What she said yesterday has desperately needed saying by a mainstream politician for a very long time. I know this because, over the past few years, I have visited many Muslim communities and spoken to scores of Muslim leaders. With very few exceptions (such as Anjem Choudary, the fanatic who tried to organise a protest march by British Muslims through Wootton Bassett) they are decent people. Many have come from countries which persecute their citizens and trash human rights. So they are even more keenly aware of what it means to be a British citizen.
But – and this is why what Baroness Warsi has to say is so important – British Muslims get spat at, abused, insulted and physically attacked. Vandalism and mosque burnings are common, and often unrecorded. The far‑Right in Britain has changed its nature. In the 1980s, organisations such as the National Front and the BNP concentrated their hatred and odium on blacks and Jews. Today, racist organisations such as the English Defence League focus on Muslim immigrants.
One of the most troubling things about this racist violence and abuse is that it is legitimised and made respectable by so much of the daily conversation which takes place in the media. Over the decades, Britain has learnt through ugly experience not to insult and discriminate against almost every other minority: blacks, Jews, homosexuals, Irish. For some reason, Muslims are still seen as fair game.
Peter Oborne responds to Sayeeda Warsi’s speech, Telegraph blog, 20 January 2011
Furor over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” has long since died down, but a group of conservatives has refused to let the issue drop.