Category Archives: Right wing

The Blears fallacy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Soumaya Ghannoushi2“The communities’ secretary seems to be pursuing an increasingly hawkish policy towards the Muslim minority. A few days ago, she gave a provocative and rather bizarre speech fittingly delivered from the rightwing thinktank Policy Exchange, which was last year discredited by the BBC’s Newsnight for its fabricated mosque report. Blears announced a long list of conditions which Muslim organisations must meet if they are to enjoy government recognition, or ‘legitimisation’.

“Hearing Blears demand the recognition of Israel, it was difficult to tell whether one was listening to a foreign, or communities’ secretary, and whether those she had been targeting were diplomats and foreign ministers, or communities and British citizens. And when she echoed former Policy Exchange chairman Charles Moore’s criticisms of the IslamExpo, recently held in Olympia, for giving floor space to the ‘genocidal’ government of Iran – one of 15 Muslim countries represented at the event – one couldn’t help wondering if her government had just cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran, and closed its embassy in London.

“Brown’s government, like its predecessor, seems unable to relinquish the old approach to communities based on the systems and methods of the colonial era. Minorities are to be managed through many sticks, a few carrots, and a handful of engineered political and religious representatives. These are the modern-day versions of the local intermediaries on whom colonial administrations relied in the control of indigenous populations. The rule is simple. To win recognition, you must lose any independence. You must turn into the government’s eyes, ears and arms in your community, nothing more.”

Soumaya Ghannoushi at Comment is Free, 25 July 2008

Muslim schools fuel segregation, say teachers (well, one right-wing teacher)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Government plans to create more state-funded Muslim schools will divide communities along racial and religious lines, it is claimed. They risk creating a situation similar to that in Northern Ireland where some educated teenagers fail to meet students of the opposite faith until they go to university, according to Voice, the teaching union. In a speech to the union’s annual conference next week, one teacher will claim Labour’s policy to expand Muslim schools is “about trying to defend minorities”.

Last year, Ed Balls, the schools secretary, pledged to remove “unnecessary barriers” to religious groups bidding to open their own schools. He said additional money would be made available to allow the hundreds of private religious schools to convert to the state sector. The move raised the prospect of more schools for faiths including Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, which have few schools of their own, despite representing significant minority groups.

Speaking at the conference, Wesley Paxton, a further education lecturer from Hull, will say: “As is often pointed out, there are already many schools with more than a 50 per cent non-white enrolment.

“More faith schools in 2008 is probably going to mean more Islamic schools.” He adds: “What benefit will there be by emphasising difference, by removing what non-Islamic influences these people will have, and reduce their chances of having a balanced upbringing?”

At the moment, there are just four state-funded Muslim primary schools and five secondaries – including two which opened last September. They educate almost 3,500 pupils. In addition, there is one Hindu school, three Sikh schools, and 38 Jewish schools. England’s remaining 6,750 faith schools – around a third of the total number of schools – are all Christian.

Daily Telegraph, 25 July 2008

Muslims take police to task over stop-and-search procedures

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Scottish Islamic FoundationScottish Muslims will today quiz police about “growing disquiet” over the use of anti-terrorist stop-and-search procedures in Scotland.

The Scottish-Islamic Foundation has set up a Question Time forum with the police to allow members of the Muslim community to express their feelings about heavy-handed questioning a year after stop- and-search powers were introduced across the UK in the wake of the Glasgow Airport car bomb attack.

There is concern that in some cases “suspects” are visited at home and questioned about internet sites they have viewed, fuelling fears that they are under surveillance. The foundation says that stop-and-search procedures should be strictly intelligence-led.

Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, at the Home Secretary’s discretion, allows police to stop and search any individual acting suspiciously.

Although Scottish police have been using the power sparingly, it is claimed the approach has not been adopted by the London-controlled British Transport Police.

Herald, 22 July 2008

See also BBC News, 22 July 2008

 

Update: Over at the laughably misnamed Centre for Social Cohesion, Douglas Murray writes:

“On the BBC’s website yesterday, headlined ‘Muslim concern at stop and search‘ the site leads with the news that: ‘Muslims in Scotland have expressed unease about the use of “stop and search” procedures at Glasgow Airport.’ In any season this is a story likely to spread irritation among the British public….

“But on reading through it emerges that the ‘Muslims’ expressing ‘unease’ at being searched at Glasgow airport are actually the Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF). Readers might remember that this group was exposed last month, prior to its launch, as a Muslim Brotherhood-linked organisation….

“The iniquity of this is that the founders of the SIF can truthfully claim to represent almost nobody. But Salmond has been (to put it at its kindest) duped, public money has come rolling in, and next thing the BBC is willing to portray such an unrepresentative group as representative of ‘Muslims’ in Scotland.”

And in the comments section a supporter of Murray states: “Absolutely shocking. All part of the stealth jihad of course. The BBC has been infiltrated by muslim extremists right up to the highest level.”

Murray’s piece is crossposted at ConservativeHome.

