Is ideology or foreign policy responsible for the radicalisation of some Muslim youth? Inayat Bunglawala of the MCB offers a reasoned assessment.
Guardian Comment is Free, 15 August 2006
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Bush’s belief in a worldwide Islamist conspiracy is foolish and dangerous
Max Hastings takes issue with George Bush:
“In his regular radio address to the American people on Saturday he linked the British alleged aircraft plotters with Hizbullah in Lebanon, and these in turn with the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. All, said the president of the world’s most powerful nation, share a ‘totalitarian ideology’, and a desire to ‘establish a safe haven from which to attack free nations’…. In the United States a disturbingly large minority of people – polls suggest around 40% – remain willing to accept Bush’s assertions that Americans and their allies, which chiefly means the British, are faced with a single global conspiracy by Islamic fundamentalists to destroy our societies….
“Bush has chosen to lump together all violent Muslim opposition to what he perceives as western interests everywhere in the world, as part of a single conspiracy. He is indifferent to the huge variance of interests that drives the Taliban in Afghanistan, insurgents in Iraq, Hamas and Hizbullah fighting the Israelis. He simply identifies them as common enemies of the United States….
“Far from acknowledging that any successful strategy for addressing Muslim radicalism must include a just outcome for the Palestinians, he endorses Israel’s attempt to crush them and their supporters by force of arms alone, together with Israeli expansion on the West Bank….
“There is no chance that the west will get anywhere with the Muslim world until the US government is willing to disassemble a spread of grievances in widely diverse societies, examine them as separate components, and treat each on its merits…. The madness of Bush’s policy is that he has made a wilful choice to amalgamate the grossly irrational, totalitarian and homicidal objectives of al-Qaida with the just claims of Palestinians and grievances of Iraqis.
“Tony Blair … clings to a messianic conviction that he must continue to endorse American statements and policies to maintain his restraining influence on George Bush. This invites speculation about what the president might do if Tony was not at his elbow. Seize Mecca?”
ADC urges President to reject Pipes recess appointment
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today joined with other civil rights, peace and justice, Arab-American, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and inter-faith groups to urge President George W. Bush not to make a recess appointment of Daniel Pipes to the Board of Directors of the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) and withdraw his nomination. Press reports indicate a recess appointment of Pipes may be imminent.
Scepticism is needed
“The great war reporter Claud Cockburn, who advised journalists to never believe anything until it has been officially denied, must be turning in his grave at the performance of some in reporting the alleged planned terror attack on a number of planes travelling between Britain and America.
“The supine parroting of official truths provided by the police, the intelligence services and government has once again been to the fore among print and broadcast media. It was as though weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the attempted cover up of the Jean Charles De Menezes shooting in Stockwell and the raid by 250 police on a house in Forest Gate never happened. The historic memory of many reporters’ minds seems once again to have been wiped clean in the face of officialdom.
“As with past events the Islamophobic attitudes of many reporters were immediately on display showing a breathtaking ignorance of the Muslim community. Again, as at Forest Gate, reporters following up the story were seen suggesting that a person who had grown a beard or suddenly took a deeper interest in the Muslim religion was immediately suspect on that basis. The same reporters will no doubt be surprised when they then go to Muslim areas in the future and find they get a less than friendly welcome.”
Paul Donovan at Comment is Free, 14 August 2006
Outrage over Bush’s use of ‘fascist’ term
US President George W. Bush’s statement that the US is at war with “Islamic fascists” will deepen anti-American and anti-Western sentiments, a cross-section of expatriates contacted by Arab News said yesterday.
Describing the US president’s remarks as “ill-conceived” and “inappropriate”, expatriates from Britain, India and Pakistan said some hypermarkets in Riyadh had already withdrawn American products from their shelves in response to the US’ anti-Islam campaign. “By linking Islam with fascism, Bush is stoking the fire of hatred against his country and his people, besides further expanding the recruitment pool of extremists,” said the expatriates.
Giving his name only as Hamza, a British expatriate told Arab News that Bush’s remarks were racist. “Would the term fascist also apply to the members of other communities? We never speak of Christian fascists or Jewish fascists when they are involved in acts of terror. On what ground has the US president used the term with reference to Muslims?” he asked.
See also “Bush’s language angers US Muslims”, BBC News, 12 August 2006
Islamic fascists’ – is it another war on Islam and Muslims?
“The Muslim Association of Britain while condemning all types of terrorism, whether by an individual, group, or State, which targets the lives of innocents whatever the reasons, condemns the comments made by the American President George Bush, in which he said ‘America is at war with the Islamic fascists’, because we believe that such comments increase hatred of Muslims, isolates them, and gives yet another excuse for the targeting of the Muslim minority by extreme right-wing forces in the West.”
Police fears of threat to Muslims
The police have increased their presence in areas with Muslim populations in the UK to deter attacks after the latest terror arrests.
Officers are investigating a small fire at a mosque in Chester but say it is too early to say whether it was in response to the alleged terror plot. The small blaze was quickly extinguished and no-one was injured.
The head of the Muslim Council of Britain said Muslims were “fully behind” efforts to prevent attacks. Dr Mohammed Abdul Bari said the community supported curbs on terrorism, but warned of “a distance” growing between them and the police.
Peter Fahey, the communities and diversities spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), said forces would be “very alive” to any threats.
It’s undeniable: British foreign policy is endangering all of us
“A year ago I was appointed by the Home Office to be the convenor of a working group on tackling extremism and radicalisation. In its final report, the group accepted that extremism was a reality in some sections of the Muslim community and that it must be confronted and defeated….
“That same group also made it clear that foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, could not be left unconsidered as a factor in the motivations of extremists. We believed it was a key contributory factor. Now it was the Government’s turn to go into denial about whether some of its actions might have contributed to undermining our national security and making the terrorist threat worse.”
Inayat Bunglawala in the Times, 12 August 2006
Muslim leaders say foreign policy makes UK target
Leading UK Muslims have united to tell Tony Blair that his foreign policy in Iraq and on Israel offers “ammunition to extremists” and puts British lives “at increased risk”. An open letter signed by three of the four Muslim MPs, three of the four peers, and 38 organisations including the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Association of Britain, was greeted with dismay in Downing Street.
The letter says: “As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens. It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad.
“To combat terror the government has focused extensively on domestic legislation. While some of this will have an impact, the government must not ignore the role of its foreign policy.
“The debacle of Iraq and the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to the attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all.
“Attacking civilians is never justified. This message is a global one. We urge the prime minister to redouble his efforts to tackle terror and extremism and change our foreign policy to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion. Such a move would make us all safer.”
Lynch mob justice
“We are witnessing a new level of media hype surrounding the ‘terror plot’ bust which has already branded suspects as guilty. Black and Muslim communities are used to the rights of terror suspects being trampled over. Just look at Belmarsh.
“Increasingly anti-terror raids are accompanied by a barrage of sensational stories which risk undermining the right to a fair trial. Today’s operation has taken this trend to a new level. Journalists have already been tipped off about the streets in which the arrests have been made – leading to the inevitably intrusion into family lives. Whether innocent or guilty these families will find their business spread over the papers, becoming public enemy number one.
“This is not the way to run a system of justice. It is the justice of a lynch mob.”