Category Archives: Right wing

UKIP leader says veil is symbol of violence and hatred

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The leader of UKIP has said the Islamic veil should be banned as it represents fear and is a security risk.

Speaking in a phone-in on BBC 5 live, Lord Pearson said there was a “problem” within Islam because some people used the Koran to justify terrorist acts.

Speaking to Nicky Campbell, Lord Pearson said: “I constantly say to my mild Muslim friends, listen, you must realise these days, when we use the word ‘terrorism’ we are almost always referring to a problem which comes from violent Islam.

“You must realise that we do not hate you, but we fear your violent co-religionists and we have good reason to do that. And we see the burka in public and the niqab as a symbol of that and we fear it. The hatred is coming towards us.”

BBC News, 4 May 2010

Via ENGAGE

Australian senator calls for veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cory BernardiThe shadow parliamentary secretary assisting Tony Abbott, Cory Bernardi, has called for Islamic women to be banned from wearing the burqa in a pointer to the growing assertiveness of the party’s conservative wing.

Writing on his blog yesterday, he argued his case on law and order grounds and the basis of respect for women. ”The burqa is no longer simply the symbol of female repression and Islamic culture, it is now emerging as a disguise of bandits and n’er do wells,” he wrote. He was responding to a police report describing a hold-up in Sydney by a suspect in a burqa and sunglasses and said the garb could be used as a disguise.

”Perhaps some of you will consider that burqa wearing should be a matter of personal choice, consistent with the freedoms our forefathers fought for. I disagree,” the senator wrote. ”New arrivals to this country should not come here to re-create the living environment they have just left. They should come here for a better life based on the freedoms and values that have built our great nation.”

Sydney Morning Herald, 6 May 2010

See also “Burqa ban is ‘un-Australian’ say Muslims”, Herald Sun, 7 May 2010

Religious right asks God to forgive Minnesota for electing a Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Religious right leaders from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday for “May Day 2010: A Cry To God For A Nation In Distress.” Topics addressed from the podium ranged from decrying the evils of Dakota Fanning to praying for God to take over Hollywood. But then the prayer turned to Minnesota – and a state woman’s call for repentance after electing a Muslim to Congress, Rep. Keith Ellison.

The unidentified Minnesota woman took to the microphone to pray: “And father, we repent that we have not used godly wisdom when we have elected officials into elected positions in our state and nation, father, and that it has opened the door, that Minnesota holds the responsibility for placing the first Muslim in Congress, and, for that God, we repent.”

Minnesota Independent, 4 May 2010

Via LoonWatch

Swiss council votes for ban on veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Swiss canton on Tuesday passed legislation preparing the groundwork for a possible ban on the Islamic burqa.

The local council in Aargau, a canton (state) in the north of Switzerland along the German border, voted overwhelmingly to work on a state initiative to make wearing the burqa in public places illegal. Most major parties backed the move.

Pushing the motion forward, the centrist and right wing parties in favour said the garment was a “symbol of male dominance over women,” according to the Swiss news agency SDA.The parties also said the full body veil prevents the integration of migrants into Swiss society.

The Socialist party objected to locally legislating on the matter, but members noted that they had negative views on the burqa, citing feminist concerns. The Green party was opposed, saying the proposal was “hysterics” and a scare-mongering tactic.

It is estimated that less than 100 Muslim women across Switzerland wear the burqa, a full body and face covering.

Earth Times, 4 May 2010

See also WRS, 4 May 2010

Franklin Graham claims his religious rights are being denied

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Franklin-GrahamSeveral weeks after being dropped from a Pentagon prayer service, evangelist Franklin Graham said Monday that his “religious rights are being denied.”

During an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Graham said that his speaking slot in conjunction with Thursday’s National Day of Prayer was unjustly dumped over his saying that Islam is “evil.” The only reason his invitation was dropped, Graham said, was that “a couple members of the Pentagon who are Muslim objected about me coming.”

“I feel my religious rights are being denied here because of what I believe,” the evangelist said. “I believe Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life … I believe that because of my beliefs, that’s why I’m not being given the opportunity to speak.”

“I don’t believe that Muhammad can lead anybody to God,” he said. “If you just look at the religion as it treats women, it is horrid. We can’t even talk publicly about what they do to women. You know, I just – for that alone – I cannot accept the religion.”

