ENGAGE responds to hysteria in the right-wing press about an Anglican diocese in Bradford having to merge with a neighbouring diocese because of a decline in church attendance supposedly due to an “influx of Muslims”.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Wilders’ party called for immigrants to be banned from amateur football leagues
According to the Dutch newspaper Trouw, the PVV, also known as The Freedom Party, proposed a ban on immigrants in amateur soccer leagues in the Hague, claiming that soccer clubs with many immigrants are facing violence and “Islamization.” The group withdrew that proposal when it appeared to provoke outrage among other politicians.
The Hague PVV party asserted that many soccer clubs with a high number of immigrant members must deal with violence on the field and a shortage of volunteers.
The Councilor of Sports Karsten Klein responded by calling their claim “utter nonsense.” “Violence in soccer is definitely not an immigrant problem, as the Freedom Party would like people to believe,” he said. Soccer clubs have to be accessible to everyone, according to Klein.
The conflation of soccer violence with Islamicization and the influence of immigrants along with the proposed ban constitute an absurd attempt to polarize opinion on a topic as localized and unpolitical as amateur sports leagues. Luckily, the Dutch national soccer association, the KNVB disagrees: “Soccer plays a significant role in integration in the Netherlands,” it claimed in a statement responding to the ban.
‘Jews against EDL’ organiser explains why she opposes pro-Israel racists
On Sunday the English Defence League mobilised outside the Israeli embassy for a rally in support of Israel with the guest speaker being Rabbi Nachum Shifren of The Tea Party, USA.
When I found out about the rally, which I was told was organised by the small but particularly vocal Jewish division of the EDL, I was fuming.
I felt there had to be a counter demonstration. So a few friends and I started organised one.
The EDL said of the event “we sympathise with what Israel are going through, it’s the only country in the west that is tackling the issues we highlight”. They go on to say… “our fore-fathers fought a Nazi regime and won to protect our god given human rights, we cannot allow such fascist ideologies try to rule our streets once again using the same racist tactics”.
The EDL dare to use the language of anti-Fascism to legitimise their political agenda. Speaking as a Jewish person, the idea that they would attack minorities and say they are doing it in part to protect and honor Jewish history is obscene.
Siobhan Schwartzberg at Liberal Conspiracy, 26 October 2010
See also “Protesters: ‘EDL lies when it says it speaks for Jewish people'”, UAF, 25 October 2010
Geller pitches new book – a ‘how-to guide to fight creeping sharia’
Pamela Geller has submitted a proposal for a new book to various publishers. Entitled Stop Islamization of America: A Practical Guide for the Resistance, it will provide a “how-to guide to fight the creeping sharia in our schools, towns, culture, government, and economy. It will elucidate the stealth infiltration of Islamic supremacism into every aspect of American life and show Americans how to fight back.”
Elon Green has the details at Think Progress.
Who’s making money out of Islamophobia?
Steven Emerson has 3.39 million reasons to fear Muslims.
That’s how many dollars Emerson’s for-profit company – Washington-based SAE Productions – collected in 2008 for researching alleged ties between American Muslims and overseas terrorism. The payment came from the Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation, a nonprofit charity Emerson also founded, which solicits money by telling donors they’re in imminent danger from Muslims.
Emerson is a leading member of a multimillion-dollar industry of self-proclaimed experts who spread hate toward Muslims in books and movies, on websites and through speaking appearances.
Leaders of the so-called “anti-jihad” movement portray themselves as patriots, defending America against radical Islam. And they’ve found an eager audience in ultra-conservative Christians and mosque opponents in Tennessee. One national consultant testified in an ongoing lawsuit aimed at stopping a new Murfreesboro mosque.
The Tennessean, 24 October 2010
An interesting article by Bob Smietana, examining the highly profitable Islamophobia industry in the US. In addition to Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism, Smietana also deals with the Nashville-based Center for the Study of Political Islam, Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy, Jihad Watch, ACT! For America and the American Congress for Truth.
Via LoonWatch
Dutch Labour leader says prime minister is in thrall to Wilders
Dutch Labour leader Job Cohen has accused Prime Minister Mark Rutte of being inconsistent about government ministers with dual nationality. Labour has been in opposition since the swearing in of a new right-wing cabinet earlier this month.
