A campaign to safeguard intellectual freedom has been formed in France to support a researcher who faces disciplinary action in connection with his work on Islamophobia.
The IRR reports on the case of Vincent Geisser.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Douglas Murray and Anjem Choudary – two self-publicists help each other out
Over at Comment is Free, Douglas Murray of the Centre for Social Cohesion tries to defend his decision to debate Anjem Choudary at a meeting at Conway Hall, London, organised by an al-Muhajiroun front calling itself the “Global Issues Society”.
The meeting was cancelled following a confrontation over al-Muhajiroun’s attempt to impose gender separation, resulting in lots of publicity for both Murray and Choudary.
Murray claims: “We were sceptical of GIS from the start. We strongly suspected that they were some sort of front group. But we couldn’t satisfactorily confirm the fact. Despite our concerns, and our knowledge that it was a possible ambush, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and decided to attend the event in good faith.”
According to Murray, he went to Conway hall with the highest motives, intent only on defending “religious pluralism, women’s rights, gay rights, and actual diversity in society”. It is, Murray asserts piously, “possible to chip away at the mindset of radicalised Muslims – sowing seeds of doubt. Even if it is just one member of the audience who is receptive to the anti-totalitarian possibility it is vital to do this. It is the reason why I debate.”
Yeah, right. This is the same Douglas Murray who in 2006 told the Pim Fortuyn Memorial Conference: “All immigration into Europe from Muslim countries must stop…. Conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board: Europe must look like a less attractive proposition.” Some defender of “actual diversity in society”!
Contrast Murray’s efforts at self-justification with Yayha Birt’s explanation of the CSC’s motives:
“the CSC says it acted in ‘good faith’ in accepting this invitation, an assertion that can’t be left unchallenged…. It seems probable that the CSC was more focused on highlighting their own campaign for a quick ban and burnishing their reputation as a scourge of radical Islam by playing up to al-Muhajiroun’s all-too-familiar tactics.”
Update: See Yusuf Smith’s comments at Indigo Jo Blogs, 21 June 2009
Will France ban the veil?
“Secularism is the religion of contemporary France. And the enforcers of that faith have a new target. ‘Today… we are confronted by certain Muslim women wearing the burqa, which covers and fully envelops the body and the head like a moving prison,’ said Andre Gérin, a Communist Party legislator who joined 57 others Wednesday in signing a motion for a parliamentary committee to study possible legislation to ban the wearing of the traditional costume in public….
“But what about the rights of Muslim women who honestly feel faith-bound to voluntarily don a burka? Or those prohibited by law from attending public school with the headscarfs they wear everywhere else? Why is no one ranting about nuns’ habits being ‘degrading’ (as Gerin called the burqa), just as no one lashed out at creeping extremism when then-First Lady Bernadette Chirac covered her head during Vatican visits?
“Probably because Catholicism has deep roots in French history and culture, and is not viewed as a foreign faith the way Islam is ….”
Bruce Crumley in Time, 19 June 2009
See also “Muslim council slams call for burqa inquiry”, AFP, 18 June 2009
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.
‘No, madam, it’s you who have offended MY values’
Writing in today’s Daily Mail, Allison Pearson introduces us the the concept of “Burkha Rage”, defined as shorthand for anger directed against Muslim women “taking the mickey out of our country and its tolerant ways”.
According to Pearson, Muslim women continue to exploit “our” tolerance, “despite a growing acceptance that multi-culturalism has been deeply damaging to race relations”. That would be as distinct from the positive contribution to race relations made by the Daily Mail and its columnists, would it?
Speaking of which, arising out of Pearson’s column, the Mail is today running a poll on “Should immigrants be forced to respect British culture?”
See also ENGAGE.
Kafa/Enough launch meeting
Kafa*/Enough Launch Meeting
Defend the Muslim community
Friday 26 June 6.30pm
Bishopsgate Institute, Bishopsgate, London EC1
(Opposite Liverpool St tube)
*Kafa is Arabic for enough
Speakers include:
George Galloway MP, Daud Abdullah, Diane Abbott MP, Anas al Tikriti, Ismael Patel, Lindsey German
Obama’s Cairo speech: a rhetorical shift in US imperialism
“At root, Obama’s Cairo speech heralds a decisive shift in the rhetoric of U.S. imperialism. It marks a recognition that the virulent Islamophobic rhetoric of the Bush regime has failed and that it is necessary to begin a process of rebuilding the U.S.’s image in Muslim-majority countries.”
An interesting analysis by Deepa Kumar in MRZine.
We must chart our own course on sharia
Sara Khorshid provides some informed insights into the relationship between faith and democracy in Egypt.
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.