Islamophobe joins team Boris

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anthony Browne (2)Boris Johnson has appointed the director of a leading Tory think tank as his director of policy at City Hall. Anthony Browne of Policy Exchange will play a senior political role. The former journalist has headed the think tank since last May and will be responsible for developing new policy ideas for the Mayor.

Mr Johnson said of the appointment: “I am delighted that Anthony is joining my team at City Hall. As a policy expert in the fields of environment, health and politics for the influential Policy Exchange and a former journalist on the Times and Observer, I am sure Anthony will be a valuable asset in helping to shape London’s future over the next four years.”

However, Mr Browne’s appointment is certain to cause a degree of concern among his political opponents as he is known for his strong Right-wing stance on immigration.

He first came to prominence when he was denounced by then home secretary David Blunkett for “bordering on fascism” after a series of articles on immigration.

Mr Browne has also been criticised for “demonising” Muslims in an article headlined “the Muslims are coming – there’s no plot: Islam really does want to conquer the world” in The Spectator.

Former Mayor Ken Livingstone said: “Anthony Browne’s extensive Rightwing track record and his divisive attacks on immigration, are an indication that Boris Johnson’s administration is deeply at odds with the needs of a multicultural city like London.”

Evening Standard, 22 July 2008

For more on Browne see here.

Update:  Over at the hardline right-wing New English Review blog, one Mary Jackson welcomes the appointment of Browne in a post headed “Boris employs good egg“. In connection with Browne’s “The Muslims are coming” article published in the Spectator in 2004, with its “Islam really does want to conquer the world” standfirst, she observes: “Good title – it sounds like Boris used to before he stopped putting his foot in it.” Which is hardly surprising, given that Johnson was editor of the Spectatorat the time that Browne’s paranoid piece of anti-Muslim scaremongering was published.

Express denounces the Dudley mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dudley mosqueAn £18million mosque which will dwarf everything around it has got the go-ahead – des­pite objections from 22,000 people.

It had even been turned down by the local authority, but that refusal has now been over-ruled by a Government inspector.

Angry residents say allowing the 65ft tower and dome is simply pandering to the 7,000-strong Muslim com­munity – which makes up just two per cent of the local population.

The vast building in Dudley, West Midlands, will become as visible as the town’s historic castle, built in 1070, and its main Christian church.

Last night one local resident, who wished not to be named, said: “This mosque, which will be one of the biggest outside London with a 65ft tower, will dwarf Dudley church and the wishes of 22,000 people who protested against it.”

Daily Express, 22 July 2008

In an editorial the paper comments: “Perhaps Dudley’s Islamic population could agree a compromise: their mosque should get the go-ahead but only after a series of cathedrals have been built in Muslim countries throughout the world so as to allow local Christians to worship free from the fear of persecution.”

The Express editors will be gratified to hear that their proposed series of cathedrals has in fact already been built, and Anorak helpfully provides a select list:

Cathédrale de Notre Dame d’Afrique, Algiers
St Mary’s Cathedral, Dhaka
Katedral Santa Maria Diangkat ke Surga, Jakarta
Dormition of the Virgin Mary Cathedral, Damascus
St. John’s Cathedral, İzmir
St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Abu Dhabi
Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, Alexandria
Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, Faisalabad
Vank Cathedral, Isfahan

Anorak also provides a link to a (pdf) factsheet on the Dudley mosque proposals, which points out that, at 65ft, the mosque’s minaret will in fact be be dwarfed by the 175ft spire of St Thomas and St Luke’s C of E church.

Tories repeat call for ban on Hizb ut-Tahrir

Posted on by Bob Pitt

HizbRadical Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir has launched a campaign to stop young Muslims being corrupted by Western “liberal values”. The organisation, which Tony Blair wanted to ban in Britain, has planned a summer PR campaign against Western “attacks” on the religion. The move comes as Hizb ut-Tahrir’s British arm slammed Government plans to combat Islamic extremism and to take on the preachers of hate. The group claims the Government is trying to build a compliant British Islam, and complains no other religion is subjected to such state interference.

Its campaign, focusing on such areas as Oldham, Manchester, Bradford and Leeds, carries the motto “Don’t Sit And Take It”. It claims attacks by politicians and media in the West are part of a campaign to present Islam as a backward, medieval religion. In Britain, it cites the furore caused by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, when he suggested that introducing elements of Sharia law in Britain was unavoidable. The campaign includes football tournaments, graffiti and rap contests, youth conferences and seminars. A debate tonight in Coventry asks how Muslims should respond to calls to ban the Koran.

Shadow security minister Baroness Neville-Jones said: “Three years ago the Government vowed to ban this group and have simply failed to do so, speaking volumes about their approach to countering radicalisation. It is vital we stand up to attacks like these on our values and the British way of life.”

Sunday Express, 20 July 2008

Right-wing evangelical Christian says McCain ‘understands the Muslim threat’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Conservative Christian leader James Dobson has softened his stance against Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, saying he could reverse his position and endorse the Arizona senator despite serious misgivings.

