“The latest Channel 4 expose makes excitable and contradictory claims. In a sample of 1,000 Muslims, one-in-four said the London bombings were ‘justified’ yet only eight people ‘maintained a very hard line’. Eighty per cent apparently said anyone who protected a terrorist was as guilty as the perpetrator…. the programme shows many Muslims believe we have not been given the whole truth about 11 September and the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Millions of non-Muslims are sceptical too – including beef eating, American mid-westerners.

“Snow – a journalist I admire unreservedly – is reported as saying: ‘For the moment, British Muslims are on side.’ What side? I am not on side, if it means agreeing to the immoral and racist foreign policies of the UK and US axis. Many militant Muslims are not ignorant, fanatical worshippers, but people with eyes wide open, staring at political duplicity…..

“To claim, as our power merchants do, that only murderous Muslims are furious about western actions serves our leaders well. To dwell on Islam and Muslims as the causes of all turmoil, to paint us as malevolent deviants serves them better still, permitting them to scythe through freedoms and choices which otherwise would never be surrendered in democratic societies.

“In his sober essay ‘In the Streets of Londonistan’ (London Review of Books) the lawyer John Upton wrote: ‘A black cloud of Islamist terror is said to be hanging over the Western world and specific causes of violence and discontent have disappeared into it. Instead we promote the idea that all acts of violence involving Arabs or Muslims, if seen from the correct (that is to say US inspired) angle, will fit together like a jigsaw to form an image of Osama bin Laden… If this is a war, as the Neocons and Blairite hawks would have us believe, it is being fought as much in the realm of ideology and words as in the realm of explosive shoes and ricin laboratories. It is a propaganda war of shadowy unprovables….’

“And part of this propaganda war of shadowy unprovables is to pore over and pronounce endlessly on Muslim alienation to prove that we are indeed aliens, unable to live as quiet citizens, always suspect, devious and determined to destroy the place that once gave us shelter.”

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in the Independent, 7 August 2006

“While constantly pointing the finger at Muslims and denying any part in the spread of terrorism, this arrogant rhetoric of neoliberal militantism, which goes hand in hand with military aggression on the ground, is terrorism’s chief recruiter and the greatest threat to Britain’s national security.”

Soumaya Ghannoushi replies to Blair’s “arc of extremism” speech.

Guardian, 5 August 2006

Hyped media reporting on terrorism increases Islamophobia, according to a new study by social psychologists at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The study, the first of its kind in Britain, analysed the psychological reasons behind the reported rise in Islamophobia and how this is linked with a perceived threat to national identity. The research, which follows a similar one undertaken in the US post 2001 attacks, drew the same conclusion. It concluded increased perception of national threat increased support for draconian strategies and immigration policies, including policies, which would reduce the civil liberties enjoyed by British Muslims.

The research, carried out before the July 7 attacks on London, highlights the key role the media play in reporting acts of terrorism. The study shows how media articles portraying the idea that “Islamic terrorism” constitutes a significant threat can lead to increases in Islamophobic prejudice, targeted not just at the terrorists, but all Muslims, especially those living in the UK.

Muslim News, 30 June 2006

“Hatred of Muslims resulting in abuse and vicious murderous attacks is not a new phenomenon. Contrary to popular belief 9/11 (and later 7/7) did not create Islamophobia as it has always existed. Rather it can be said to have been ‘outed’ since 9/11 when it could no longer be denied.

“In some quarters Islamophobia has been accepted as an element of racism but others do not believe it exists at all. While there remains ambivalence to recognising and understanding Islamophobia and its institutional manifestations we will not be able to address it strategically and institutionally. There is no doubt that discrimination and attacks are sometimes motivated by a combination of racism and Islamophobia but quite often they are simply inspired by a pure hatred of Islam and Muslims.”

Khalida Khan on the BLINK website, 27 July 2006

Letter from Ali Mangera, Mangera Yvars Architects, in the Evening Standard, 25 July 2006:

“REGARDING your report on the Islamic Centre project at Abbey Mills, we would like to make clear that it has nothing to do with any radical group, including the London bombers (17 July). Those men could have attended any number of mosques, but certainly did not attend our Abbey Mills site. The building is designed as a prototype for sustainable development and a community resource with exhibition spaces, restaurants and public gardens. Our aim is to create dialogue between peoples and provide an inclusive centre open to all faiths, which is particularly relevant to London today.”

Architects at the London Islamic Centre have hit out at allegations linking the centre with the 7/7 bombers. In a stinging letter to the Evening Standard newspaper, Ali Mangera of Mangera Yvars Architects said that no links could be made between the centre and the London bombers. Mangera said:

“We would like to make clear that our project has absolutely nothing to do with any radical group whatsoever including the London bombers. The bombers could have attended any number of mosques in their lifetime, but they certainly did not attend our site at Abbey Mills. As architects working closely with our clients, we have gone to great lengths to provide an inclusive project open to all faiths. It is inconceivable that a public building and landmark project of this type could be built by any radical group.”

The Islamic Centre, based in Abbey Mills, will initially provide 10,000 prayer spaces, and a maximum of 20,000 in phase two of the project.

Developers Illyas Mosqu say that the scheme will provide access across the site to the Olympics Stadium from West Ham Station, the second station for Olympics visitors after Stratford.

Support for the project has already come in from London mayor Ken Livingstone, the London Development Agency, Newham Council, and Thames Gateway.

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