Joanna Sugden interviews Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Sinking to disgrace
Seth Freedman responds to an email campaign among the Jewish community calling for a ban on the so-called “mega-mosque” at Abbey Mills in East London:
“… for sections of the Jewish public not only to stay silent on the issue, but actively to jump aboard, is as abhorrent as it is absurd. For my part, I couldn’t care less one way or the other whether the mosque is built, since it has absolutely nothing to do with me and its erection wouldn’t impact on my world in the slightest. If the Jews campaigning against it can’t see that, then they’ve allowed their paranoid delusions to run away with them. It’s a mosque, for heaven’s sake, not an al-Qaida training camp. For Jews to cry wolf when a mosque is planned demonstrates how very completely they have tarred the entire Muslim community with the same demonising brush.
“And, if the tables were turned and a super-synagogue was scheduled to be built in the middle of Golders Green, you can bet that those Jews expressing outrage today would be the ones dancing in the streets when the new shul opened its doors. They wouldn’t complain for an instant that the money could be better spent on the NHS or London transport. They wouldn’t bat an eyelid at how many incoming tourists would notice the complex dominating the London skyline as their plane descended through the clouds. And they certainly wouldn’t stand idly by as a barrage of hate-filled emails raced around the country calling for the public to take up their cudgels and derail the project.”
‘Wearing of burkas is a threat to our way of life’
In today’s lead article the Daily Express tells its readers that the burka (they mean the niqab – but, hey, why bother with accuracy when it comes to “foreign” clothing) “is becoming the Islamic equivalent of the mugger’s hooded top or the armed robber’s balaclava. Anyone sincerely wishing to integrate into the British way of life would never wear such an alien and threatening outfit…. Make no mistake, the proliferation of burka-wearing is a direct threat to the British way of life and in all too many instances is intended to be just that”.
The front page is devoted to whipping up panic over the Al Muhajiroun demo outside the Old Bailey: “This was the extraordinary scene on the streets of Britain yesterday as burka-clad protestors demanded the release of four extremists. Swarming outside the Old Bailey, the Muslim hate mob poured scorn on the nation that guarantees their freedoms.”
Judging by the Express‘s own photographs, the “mob” that was “swarming” outside the court would appear to have consisted of about six people. And of course the Express fails to inform its readers that Al Muhajiroun is a tiny and irrelevant group whose supporters these days can probably be numbered in dozens.
Check out the comments following the article for the sort of far-right racists who are encouraged by this disgraceful, irresponsible excuse for journalism.
See also Five Chinese Crackers, 19 July 2007
Islamophobia – alarming statements
Sheila Musaji provides an update of anti-Muslim bigotry in the USA.
A malicious campaign
Amid alarmist and misleading stories, more than 260,000 people have signed a petition against a so-called “mega mosque” in East London. Inayat Bunglawala examines a piece of BNP-inspired scaremongering.
See also BBC News, 17 July 2007 and the Guardian, 19 July 2007
You know you’re an Islamophobe when…
Osama Saeed replies to Tom Gallagher’s article at Open Democracy.
Tatchell’s Russian ally
A correspondent questions the relationship between Peter Tatchell of the gay rights group OutRage! and the right-wing Russian politician Alexey Mitrofanov.
Who ought to be Mayor?
“Who ought to be Mayor? The man with the vision who says: ‘I am proud of London’s reputation as the most diverse city in the world where the contribution all communities is celebrated and people’s freedom of religious expression is respected as it is one of the most essential of our civil liberties. Attacks on the rights of Muslim people to express their faith as they choose are ultimately a threat to everybody’s rights to freedom of religious and cultural expression. It should be the right of every individual to be able live their life as they wish, so long as it does not do harm to any other individual. This ability to be who you are and live as you choose is what has made London a magnet for people bringing their ideas and energy to make this the successful and dynamic city that it is’ (Ken Livingstone, June 2007).
“Or the right wing toff who believes, ‘The disaster is that we no longer make any real demands of loyalty upon those who are immigrants or the children of immigrants…. So we have drifted … and created a multi-cultural society that has many beauties and attractions, but in which too many Britons have absolutely no sense of allegiance to this country or its institutions. It is a cultural calamity that will take decades to reverse, and we must begin now with what I call in this morning’s Spectator the re-Britannification of Britain. That means insisting, in a way that is cheery and polite, on certain values that we identify as British. If that means the end of spouting hate in mosques, and treating women as second-class citizens, then so be it. We need to acculturate the second-generation Muslim communities to our way of life, and end the obvious alienation that they feel. That means the imams will have to change their tune, and it is no use the Muslim Council of Great Britain endlessly saying that “the problem is not Islam”, when it is blindingly obvious that in far too many mosques you can find sermons of hate, and literature glorifying 9/11 and vilifying Jews’ (Boris Johnson, July 2005).”
Dr Jamil Sherif at Salaam blogs, 16 July 2007
See also earlier comments by Yusuf Smith. And see here for an example of the sort of bigoted anti-Muslim article that the Spectator featured during Johnson’s stint as editor.
Bringing back the caliphate
A poll shows that people in Muslim countries support the idea of a caliphate – but even more of them want democracy. Inayat Bunglawala argues that the one does not necessarily contradict the other.
Police call for ‘Guantanamo-style’ powers
Police call for ‘Guantanamo-style’ powers
By Louise Nousratpour
Morning Star, 16 July 2007
CONCERNS about overt political campaigning by police bosses mounted on Sunday, after chief constables demanded the power to lock up “terror suspects” indefinitely.
Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) president Ken Jones inflamed the debate over detention without trial when he called for more police powers to hold suspects for “as long as it takes.”
He complained that police were “up against the buffers on the 28-day limit,” which is already the longest period of pre-charge detention in any Western country, including the United States.
The matter was reportedly discussed in meetings between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and senior police officers.
The new Premier, who has already signalled his desire to extend the draconian 28-day limit, is believed to be supportive of the ACPO proposals.
His predecessor Tony Blair was defeated in the Commons two years ago when he tried to introduce a 90-day detention period, which was also floated by notorious Metropolitan Police chief Ian Blair.
The ongoing politicisation of senior police officers in recent years has alarmed politicians and civil rights groups alike, who told the force on Sunday to “stay out of politics” and “remember your place” in a democratic society.
They warned that the latest police proposals would amount to Northern Ireland-style internment of the 1970s and would lead to the creation of a Guantanamo Bay-type prison on British soil.
Within 48 hours of the introduction of internment for IRA members in August 1971, mass protests broke out which left 17 dead. Violence and protests continued throughout that year and peaked on January 30 1972 – known as Bloody Sunday, recalled campaigners.
Britain last used internment during the first Gulf war to harass Iraqi exiles accused of links with Saddam Hussein’s state apparatus.