Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Fascists attack Jon Cruddas

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jon Cruddas (2)The BNP’s front organisation Civil Liberty launches an attack on Dagenham Labour MP Jon Cruddas:

“Jon Cruddas MP recently spoke at the Islamophobia rally and also at the CRE’s Race Convention, both in London. He called for an amnesty for illegal entrants and bogus asylum-seekers. He has also supported a special house building programme for illegal migrants….

“Incredibly, Mr Cruddas is a candidate for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party once John Prescott steps down. Other candidates include Harriett Harman, former legal officer of Liberty, our sister [sic] ‘human rights’ group, and wife of the Labour party treasurer, Jack Dromey.”

Civl Liberty news report, 14 December 2006

Watch Jon Cruddas’s speech to the 20 November anti-Islamophobia rally here.

Over 100 prisons identified worldwide for illegal detention in ‘War on Terror’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Disappearances in the War on Terror have formed an integral part of the Bush administration’s programme of secret detention.

This latest report by Cageprisoners: Beyond the Law: The War on Terror’s Secret Network of Global Detentions, highlights the wide-reaching extent of those countries that house these detainees, generally at the behest of the US government. The report shows that out of the 120 prisons identified worldwide, 72 have been, or are currently being used by the US to interrogate detainees.

By piecing together statements of released detainees, work of investigative journalists and human rights organisations, we provide the most definitive and up to date list of prisons used in the “War on Terror”.

Commenting on the findings of the report, Manfred Nowak, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, wrote, “… Cageprisoners publishes a comprehensive report which reveals the systematic practice of enforced disappearances in a global network of secret places of detention.”

Further the Chair of the British Institute of Human Rights, Geoffrey Bindman, states that in the policies of the War on Terror, “This report is directed at one glaringly disgraceful element in that strategy: the detention without charge or trial and the physical abuse of those suspected of involvement in terrorism.”

Cageprisoners press release, 13 December 2006

Racist BNP foiled over school ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

bnp-islam-posterBritish National Party councillors have been branded a “bunch of racists” after they attempted to ban halal meat from borough schools in Barking & Dagenham. Jeanne Alexander, the borough’s executive councillor for children services, made the outburst as the assembly examined a raft of controversial proposals tabled by the far right party.

Councillors were asked to consider banning halal meat from schools, Islamic headdress from public buildings and flying the union flag throughout the year. But the 12 BNP councillors elected to the council earlier this year did not have enough political weight to push through any of the proposals last week. All of their 12 motions were either defeated or amended beyond recognition by the Labour party.

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Muslims fear being used as scapegoats in Australian election

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic leaders believe the Federal Government will use the community as scapegoats in next year’s federal election campaign. Their fears are heightened by the Government’s failure to release the report of Prime Minister John Howard’s hand-picked Muslim advisory group examining how to tackle extremism, terrorism and other issues facing the Muslim community.

Muslim Reference Group member Yasser Soliman said the Government was holding back the group’s report while sending critical messages to the wider community, and “some people can read between the lines”.

Mr Soliman, the past president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said he was baffled at the delay. “It is commonly said, and not only by Muslims, that the reason is, they want to position the Muslim community as refusing to integrate and not contributing to the nation, and this report might challenge a few of those perceptions,” he said.

Another reference group member, Yasmin Khan from Queensland, questioned whether the Government-appointed group had been a “charade”. “You wonder whether it highlights everything the (Muslim) community has been saying about the group, that we were the PM’s hand-picked Muslims, chosen as a rubber stamp.”

Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Waleed Aly said Muslims were certain they would have a major, though involuntary, role in the 2007 election. “Not only do Muslims have a suspicion that they will be pawns in the next election campaign, they now almost assume they will be. To them, it’s just a statement of fact.”

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Anti-Nazis humiliate the BNP in Dagenham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UAF demoAn attempt by the fascist British National Party (BNP) to hold a racist rally in Dagenham, east London, ended in its humiliation last Saturday.

Despite extensive leafleting in the borough, the Nazis only managed to attract around 70 people to their rally – and they were surrounded by over 400 anti-fascist protesters chanting slogans and jeering at them.

The anti-Nazi counter demonstration, called by Unite Against Fascism, drew a large, vibrant and diverse crowd of local residents, trade unionists, students and anti-racist activists. East London trade unions were particularly visible on the Unite demonstration, with banners from local branches of the GMB, T&G, RMT, PCS, NUT and Unison unions.

Richard Barnbrook, the leader of the BNP’s 12-strong council group in Barking & Dagenham, struggled to make himself heard to the small crowd gathered in a car park near Dagenham civic centre. His words were drowned out by the chorus of anger and derision from anti-fascists. The BNP supporters eventually filed away, visibly downcast and uncomfortable.

