Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

LAGCAR statement on ‘March for Free Expression’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lesbian and Gay activists say “Don’t support the BNP” – the truth about the Freedom of Expression rally

LGBT activists have expressed deep concerns at the Freedom of Expression rally due to take place this Saturday. The event has received support from fascist group the BNP, and “Civil Liberty” which is co-ordinated by BNP regional organiser Kevin Scott, who holds convictions for assault and using threatening words and behaviour(1). The BNP is calling the forthcoming local elections a “referendum on Islam”.

LGBT activists have expressed concerns that some Lesbian and Gay organisations, and other mainstream figures, could be seen to lend legitimacy to the event. Speakers billed as appearing include Peter Tatchell, GALHA (The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association), Dr. Evan Harris and the British Institute of Human Rights. The event is also supported by UKIP, whose London Mayoral candidate Frank Maloney remarked that he didn’t intend to visit the north London borough of Camden because there were “too many gays” there. Godfrey Bloom, UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, who was selected to represent his party on the European Parliament’s women’s rights committee, has argued that “no self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age”.

The Libertarian Alliance Director Sean Gabb is also billed as speaking. He defended the right to free speech of an evangelical Christian in Sweden who had been convicted under that country’s anti-hatred legislation after describing homosexuality as “abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumour in the body of society”. The Libertarian Alliance also states that “the Commission for Racial Equality and all similar organisations should be abolished, and their records burned”, and that all the legislation making racial discrimination illegal should also be abolished.

An Imaan spokesperson said: “We are deeply concerned that LGBT people and organisations appear to be supporting this rally. Our members support freedom of expression and free speech, but this is being exploited by this demo which appears to be aligning elements in society which have singled out the Muslim community, under the guise of ‘free expression’. Organisers of the march were encouraging supporters to bring placards with the Danish cartoons on them, which caused deep offence to the Muslim community for their racist caricatures. They have since backed down, but we are concerned about a number of comments posted by individuals to their website that seem to be reacting to this decision in a way that we feel is hostile towards Islam; this seems to be revealing the real intentions of some of those intending to march under the banner of ‘Freedom of Expression’. Any hostilities whipped up against the Muslim community have a direct impact on LGBT Muslims who suffer from Islamophobia. We call on everyone in the LGBT community to show solidarity with us against Islamophobia at this difficult time.”

Denis Fernando of the Lesbian and Gay Coalition Against Racism said:

“Peter Tatchell has issued a statement regarding his addressing of the demo stating ‘In January, I challenged Sir Iqbal Sacranie of the Muslim Council of Britain when he denounced homosexuality as immoral, harmful and diseased. But I did not seek to ban him, nor did I support calls for his prosecution. I defended Sir Iqbal’s right to free speech. Will he and his fellow MCB leaders now defend my right to freedom of expression?’ However, Peter Tatchell and Outrage actually called for Iqbal Sacranie and the MCB to be withdrawn from the Unite Against Fascism conference(2), which brought together all those who oppose the disturbing growth of the BNP, including Muslims and LGBT activists. Peter Tatchell is now speaking at a rally which is being built and supported by the BNP and the Libertarian Alliance. This is of serious concern to the LGBT movement. In areas where the BNP are active, racist and homophobic incidents increase.”

For more information contact Lesbian and Gay Coalition Against Racism
lagcar@hotmail.co.uk

1: source – BBC News
2: source – www.petertatchell.net

BNP supports ‘March for Free Expression’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Freedom of expression has been in the news in recent weeks and attempts by both the State and extremist Islamicists to stifle freedom of expression have come under the spotlight in the wake of the Nick Griffin and Mark Collett trial in January and the recent furore over the publication of satirical cartoons featuring Mohammed. Freedom of expression has been in the news in recent weeks and attempts by both the State and extremist Islamicists to stifle freedom of expression have come under the spotlight in the wake of the Nick Griffin and Mark Collett trial in January and the recent furore over the publication of satirical cartoons featuring Mohammed.

“On Saturday in central London a wide range of political, religious and lobby groups will be taking part in a protest rally to affirm the importance of free expression in frank and honest debate, including the freedom to criticise and mock religions and faiths. The BNP, the only political party which champions free speech backs the protest and we have also been made aware that Civil Liberty supporters will be present to demonstrate against the encroaching intolerance of Marxism and militant Islamicists.”

