Now, who do you suppose wrote an article for the Daily Mail with this headline? No prizes for guessing it’s Taj Hargey.
Category Archives: Right wing
Banning the veil: Salma Yaqoob debates Taj Hargey
From Al Jazeera.
The King of scapegoating
Shaun Harkin documents the bigotry and hypocrisy of Congress’s top witch-hunter.
The Muslim-baiting US radio host Republicans can’t resist
The host of a radio show that has become a regular stop for Republican presidential candidates is calling for restrictions on Muslim immigration to the U.S.
Bryan Fischer, who is the American Family Association’s Director of Issues Analysis, also called Islam a “toxic cancer” on his show today. This is not new rhetoric for Fischer, but what makes it interesting is that several potential GOP candidates have recently accepted invitiations to be on his show. That includes Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Haley Barbour, and Newt Gingrich.
“We really need to restrict immigration from Islamic countries,” Fischer said today.
Here, via Right Wing Watch, are his latest comments:
We allow unrestricted Muslim immigration into the United States, we are welcoming to our shores, welcoming to our borders, men who are determined to destroy us. They’ve said it themselves, it’s in their own writings, it’s in their own words; they’re out to eliminate and destroy western civilization. It’s just absolute folly to invite that kind of toxic cancer into our culture, but that’s what we’re doing every single day.
Justin Elliott at Salon, 6 April 2011
Herman Cain accuses Keith Ellison of putting Sharia law over American law
Potential presidential contender Herman Cain told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham that he wouldn’t allow Muslims to serve in his administration and that, because Rep. Keith Ellison took his oath of office on the Qur’an instead of the Bible, he supports Sharia law above the Constitution. Cain, a Republican, said that American law is based on the Bible.
“I want people in my administration that are committed to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States,” said Cain. “I don’t want any inkling of anybody in my administration who would put Sharia law over American law. I have not found a Muslim that has said that they will denounce Sharia law, you know, in order to support the Constitution of the United States.”
Cain, who was the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and former chair of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, formed an exploratory committee for the Republican nomination in 2012.
Ingraham asked Cain, “So Keith Ellison you think would be more in favor of Sharia law than the Declaration of Independence?” Cain said, “Didn’t he take his oath on the Qur’an instead of the Bible? Am I wrong in that?” “I think you are correct in that,” she said. (To be precise, it was a copy of the Qur’an owned by Thomas Jefferson.)
Cain continued, “This is my point. If you take an oath on the Qur’an, that means you support Sharia law. I support American law. Our laws were derived from principles that are biblically based. Maybe not said in the same words that are in the Bible, but our laws are derived from principles based upon the Bible. This is why I’m not going to back down or pander to anyone who wants to call me xenophobic or a bigot simply because I said no. I don’t want anybody in my administration that I’m going to have to be looking over my shoulder to figure out if they are going to try to do something against the principles that I believe in which are also the principles that the majority, the overwhelming majority of the American people believe.”
Boycott, protests set stage for French Islam debate
France’s ruling conservatives are pressing ahead with a public debate on Islam and secularism on Tuesday despite criticism that it is an excuse to pander to far-right voters ahead of a general election next year.
Sarkozy’s UMP party said in December that it would host a public forum to address fears about Islam’s role in French society, following controversy over Muslim street prayers, halal-only restaurants and full-face Islamic veils.
But a hail of criticism from religious leaders and some party members has forced the UMP to downsize the event and fight off accusations that a focus on Islam will provide cover for the airing of anti-Muslim prejudices among the French.
“They can’t cancel it now,” said Jean-Francois Doridot, an analyst at the Ipsos polling agency. “It’s a sort of trap that is closing around the UMP, and they are trying to get themselves out of it one way or another.”
Amid sharp criticism from religious leaders, party officials have bickered over the need to hold a debate at all, France’s largest Muslim group has announced a boycott, and Prime Minister Francois Fillon declined his invitation to attend.
The guest list for Tuesday’s debate has yet to be confirmed, but Interior Minister Claude Gueant – who came under fire recently for saying the French “no longer felt at home” – will attend, as will party spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.
Advocacy groups have promised to picket the event. “This is not a debate, it’s a trial,” said Nedjma Boutlelis, the head of an advocacy group that held a street protest against the debate on Saturday. “I don’t see the point of holding a debate simply to charm the far-right.”
See also Financial Times, 4 April 2011
French interior minister accused of Islamophobia
The interior minister Claude Guéant has been accused of Islamophobia and dishonouring France after saying the growing population of Muslims in the country “poses problems”.
His comments were made on the eve of a debate within his party, the UMP, on Islam and secularism in France. The debate, organised by party leader Jean-François Copé, is itself controversial, with many party figures finding excuses not to attend, including Prime Minister François Fillon.
“The question worries our citizens: there are many who think the rules of secularism are being stretched,” said Guéant on a trip to Nantes. “In 1905 [the year the separation of church and state was brought into law] there were few Muslims in France, today there are between five to 10 million. This growth of believers and certain types of practices pose problems. It is clear that prayers in the street shock a certain number of people and the leaders of major religions know that this type of practice affects them negatively.”
Socialist Party spokesman Benoît Hamon said Guéant “dishonoured” France. “The right is not debating secularism, it’s debating Islam,” he said. “I feel ill when Guéant speaks. He dishonours France and the French. The Socialist Party concerns itself with subjects that focus on people living together, the real issues.”
Green MEP Eva Joly said Nicolas Sarkozy was attempting to outflank Marine Le Pen on the right in advance of the presidential elections of 2012 by launching “an Islamophobic campaign”.
