Category Archives: State Oppression

Man behind Herouxville affair launches campaign against immigration and multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Andre DrouinAndre Drouin’s lips curl up in a mischievous grin as he recalls the insults hurled at him at the height of the Herouxville affair in 2007. “Twit, moron, xenophobe, racist, stupid – all of it,” says the retired engineer who penned the infamous municipal charter barring the stoning, burning and genital mutilation of women in this hamlet north of Trois-Rivieres, Que.

But the recent storm over the niqab suggests l’affaire Herouxville was no anomaly. Drouin is now lending his support to a nascent coalition that aims to drum up opposition to immigration and multiculturalism in English Canada. “Three years ago, they thought I was a mad person, but right now I don’t think they think the same thing,” Drouin said.

In recent months, Drouin has spoken to small groups in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, where his tough talk on minorities strikes a chord with longtime critics of Canada’s immigration policy, such as Martin Collacott, a senior fellow at the conservative Fraser Institute.

Collacott and James Bissett, both retired diplomats who frequently write on immigration issues, and Drouin are among the founders of a new group that will push for a radical reduction in immigration and a tougher stand on minority accommodation.

Collacott said organizers are putting the finishing touches to a website and will launch the group, tentatively called the Centre for Immigration Policy Reform, in June.

Montreal Gazette, 12 April 2010

CIA given details of British Muslim students

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Personal information concerning the private lives of almost 1,000 British Muslim university students is to be shared with US intelligence agencies in the wake of the Detroit bomb scare.

The disclosure has outraged Muslim groups and students who are not involved in extremism but have been targeted by police and now fear that their names will appear on international terrorist watch lists. So far, the homes of more than 50 of the students have been visited by police officers, but nobody has been arrested. The case has raised concerns about how the police use the data of innocent people and calls into question the heavy-handed treatment of Muslim students by UK security agencies.

Independent, 1 April 2010

Cordoba Foundation welcomes Select Committee report on Prevent

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cordoba FoundationThe Cordoba Foundation (TCF) welcomes the publication yesterday of the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee report on its enquiry into the Government’s Prevent program, which concluded that Prevent “stigmatized and alienated those it is most important to engage with, and tainted many positive community cohesion projects”.

Anas Altikriti, TCF Chief Executive said “the report puts credibility to what a lot of community leaders have been saying all along about rising distrust and suspicion about the Prevent program, namely allegations of spying on Muslims and the specific targeting of the Muslim community”.

After the initial allegations emerged as a result of investigations carried out by the Institute of Race Relations, TCF convened a roundtable in October 2009 at the House of Lords where prominent academics, human rights groups, community leaders and experts discussed their concerns which were later forwarded to Dr Phyllis Starkey, chair of the select committee. “We are happy that we were able to contribute some of our concerns and suggestions to the CLG Select Committee” said Altikriti.  Moreover, “the proposed independent review of Prevent operations is a welcome sign and will improve confidence in the community”, added Altikriti.

TCF supports some of the recommendations that were made by the committee to the Government which includes:

  • Research on risk factors for radicalization;
  • Investments to tackle socio-economic deprivation;
  • Avoiding interference in theological matters;
  • Need for the Government to engage with those who demonstrate a desire to promote greater understanding, cohesion and integration.

In the light of the upcoming elections, it is hoped that these recommendations will be taken forward by the new Government in a bid to repair damage done to community cohesion through the Prevent program.

Cordoba Foundation press release, 31 March 2010

Belgian committee votes for full Islamic veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Belgian parliamentary committee has voted to ban face-covering Islamic veils from being worn in public.

The home affairs committee voted unanimously to endorse the move, which must be approved by parliament for it to become law. Such a vote could be held within weeks, correspondents say, meaning that Belgium could become the first European country to implement a ban.

The BBC’s Dominic Hughes reports from Brussels that there are about 500,000 Muslims in Belgium, and the Belgian Muslim Council says only a couple of dozen wear full-face veils.

Several districts of Belgium have already banned the burka in public places under old local laws originally designed to stop people masking their faces completely at carnival time.

The wording of the draft law approved by the parliamentary committee says the ban would apply to areas accessible to the public – which would include people walking in the street or using public transport – and would be enforced by fines or even prison.

Denis Ducarme, from the Belgian centre-right Reformist Movement that proposed the bill, said he was “proud that Belgium would be the first country in Europe which dares to legislate on this sensitive matter”. A colleague, Corinne De Parmentier, said: “We have to free women of this burden.”

BBC News, 31 March 2010

See “Europe’s Paranoia on Veil”, MCB press release, 31 March 2010

MPs call for investigation into ‘spy’ allegations against Prevent

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An independent investigation should be held into allegations that a government programme aimed at preventing Muslims from being lured into violent extremism is being used to “spy” on them, a committee of MPs will say today.

The programme, called Prevent, has been dogged by controversy and is criticised on several fronts in a report published today by the communities and local government select committee, which says the programme has “stigmatised and alienated” British Muslims.

Last October the Guardian revealed Prevent was being used to gather intelligence about innocent people who are not suspected of terrorist involvement. The article was denounced as “wilfully misleading” by Alan Johnson, the home secretary.

