Category Archives: Far right racists

Fascists campaign against Swindon ‘super-mosque’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Swindon branch of the British National Party reports on its campaign against the prospect of another mosque being built in the town. They have been distributing a “public information leaflet” which states:

“Swindon nationalists are deeply concerned over this news. We regard our town as being essentially English and culturally Christian and we want to keep it that way. We believe a purpose built mosque will not only serve to attract even more followers of the ‘Religion of Peace’ to Swindon but will also act as a focus for the development of a community within a community….

“Swindon British National Party intends, in the event of a formal application being submitted to the Council, to organising a local petition to present to Swindon Borough Council in the expectation that they will respond to public opinion and reject the proposed imposition of yet another mosque on our town!”

BNP Regional Voices, 9 September 2007

Note the accompanying advert for Bat Ye’or’s book Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis.

Don’t demonise Deobandis

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Times reports today on the activities of one of the Deobandi imams, Riyadh ul-Haq, the former imam of Birmingham Central Mosque. It accuses him of preaching hate. If the Times has evidence that he is guilty of such a crime, I hope they will present it to the appropriate authorities and let him be tried fairly and openly by our legal system. But equally, the Times should be careful not to preach hate in the name of exposing those who preach hate.

“I believe that the Deobandi imam training curriculum needs an overhaul; their teaching methods needs radical change and modernisation and their world view – especially about Islam and politics – requires serious reform. But in its exposure of Riyadh ul-Haq, the Times should not to tarnish all Deobandis as Britain-hating, bloodthirsty and sword-waging Talibans.

“I can name you many Deobandi imams who are fantastic ambassadors for interfaith dialogue and community cohesion. Many graduates of the Deobandi seminaries work in our civil services as active members of British society and provide brilliant expertise. I can name you great institutions that have been established by some of the graduates of the Deobandi seminaries here in the UK. They are providing world class education for many young people of the community. This report fails to balance its message by not highlighting any of the positive work undertaken by many graduates from the same institution.”

Ajmal Masroor replies to the scaremongering articles “Hardline takeover of British mosques” and “The homegrown cleric who loathes the British” in today’s Times.

Comment is Free, 7 September 2007

See also MCB statement, 7 September 2007

Plus Inayat Bunglawala at Comment is Free, 7 September 2007
and Yusuf Smith at Indigo Jo Blogs, 8 September 2007

The Times “exposé” is welcomed by the far right. See BNP news report, 7 September 2007

Does Galloway’s Respect Party want Islamic State in UK?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The question is posed in a letter to the East London Advertiser by a Labour Party member, one Stuart Madewell, who is evidently stupid and bigoted enough to believe that the way to win back Bethnal Green & Bow for Labour is to promote BNP-style racist fantasies about the threat of an Islamic state being established in a country where Muslims make up 3% of the population. In fact Madewell’s letter has been posted approvingly on the fascist discussion list Stormfront.

Hate crime yobs target Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Revolting thugs urinated on to shoes and clothes belonging to worshipping Muslims. Police are treating the incident as a hate crime against Bath’s Muslim community and say they are determined to track down the perpetrators. The two male offenders entered the lobby of the Bath Islamic Centre in Pierrepont Street during evening prayers, before urinating on clothing and shoes left in the entrance by worshippers. Their mindless vandalism has disgusted members of the mosque and left the belongings of five people damaged.

Imam Rashad Amazi, a leader at the Bath Islamic Centre, said the victims were disgusted by the crime. He said: “They felt disbelief and they were horrified. While they were doing their prayers they heard very loud shouting inside the building. They couldn’t break their prayers but they were terrified. As soon as they’d finished, they ran to the ground floor where they thought the shouting was coming from. By that time the people had left. They smelled the alcohol and the urine and then found there was urine in their shoes and on the carpets.”

Rosco Jones, from Bath and North East Somerset Racial Equality Council, said he was concerned that other victims of hate crime were keeping quiet about their experiences in an effort to evade more attention. He said: “The main concern is that not as many victims of hate crime resulting from the heightened concerns around Islamic-based terrorism are coming forward to say they’ve been attacked. People on the whole are just keeping the information to themselves. That is quite bad. The police and authorities such as ourselves need to be aware so we can take normal community safety preventative action.”

Bath Chronicle, 3 September 2007

The British National Party are not happy: “The police, instead of treating it as a stupid misdemeanor, are pulling out all the stops to track down the two culprits, for no other reason than to curry favour with Bath’s growing Muslim community.”

BNP Regional Voices, 3 September 2007

Fascists protest against mosque in Fareham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The British National Party reports that it organised a day of action in Fareham, Hampshire, against the proposed contruction of a mosque and community centre in nearby Wickham. The fascists’ local organiser claims that they distributed 4,000 leaflets which boasted : “Only the British National Party speaks out against both Muslim extremist terrorism and the threat that ‘mainstream’ Islam poses to our British culture, heritage and way of life.”

BNP regional voices, 1 September 2007

Blogger bans Islamophobic website

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“All those who have complained about the racist site Blog Cochon will be pleased to know that Blogger has decided to ban the site from public viewing on the basis that it is in contravention of its Contents Policy. Blogger is to be congratulated and supported in its exemplary actions.”

Chimes of Freedom reports on a successful campaign against an Islamophobic French-language website.

Haider calls for ban on mosque building

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jorg HaiderAustrian right-wing firebrand Joerg Haider said on Monday he plans to change building laws to prevent mosques and minarets being erected in his home province of Carinthia.

