The recent spat between Paul Goodman and Douglas Murray (see here, here, here, here, here, here and here) has attracted some attention, including coverage by Hugh Muir in the Guardian Diary. For those who haven’t followed this dispute, the initial cause of the conflict was a difference of opinion over gay marriage, which Goodman opposes and Murray strongly supports (making this one of those rare occasions where I agree with Murray). A bizarre exchange of insults ensued, with Murray accusing Goodman of conniving with homophobes in the Muslim community in order to block the right of lesbian and gay couples to marry, while Goodman claimed that by refusing to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples Murray was opening the door to “multiple sharia marriages”.
Category Archives: UK
How not to fight ‘campus extremism’
Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have no place in the university learning environment and universities should exercise due responsibility in protecting students against hate speech and racial or religiously motivated violence. But the histrionics of the debate, captured by the likes of Quilliam, HJS, Student Rights and Prof Anthony Glees, does little to better aid our understanding on the nature and complexity of the problem. Muslim and Jewish students deserve better than to be treated as political footballs or to have their right to free expression curtailed by imagined threats.
ENGAGE responds to an article in the Jewish Chronicle criticising University College London provost Malcolm Grant’s views on campus extremism.
On Utøya: new collection of essays analysing Breivik’s terrorist attack
In a challenging new book, a collection of Australian and British writers respond to the terrorist attack by Anders Breivik, and attempts by the Right to depoliticise it.
On July 22, 2011, Anders Breivik, a right-wing writer and activist, killed more than sixty young members of the Norwegian Labour Party on Utøya island. Captured alive, Breivik was more than willing to explain his actions as a ‘necessary atrocity’ designed to ‘wake up’ Europe to its betrayal by the left, and its impending destruction through immigration.
Breivik’s beliefs – expressed at length in a manifesto, ‘2083’ – were part of a huge volume of right-wing alarmism and xenophobia that had arisen in the last decade. Yet Breivik, we were told by the Right, was simply a madman – so mad, in fact, that he had actually believed what the Right said: that Europe was in imminent danger of destruction, and extreme action was required.
On Utøya: Anders Breivik, right terror, racism and Europe is a response to this attempt to deny responsibility, and any connection of Breivik’s act to a rising cult of violence, racism, and apocalyptic language. The editors and authors shine a light on Breivik’s actions, and argue that they cannot be understood abstracted from the far Right racist and Islamophobic social and political conditions in which it emerged.
Organised, written and produced within three months of the killings, On Utøya is a challenge to anyone who would seek to portray this event as anything other than it is – a violent mass assassination, directed against the left, to terrorise people into silence and submission to a far-right agenda. It concludes with an examination of the manufacture of hate and fear in Australia, and considers what is needed in a Left strategy to deal with the growing threat of far Right organising.
Edited by Elizabeth Humphrys, Guy Rundle and Tad Tietze, with essays by Anindya Bhattacharyya, Antony Loewenstein, Lizzie O’Shea, Richard Seymour, Jeff Sparrow and the editors.
More details here. Tad Tietze’s essay “Depoliticising Utøya: Anders Breivik as ‘madman'” can be read here.
Tennessee Islamophobes link up with Christian Concern
COOKEVILLE — Sam Solomon may be an expert on Sharia law – but he doesn’t practice it. Not anymore. And tomorrow, the former Muslim and Islamic jurist from England will be at Tennessee Tech – one of several stops he’s making in Middle Tennessee in the coming days – to share his story of conversion and discuss different aspects of Sharia law, which is the legal system of the Islamic religion.
The conference, which is open to the public and welcomes people of all religious backgrounds and political affiliations, begins at 2 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room of the Roaden University Center. A question and answer session will follow.
Also speaking will be English social activist Andrea Williams, who, along with Solomon, works with England’s Christian Concern, an organization that seeks to introduce a Christian voice into law, the media and government. She will lecture on modern liberalism and how multi-culturism, political correctness and Islamization of British society is “destroying our traditional lifestyles and prohibiting an active Christian life.”
Can those who smear Bob Lambert claim such anti-terrorist success?
Daud Abdullah defends the record of the former head of Scotland Yard’s Muslim Contact Unit.
Successful conference to defend multiculturalism
Over 400 anti-fascist campaigners came to a conference at the TUC’s congress centre in London last Saturday.