BNP news article, 23 March 2006

To quote Nick Cohen’s boost for the “March for Free Expression” in last Sunday’s Observer: “Fortunately, the British National Party is nowhere to be seen and the rally will be filled with democratic leftists, Liberal Democrats, secularists and Iranian and Saudi Arabian dissidents.”

See also Salma Yaqoob’s post on the Guardian’s Comment is Free, 23 March 2006

Church recalls ‘Prophet’ magazine

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Church in Wales has appealed to 500 subscribers to its magazine to return their copies after it printed a cartoon satirising the Prophet Muhammad. The editor has resigned after the cartoon was published in the Church’s Welsh-language magazine Y Llan.

The drawing – which was from the French magazine France Soir – satirises the Prophet Muhammad by depicting him sitting on a heavenly cloud with Buddha, and Christian and Jewish deities. He is being told “don’t complain…we’ve all been caricatured here”.

The Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan wrote to Y Llan‘s approximately 500 subscribers asking them to return their copies, which he said would be reprinted without the cartoon. Dr Morgan also personally contacted Saleem Kidwai, the Muslim Council of Wales’ general secretary, to apologise and to assure him that no offence had been intended.

BBC News, 21 March 2006

The Church showing admirable concern for the culture and sensibilities of the Welsh Muslim community? Surely this is a case for Dhimmi Watch?

Postscript:  Yes, predictably, here it is.

Danish cartoons: racism has no place on the left

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“I’ve just about had it. I cannot watch one more episode of the Daily Show which makes racist jokes about Arabs and Muslims. I am sick and tired of people who see themselves as part of the left writing articles that put a liberal gloss over what is, in essence, a right-wing ‘clash of civilizations’ argument. And I am fed up with an anti-war movement in the United States that will do nothing to defend Muslims against all the attacks they have faced both domestically and internationally. So, I feel compelled to speak out against the steady rightward drift among sections of the left since 9/11 on the question of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism. The Danish cartoon controversy, and the anemic response by the left in this country, is only the latest example of this drift.”

Deepa Kumar in MRZine, 21 February 2006

Franklin Graham reaffirms scorn for Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Franklin_GrahamThe Rev. Franklin Graham, who outraged Muslims in 2001 when he said that Islam “is a very evil and wicked religion,” told an interviewer for Wednesday’s edition of ABC News “Nightline” that he hasn’t changed his mind about the faith. Asked by ABC correspondent John Donvan whether Muslim groups had succeeded in altering his outlook about Islam, Graham said “No.”

“Do they want to indoctrinate me? Yes. I know about Islam. I don’t need an education from Islam,” he said. “If people think Islam is such a wonderful religion, just go to Saudi Arabia and make it your home. Just live there. If you think Islam is such a wonderful religion, I mean, go and live under the Taliban somewhere. I mean, you’re free to do that.”

Franklin Graham is the successor to his father as head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, based in Charlotte, N.C. He was interviewed in New Orleans, where Franklin and Billy were leading an evangelistic festival.

CAIR news release, 18 March 2006

UN: Denmark acted irresponsibly in cartoon crisis

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, which prepared a report about the cartoon crisis, breaking out after the publication of insulting images of Prophet Muhammad, accused the Danish government of acting irresponsibly during the crisis period. UN Higher Commissioner Louis Arbour’s special reporter Doudou Diene made harsh criticisms in his report about the Danish government and intellectuals along with the Danish daily Jyllands Posten, which published the blasphemous images first. The report stressed that “beliefs should not be humiliated under the veil of freedom of expression” as it dwelled on the importance of fighting against Islamophobia.

Diene remarked that xenophobia and taking sides before Islam reached an “alarming” level in Denmark with the publication of the insulting images admitting that, “When political leaders do not fulfill their responsibility about xenophobia and insult to religion, Europe has entered a path, which will confirm the thesis of “clash of civilizations”. The reporter emphasized that Jyllands Posten daily attacked Muslim believers by “showing Islam equal to terrorism”, which is an old prejudice and it acted under the veil of auto-censorship and freedom of expression. “The cartoons are absolutely insulting” said the reporter as he directed his criticisms towards the Anders Fogh Rasmussen government, which did not fulfill its responsibility. Diene’s report highlighted the violation of international agreements by the Danish government guaranteeing freedom of expression and respect to thoughts and beliefs.

