Category Archives: State Oppression

‘Fanatics – fit in or ship out’, says Jon Gaunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jon_Gaunt“The Dutch are right to ban the Burka and we should do the same. It’s not a religious obligation and is increasingly being worn as an act of defiance against the majority way of life.

“Hiding your face isn’t about modesty, it’s about cowardice and a refusal to engage with the host society. It is intended to separate out these women from the mainstream. It is a sign of subjugation, even indoctrination, that women are second-class citizens.

“Well, at the risk of upsetting these extremists, I’m afraid I want to live in a society where women are equal and where my two beautiful girls have the same opportunity as boys. I can’t see how they can get that if they’re dressed to make them almost invisible from modern society.

“Inayat Bunglawala, a man obviously, from the Muslim Council of Britain, has reacted with horror to the Dutch proposals, saying: ‘One of the most wonderful things about living in Britain is freedom of association.’ How the hell can you associate with someone whose face you can’t see? How does dressing like a 14th-Century Dalek encourage freedom of association? The answer is that it clearly doesn’t.

“Our politicians should stop playing to the minorities and listen to the majority of Brits who are sick to the back teeth of this vocal but small band of religious extremists who want to spread division at every opportunity. We should ban the Burka, lift the veil and tell these fanatics to fit in or ship out.”

Jon Gaunt in The Sun, 21 November 2006

6 imams removed from flight at US airport after 3 conduct traditional prayers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Six Muslim imams were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and questioned by police for several hours before being released, a leader of the group said.

The six were among passengers who boarded Flight 300, bound for Phoenix, around 6:30 p.m. Monday, airport spokesman Pat Hogan said.

A passenger initially raised concerns about the group through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for US Airways. She said police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and the men refused.

“They took us off the plane, humiliated us in a very disrespectful way,” said Omar Shahin, of Phoenix.

The six Muslim scholars were returning from a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation, said Shahin, president of the group. Five of them were from the Phoenix-Tempe area, while one was from Bakersfield, California, he said.

Three of them stood and said their normal evening prayers together on the plane, as 1.7 billion Muslims around the world do every day, Shahin said. He attributed any concerns by passengers or crew to ignorance about Islam. “I never felt bad in my life like that,” he said. “I never. Six imams. Six leaders in this country. Six scholars in handcuffs. It’s terrible.”

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, expressed anger at the detentions.

“CAIR will be filing a complaint with relevant authorities in the morning over the treatment of the imams to determine whether the incident was caused by anti-Muslim hysteria by the passengers and/or the airline crew,” Hooper said. “Because, unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it’s one that we’ve been addressing for some time.”

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Dutch Muslims condemn ‘populist’ burqa ban move

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim leaders in the Netherlands have condemned a proposed ban on burqas, describing the eve-of-election pledge as an opportunistic overreaction and a populist attempt to win the anti-immigration vote.

The announcement on the burqa from the outgoing government took many politicians by surprise because the twin issues of Islam and immigration had barely featured in the campaign up to that point.

But the integration of Muslims in the country remains a sensitive issue two years after the murder of the film-maker Theo van Gogh, whose film Submission criticised Islam.

On Friday, the hardline, outgoing, immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, said the cabinet had decided it was “undesirable that face-covering clothing – including the burqa – is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens.”

She added: “From a security standpoint, people should always be recognisable and, from the standpoint of integration, we think people should be able to communicate with one another.”

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Blair bid to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir ‘opposed’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Fresh attempts by Tony Blair to ban a radical Muslim group are facing opposition from the police and Home Office officials, the BBC has learned. It is understood no direct links have been found between Hizb ut-Tahrir and a support for violence. Home Office officials are also understood to be concerned a successful legal challenge to a ban would be highly damaging.

Number Ten has been the driving force behind a fresh look at banning Hizb ut-Tahrir, or HT. The Home Office has been actively considering proscribing the organisation to coincide with Mr Blair’s current visit to Pakistan, which has a ban in place. But it is understood that neither the police nor the security services have been able to find direct links between the group and violence.

Senior police officers do not think a ban would be helpful, the BBC understands. But both Mr Blair and Home Secretary John Reid are understood to be in favour.

BBC News, 19 November 2006

College activists fear race reaction

Posted on by Bob Pitt

College activists fear race reaction

By Louise Nousratpour

Morning Star, 18 November 2006

EDUCATION campaigners warned of a potentially “racist and Islamophobic” backlash against new government guidelines on how to combat extremism on university and college campuses yesterday.

The Department for Education is to release guidance advising universities and colleges on how to respond if staff suspect that “extremist” literature is being circulated on campus or if they are worried about radical speakers visiting their institutions.

Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell insisted that Muslims were not being singled out, in the same breath as he declared that the threat from Islamic radicals must be faced head-on. “Violent extremism in the name of Islam is a real, credible and sustained threat to the UK,” he claimed. “There is evidence of serious, but not widespread, Islamist extremist activity in higher education institutions.”

Trade unions and student groups said that, while the guidance is an “improvement” on previous leaked drafts, it does not solve all the problems and falls short of suggesting practical steps to build cohesive relations on campus.

University and College Union (UCU) joint general secretary Paul Mackney stressed that universities and colleges must combine the guidance with a “robust strategy for defeating racism and Islamophobia.” He warned: “Radicalism must not be conflated with terrorism. Institutions must maintain a moderating environment where discussion flourishes, where people learn about different cultures and where ideas can be explored, challenged and debated.”

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Dutch government to ban veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rita VerdonkThe Dutch government said Friday it plans to draw up legislation “as soon as possible” banning full-length veils known as burqas and other clothing that covers a person’s entire face in public places.

“The Cabinet finds it undesirable that face-covering clothing – including the burqa – is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens,” Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk said in a statement.

