Category Archives: Analysis & comment

Times opposes Wilders ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Wilders not wanted“Mr Wilders is an elected politician in a member state of the European Union. Freedom of speech, association and travel is part of the political culture of Europe.

“For all the obvious hollowness of Mr Wilders’ credentials as a defender of free speech, the cause is a good one. It is a common notion that the right to free speech must be held in balance with the requirement to avoid needless offence. That is a mistake. The right to oppose, mock, deride and even insult people’s beliefs is essential to a society where bad ideas are superseded by better ones. There is no right to have one’s emotional sensibilities protected, for it is no business of government to legislate for people’s feelings.

“Mr Wilders’ views are obnoxious, and (not but) his freedom to express them must be defended. It is regrettable that Mr Wilders faces not just ostracism but prosecution in the Netherlands because of his comments about Islam….

“Demagogic speech is a test of the liberal political rights on which the culture of a liberal democracy rests. Let Mr Wilders exploit them. His political posturing is so self-evidently preposterous that, if he is permitted to speak freely, he will be arraigned before the best court in the land – the court of public opinion.”

Editorial in the Times, 12 February 2009

See also “Anti-Islamist politician Geert Wilders vows to defy ban by entering Britain“, where Wilders is quoted as saying: “I’ll see what happens at the border. Let them put me in handcuffs.” It’s not often that Islamophobia Watch finds itself in agreement with Geert Wilders, but this is a proposal we fully endorse.

Government gives £1m to Ed Husain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Quilliam FoundationAlmost £1 million of public money is being given to a think-tank run by two former Islamic extremists, despite reservations being expressed by members of the Government and the Opposition. The funding is for the Quilliam Foundation – a counter-extremism think-tank set up nine months ago by Ed Husain, a bestselling author, and Maajid Nawaz, a former political prisoner in Egypt – as part of the Government’s strategy to combat the radicalisation of British Muslims.

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UK Right witch-hunts Azad Ali

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A senior Muslim civil servant has launched an astonishing verbal onslaught against the Government over its response to Israel’s military strikes in Gaza – and has suggested that killing British troops in Iraq is justified. Treasury official Azad Ali, president of the Civil Service Islamic Society, now faces the sack over the remarks.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell – who is the patron of the society – acted immediately after being alerted to the comments by The Mail on Sunday. Shortly after this newspaper contacted the Cabinet Office, a senior official disclosed that Mr Ali had been suspended for the remarks made on his personal internet blog.

Mail on Sunday, 18 January 2009

It is surely unfair for the Mail to take all the credit for the victimisation of Azad Ali. As is almost invariably the case these days, this campaign originated with David Toube of Harry’s Place. In his latest piece Toube describes Ali as “a man whose politics are as great a threat to our democratic, liberal and pluralist system as any white fascist”.

But don’t get the idea that Toube wants Azad Ali to lose his job. Not at all. As Toube piously declares: “Patrick Mercer thinks that Azad Ali should be sacked. I do not. I cannot believe that there is no job in the civil service in which a man who dreams of jihad can be safely employed.”

To which one can only respond that it would not be entirely accurate to describe Toube as a piece of poisonous witch-hunting scum. Rather, he should be characterised a lying, hypocritical piece of poisonous witch-hunting scum.

Update:  Today’s Daily Mail returns to the attack with “Muslim civil servant ‘backed fanatic’s call to kill our troops in Iraq’“, and the Telegraph has “Muslim civil servant suspended for hardline blog attacking Government over Gaza“, while the Evening Standard goes with “Police give £35,000 taxpayers’ money to group headed by anti-British Muslim“.

Under the heading “The enemy within: senior Muslim civil servant justifies killing British troops“, the fascists of the BNP comment that the case reinforces their call for “the halting and ultimate reversal of Third World immigration”.

‘There’s probably no Allah’ – Iain Dale makes a prat of himself

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Smug git“The row over the ‘There’s Probably No God’ adverts took a new twist today. The Telegraph reports today that a devoutly Christian bus driver in Southampton has refused to drive his bus because it has the advert pasted to the side. The bus company have given him another bus to drive.

“Personally, I have no issue with the ASA passing this advert. But the thought does occur to me. If the advert had said ‘There’s Probably No Allah: Now, Stop Worrying & Enjoy Your Life’, would it have got through the ASA’s censors? I think we all know the answer. And if it had, somehow, got through the ASA, would the bus company have touched it with the proverbial bargepole? Of course not.”

Iain Dale’s Diary, 17 January 2009

Well, a “Probably No Allah” advertisement almost certainly would have been rejected – and rightly so, because, while “Allah” is just the Arabic word for “God” and as such is also used by Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews, the slogan would be taken as targeting Muslims’ religious beliefs specifically, suggesting that Islam is a particular problem and encouraging Islamophobia. “There’s Probably No Yahweh” would presumably be rejected on similar grounds, namely that it attacked the beliefs of the Jewish community, suggested that Judaism is a particular problem and therefore encouraged antisemitism.

The “Probably No God” advertisement is no less offensive to Muslims than to Christians or Jews or indeed the adherents of any monotheistic faith. So far, however, the only person who has refused to drive a bus carrying the atheist slogan is an evangelical Christian. Imagine that it was a Muslim bus driver who had done this. The press, right-wing and liberal, would be full of articles and editorials denouncing it as yet another example of Islam’s supposed incompatibility with western civilisation and Enlightenment values.

NHS staff told not to hold meetings where alcohol served in order not to offend Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

So the Daily Telegraph asserts. However, if you read the article, you find that the basis for this claim is that the document Religion or Belief: a Practical Guide for the NHS “warns that staff training or bonding events may alienate followers of some faiths if they take place at weekends or in pubs”. Which is not the same thing, is it? So what we have here is another inaccurate scaremongering headline aimed at promoting the right-wing myth about the threatened “Islamisation” of the West.