Haider, Carinthia’s governor, said he would ask its parliament to amend the building code to would require towns and villages to consider “religious and cultural tradition” when dealing with construction requests.

“We don’t want a clash of cultures and we don’t want institutions which are alien to our culture being erected in Western Europe,” Haider said in a statement. “Muslims have of course the right to practise their religion, but I oppose erecting mosques and minarets as centres to advertise the power of Islam.”

His spokesman, Stefan Petzner, said that there were no plans to restrict Muslim prayer rooms, as this would violate Muslims’ human rights, and the planned change applied only to dedicated mosques and minarets.

Muslims in Europe are meeting increasing resistance to plans for mosques that befit Islam’s status as the continent’s second religion after Christianity, with petitions in London, protests in Cologne, a court case in Marseille and violence in Berlin.

However, while all those places have significant Muslim minorities, Haider’s Carinthia has the second lowest share of Muslim citizens of all Austrian provinces – 11,000 out of a population of around 400,000, a Muslim spokesman said.

“It’s a ridiculous statement to say he fears a clash of civilisations (in Carinthia),” said Omar al-Rawi, a centre-left lawmaker who is spokesman for the Austrian Muslims’ Initiative. “We don’t know of any mosque plans there. His move is meaningless, populist, racist and anti-Islamic,” he added.

Reuters, 27 August 2007

‘Labour’s Muslim backers under investigation’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“What favours have been promised or returned by Labour to Islamics for the £300,000 generous donation?” The British National Party draws out the implied subtext to the mainstream right-wing media reports (see here and here) of donations to the Labour Party by the Muslim Friends of Labour.

BNP news article, 27 August 2007

One BNP-supporting blogger comments: “… now you know the truth. Just like the UAF, the Labour Party is in the pay of Islam and if you believe that the money these Moslems have donated comes out of their own pocket then your [sic] crazier then Red Ken Livingstone. Look towards Mecca for the source.”

Home of the Green Arrow, 27 August 2007

SIOE joins with football hooligans in Harrow protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stephen GashAnti-Islam campaigners have been locked in a bitter row with Muslims and anti-fascists ahead of a planned 9/11 protest.

Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE), which has a number of branches on the continent, is organising the demonstration outside Harrow Central Mosque but has been accused of racism over its beliefs. A Facebook event hosted by the English Defence League (EDL) and Casuals United, who are also attending the rally, has been peppered with criticism.

SIOE’s moto is: “Racism is the lowest form of stupidity. Islamophobia is the height of common sense,” and members say they do not believe in moderate Muslims. Stephen Gash, of SIOE, says Islamophobia is not racist and accuses the western media of being biased, selectively failing to report immoral acts he claims have been committed by Muslims around the world.

Sarah Cox, 72, of Unite Against Fascism (UAF), said: “They claim they are not racist in that they are not against people because of the colour of their skin but because of their religion. But given that a lot of people who come from Islamic backgrounds may not be particularly religious but identify themselves as Muslim for cultural reasons it’s as racist as the antisemitism of the Nazis. It’s a form of irrational discrimination.”

EDF and Casuals United are made up of football supporters and some say many are football hooligans. Mr Gash said the EDF and Casuals United were for more “boisterous” people. He said: “I didn’t see any violence at the protest in Birmingham. If they do the same things as in that demonstration I will not have a problem with them.”

Local branches of the UAF, from Brent and Harrow, are newly formed specifically to tackle this issue and include members of traditional left wing groups including trade unions.

Harrow Times, 26 August 2009

See also Harrow Observer, 26 August 2009

And “Unite Against Fascism to counter 9/11 Harrow Mosque protest”, Harrow Times, 26 August 2009

UAF leaflet and petition (pdf) here and here.

‘Muslim’ carnival entry creates controversy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

St Columb paradeA dispute over an “insulting” carnival procession entry has developed into a row over political correctness.

Locals dressed as Muslims took part in the carnival in the Cornish market town of St Columb Major in protest over plans for a mosque. A group of students visiting the area thought the act was offensive to Muslims, and called in police.

The group, calling themselves the Page Three Beauties from the Ramalamadingdong Times, carried placards with names including “Miss Poppadomistan” and “Miss Reallyamanistan”. A home-made banner read “Join the Kernow Mosk drekly and become a Musli” over a picture of a Cornish pasty. Kernow is the Celtic name for Cornwall, while drekly is Cornish slang for “get it done quickly”. The group knelt down in mock prayer, using fake compasses to “find” the correct direction to locate Mecca.

The stunt was apparently intended as a harmless send-up of the Prince of Wales’s plan for a mosque in his nearby “Surfbury” model settlement. The plan has been criticised because there are only 33 practising Muslims in a population of 22,000.

The students complained to the police and the carnival organisers. Nina Brenton, one of the event’s organisers, said: “We were approached by about six students from out of the area and they thought it was disgusting and offensive to Muslims.

“They had a real go at us and asked how we could allow it in our carnival. We told them it was not up to us to dictate what is offensive unless a group is clearly causing offence. We did advise the group what had happened and gave them the choice of whether to carry on, and they did.”

She said the act was “all in good fun” and involved “just a group of local lads, mostly in their thirties”. She added: “The crowd seemed to love them. It just offended this small minority.”

Telegraph, 23 August 2007

See also the article “How Miss Slackistan and the Burka Beauties fell foul of the racism zealots” in the Daily Mail, 23 August 2007

Over at the Stormfront fascist discussion list the far right enthusiastically joins in the “fun”, while the British National Party asserts that the evidently rather half-hearted intevention by the police is “just the latest example of appeasement to Islamic sensibilities in OUR country”.