debate. He points to a study that says Islam is sometimes used as an excuse by students whose true motive is to provoke the system.

Islam in Europe, 4 September 2008

SIF cleared over grants

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Islamic organisation with close connections to the SNP has been cleared by public spending watchdog Audit Scotland for the way it won Scottish Government grants. The Scottish Islamic Foundation is led by Osama Saeed, a Westminster candidate for the Scottish National Party, with an SNP researcher at Holyrood doubling as its spokesman.

Lord George Foulkes, a Labour MSP for Lothian, wrote to Audit Scotland asking it to investigate the grants. Auditors found that an application for running an event to celebrate Islamic culture and promote Scotland in Muslim countries was dealt with by officials in the Race, Religion and Refugee Integration Grant Scheme and met the criteria.

Herald, 4 September 2008

Let Muslim women speak

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The last few weeks have been particularly eventful for Muslim women on Comment is Free. We would have felt extremely exhausted by all the excitement, were it not for the fact that – with the notable exception of Samia Rahman and Reefat Drabu – we were spared the ignominy of having to participate in the debate ourselves.

“AC Grayling started us off by equating the headscarf with an iron shackle and stating that Muslim women are complicit in their own oppression. In the process of attacking the abhorrent denial of freedom that Muslim women can wrongly suffer, Grayling (in)advertently takes away the very same freedom of choice to decide to wear the hijab if we choose.

“Julie Burchill bigged up Christianity, and in the process scathingly dismissed Islam and Muslim women. The only “Muslim” women she suggested as role models – Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Irshad Manji – were those she claimed had rejected Islam and were no longer Muslim….

“Islamic theology has a strong framework for a blueprint of gender equality…. we may say, believe and do things which don’t fit in with the caricature of a Muslim woman who would be desperate to be ‘liberated’ from Islam if only she knew it.

“You may find our voices reverberating with the view that we like being Muslim women, we just want to make our lives better and in line with true Islamic principles. It would be nice if those who debate vociferously about Muslim women would therefore move over and give us the seat at the table that we’re demanding.”

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at Comment is Free, 2 September 2008