Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) gets in on the scaremongering campaign over the proposed Islamic Centre at Abbey Mills in London. The CBN piece features an interview with Irfan al-Alawi of Stephen Schwartz’s Center for Islamic Pluralism (co-author with Schwartz of last week’s Spectator article) who states that the Abbey Mills mosque will become a threat to security “once the youth have been brainwashed, and been captured by the satanic ideology of the Tablighis”. Al-Alawi adds: “The person who is really behind it is Ken Livingstone.”
Category Archives: Right wing
Protection from press racism never looked gaunter
“Newspapers were a green light to discriminate against black communities after the press watchdog ruled that rules banning ‘prejudiced’ articles were meant only to protect individuals. The bizarre decision came as a result of complaints to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) about an article in The Sun newspaper written by columnist and broadcaster Jon Gaunt.
“This website, and many of our readers, took issue with a column on 24th October last year, which claimed human rights were ‘just for foreigners, fanatics, freeloaders and perverts’…. It accused a Muslim schoolteacher Aishah Azmi of wanting to ‘stitch up our way of life’ by contesting an employment courts’ decision to ban her wearing the full veil in class even when adult male colleagues are present….
“But in a ruling received today by Blink, the PCC noted that their code of conduct (Clause 12) was ‘designed to protect the individual and is not generally applicable to groups of people. As such, the complaint that the article discrimiated against Muslims in general could not raise a breach of the Code. In this instance the Commission noted that the only individual who might have been the subject of prejudicial or pejorative reference was Ms Aishah Azmi, who had not raised a compliant about the matter’.”
Lester Holloway reports, BLINK website, 8 January 2007
Fascists campaign against ‘mega-mosque’
Complaining that the proposed Abbey Mills Islamic Centre “will change the face of the landscape and will be a defiant symbol of the extent of this alien religion in our capital city”, the BNP urges its supporters to vote in an Evening Standard online poll which poses the question “Are you in favour of the £100m mosque?”
BNP news article, 7 January 2007
The online poll is here.
Religious leaders push back against Rep. Goode
More than 20 prominent religious leaders have launched an on-line petition demanding that Rep. Vigil Goode (R-Va) reexamine his opposition to newly-elected Rep. Keith Ellison, a Muslim from Minnesota, taking his unofficial oath of office using the Qur’an, and to apologize for his statement that, without punitive immigration reform, “there will be many more Muslims elected to office demanding the use of the Qur’an.”
The petition warns, “An attack against one religion is an attack against them all. Next week, it could be Jews. Next month, it could be Christian fundamentalists or evangelicals. Right now, it is Muslims. It is they who feel targeted by repression and abuse, and they who live among us in a growing climate of fear…. We hold it to be self-evident that all Americans have the right to practice their faith, whatever it may be, and that any Americans – regardless of race, color or creed – may be elected and sworn into office holding whatever book they consider sacred…. We would point out that there are some five million Muslims in the US. Many have been here for generations. They are every bit as American as Rep. Goode. Some Americans have also converted to Islam, including Rep. Ellison. We call for a renewed unity among people of conscience and of faith.”
The petition adds, “In a spirit of reconciliation and peace, we invite Rep. Goode to join with us in an inter-religious delegation to visit a mosque in his district, in order that the healing may begin.”
Atlantic Free Press, 7 January 2007
The online petition is here.
The witch-hunt against the ‘mega-mosque’ continues
Irfan al-Alawi and Stephen Schwartz of the so-called Center for Islamic Pluralism continue the witch-hunt of Tablighi Jamaat over the proposed new mosque – or “Ken’s mega-mosque” as they now dub it – at Abbey Mills in East London. The article contains the welcome news that Asif Shakoor and the Sunni Friends of Newham, who were co-operating with Irfan al-Alawi in the campaign against the mosque, “now profess indifference about the project”.
‘New Muslim congressman avoids loyalty questions’
“When the first Muslim congressman in U.S. history, Keith Ellison (Hakim-Mohammed) of Minnesota, won the 2006 election and was making the regular thank-you-to-my-supporters speech, he allowed his fans to shout, ‘Allahu Akbar!’, the same phrase allegedly used by the 9/11 suicide pilots.
“Since November he’s addressed various different Islamic groups and organizations, and he’s used the Quran to be sworn into office. He’s also been linked to Islamic organizations with questionable agendas. What he hasn’t done is respond to requests from WND to confirm that he will, in fact, base his decisions on the laws of the United States on the U.S. Constitution, not the Quran.”
World Net Daily, 5 January 2007
If similar accusations of “dual loyalty” were levelled at a US Congressman who was Jewish it’s not difficult to predict what WND’s response would be.
‘Radical Islam and British universities’
“It is fairly common knowledge that insofar as terrorism is concerned, what happens in England will most certainly, eventually, happen in America. FSM Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan, in this utterly shocking and carefully documented expose, informs us of our future. When you read this, you will not be able to sleep until you are certain that we can stop such infiltration in our own homeland.”
Family Security Matters, 4 January and 5 January 2007
Makes Anthony Glees appear almost reasoned and objective by comparison.
Islamophobes mislead US senator
“Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) recently rescinded an award to Basim Elkarra, the executive director of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). This disturbing news was met with a flurry of rhetorical high-fives by anti-Muslim extremists in the blogosphere. After Boxer’s decision to rescind the award was made public, Elkarra received an e-mailed death threat. That threat is being investigated by the FBI.”
Parvez Ahmed in The American Muslim, 6 January 2007
A bipartisan wave of Islamophobia
Members of Congress are stoking racism against Muslims and Arabs. And it isn’t only right-wing Republicans – one of the most liberal Democrats in the Senate stands guilty of promoting Islamophobia.
‘Clash of Civilisations – what’s that about then?’ asks Vanessa Feltz
Today’s Vanessa Feltz show on Radio London (listen here) featured a discussion of the forthcoming Clash of Civilisations conference in London. Perhaps not the ideal subject for that particular presenter, given that she expresses total ignorance of what the “Clash of Civilisations” is about. Oliver Kamm is featured on the programme. For his take on the issue see here and here.
Kamm places an attack on Yusuf al-Qaradawi at the centre of his critique of the Clash of Civilisations event. Not only is it difficult to see the relevance of this – Qaradawi isn’t speaking at the conference – but Kamm gets his facts wrong. Qaradawi doesn’t support suicide bombings directed against Israeli civilians and he didn’t visit London “three weeks after the 7/7 bombings” but a year earlier, in July 2004.