Basing the order on security concerns apparently was intended to respond to warnings that outlawing clothing like the all-enveloping burqa, worn by some Muslim women, could violate the constitutional guarantee against religious discrimination.

The main Dutch Muslim organization CMO has been critical of any possible ban. The idea was “an overreaction to a very marginal problem” because hardly any Dutch women wear burqas anyway, said Ayhan Tonca of the CMO. “It’s just ridiculous.”

In the past, a majority of the Dutch parliament has said it would approve a ban on burqas, but opinion polls ahead of national elections Nov. 22 suggest a shift away from that position, and it is unclear if a majority in the new parliament would still back the government-proposed ban.

Associated Press, 17 November 2006

See also “Dutch government backs burqa ban”, BBC News, 17 November 2006

The ban would of course mainly affect the niqab rather than the rarely-worn burqa. But why should Verdonk (or the BBC) bother about the technicalities of Muslims’ funny foreign clothing?

Universities warned over extremists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain faces a serious threat from Muslim extremists trying to recruit university students to terrorism, Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell is warning. Mr Rammell will release new guidance on what lecturers should do to tackle violent groups targeting vulnerable undergraduates and preaching hatred on campus. The guidance contains advice on how to respond if staff suspect groups are circulating extremist literature to students or if they are concerned about radical speakers visiting a university.

Mr Rammell insisted Muslims were not being singled out – but he stressed that the threat from Islamic radicals must be faced head on. He said: “The guidance provides a recognition – that I believe must be faced squarely – that violent extremism in the name of Islam is a real, credible and sustained threat to the UK. And that there is evidence of serious, but not widespread Islamist extremist activity in higher education institutions.”

Press Association, 17 November 2006

See also Islam Online, 16 October 2006

Deal with the causes that jeopardise our security, says Michael Meacher

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Of course the government must give absolute priority to protecting the security of the nations against terrorist or any other threats. But endlessly ratcheting up the controls over every aspect of our national life, in the process undermining the very civil liberties and freedoms that the whole policy is supposed to be protecting, will never deliver real security unless we address the underlying motives. If we are tough on security, equally we need to be tough on the causes that generate our insecurity. And there is no doubt that the rage that drives terrorist activity is prompted by the horrendous daily carnage in Iraq, the refusal to condemn the indiscriminate bombing of Lebanon and the widespread perception among Muslims of a grossly imbalanced policy favouring Israel to the neglect of the Palestinians. Dealing with these causes that jeopardise our security will be difficult, but there is no other way.”

Michael Meacher at the Guardian‘s Comment is Free, 16 November 2006

Ministers using ‘terrorism’ for cynical ends

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ministers using ‘terrorism’ for cynical ends

by Louise Nousratpour

Morning Star, 13 November 2006

MINISTERS are damaging counter-terrorism policies by using them to seek votes and further their political careers, according to a report released on Sunday.

The Joseph Rowntree Trust report accused Prime Minister Tony Blair and Home Secretary John Reid of playing to a tabloid agenda for short-term electoral gain.

It said that the government’s counter-terrorism campaign “is often driven by party political and electoral motives that are ‘submerging’ its own ‘sensible’ counter-terrorism strategy.”

Chancellor Gordon Brown seemed to confirm the findings when he declared on Sunday that protecting the country from terrorism would be his “first priority” as Prime Minister.

In an interview with the Sunday papers, he also backed calls from Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair for repressive “anti-terror” powers to be toughened.

The trust’s 70-page study urged the government to abandon talk of a “war on terror” and to review its foreign policy.

Mr Blair’s “close and publicly unquestioning stance” alongside the US was damaging Britain’s influence on global politics, it warned.

The war on terror terminology “is misleading and disproportionate and leaves the Prime Minister open to the charge that he is exploiting the politics of fear,” added the report.

The authors accused ministers of creating a “shadow” criminal justice system in which Muslims were being detained without trial or handed control orders which may breach their human rights.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German welcomed the report and agreed that ministers were playing to tabloids’ “rotten racist agenda.”

She pointed to numerous other studies showing that Muslims are penalised under anti-terror measures and accused the government of “doing this to cover up its disastrous record.”

The study said that the new terrorism Bill, promised for 2007, must be subjected to full pre-legislative scrutiny in Parliament, possibly by a specially set up committee of MPs and peers.

The findings echoed deputy leadership hopeful Jon Cruddas’s warning at the weekend that the debate over the wearing of veils and the language of the “war on terror” had played into the hands of far-right extremism.

Speaking at a conference organised by anti-fascist group Searchlight on Saturday, he warned that the the BNP is “beginning to establish itself as a rival to Labour in many of our traditional heartlands.”

Vote-seeking ‘hits terror fight’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Government’s counter-terrorism policy is being damaged by ministers’ vote-seeking and party political interests, a report claimed.

The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust study said sensible plans to combat terrorism were being “submerged” by the Government’s “electoral motives”. It accused Prime Minister Tony Blair and Home Secretary John Reid of playing to a tabloid agenda and “trying to win over the white working class vote”.

Anti-terror measures which were having a disproportionate effect on Britain’s Muslim community risked alienating people within Islam who could play a vital role in defeating extremism, it added.

The authors urged the Government to abandon talk of a “war on terror” and to review its foreign policy. Mr Blair’s “close and publicly unquestioning stance” alongside the United States was damaging Britain’s influence on global politics, they suggested.

The report said: “The Government’s counter-terrorism campaign is often driven by party political and electoral motives that are ‘submerging’ its own ‘sensible’ counter-terrorism strategy. The actions of ministers, particularly Home Secretary John Reid, could have a ‘boomerang effect’ by alienating the Muslim communities whose trust and co-operation are vital.”

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