Andrew Gilligan – not a harmless democrat

What is going on at the Guardian? Following on from the paper’s full-page splash on the “hijab gates” myth, it now gives space to Andrew Gilligan at Comment is Free to continue his witch-hunt of the Islamic Forum Europe.

And speaking of the “hijab gates”, over on his Telegraph blog Gilligan reports that Tower Hamlets Council has temporarily suspended plans for the Brick Lane arches, described by Gilligan as “a £1.85 million exercise in ‘religious triumphalism'”, pending further consultation. Gilligan interprets this as a sign that “cracks have started to appear” among the “Islamic fundamentalists” who have supposedly seized control of the council.

Geert Wilders anti-Islam film gets House of Lords screening

EDL England Needs a Gert

The controversial far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders appeared at the House of Lords today to screen an anti-Islam film and denounce the religion as “totalitarian” and incompatible with democracy.

The visit, which was originally planned for last year, sparked demonstrations from anti-fascists and a show of support from the far-right English Defence League.

Continue reading

ENGAGE replies to Gilligan

AndrewGilligan“If you thought documentaries couldn’t sink lower than the hatchet job by John Ware for BBC Panorama, ‘Who speaks for British Muslims?’, in 2005, the Dispatches programme aired last night is proof to the contrary.

“Using spurious evidence, half-truths  and a ragbag of ‘community leaders’ – none of whom merit a byline demonstrating their ‘leadership’ credentials – Gilligan outdoes even Ware in proving that documentary-makers with an animus against ‘Islamism’ have nothing but conjecture and pure prejudice on their side. ”

ENGAGE, 2 March 2010

See Islamic Forum Europe statement, 1 March 2010

Update:  See also “Watch out: democratic Muslims about” by Inayat Bunglawala at Comment is Free, 3 March 2010

Right-wing press continues witch-hunt of IFE, with the assistance of Jim Fitzpatrick

Under the headline “Extremist Muslims have ‘wormed their way into Labour Party’ minister warns”, the Daily Mail offers a rehash of yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph article, with one accompanying picture suggesting that IFE supports the terrorist acts of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan while another illustrates the mythical “hijab-inspired arch Tower Hamlets council has proposed be built at either end of Brick Lane”.

The Daily Star tells its readers that “Muslim extremists are plotting to take over the Labour Party and turn Britain into an Islamic state…. Extremist groups hope their followers will become councillors and MPs. But their allegiance will be to Jihad, or holy war, and enforcing sharia law across the UK. Sharia imposes punishments including stoning and amputations.”

And this piece comes complete with a picture of the well-known IFE supporter Abu Hamza al-Masri.

Meanwhile, over at the Daily Telegraph, Andrew Gilligan is intent on generating the maximum publicity for his anti-IFE documentary, “Britain’s Islamic Republic“, due to be screened in Channel 4’s Dispatches slot this evening.

Under the headline “Sir Ian Blair’s deal with Islamic radical”, Gilligan reveals that the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner had close contact with Azad Ali through the latter’s leading role in that notorious agency of jihadist terrorism, the Muslim Safety Forum. In fact, relations were so close that “Sir Ian or his deputy committed to meet Mr Ali and the MSF at least twice a year”.

Gilligan’s scaremongering over the MSF is rather undermined by a Metropolitan Police spokesperson who states: “We are currently working with the Muslim Safety Forum to review how it can best represent London’s diverse Muslim Communities so that we can better understand and then act on their concerns about safety and security.”

Update:  Over at the anti-Muslim blog Harry’s Place Tory London Assembly member Andrew Boff  has been receiving some stick because of his backing for the East London Mosque.

Indeed, at last week’s Mayor’s Question Time, Boff put the following question to Boris Johnson: “Would you Mr Mayor along with me support the efforts of the many faith communities especially in East London in the way in which they work together, and I mention in particular the role of the East London Mosque and the London Muslim Centre, which you so kindly visited last year, working with the other faith communities in order to break down the misunderstandings that can exist?” To which Johnson replied “Yeah”.

Boff has responded to Harry’s Place in the following terms: “‘Some in Labour’ may be right to think that there are votes in Islamaphobia. Forgive me if I decline to take up your kind offer of pursuing them too. I don’t want to feel that dirty when I go to bed at night.”

And quite right too. True, Boff’s stand may be motivated in large part by concern for the electoral prospects of his friend Tim Archer, the Tory candidate standing against Jim Fitzpatrick in the Poplar and Limehouse constituency. But at least Boff is taking the right stand, which is more than can be said for Fitzpatrick and others in the Labour Party.