Socialist Worker, 16 December 2006

See also Unite Against Fascism news report, 12 December 2006

‘Speaking on our own terms’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Muslim women are fast becoming the battleground on which the future of Islam and Muslims in the UK and beyond is being fought. At his much-anticipated speech on the future of multiculturalism last Friday, Tony Blair recommended that the Equal Opportunities Commission open an official investigation into the kind of access women are given in Britain’s mosques. This of course was said in the same breath as he reiterated his support for Jack Straw’s now stale remarks on the face veil and announced sanctimoniously that face veils ought to be removed in jobs where to face-to-face communication is required.”

Q-News editor Fareena Alam at Comment is Free, 13 December 2006

‘Convert or die’ game divides US Christians

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Left BehindLiberal and progressive Christian groups say a new computer game in which players must either convert or kill non-Christians is the wrong gift to give this holiday season and that Wal-Mart, a major video game retailer, should yank it off its shelves.

The Campaign to Defend the Constitution and the Christian Alliance for Progress, two online political groups, plan to demand today that Wal-Mart dump Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a PC game inspired by a series of Christian novels that are hugely popular, especially with teens.

The series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins is based on their interpretation of the Bible’s Book of Revelation and takes place after the Rapture, when Jesus has taken his people to heaven and left nonbelievers behind to face the Antichrist.

Left Behind Games’ president, Jeffrey Frichner, says the game actually is pacifist because players lose “spirit points” every time they gun down nonbelievers rather than convert them. They can earn spirit points again by having their character pray.

In Left Behind, set in perfectly apocalyptic New York City, the Antichrist is personified by fictional Romanian Nicolae Carpathia, secretary-general of the United Nations and a People magazine “Sexiest Man Alive.” Players can choose to join the Antichrist’s team, but of course they can never win on Carpathia’s side. The enemy team includes fictional rock stars and folks with Muslim-sounding names, while the righteous include gospel singers, missionaries, healers and medics.

When asked about the Arab and Muslim-sounding names, Frichner said the game does not endorse prejudice. But “Muslims are not believers in Jesus Christ” – and thus can’t be on Christ’s side in the game. “That is so obvious,” he said.

San Francisco Chronicle, 12 December 2006

Are you thinking what Blair’s thinking? No!

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims and anti-racist campaigners united to condemn a speech by Tony Blair, which bashed immigrants. Critics said the Prime Minister had indulged in an “Enoch moment” by ordering immigrants to integrate or leave Britain.

Blair reserved his strongest attacks for Muslims; however leading Islamic academics hit back on the same day (last Friday 9th December) at a conference at London’s City Hall. The 200 delegates at the event “Islamophobic Hysteria: How Should Muslims Respond?” heard speakers express dismay at Blair’s speech.

BLINK news report, 12 December 2006

See also Simon Woolley, “The real sleepwalkers”, Comment is Free, 12 December 2007

Blair stirs up Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“On his return from Washington, Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a speech to a selected audience at his Downing Street residence. The subject of his remarks was not the criticisms made by the Iraq Study Group of US – and by implication British – foreign policy failures in Iraq. Instead he sought to deflect any examination of his criminal war policy by launching yet another provocative attack on Muslims….

“In a blatant infringement of religious and cultural liberties, Blair made clear his support for restrictions on the Muslim veil and implied his backing for the sacking of Aishah Azmi, a Muslim teaching assistant, for refusing to remove her veil in the classroom. ‘It really is a matter of plain common sense that when it is an essential part of someone’s work to communicate directly with people, being able to see their face is important’, he said.

“As to ‘equality’ for all citizens, this was further belied by Blair’s announcement that the Equal Opportunities Commission is to look at restrictions on women in place in some mosques. But he made no suggestion that some Anglican and Evangelical churches be subject to similar inquiries for their opposition to the ordination of women priests and their campaign against homosexual rights legislation, let alone the Catholic Church.”

World Socialist Web Site, 12 December 2006

Why did they torture Jose Padilla?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jose PadillaThere’s a rancid odor escaping from the cracks in the Jose Padilla case. Padilla is the American citizen arrested in Chicago and declared by President Bush to be an “enemy combatant.” He was then kept for nearly two years in a South Carolina brig without access to a lawyer, family or friends.

The courts finally forced the Bush administration to release Padilla into the justice system, and he is now imprisoned in Miami awaiting trial on charges that have nothing to do with what he was arrested for, an alleged plot to use a dirty bomb in the United States. It is claimed he had al Qaeda connections.

What makes this case so insidious is that, according to a psychiatrist who examined him over a 22-hour period, the treatment Padilla received in the South Carolina brig was such that he now “lacks the capacity to assist in his own defense.” In other words, a U.S. citizen was secretly worked over for 21 months to the point he is unable to think well enough to engage with his lawyer.

Philadelphia Daily News, 12 December 2006

See also George Monbiot in the Guardian, 12 December 2006