Recent attacks on British mosques show that our freedom of worship is under threat from extremists, argues Inayat Bunglawala.
Category Archives: Far right racists
BNP – refugee-hating, Muslim-hating Nazis
British National Party supporters cheered for one of their candidates to be awarded a Nazi military medal at a Euro election after-party.
A member of the crowd made the call after learning that Charlotte Lewis had travelled to Calais to lead a protest against the refugee camp there, taking placards reading “Britain’s full up” and “Asylum seekers don’t unpack, you’re going back”.
Bob Bailey, 43, a BNP councillor in Barking and Dagenham, gave two talks at the event, with Lewis – a candidate for Waddon, South London – giving a third.
Talking about her trip to Calais, she said: “The invaders are dangerous and they are not people we want in England or Europe or anywhere in the civilised world.” She claimed they “swaggered” around Calais before recounting a story about her Afghan neighbour.
She said: “The Afghan who lives in the flat above me… well, I say that, he hasn’t been seen for two weeks, so I’m hoping him, Fatima and the brat have moved out.” After a pause, and to raucous laughter, she added: “I don’t think they could take any more of my penchant for playing heavy metal music at 1am. It’s wishful thinking that they have gone back to Afghanistan, but it’s more than likely they have been allocated one of numerous brand-new housing association flats in the area.”
Lewis then described people who work in soup kitchens to provide food for refugees as “idiotic dim-witted liberals”. It was after this that Bailey made his ridiculous pledge to give Lewis a medal if the BNP get into government.
Sipping a pint, he said: “Under the BNP people like Charlotte would get a medal… there is no doubt.” Someone in the crowd then shouted out “the Iron Cross”. The German medal is closely associated with the Nazis – Hitler reintroduced it and added a swastika.
Bailey then went into an anti-Muslim rant. He said: “We do not need Islam in Europe and we do not need it in the UK. In London we know the stark realities of Islam more than anywhere else. They bomb buses, they bomb trains, they have created terror here.”
Police and media accused of double standards over anti-Muslim violence
A Scottish man who describes himself as a “proud racist” has admitted threatening to bomb Glasgow Central Mosque and engage in targeted killings of Muslims. Neil MacGregor has been convicted of a breach of the peace but there has been surprise in some quarters that he was not charged with terrorist offences. Critics have also said that the case would have attracted considerably more media interest if the man’s motivation had been Islamic rather than anti-Islamic.
In an email to Strathclyde police, MacGregor demanded the closure of all mosques in Scotland, threatening to kidnap and behead one Muslim each week if this demand were not met. He later called police to say that he had planted a nail bomb in Glasgow Central Mosque but police found nothing suspicious after evacuating 100 worshippers. MacGregor pleaded guilty and has been remanded in custody but sentencing was deferred yesterday by Glasgow Sherriff Court.
Comparisons have been made with the case of the Islamic militant Mohammed Atif Siddique, who was sentenced to eight years imprisonment in 2007 for collecting and circulating terrorist material. Siddique’s lawyer Aamer Anwar, suggested this week that the authorities would bring terrorism charges against Muslims but not against white racists.
However, a spokesperson for the Crown Office insisted that “The facts of the case made it clear that this was a hoax bomb threat which was racially aggravated. There was no evidence of terrorist motivation or intention.”
Osama Saeed of the Scottish Islamic Foundation responded by saying “It’s all too easy to dismiss MacGregor as a fantasist and lunatic – many of the Muslims convicted of terror offences could be similarly described.”
Saeed, who is also the Scottish National Party’s prospective Parliamentary candidate for Glasgow Central, criticised the lack of media coverage. “Imagine if a Scottish Muslim pleaded guilty to threatening to blow up Glasgow Cathedral and behead one Christian a week until all British troops were pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said. “It would be splashed over every newspaper in the land.”
But the story has spread quickly in online discussions, not only amongst Muslims. “I just feel angry that a chance to convince the Muslim community that there is no bias against them has fallen flat on its face” wrote the Christian blogger Graham Martin yesterday. “This whole situation might actually be used to justify further violence.”
Racist ideas fuel the BNP
“The BNP feeds off a much wider climate of racism that been steadily built up over the recent years, with migrant workers, Muslims and asylum seekers as its primary targets. And the BNP’s rise cannot be effectively tackled unless we acknowledge that racism and argue forcibly against it.”
Anindya Bhattacharyya in Socialist Worker, 20 June 2009
Mel and Geert – spot the difference
The enemies of reason sets a quiz.
You simply have to guess who said the following statements – Melanie Phillips or Geert Wilders.
1. “Socialists are the most inveterate cultural relativists in Europe. They regard the Islamic culture of backwardness and violence as equal to our Western culture of freedom, democracy and human rights. In fact, it is the socialists who are responsible for mass immigration, Islamization and general decay of our cities and societies.”
2. “The nation-wrecking ideology of multiculturalism and the Marxist redefinition of racial prejudice into racism – ‘prejudice plus power ‘– which have turned our society inside out are the product of the left.”