Christian right opposes Methodist campaign against Islamophobia

The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, was a decrier of Islam. He described its followers as “wolves and tigers to all other nations”. Yet 250 years later, his 21st-century followers are pitting their time, energy and money into fighting Islamophobia.

A new project set up by the Methodist district of Sheffield in partnership with the Anglican Diocese of Sheffield aims to “challenge Islamophobia, racism and divisive politics” in the region. It has won a £75,000 grant from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to fight extremism, after recent electoral successes by the BNP and rallies by the English Defence League.

However, the initiative has caused unease in some conservative Christian circles, with some demanding that the two leading Christian denominations should instead be challenging what they describe as the “Christianophobia” of modern-day Britain.

One conservative blog, Cranmer’s Curate, asked: “Is not ‘Christianophobia’ as great – if not a greater – problem now in British society than ‘Islamophobia’, and of more immediate concern to Christian organisations such as the Sheffield Methodist District and the Diocese of Sheffield? What about the situation faced by Christians in the public sector suspended or fired from their employment simply for offering to pray with clients or for saying ‘God bless’?” It goes on to attack the churches for “preaching politically correct morality to the community rather than the gospel”.

Times, 27 February 2010

Fitzpatrick joins Torygraph in witch-hunt of IFE

Jim FitzpatrickA Labour minister says his party has been infiltrated by a fundamentalist Muslim group that wants to create an “Islamic social and political order” in Britain.

The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) – which believes in jihad and sharia law, and wants to turn Britain and Europe into an Islamic state – has placed sympathisers in elected office and claims, correctly, to be able to achieve “mass mobilisation” of voters. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Jim Fitzpatrick, the Environment Minister, said the IFE had become, in effect, a secret party within Labour and other political parties.

“They are acting almost as an entryist organisation, placing people within the political parties, recruiting members to those political parties, trying to get individuals selected and elected so they can exercise political influence and power, whether it’s at local government level or national level,” he said. “They are completely at odds with Labour’s programme, with our support for secularism.”

Sunday Telegraph, 28 February 2010


See also “Inextricably linked to controversial mosque: the secret world of IFE“, by Andrew Gilligan, in the same issue. Gilligan reveals that IFE “is dedicated, in its own words, to changing the ‘very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed … from ignorance to Islam’.” That would be as distinct from, say, the Roman Catholic Church, which of course has no intention of transforming society in line with the principles of Christianity.

According to Gilligan, members of IFE are required to read “the key works of the revolutionary political creed known as Islamism, which advocates the overthrow of secular democratic government and its replacement by Islamic government”. Which those of us who reject Gilligan’s Islamophobic hysteria might think is hardly an imminent prospect in the UK, where 97% of the population is non-Muslim.

Not that this concerns the Telegraph. Under the headline “This secretive agenda must be taken seriously“, an editorial warns that “developments in Tower Hamlets are worrying news for British democracy”.

‘Gigantic mosque’ poses threat to Sandhurst cadets

Generals are trying to block plans to build a mosque with two 100ft minarets next to Sandhurst. The £3million building would have a clear view over the military academy and is just 400 yards from its parade ground.

Senior officers oppose the project saying it could pose a security threat to cadets. Yesterday an Army source said: ‘This has gone right to the top of the chain of command. There is very real concern that if this thing gets built then soldiers could be put at risk. It is outrageous to even think that the officers of the future would have to watch their backs while they are still in training.”

Continue reading

French politicians claim halal menu discriminates against non-Muslims, poses threat of ‘Islamisation’

A French council has lodged a complaint against a fast food chain that serves only meat that conforms with Islamic dietary laws at a local branch. The mayor of Roubaix, in northern France, said the halal menu constituted “discrimination” against non-Muslims.

The Roubaix branch is one of several restaurants at which the chain, Quick, took non-halal products and pork off the menu in November. The move has triggered the latest row over France’s Muslim minority.

Several deputies from French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party have condemned the move, while Marine Le Pen, a vice-president of the far-right National Front, warned of “Islamisation”.

In Roubaix, Mayor Rene Vandierendonck, a socialist, called for a boycott of the Quick branch, and the town council has filed a complaint for discrimination with a regional court in Lille.

“I’m not bothered by the fact that there is a halal menu,” Mr Vandierendonck said. “But this is going too far because it is the only menu on offer and it has become discrimination.”

Quick decided to take a bacon hamburger off the menu at eight of its 350 branches, replacing it with a halal version that comes with smoked turkey. It said the move was designed to test the “commercial interest and technical feasibility” of introducing halal menus.

The Quick manager responsible for the Roubaix branch said there had been a slight increase in business after the introduction of halal menus and that he had not received complaints from customers, AFP news agency reported.

BBC News, 19 February 2010