SOS Racisme is suing the minister. Its president Dominique Sopo said the words “stigmatised a population because of their origin” by targeting Muslim Arabs. He added that the speech was worse than anything from Brice Hortefeux, Géant’s predecessor, who was successfully sued for racism while a minister.
See also Nabila Ramdani, “Sarkozy’s debate targets Muslims”, Comment is Free, 5 April 2011
‘Security’ concerns over Camberley mosque are ‘irresponsible scaremongering’, inquiry told
Concerns that minarets overlooking Sandhurst Royal Military Academy pose a security risk have been described as “irresponsible scaremongering”, as a public inquiry considered controversial proposals to demolish a Victorian school and replace it with a purpose-built mosque.
The Berkshire, Hampshire and Surrey Bengali Welfare Association is seeking to overturn a decision refusing planning permission for the demolition of a locally listed former primary school in Camberley and the erection of a £3m mosque complete with a domed roof and 30-metre (100ft) minarets in its place.
The contested site, which the association bought in 1996, is in Tory education minister Michael Gove’s constituency. It is also 350 metres away from Sandhurst. The proximity has alarmed a local campaign group, Save Our School, which believes the minarets are a security threat and one of several arguments against the proposals.
But lawyers representing the association on Tuesday rejected such security concerns, describing them as “irresponsible scaremongering”.
Christopher Lockhart-Mummery QC, momentarily breaking off from a scripted opening submission, told the inquiry at Camberley theatre: “I have seen what I regard as utterly irresponsible statements that there is clear view of the Royal Military Academy. It is not remotely and has never been the case.”
He said the current premises, on the A30 London Road, were “grossly unsuitable” for the Muslim congregation’s needs and that the association could “only marvel” at the “spacious facilities meeting precisely the worshipping traditions” of the congregation at a nearby Christian church.
Lockhart-Mummery also said a lack of space meant proper and respectful prayer was “difficult if not impossible”. “We have a gross inequality of opportunity between different racial groups. The council has demonstrably failed to discharge its statutory duty in these respects, plainly because it was wholly unaware of them.”
Should the appeal fail, Lockhart-Mummery said, the association would have no alternative but to “carry on in these grossly inadequate conditions, to the severe detriment of their own, and the wider, community”.
The association has encountered opposition from thousands of residents, many of whom have funded legal representation for Save Our School at the inquiry.
Barrister John Pugh-Smith said in his opening statement: “There is no religious reason for mosque design in the UK to incorporate domes and minarets and to be a naive replica of mosques found in the Indian subcontinent.”
The Save Our School lawyer drew applause from members of the public for condemning the association’s proposals for segregated facilities, saying such “sexist exclusion” ran contrary to the UK government’s gender equality initiatives.
Surrey Heath borough council and Save Our School also claim the mosque would cause significant harm to the conservation area and not positively contribute to the character and appearance of the local environment.
You’ll note that the Save Our Schools lawyer took his arguments directly from Taj Hargey, who wrote: “there is nothing in Islamic theology that legitimises a misogynistic apartheid in the house of God…. There is no Islamic injunction that minarets are intrinsic to mosques.” (He added: “building two twin minaret towers, so close to a renowned military college, is a provocation.”)
Peter King comes to Albany? Democrats accuse lawmaker of holding anti-Islam hearings
State Senate Democrats are out with a release today blasting Republican lawmaker Greg Ball for holding a hearing which they claim is designed to “isolate and villify Muslims.”
The hearing, called “Reviewing our Preparedness: An Examination of New York’s Public Protection Ten Years After September 11” will be held Friday at 250 Broadway in Manhattan and will feature Nonie Darwish, a human rights activist who has attracted a good deal of controversy for her views on Islam, particularly the idea that the religion teaches its adherents to hate non-believers and to subjugate women.
The Democrats also blasted Senator Ball for inviting Frank Gaffney, a columnist who has questioned if Barack Obama was born in the United States. Ball said that Gaffney, in fact, will not attend.
“They are not people who are experts in security,” said Senator Kevin Parker of Brooklyn [pictured]. “They are folks who have developed their name by spending their time criticizing and attacking Islam, which is not where we think we ought to be as a legislature.”
New York Observer, 5 April 2011
See Senator Kevin Parker press release, 5 April 2011
Read the letter by Senator Parker and other Democrats to Greg Ball here.
Campaign against Camberley mosque resumes
Controversial plans to build a mosque with two towering high minarets next-door to Sandhurst will be aired at a public inquiry that begins tomorrow.
The £3million building would have had a clear view over Britain’s top military academy and is just 400 yards from its parade ground – prompting fears it could be a security threat.
Plans to demolish a listed Victorian school building to make way for the huge Arab-style building were initially approved last year. But, after the intervention of army chiefs, the local MP and education secretary Michael Gove, and 7,000 residents who signed a petition, Surrey Heath Borough Council changed their mind.
Now planning officials will make their final decision though a six-day public inquiry after an appeal by the Bengali Welfare Association, which worships at the former school in Camberley.
There remains fierce opposition and angry locals expected to queue from the early hours of tomorrow morning to get in the Camberley Theatre, which only seats 360.
The Save Our School group, which organised the anti-mosque petition, said it was planning to hire lawyers for the inquiry.
Local residents were outraged that the association wanted to knock down the historic building to make way for the new mosque.
They were also concerned at the scale of the proposed new building, particularly the 100ft-high minarets, which locals said were out of character with the district’s architecture.
Alan Kirkland, from Save Our School, told The Guardian: “There is nothing in the Qur’an that says you should have domes and minarets. They need a mezzanine floor that is for women only. To most people, that’s objectionable.”