3. “Voters have been told in effect that there is nothing standing between national suicide on the one hand and racism on the other. If you don’t want the former, you are automatically branded with the latter.”
4. “And so, the voters have had enough. Because they of course realise that Europe is going in the wrong direction. They know that there are enormous problems with Islam in Europe. They are well aware of the identity of those who are taking them for a ride, namely, the Shariah socialists.”
5. “They are areas of very high immigration where the transformation of the ethnic, religious and cultural landscape has made indigenous inhabitants feel strangers in their own country — and yet they are told they are racist for saying so”
6. “Mass immigration, demographic developments and Islamization are certainly partly causes of Europe’s steadily increasing impoverishment and decay.”
7. “Above all else, we should absolutely refuse to countenance the spread of Sharia law, which is not only inimical to our own deepest principles but aims to supplant our own laws. Yet we are turning a blind eye to the steady Sharia-isation”
8. “Just like communism, fascism and nazism, Islam is a threat to everything we stand for. It is a threat to democracy, to the constitutional state, to equality for men and women, to freedom and civilisation. Wherever you look in the world, the more Islam you see, the less freedom you see.”
9. “The problem, however, is that it doesn’t understand what Muslim extremism is. Believing that Islamic terrorism is motivated by an ideology which has ‘hijacked’ and distorted Islam, it will not acknowledge the extremism within mainstream Islam itself.”
10. “Of course, there are many moderate Muslims. However, there is no such a thing as a moderate Islam. Islam’s heart lies in the Koran.”
11. “In the war being waged by radical Islamism against the west, such symbolism [as mosque-building] is of the utmost importance and significance. It is itself a strategic weapon of cultural and religious demoralisation.”
12. “We will have to close down all radical [mosques] and forbid the construction of any new mosques, there is enough Islam in Europe.”
Tricky, no? So there you have it – Geert Wilders and Melanie Phillips. One a dangerous extremist with vile views; the other a Dutchman with silly hair.
‘Fear and hatred on the streets of Luton’
David James Smith reports for the Sunday Times on tensions and conflict between communities in Luton, following the highly-publicised Al-Muhajiroun protest in March.
The article includes an interview with Mikey Birch, one of the organisers of the counter-protests against Al-Muhajiroun, including the notorious 24 May demonstration that ended in rioting.
Birch has presented himself as the voice of moderation, publicly declaring his opposition to fascist involvement in the 24 May protest. The Sunday Times article, however, indicates that Birch’s attitude to far-right racism and violence is rather more sympathetic than he made out:
“Birch said he had no affiliations with a far-right party, but he did say that if the BNP were in charge at the town hall, Luton would not be so biased towards Muslims. ‘I’m not being racist, but…’, he said, ‘…I don’t want my kids being Islamified. I don’t want them forcing their religion on us.’ He was concerned about the number of Muslim councillors in Luton…. ‘Have Al-Muhajiroun or Al-Qaeda infiltrated the council? That’s what people are saying.’ It was Birch who told me that people had talked of storming the town hall in protest. ‘The BNP will get a stronghold here because people feel they are the only party prepared to take on the Muslim extremists. And if the police and the council won’t fight the war against Sayful Islam, then we will fight it for them’.”
Update: Over at his Lionheart blog Paul Ray, the defender of the 24 May rioters (“No one thinks that removing the militant wing of Islam from our land is going to be easy, and if the government will not do it then the people will, and they will quite obviously be wearing balaclavas to do that”) takes exception to Smith’s report:
“His upper-class Liberal view is that the lower-class white community are all racists, even though I am not a racist, and those involved with UPL including ‘Mikey Birch’ are not racists, but this journalist doesnt care, he just wants his Liberal anti-white, pro-Moslem, racist, story for the Times magazine, and doesnt care what he writes about people so long as it is in line with the Liberal world view according to David James Smith.”
There, there Paul, of course you’re not a racist. Although, to be fair, you are currently on bail facing a charge of incitement to racial hatred, aren’t you?
Further update: And I can’t resist quoting this introductory paragraph from a post on another far-right blog attacking the Sunday Times report:
“I had the displeasure of reading what has to be one of the worst pieces of journalism in a British broadsheet. It stinks with appeasement and of course its underlying message is that British people should accept multiculturalism. No doubt the author (David James Smith) is either an immigrant, anti British, a student of Marxism or all three.”
Minarets to be banned in Switzerland?
“An overwhelming rejection of the ‘minaret initiative’ would serve as encouragement to all Muslims in Switzerland.
“And treating Swiss Muslims as respected and loyal residents would enhance openness and mutual trust in the country.
“It is crucial to continue to cultivate a tolerant, multicultural and multi-confessional society, which would act as the foundation of our shared future. Swiss society as a whole would come out the winner.”
Emir Cengic reports on the referendum over the proposal to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland, to be held later this year.
Are BNP voters racist?