You’ll note that the advice about problems arising from events held at weekends is clearly intended to show sensitivity not only towards practising Christians but also towards Jewish NHS employees who wish to observe the Shabbat. But for some reason the Torygraph doesn’t think it appropriate to run the headline “NHS staff told not to hold meetings at weekends in order not to offend Jews”.

‘Britain’s Muslims should condemn Hamas, not Israel’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shiraz Maher outlines the choice facing the UK Muslim community over Gaza:

“… this is the straightforward decision that British Muslims will have to make: between Hamas, a terrorist group committed to destroying a sovereign state and its people – and Israel, the region’s only democracy which is responding to that threat. It really is that simple.”

Daily Telegraph, 9 January 2009

Well, Mad Mel may have repudiated Ed Husain because he balks at supporting the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, but she will be pleased to hear that there is at least one professional ex-HTer who is prepared to join her in endorsing Israeli state terrorism.

British National Party supports Israeli attack on Gaza

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Thurrock Patriots

“No don’t adjust your eyesight. You don’t have double vision. That’s right. Yup, that’s right. The fascist British National Party, whose leader believes that the Nazi holocaust is a hoax, is overjoyed at the genocide in Gaza. And why not? They’re killing Muslims so it can’t be bad.”

Tony Greenstein examines how the BNP’s anti-Muslim racism leads it to side with the state of Israel in its oppression of the Palestinian people.

Tony Greenstein’s Blog, 6 January 2008

See also “The real situation in Gaza and Israel” by the BNP’s “legal expert” Lee Barnes:

“This sort of ‘disinfecting’ process whereby Israel is required to sterilise areas of radical Islamist support … is what all nations have to do in order to eradicate Islamist cells who have managed to take over territory either within or on the edges of their borders…. For those that think what Israel is doing is excessive – that is ridiculous in relation to what Israel militarily can do. Excessive would be the eradication of Gaza with a nuclear weapon. What Israel is doing is what nations do when they secure their national security. Nationalists must fight for the survival of their nations.”

And see the article “Gaza – A window into the future” by Carlos Cortiglia on the BNP London website:

“The events in Gaza are a cruel reminder of what could one day happen in a country called United Kingdom if a creed of intolerance is allowed to prosper. After many years of occupation and as a gesture of goodwill, one day Israel decided to withdraw from the Gaza Strip only to find itself bombarded with rockets and human bombs.

“Hamas, Hezbollah, AlQaeda, whatever the name this creed of terror can adopt, are one and the same. When they are not strong enough, they present themselves as peace movements and freedom fighters, even as moderate thinkers in search of religious illumination and goodwill, but when they are strong enough they challenge, destroy and corrode true civilization.”

It’s also worth looking at the comments following Nick Griffin’s article “Israel’s Gaza affair”. Some examples:

“The Israelis will NEVER get unbiased reporting on the Brussels Broadcasting Corporation, despite being the only civilised country in the region & fighting for their very existance. It is NOT our place to get involved but you aren’t the only one to be 100% behind them, they are an example to us all because the only thing the Islamic Terrorists understand is FORCE.”

“The bottom line is that Israel acts as a vital buffer against Islam in the Middle East, and any enemy of Islam is a friend of mine.”

“While the Labour British Government continue to treat British people as second class citizens in our own country and continue to treat the immigrant and asylum invaders as VIP’s its nice to see a state like Israel protecting ‘its own’. A leaf that this Labour Government should take out of the Israeli book.”

“… if Israel falls or is weakened badly it could embolden the Muslims here. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel’s right to protect itself and make clear we do so. Islam must NOT be allowed any victories!”

And so on, and so on.

Ed Husain is ‘driving Muslims to mass murder’ – Mad Mel falls out with the Quilliam Foundation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Quilliam FoundationEd Husain’s Quilliam Foundation has issued a statement criticising the government’s failure to take a stand against Israel’s bloody onslaught on the population of Gaza. Ed himself is quoted as saying:

“Perceived double standards from our Government and the current green light (from Washington and London) to Israel’s killing machine will strengthen Al Qaeda’s metanarrative and radicalize yet another generation of young Muslims.”

This from an organisation that has spent its entire existence ingratiating itself with the government by claiming that Islamist ideology not foreign policy is the root cause of “radicalisation” (a term which of course obliterates the distinction between the general politicisation of Muslim youth in response to imperialism and the influence of terrorist groupuscules).

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Damian Thompson continues witch-hunt of MPACUK

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Damian Thompson 2We realise this site is in danger of turning into Damian Thompson Watch, but we have to register the fact that the Catholic Herald editor has made a further contribution to the mounting witch-hunt aimed at framing MPACUK as a violent organisation. This time Thompson takes issue with MPAC’s call to expose the Muslim “researchers” who forged receipts in order to assist the right-wing think-tank Policy Exchange in compiling its Hijacking of British Islam report which claimed to reveal the sale of hate literature in British mosques.

Thompson, of course, thinks it’s perfectly OK for Policy Exchange to publish false accusations against the Muslim community, but MPAC’s call for the exposure of those responsible for fabricating the evidence is “a threatening post on the MPAC official website which is apparently encouraging someone to dispense Islamic justice to Muslim traitors. ‘Protecting our community’, MPAC calls it. That’s a handy little euphemism, isn’t it?”

Update:  The raving Islamophobes at Jihad Watch have thrown their weight behind Thompson: “Sounds like MPACUK is publicly denouncing these Muslims for apostasy – and we all know what happens to apostates in Islam.”