“I never thought I would hear myself saying this,” Dobson said in a radio broadcast to air Monday. “… While I am not endorsing Senator John McCain, the possibility is there that I might.”

Dobson said on the radio program he must consider McCain’s record against abortion rights and support for smaller government, and added McCain “seems to understand the Muslim threat.”

Associated Press, 20 July 2008

Canadian PM accused of double standards over Omar Khadr

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Omar KhadrThe leader of one of Canada’s largest Islamic groups accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday of being indifferent to Omar Khadr’s plight because he’s “brown-skinned” and a Muslim.

In an opinion piece released to the media, Mohamed Elmasry, national president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, wrote that Harper is “callously” unconcerned about the 21-year-old Khadr, who faces trial before a U.S. military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in October.

“In this case, Mr. Harper is playing politics because of the backdrop of Islamophobia in this country,” Elmasry said. “This is where a leader comes in, to say this is really wrong and I have to correct that wrong by bringing this person [back to Canada] even if I lose some political points with Islamophobes.”

Khadr’s lawyers and others want Ottawa to repatriate Khadr – who was 15 in 2002 when he was accused of killing a U.S. army medic in Afghanistan – from the U.S. detention centre.

The prime minister repeated his vow to leave the case in U.S. hands following the release of a videotape showing a Canadian official interrogating a crying and despondent Khadr at Guantanamo Bay in 2004. The official was told the U.S. military had deprived the then 17-year-old of sleep for weeks to make him “more amenable and willing to talk,” according to a recently released internal report from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Elmasry contrasted Khadr’s case with that of dual Canadian-British citizen William Sampson, who was freed from a death sentence in Saudi Arabia in 2003. Prior to his release, Ottawa had said it had made pleas on Sampson’s behalf to the highest levels of the Saudi government.

“Why is Stephen Harper so callously indifferent to Omar Khadr’s case?” Elmasry wrote. “It’s painfully obvious: William Sampson is a white westerner while his fellow Canadian citizen, Omar Khadr, is brown-skinned and a Muslim.”

CBC News, 21 July 2008

‘The Muslims have said they’re going to kill us’ claims McCain supporter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

One of John McCain’s fellow Vietnam POWs compared Muslims to terrorists during a defense of the Iraq War on Friday, saying “The Muslims have said either we kneel or they’re going to kill us.”

Col. Bud Day riled Muslim leaders with the remarks made in a conference call with reporters arranged by the Republican Party of Florida on McCain’s behalf.

He added: “I don’t intend to kneel and I don’t advocate to anybody that we kneel, and John doesn’t advocate to anybody that we kneel.”

McCain’s presidential campaign wouldn’t comment. A Republican Party spokeswoman said later that Day acknowledged he misspoke and “made an unfortunate mistake” because he meant to say “terrorists” and not “Muslims”.

Muslim leaders and Arab-American groups quickly denounced the “bigoted” comments by Day, a Pensacola resident, Medal of Honor recipient and member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attack machine from 2004.

“This is as close to racist as it gets,” said Khaled Saffuri, who helped organize Arab outreach for President Bush’s 2000 campaign. “Even if this is called a mistake or a slip of the tongue, it shows a bigger problem with racism. McCain and the Republican party should denounce this.”

“It’s perpetuating a form of Islamophobia,” said Saif Ishoof, a Miami Republican and president of the Center for Voter Advocacy, a nonpartisan group in Florida that educates Muslims about the political process.

Day’s gaffe on Muslims adds to what the community describes as a sweeping backlash from many directions. Many leaders complain that they have been vilified as terrorists since the Sept. 11 attacks launched by a segment of radical extremists who don’t represent the 1.1 billion Muslims worldwide.

More recently, Muslim leaders have criticized Obama for distancing himself from the community as part of an effort to refute false rumors that he is Muslim. When the campaign tried to set the record straight by launching the fightthesmears.com website, Muslims protested that he was calling Islam a “smear”.

Miami Herald, 19 July 2008

‘State school pupils may be taught Islamic traditions’ shock

Posted on by Bob Pitt

State school pupils are set to be taught Islamic traditions and values in compulsory citizenship lessons. The move – part of a package of initiatives announced by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears yesterday – is designed to curb extremism. Education campaigners warned however against giving Islam a privileged position over other faiths.

David Conway, senior research fellow at the Civitas think-tank, said: “Some will see this as another sign of a creeping process of Islamisation – an insidious process which plays down the Christian basis of our culture and encourages children to learn more and more about Islam’s contribution.

“Muslims are still a relatively small minority in Britain and, while I have nothing against children in our multi-religious society learning about each other’s faiths, for one particular faith to be privileged in mainstream schools seems to me pointless, and won’t make for greater harmony. I fear it will play into the hands of the small minority who want to see the Islamisation of Europe, and believe they will triumph through sheer numbers.”

Daily Mail, 19 July 2008