The event was titled Celebrate Diversity, Defend Multiculturalism, Oppose Islamophobia and Racism. It was called by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and One Society Many Cultures, and sponsored by South East Region TUC (SERTUC). It challenged European politicians’ race to demonise Muslims and immigrants as they try to shift blame for the economic crisis and austerity. Speakers and delegates were united in calling for far-right mobilisations to be met with counter-protests.
EDL thugs attack Ahmadiyya bookstall and Qur’an exhibition in Cradley Heath market
A Muslim book stall in Cradley Heath market was stormed by over 25 thugs from the English Defence League this weekend.
The shocking attack occurred in front of shoppers, many of which were women and children, at the market at 2.30pm on Saturday. The local Ahmadiyya Muslim book stall and Qur’an exhibition was attacked and volunteers were manhandled and abused by members of the Far Right organisation.
Shocked Ahmadiyya outreach worker Toby Ephram described the scene in the market. He said: “About 25 of the EDL group stormed our stall in Cradley Heath pushing, shoving and threatening our members. We have the book stall to raise awareness of our work in Britain and in the local community we are proud to be British Muslims and this incident saddened us. Our motto is ‘Love for All – Hatred for None’ and we do not meet violence with violence so we just stood there and did not respond to the provocation.”
Toronto hotel cancels iERA conference booking
The Sheraton Centre hotel will not host a Muslim religious conference that was to feature speakers who have expressed anti-gay and anti-Semitic views.
The Star informed a Sheraton convention services manager about the speakers on Wednesday. On Thursday, after the Star published an article on the conference, a hotel spokesperson said it had been “cancelled due to the organization’s failure to satisfy a contractual requirement”.
The conference, which had been scheduled for Oct. 23, was organized by the Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA), a British organization seeking to establish a Canadian presence.
In a statement, the IERA said it “unequivocally rejects” the Star‘s article as “false and misleading”. It also issued an “action alert” urging supporters to “complain about this unfair action”.
“The aim of the upcoming conference, far from promoting hatred, will focus on getting Muslims to pro-actively engage with the wider society by sharing the true essence of the Islamic faith in both word and deed,” the IERA said.
Why the EDL vandalised a Muslim-owned shop
From everythingedl we reproduce this Facebook comment by Amanda Kitching, who is the partner of Steven Vasey, one of the two EDL members recently jailed for vandalising Muslim-owned buildings, including a mosque and a shop, in retribution for the burning of Remembrance Day poppies by the tiny extremist group Muslims Against Crusades.
One Society Many Cultures conference tomorrow
A huge range of speakers, including MPs, campaigners, writers and musicians is lined up for the one-day conference on defending multiculturalism on 15 October.
The event, titled Celebrate diversity, defend multiculturalism, oppose Islamophobia and racism, is organised by UAF and One Society Many Cultures and sponsored by SERTUC.
It is backed by the NUT, Unite, CWU, UCU and PCS trade unions, the Muslim Council of Britain and the NUS Black Students Campaign.
Speakers announced for the conference include Frances O’Grady TUC deputy general secretary, Kevin Courtney deputy general secretary NUT, Jack Dromey MP, Helen Goodman MP, Peter Hain MP,Claude Moraes MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Farooq Murad secretary general, Muslim Council of Britain, Edie Friedman executive director, Jewish Council for Racial Equality, Michelle Stanistreet general secretary NUJ, Hugh Lanning deputy general secretary PCS, Steve Hart political director Unite, Megan Dobney regional secretary SERTUC, Zita Holbourne PCS NEC, Bob Lambert co-director European Muslim Research Centre, Jody McIntyre journalist, Peter Oborne journalist, Dilowar Khan director, London Muslim Centre, Alaa’ Samarrai vice-president student affairs, Federation of Student Islamic Societies, Kanja Sesay NUS black students’ officer, Nitin Sawney musician, Sabby Dhalu secretary One Society Many Cultures, Denis Fernando Lesbian and Gay Coalition Against Racism, Weyman Bennett joint secretary UAF, Martin Smith national co-ordinator, Love Music Hate Racism.
>> Go here to download the conference flyer
>> Read more about the conference
The event takes place at the TUC conference centre, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS from 9.30am to 5pm on Saturday 15 October.