Mr Cohen is demanding an apology for a remark made by the current Prime Minister in 2007, when he was a member of the opposition. At the time, free-market liberal Mark Rutte said that Labour Deputy Minister Nebahat Albayrak, who is of Turkish descent, should give up her Turkish passport in favour of her Dutch one. But three years on, Mr Rutte himself appointed a deputy Health minister with dual Dutch and Swedish nationality, saying he “saw no problem” in doing so.
Labour leader Cohen told national dailies de Volkskrant and AD on Monday that as early as 2007, Mr Rutte appeared to have been in thrall to Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party. The Freedom party got 15 percent of the votes in the general election on 9 June 2010 on a nationalist, anti-Islam platform. Mr Wilders’ 24 MPs currently hold a key position, voting with Mr Rutte’s minority right-wing government without being part of it.
Mr Cohen criticised the influence of the Freedom Party on the new government’s policies: “What their programme boils down to is that ‘we don’t want those Muslims here, we can do without them’. I’m concerned about this. The government’s view is threatening an entire section of the Dutch population with exclusion.”
Simon Hughes condemns Tory boycott of GPU
The Liberal Democrat deputy leader has criticised the eleventh-hour withdrawal of the Conservative Party Chairwoman from a prominent Muslim conference, amid claims she had been banned from attending by the Tories.
Baroness Warsi, the most senior Muslim in government, pulled out of a planned speech at the Global Peace and Unity (GPU) event in London on Sunday.
Mrs Warsi was said to be “very upset” not to speak, sparking allegations the decision was made by Conservative Party officials who felt other speakers at the conference may be deemed controversial or extremist.
In a thinly-veiled attack on the Conservatives Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, speaking at the conference, said: “I am aware some people say this event is controversial. I have a message to you and to my colleagues in Parliament. I always believe it is better for people of every background to engage with the Muslim community, not to walk away.”
In his speech at the Excel conference centre, East London, he said: “I want to make it very clear that we were privileged to accept this invitation. I hope that in future years all the political parties will be here at this event.” At a press conference after his speech, Mr Hughes added: “I think it is unfortunate that our Conservative colleagues are not represented.”
Mohamed Ali, chair of the GPU foundation, said Mrs Warsi’s non-appearance was a “very bad example” from a leading member of the Muslim community and former Muslim activist. He said: “Every single school of thought in the Muslim community in the United Kingdom is represented here and they banned her from coming. It’s a shame on them.”
Daily Telegraph, 25 October 2010
See also Daily Mail, 25 October 2010
Birmingham spy cameras to be dismantled
More than 200 cameras targeted at Muslim suburbs of Birmingham as part of a secret counter-terrorism initiative are to be dismantled, it emerged today.
The West Midlands police chief constable, Chris Sims, said he believed all cameras installed as part of the £3m surveillance initiative should be taken down to rebuild trust with local Muslims.
The scheme, Project Champion, was shelved less than six months ago when an investigation by the Guardianrevealed police had misled residents into believing the cameras were to be used to combat vehicle crime and antisocial behaviour.
In fact, the CCTV and automatic number plate reading (ANPR) cameras were installed as part of a programme run by the force’s counter-terrorism unit with the consent of the Home Office and MI5.
Police failed to obtain statutory clearance for around a third of the cameras, which were covert. After the Guardian‘s investigation, bags were placed over the cameras, which had been installed in Sparkbrook and Washwood Heath.
In a statement, Sims said: “I believe that the support and the confidence of local communities in West Midlands police is the most important thing for us in the fight against crime and terrorism. We can fight crime and the threat posed by terrorism far more effectively by working hand in hand with local people, rather than alienating them through a technological solution which does not have broad community support.”
Sims made no reference to the legal action he would have faced if he let the scheme continue. The civil rights organisation Liberty wrote to the force last week, threatening to commence judicial review proceedings at the high court unless the force agreed within 14 days to “dismantle the full surveillance infrastructure”.
See also ENGAGE, 25 October 2010
Update: See “Victory for no to spy camera campaign!” by Birmingham councillor Salma Yaqoob.
Anti-Muslim groups gain ground in Britain and in Europe
Deutsche Welle examines the rise of the English Defence League against a background of growing anti-Muslim sentiment across Europe.
Ranting from the right obscures need for immigration and success of multiculturalism
Haroon Siddiqui replies to Angela Merkel and her Canadian co-thinkers.