There’s an informative YouGov opinion poll on the Channel 4 website which provides a useful basis for an assessment of the BNP vote.
Unfortunately, the analysis in the accompanying article by Peter Kellner is deeply flawed. Kellner plays down the racism of BNP supporters and claims that “depending on how the term ‘racist’ is precisely defined, our survey suggests that the label applies to only around a half of BNP voters”.
But the poll itself demolishes this assertion. It found that 94% of BNP voters thought “all further immigration to the UK should be halted” – way ahead of supporters of other political parties, with the exception of UKIP. 79% of BNP voters agreed that “even in its milder [sic] forms, Islam is a danger to western civilisation” – again, far higher than Labour, Tory, Lib Dem or Green voters.
Kellner sees it as a positive result that “just 44 per cent” of BNP voters “agreed with the party in rejecting the view that non-white citizens are just as British as white citizens”. However the question didn’t concern all British citizens, but rather “British citizens who were born in this country”. If the question had included people born abroad who have come to the UK and subsequently acquired citizenship, the percentage of BNP voters denying that non-white citizens are “just as British as white citizens” would undoubtedly have been even higher.
In that connection, it’s worth noting that 81% of BNP voters disagreed with the proposition that “Britain has benefited from the arrival in recent decades of people from many different countries and cultures”. Only 8% of BNP voters agreed with this proposition, compared with 63% of Green voters, 55% of Lib Dem voters, 53% of Labour voters and even 31% of Tory voters.
What the poll reveals is that racist attitudes exist among supporters of all political parties (which is what you would expect, given the migrant-bashing, Muslim-hating propaganda that pervades the popular press) but that people who vote for the BNP are much more racist than those who vote for mainstream political parties.
Yet, bizarrely, Kellner states emphatically: “most BNP voters do NOT subscribe to what might be described as ‘normal racist views’.” This is in line with the analysis of other pundits, who have strenuously denied that the majority of BNP voters are racists.
It is of course true that the vast majority of BNP voters are not fascists and that they would be shocked by the neo-Nazi views that Griffin and other BNP leaders actually hold. But the majority of BNP voters certainly do hold racist views, and if we’re to develop a strategy for resisting the BNP it serves no useful purpose to deny that fact.
Indeed, it was precisely in order to combat the racist ideology on which the BNP feeds that the annual Rise festival was held in London. And that is why Boris Johnson’s decision to cancel Rise was so utterly irresponsible.
MCB statement on BNP’s election to European Parliament
MCB Alarmed Over Neo-Nazi victory
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) today joined other British people in voicing their alarm and concern as the British National Party (BNP) gained its first two seats in the European parliament. This is a party that has a history of whipping up hatred against black people, Asians, Jews, Muslims and immigrants and has described Islam as “a vicious, wicked faith”.
Unlike other European countries, the UK has, in the past, prided itself in refusing to send MEPs who belonged to the far-right. Today we have reached a sad and historic milestone where we can no longer claim that racism has no place on our political landscape.
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain said: “This is a sad day for British politics. The news of the election of far-right MEPs comes at a time when we mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day, celebrating the heroism of those who fought the same hatred and fascism and racism we are witnessing today”.
“They now have a platform and taxpayer resources to perpetuate hate. They now have the ability to join racists and fascists in continental Europe to create a coalition of racists and Islamophobes. I call on all mainstream parties, and all British people, Muslims included, to come together to ensure we challenge the far right. We must ensure that this is a mere blip, and not a milestone, in British politics”.
Mad Mel explains the BNP’s success
“Anyone who objects to multi-culturalism is called a bigot; anyone who wants to curb immigration is called a racist; anyone who objects to the Islamisation of Britain is called an Islamophobe; anyone who wants to leave the EU and regain the power of national self-government is called a xenophobe; anyone, in short, who wants to retain Britain’s national identity rooted in the shared particulars of religion, law, history, traditions and culture and its powers as a self-governing nation finds themselves ostracised as a pariah….
“Working-class areas are particularly vulnerable to the BNP because they bear the full brunt of these policies. They are areas of very high immigration where the transformation of the ethnic, religious and cultural landscape has made indigenous inhabitants feel strangers in their own country…. The willed loss of control of this country’s borders, the blind eye to Islamisation, the refusal to allow the people to vote against the Lisbon treaty and the surrender of self-government to the EU – these are the things that have brought the BNP electoral success.”
Melanie Phillips’s blog, 8 June 2009
Not that Mel is exactly an expert on the BNP, of course. According to her, “they will not allow black people or Jews to be members”, which rather overlooks the fact that the BNP actually have a councillor of Jewish origin – one Patricia Richardson, who has sat on Epping Forest District Council for the last five years.
And as we’ve pointed out in the past, Phillips omits to mention one important factor in the rise of the BNP – the legitimisation of their racist politics by bigoted right-wing commentators like herself whose anti-Muslim tirades are often barely distinguishable from the sort of thing you might read in a BNP propaganda leaflet.