Politico, 3 May 2010

See also Newsmax, 3 May 2010

Another right-wing Islamophobic attack on the Lib Dems

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Following on from the disgraceful attack on Nick Clegg by the Daily Express, we now have Catholic Herald editor Damian Thompson denouncing Simon Hughes’ “sick-making” speech at the 2008 Global Peace and Unity event (Thompson can’t even get the name right):

“Thanks be to Allah!” declared Simon Hughes, the then president of the Liberal Democrats, as he addressed a London conference in 2008, before going on to quote from the Koran: “Then [Allah] will assemble you on the Day of Resurrection…” He added: “Friends, it is our job to teach those who do not have faith of the deep truths of the faith of God’s justice and God’s presence.”

Hughes didn’t ask (à la Harold Wilson) “And why do I stress the truths of the Koran?” But, if he had, the correct answer would have been: “Because you’re talking to thousands of Muslims.”

Ed West blogged yesterday about Hattie Harman’s pathetic attempts to suck up to black voters. But that’s nothing compared to Hughes’s sickening performance at the “Global Justice and Unity event” (GPU), a gathering of 60,000 Muslims in London Docklands.

German MEP calls for Europe-wide ban on veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Koch-MehrinAfter Belgium’s parliament voted to ban Islamic full-face veils, the German vice-president of the European Parliament has called for a ban of the burka throughout Europe.

Silvana Koch-Mehrin called the full-body veil an attack on the rights of women in a guest editorial in the Bild am Sonntagnewspaper. “I would like to see all forms of the burka banned in Germany and in all of Europe,” wrote the politician, a member of Germany‘s pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP).

She called the burka a “mobile prison,” saying that those who veil women take away their faces and therefore their personalities. “The complete veiling of women is a blatant acknowledgement of values that we here in Europe do not share,” she wrote.

The Local, 1 May 2010

Veil ban is part of campaign to stigmatise French Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims in France say the government’s plan to fine women for wearing the Islamic veil is one in a string of political ploys that stigmatise them and pander to anti-Islamic prejudice.

Extracts from the law leaked on Friday propose to fine women 150 euros (200 dollars) for wearing a full-face veil in public, while anyone who forces a woman to wear one would face a year in jail and fine of 15,000 euros.

Some say giving police the power to fine Muslim women in the street is part of a worrying trend, after the government’s “national identity debate” and its targeting last week of a man accused of polygamy and radicalism.

Amid the polygamy controversy, bullets were fired at a mosque in Istres, southern France, and a halal butcher in Marseille. A French Muslim group, CFCM, said this signalled “a rise of racism and Islamophobia.”

“It’s getting tougher and tougher. It’s as if people have had something against us for a long time and now that the politicians are saying it, they are letting it all out,” said Mamadou Alpha Diallo, 73, outside a Paris mosque.

Muslims in France “have the impression that Islam is on trial,” added Dounia Bouzar, an anthropologist and high-profile commentator on Muslim affairs.

AFP, 30 April 2010

Pauline Hanson won’t sell her house to a Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pauline_HansonFormer One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has issued a warning to any Muslims or overseas Asians that may be looking to purchase her home: don’t even bother.

The controversial Ms Hanson, famed for her anti-immigration policies and mistrust of multiculturalism, made the statements in an interview with the Seven Network’s Sunrise this morning. The 55-year-old gave the program a tour of her multi-million dollar home at Coleyville, southwest of Brisbane, which she is currently trying to sell and spoke candidly about her plans for the future.

But while her property is on the market, Ms Hanson made it clear not everyone was welcome to make an offer. “I have no intentions of selling my home to a Muslim,” she told Sunrise. “I don’t believe they are compatible with our way of life, our culture and I think we are going to have problems in this country further down the track.”

The Australian, 28 April 2010

See also “Pauline Hanson’s Muslim ban ‘illegal”, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 April 2010

New York rally for united Jerusalem and against international Islamist jihad

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Solidarity with Israel demo

About 2,500 people rallied in the rain for a united Jerusalem, on Sunday, April 25.  They understood the attempt to detach Jerusalem from Israel as piecemeal conquest.  They came to support Israeli existence and self-determination.

Organized by Beth Galinsky of the Jewish Action Alliance, 50 organizations of Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and Christians demonstrated at the Israeli Consulate.

Examiner, 28 April 2010

See Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs.

Update:  See also “Feeling the hate in New York”, LoonWatch, 29 April 2010