Zaman, 19 March 2006

Is Muslim immigration to Europe a conspiracy?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“In The Force of Reason, the controversial Italian journalist and novelist Oriana Fallaci illuminates one of the central enigmas of our time. How did Europe become home to an estimated 20 million Muslims in a mere three decades?”

More racism in the form of wacko conspiracy theories in LA Weekly, 15 March 2006

For a comment by American socialist Louis Proyect, in which he attacks the “left” Islamophobia that is as rife in the US as it is in the UK, see here.

Telegraph accused of capitulation to ‘Islamic threat’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Noble Qur'anThe latest cause célèbre adopted by right-wing bloggers in their campaign to defend free speech (i.e. the right to vilify Muslims) is the Sunday Telegraph‘s decision to remove from its website an interview by Alasdair Palmer with Patrick Sookhdeo, head of the Christian evangelical organisation the Barnabas Fund, which originally appeared in the 19 February issue of the paper. The Telegraph has explained that this was for “legal reasons”.

The “legal reasons” undoubtedly refer to Sookhdeo’s attack on the book The Noble Qur’an: A New Rendering of its Meaning in English. “It calls for the killing of Jews and Christians”, Palmer’s article quoted Sookhdeo as saying, “and it sets out a strategy for killing the infidels and for warfare against them. The Government has done nothing whatever to interfere with the sale of that book. Why not? Government ministers have promised to punish religious hatred, to criminalise the glorification of terrorism, yet they do nothing about this book, which blatantly does both.”

The book named by Sookhdeo is a highly-regarded translation of the Qur’an by Abdalhaqq and Aisha Bewley. His attack, which provoked an international outcry, was plainly libellous, and it would appear that the Bewleys asked for, and received, a retraction by the Telegraph. (For details, see here, here and here.)

For the Islamophobic inhabitants of the blogosphere, the removal of the article from the Telegraph site is just another example of western capitulation to the “Islamic threat”. Western Resistance, the Infidel Bloggers Alliance and Exit Zero are among the blogs that have reprinted the Sookhdeo interview, all in the interests of freedom of expression, you understand. Hopefully the Bewleys will sue the lot of them.

The Infidel Bloggers site goes so far as to claim that, by publicising and denouncing the Sookhdeo interview, Islamophobia Watch was responsible for the sacking of former Sunday Telegraph editor Sarah Sands. Publishing Alasdair Palmer’s article without checking the facts may have been an act of incompetence on Sands’ part, but we doubt this was the cause of her dismissal. A rather more pressing reason was the continuing decline in the paper’s circulation that accompanied her nine-month period as editor.

New polls show negative perception of Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The first time Glenn Koehler can remember learning about Muslims and the Islamic faith was in September 1972, when a Palestinian terrorist group called Black September murdered 11 Israeli hostages during the Olympics in Munich, Germany. “Then the second was Sept. 11,” Koehler said. “So there’s really been no pleasant introductions.”

Koehler is a 58-year-old Fremont engineer. He describes himself as a Lutheran, politically conservative and a registered Republican who receives much of his news from the Drudge Report, Michael Savage and the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocacy group for Christian rights. He does not have Muslim friends, and he says he agrees with the statements that Muslims teach their children to hate unbelievers, Muslims value life less than other people and Islam teaches violence and hatred.

Koehler is not alone. Two polls released last week indicate almost half of Americans have a negative perception of Islam, and one in four of those surveyed have extreme anti-Muslim views.

An independent survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations shows 23 to 27 percent of all Americans believe Muslims value life less than other people and that Islam teaches violence and hatred. The survey also showed only 6 percent of Americans have a positive first impression of Islam and Muslims. A similar poll released by the Washington Post and ABC News found that one in four Americans “admitted to harboring prejudice toward Muslims,” and 46 percent had a negative view of Islam, a 7 percent jump since the months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

When asked to respond to the open-ended question, “When you hear the word ‘Muslim,’ what is the first thought that comes to your mind?” Koehler said: “Religion of death.”

The Argus, 13 March 2006