Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

‘Where is the Gandhi of Islam?’ Charles Moore wants to know

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“When Britain was afflicted by Irish republican terrorism, most Irish people repudiated that terrorism. It was nevertheless the case that the great majority of the terrorists – more than 95 per cent – were Irish, or of Irish origin, and they drew overwhelmingly on Irish people to help and hide them. This was not a funny coincidence. It was because the IRA preached a doctrine about Ireland and called on the loyalty of a perverted version of Irishness. Therefore, the words ‘Irish’ and ‘terrorist’ went together, hard though this was on the majority of Irish people…. So it must be with Muslims in Britain….

“We flap around, looking for moderates and giving them knighthoods, making placatory noises, putting bits of Islam on to the multi-faith menu in schools, banishing Bibles from hospital beds, trying to criminalise the expression of ‘religious hatred’, blaming George Bush and Tony Blair….

“If you look at the Koran, you will find many glorifications of violence. In Sura No 8, for example, God is quoted as saying: ‘I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers!’ This punishment comes to them for having ‘defied God and His apostle’. It seems reasonable to ask Muslims what this sort of remark means in the modern world….

“When did you last hear criticisms of named extremist groups and organisations by Muslim leaders, or support for their expulsion, imprisonment or extradition? How often do you see fatwas issued against suicide bombers and other terrorists, or statements by learned men declaring that people who commit such deeds will go to hell?… When did a British Muslim last go after a Muslim who advocates or practises violence with anything like the zeal with which so many went after Salman Rushdie?”

Charles Moore in the Daily Telegraph, 9 July 2005

Update:  See “We don’t need a Gandhi”, Indigo Jo Blogs. 12 July 2005

Putting Islam on the Stand

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In a recent criminal trial in Virginia, the prosecutor told the jury that the defendant couldn’t be trusted to tell the truth, that he would lie to their faces – all because of his religious beliefs.

The defendant, an American citizen accused of supporting terrorism, was convicted. The religion in question, of course, was Islam.

Now, the Virginia attorney representing Ali Al-Timimi is pushing for a new trial, saying that prosecutors secured the guilty verdict by appealing to religious bigotry against Muslims.

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Muslims fear hate attacks in wake of bombings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A backlash against British Muslims began almost immediately as news of the bomb explosions spread. The Muslim Council of Britain received more than 1,000 emails containing threats and messages of hate, several reading: “It’s now war on Muslims throughout Britain.”

Government planning for how to cope with a terrorist attack has included how police and the authorities will calm community tensions and crack down on any surge in hate crimes directed at British Muslims.

Last night an emergency meeting was held of the Muslim Safety Forum, where top police officers and representatives of Muslim communities meet to discuss the policing of terrorism and other issues.

Azad Ali, chair of the MSF, said: “This is the biggest test for community relations. The years of planning, of ifs and buts – now the time has come. Our concern is of the potential backlash. We have already received numerous reports of spitting, verbal abuse and attacks.”

Guardian, 8 July 2005

See also ‘Religion has no part in this’, by Sher Khan of the MCB: Guardian, 8 July 2005

And Tariq Ali, who argues that “The principal cause of this violence is the violence being inflicted on the people of the Muslim world. And unless this is recognised, the horrors will continue.” Also in the Guardian, 8 July 2005

Victims of terrorism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terrorism should be condemned absolutely, whether it is waged by a shadowy group placing bombs in buses and Tube trains or by powerful states that use high explosives and napalm to destroy entire cities, as was done to Fallujah.

Mr Blair berates the London bombers for their “desire to impose extremism on the world,” but he ignores their motivation, which has found expression in Madrid and now London.

That motivation is to retaliate against the actions of the US and its subservient allies, including Britain, to impose an imperialist world order that allows Washington to use force to dictate its will globally and to control scarce resources.

Editorial in the Morning Star, 8 July 2005

WPI blames ‘the Islamic movement’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Such attacks are part of the wretched and cruel track record of the Islamic movement against innocent people, which places bombs in public places, carries out assassinations, killings, torture, execution and repression.” Thus the Worker Communist Party of Iran on the London bombings.

Note the use of the term “the Islamic movement” – which conveniently blurs the distinctions between Islam, political Islamism in all its shades, and Islamist terrorist groups.

WPI press release, 8 July 2005

For an alternative assessment, which analyses the terrorist acts of violent jihadist groups in terms of the contradictions and conflicts within Islam and Islamism, read Marc Lynch. He argues that the London attacks arise in part from an attempt at reassertion by the terrorist tendency within Islamism, who had been increasingly marginalised by reformists such as Qaradawi and Huwaydi:

“The London attack can be seen as an attempt by al-Qaeda to impose itself on this internal argument among Islamists and Muslims in the way it knows best: a spectacular, violent attack. A throw of the dice – an attempt to turn the debate back to clashes of civilizations, of an inevitable conflict between the West and Islam, of war and mistrust and fear. To shut down any rapprochement between the West and moderate Islamism – the kind of rapprochement which threatens al-Qaeda and the radicals where it counts, among the Muslim umma.”

