Tash Shifrin examines the English Defence League’s international links, and in particular the role of the Center for Vigilant Freedom/International Civil Liberties Alliance.
Category Archives: UK
Daily Mail’s bigoted and inaccurate reporting provokes more right-wing anti-Muslim hysteria
Over the past week we have seen a wave of right-wing hysteria over the case of Rhea Page, a white woman from Leicester who was assaulted by four women of Somali heritage – or a “Muslim gang”, as they are invariably described.
The version of events that has gained currency on the racist right is that the women subjected Page to a “savage beating” while screaming “kill the white slag” but escaped a prison sentence because the judge accepted the defence’s argument in mitigation that the accused were Muslims who weren’t used to drinking alcohol. The case has been presented as an example of double standards in the British legal system, which supposedly discriminates against the white majority population and in favour of Muslims and other minorities.
Mosque protest leaflet ‘is trying to whip up hysteria’
A campaign against a mosque planned for Cambridge has claimed its dome is deliberately designed to “dominate” the skyline.
Homes have been leafleted by opponents of the Mill Road Islamic centre – leading some residents to claim the leaflet is whipping up antagonism against the city’s Muslim community. The anonymous publication brands the centre a “megamosque” and claims it will cause massive traffic congestion, late-night noise and disturbance to residents.
It also says the mosque’s dome will “overshadow” nearby homes because it is “twice the height of neighbouring houses”. The leaflet claims the building is “intended to overbear its surroundings and to send a message of physical and numerical dominance”. The flyer asks: “Does Cambridge need a megamosque?”
Sharia law already devouring UK (it says here)
PJ Media has posted a truly crazed comment piece by Paul Diamond. A British barrister who specialises in representing fellow fundamentalist Christians claiming to have been victims of discrimination, Diamond was a featured speaker at the Preserving Freedom Conference in Nashville last month, where he announced that the UK group Christian Concern would be linking up with the Tennessee Freedom Coalition.
It is worth reading his PJ Media article if you want an insight into the mindset of the most extreme elements within the evangelical Christian right. Some sample quotes:
Unmasked: wealthy backers behind far-right league
The Sunday Times has the details. See also the reports by Unite Against Fascism and the Morning Star.
Mitt Romney: Islam is not an inherently violent faith
Mitt Romney responded today to a call for a tougher stance against Muslims by saying that most Muslims are peaceful people who deserve respect.
The issue came up during a question-and-answer session at a campaign stop here this morning. A man rose from the audience, claimed he had many Muslim friends, but said, “I have never heard one Muslim condemn Islamic jihad or terrorism. I see Islamic jihad as one of the greatest threats to America and the western world. Are you going to continue to give Islam and Islamic jihad in this country a pass like everybody before you continues to do? The only people that call Islam a religion of peace are the Muslims, and they are the most violent religion in the world.”
Saudi sheikhs? They all look the same to me, says Gilligan
Al-Barrak and al-Beraik – Gilligan can’t tell them apart
Andrew Gilligan has uncovered another dangerous extremist at the East London Mosque – Sheikh Saad al-Beraik, who who spoke at the ELM last week (and at the London Central Mosque too, as it happens).
After intensive googling, Gilligan has come up with a 2002 article from which he extracts the quote that provides his article’s headline. A single quote that appeared on a dubious website a decade ago isn’t much of a basis for denouncing Saad al-Beraik as an extremist threat, you might think.
Seeing yobs get punished helps us to move on, say Leicester Muslim family who suffered years of abuse
A family who were forced to flee their home after years of racist abuse said seeing their tormentors punished in court has helped them move on.
Sabana and Salim Amod left Leicester’s Saffron Lane in June, after two years of abuse and vandalism. Yobs smashed the windows of their Helmsley Road home, slashed their car tyres, sprayed racist graffiti about their Muslim faith on their front door and threw stones at the couple and their children. Several people have now appeared in court charged with racially-aggravated offences.
Stoke-on-Trent mosque arsonists jailed
Two men have each been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of deliberately setting fire to a Stoke-on-Trent mosque.
Ex-soldier Simon Beech, 23, and Garreth Foster, 29, both from Stoke, were found guilty of setting fire to Hanley’s Regent Road mosque on 3 December. The pair both denied running a pipe into the building from a nearby gas meter in a bid to spark an explosion at the mosque, which suffered about £50,000 damage as a result of the fire.
Speaking after the verdicts were delivered, Rana Tufail, a member of the mosque committee, said it was “difficult” to describe the arson attack. He said: “It is a community project. They have put their soul into it. They have put their earnings into it and they [Beech and Foster] tried to destroy it. We are happy that it’s still standing.”
Ch Supt Bernie O’Rielly, from Staffordshire Police, added that he had no doubts that the pair’s intention was to “blow the mosque up”. “Without doubt that would have caused hate in the community, division in the community and broken down all the cohesion and good work we do,” he said. “The community around this area have been an absolute credit. They’ve acted with such restraint and so dignified in the face of such provocation.”
See also “EDL soldier and crony jailed for 10 years for Stoke mosque arson”, UAF news report, 8 December 2011
The IRR’s recent study The new geographies of racism: Stoke-on-Trent provides some useful context to the case. It can be downloaded here.
Church fury over opening of McDonald’s on Christmas Day as Muslim manager is drafted in
Church leaders have hit out at a branch of McDonald’s which is to open on Christmas Day. A Muslim branch manager has been drafted in by the fast food outlet to cover for the usual boss who is taking the day off and staff have volunteered to work that day for seven hours.
Parish Rvd Wayne Stillwell said the decision to open the branch showed “the continuing decline of Christendom in this country” and his reaction was “one of great sadness”. He added: “I’m sad that we’ve got to this point in our society where something that means as much as Christmas seems to mean so little. It shows the continuing decline of Christendom in our country.”