Phyllis Starkey, the committee chair, said: “Many witnesses made plain they believe Prevent has been used to ‘spy’ on Muslim communities. The misuse of terms such as ‘intelligence gathering’ amongst Prevent partners has clearly discredited the programme and fed distrust. Information required to manage Prevent has been confused with intelligence gathering undertaken by the police to combat crime and surveillance used by the security services to actively pursue terrorism suspects.”

The committee report does not back the government’s unequivocal denunciation of the reports of spying and concludes: “We cannot ignore the volume of evidence we have seen and heard which demonstrates a continuing lack of trust of the programme amongst those delivering and receiving services. Based on the evidence we have received, it is not possible for us to take a view. If the government wants to improve confidence in the Prevent programme, it should commission an independent investigation into the allegations made.”

The all-party report says the government should stop trying to “engineer” a so-called moderate form of Islam and pay more attention to other factors leading to violent extremism, including foreign policy, the higher than average poverty rates faced by Muslims and alienation.

Guardian, 30 March 2010

Read the Communities and Local Government Committee’s report here.

See also Phyllis Starkey, “Mishandling Muslim communities”, Comment is Free, 30 March 2010

French PM advised against total Islamic veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

France’s top administrative body has advised the government that any total ban on face-covering Islamic veils could be unconstitutional. The State Council also said a ban could be justified in some public places.

Prime Minster Francois Fillon had asked the council for a legal opinion before drawing up a law on the subject. However, an MP from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party was quoted as saying that those drafting the legislation might ignore Tuesday’s ruling.

In the ruling, the council said any law could be in violation of the French constitution as well as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. “It appears to the State Council that a general and absolute ban on the full veil as such can have no incontestable judicial basis,” it said.

BBC News, 30 March 2010

See also Associated Press, 30 March 2010

Quebec’s veil law is a slap in the face to Muslim women

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“In Canada all citizens have the right to personal freedom as long as it does not infringe on another’s right. However when it comes to a Muslim woman, we have convinced ourselves that she is a victim of her husband’s dominance and so we do not believe her when she says ‘this is my choice’.

“What a cunning, circular web we weave. First we discredit her as an intellectual being, ridicule her claim to be a free-thinking woman, demonize her for practising her faith, and then smugly claim to be emancipating her.”

Shahina Siddiqui argues against the proposed ban on the veil in Quebec.

Montreal Gazette, 30 March 2010

See also “Quebecers opinion of Muslims on the decline: poll”, Toronto Sun, 30 March 2010

Most Canadians want niqab restricted

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Most Quebecers and Canadians agree that women wearing the niqab or burqa should not receive government services, hospital care or university instruction, a new Angus Reid poll shows.

Ninety-five per cent of Quebecers support a proposed provincial law barring the face veil from government offices, schools and other publicly funded institutions, says the poll, provided exclusively to The Gazette yesterday.

In the rest of Canada, three out of four people give the thumbs up to Bill 94, tabled Wednesday by the Charest government. The bill would require all public sector employees to have their faces uncovered, as well as any citizen using government services, for example, someone applying for a medicare card or paying her car registration.

Nationally, four out of five Canadians support the bill.

Mario Canseco, vice-president of public affairs for the pollster, said the survey shows an unusually high level of support for a government measure. “It’s very rare to get 80 per cent of Canadians to agree on something,” he said. “With numbers like this, there is not going to be much of a controversy over the legislation in Quebec or anywhere else in the country,” he added.

Montreal Gazette, 27 March 2010

See also “Tories, Liberals back Quebec’s veil ban”, Globe and Mail, 27 March 2010

‘Why I was banned in the USA’ – Tariq Ramadan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It’s not the first time America has tried to shield itself from dissenting opinions. During the Cold War, dozens of overseas artists, activists, and intellectuals – including British novelist Doris Lessing, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, and Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez – were denied visas because of their left-leaning ideas. Today, though, the American concept of the ‘other’ has taken on a relatively new and specific form: the Muslim. America must face the reality that, in the West, many adherents to Islam demonstrate loyalty to democratic values through criticism.”

Tariq Ramadan writes in Newsweek, 29 March 2010

Sarkozy promises to ban the veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nicolas_SarkozyFrance is to ban the full Muslim veil to protect the dignity of women, President Sarkozy announced today.

His decision followed months of wavering by politicians of Left and Right and ended a long silence by Mr Sarkozy on what do do about the niqab, burqa and other full face-covering garments.

“The full veil is contrary to the dignity of women,” the President said. “The response is to ban it. The Government will table a draft law prohibiting it.”

He gave no details, but his announcement means that he has come down on the side of members of parliament in his own camp and the opposition who advocate a full ban on the full veil on French territory.

An all-party parliamentary committee recommended lesser measures last month which would require women to expose their faces on public transport and on state-owned premises such as post offices, universities and hospitals.

Until yesterday, Mr Sarkozy had merely said that the full veil symbolised the oppression of women and that it “has no place in France”.

Times, 24 March 2010