Abu Aardvark blog, 7 July 2005

Don’t blame AIDS on Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

It is hardly surprising that Muslims feel singled out for unfavorable categorization by the West. AIDS is a global threat which is ravaging Africa and threatens to do the same in populous Asia. But a supposedly concerned U.S. think-tank has chosen to present the threat in religious terms.

The report of the National Bureau of Asian Research entitled “Behind the Veil of a Public Health Crisis; HIV/AIDS in the Muslim world” proclaims that this is a “heretofore largely unexplored problem” and demands that “countries in the Muslim world tackle these problems now.” It sees the Muslim world as one and describes the spread of HIV among Muslims as “the newest phase in the global pandemic.”

Ironically, this attempt to link Islam and AIDS denial has coincided with a UNAIDS meeting in Kobe, Japan, focusing on the situation and outlook in Asia, which clearly shows how the issue cuts across all religious and political divides.

New York Times, 7 July 2005

Cf. ‘The Muslim face of AIDS’, Front Page Magazine, 7 July 2005

Muslims urged to stay indoors

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Fears that Muslims may be become the victims of reprisals following today’s London bombings have prompted a warning for them to stay indoors.

Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, appealed for calm and condemned the bombings. He said: “The Islamic Human Rights Commission utterly condemns this attack, but now we appeal that there should be no further victims as a result of reprisals.”

There was no immediate confirmation of who was responsible for the attacks, but a claim was made on the Al-Qal’ah [Fortress] internet site, by a group calling itself the Secret Organisation Group of Al-Qa’ida of Jihad Organisation in Europe.

Mr Shadjareh said some members of the Muslim community suffered a backlash following the September 11 2001 terror attacks in the United States, and the Madrid train bombing in March 2004. He said he was “very concerned about a backlash” and called on British Muslims to “remain vigilant and calm and stay indoors”.

He said: “IHRC is advising Muslims not to travel or go out unless necessary, and is particularly concerned that women should not go out alone in this climate. In the event of being attacked, IHRC urges victims not to retaliate and to report the matter to the police and appropriate authorities.”

Dr Mohammed Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham central Mosque, questioned the advice and said it was “a bit over the top”.

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London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone condemns terrorist acts

Posted on by Bob Pitt

bombing3London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone who is in Singapore for the IOC Session has condemned the attacks on the city’s rail and bus systems.

He said the London’s security and emergency services are prepared for such acts, and have executed their operations efficiently.

Mr Livingstone criticised the blast as an “indiscriminate attempt at mass murder” and had strong words for those who committed the act.

“This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful; it is not aimed at presidents or prime ministers; it was aimed at ordinary working class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christians, Hindu and Jew, young and old, indiscriminate attempt at slaughter irrespective of any considerations, of age, of class, of religion, whatever, that isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith, it’s just indiscriminate attempt at mass murder, and we know what the objective is, they seek to divide London. They seek to turn Londoners against each other and Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack,” said Mr Livingston.

He then had a message for the terrorists who had organised the explosions.

“I wish to speak through you directly, to those who came to London to claim lives, nothing you do, how many of us you kill will stop that flight to our cities where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another, whatever you do, how many you kill, you will fail.”

Channel NewsAsia, 7 July 2005

See also “Terror attacks in London – statement from the Mayor”, GLA press release, 7 July 2005

“Innocent people from all of London’s communities have been targeted by this indiscriminate attack. I urge Londoners from all of this city’s diverse communities and faiths to support one another and stand together against terrorism.”

SSP on London bombings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Scottish Socialist Party today sends it’s condolences to the families of those killed and injured in today’s bombings in London.

The SSP condemns outright the bombings which were targeted at working class Londoners going about their daily lives. Many of those dead and injured would have participated in anti-war protests and would have taken part in the Make Poverty History protests over the past week.

Meanwhile, the men responsible for the war on Iraq and the massacre of 100,000 civilians were safely cocooned behind fortified walls 500 miles away, protected by thousands of police and armed forces.

Today’s horrific events further expose the falsity of the claims by Tony Blair and George Bush that the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq have turned the world into a safer place. Exactly the opposite: the world is now darker and more dangerous than ever before.

Today’s wave of destruction also underlines the futility of trying to defeat terror by ever more repressive legislation. As the escalating violence in Iraq and Afghanistan illustrates, even the most ferocious repression cannot quell violence and terror.

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