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Category Archives: UK
Let’s have no double standards over EDL, says Salma Yaqoob
Salma Yaqoob on the English Defence League:
“Yesterday’s EDL protest in Dudley exposed their true face. Tired of political speeches, many of the racists turned to fighting each other, then the police, before breaking through police lines and heading towards the Unite Against Fascism event. Fortunately the police were able to contain the rampaging thugs before they were able to cause serious damage or injury.
“The EDL mobilised at least 1,000 people in support of a hate-filled agenda of attacks on Islam and Muslims. They carried Islamaphobic placards and chanted ‘If they build a f**g mosque, burn it down’. This is a direct call for racist violence.
“I am quite sure that if gangs of Muslims were maurading through our town centres threatening to burn down churches that special laws would be passed, task forces established, and people prosecuted.
“Let us not have double standards. The EDL are seeking to incite violence against the Muslim community and undermine community relations. They should feel the full force of the law for so doing.”
EDL riot in Dudley
Violent clashes broke out on Saturday between riot police and right-wing protesters. About 2,000 members of the English Defence League (EDL) descended on Dudley town centre in the West Midlands to demonstrate against plans for a new mosque.
Some of the protesters broke out of a pen in a car park, breaking down metal fences and throwing the metal brackets at officers, who were armed with riot shields and batons.
Members of the demonstration started fighting their own stewards who were trying to calm them down as they attacked the fences penning them in.
Anti-racists hold successful carnival in Dudley town centre as EDL thugs clash with police
Over 1,000 people gathered in Dudley town centre on Saturday to attend Unite Against Fascism’s “One Dudley Many Cultures” carnival against racism. The event was set up to celebrate Dudley’s multi-racial society and oppose the presence of the racist English Defence League who had threatened to descend on the town for an anti-Muslim rally that day.
The UAF event was a great success, featuring speakers including the Bishop of Dudley, local Muslim activists, trade unionists and anti-racists. People from all Dudley’s communities attended, together with people from around the country who had come to show their solidarity with Dudley’s Muslim population and their opposition to the EDL’s thugs and bigots.
In contrast, the EDL were marched to a disused car park on the edge of town. There were several violent clashes as they attempted to break through police lines to run riot through the town. Witnesses describe hearing several vile anti-Muslim chants from the EDL, including: “If you build your f—king mosque, we’ll burn it down.”
Sabby Dhalu, joint secretary of UAF, said: “Today’s events in Dudley showed the real face of the EDL. They are a group of organised fascist football hooligans looking for trouble, who broke past heavily policed lines. This was is in contrast to the peaceful celebration organised by UAF, the Dudley Borough Interfaith Network and local communities.
“The EDL were trying to provoke a reaction. They didn’t get one. Over a hundred of them were contained by riot police in the vicinity of the UAF event in order to prevent them from attacking people leaving the antifascist rally. It is high time these fascist demonstrations were banned, and if the law prevents that then the goverment must take action to introduce new legislation.”
Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of UAF, said: “Today was a success for anti-racists and anti-fascists. The EDL were forced to huddle in a car park on the edge of town. They showed their true colours when they unsuccessfully tried to break out and run riot. In contrast UAF and local anti-racist groups mounted a powerful show of unity against the EDL and their friends in the Nazi BNP.
“The policing of today’s events in Dudley stands in sharp contrast to tactics used in Bolton two weeks ago. There the police marched the EDL into the centre of town and attacked the anti-racist protest. In Dudley the EDL were not allowed into the town centre and the anti-racist protest was allowed to go ahead unmolested. The authorities should take note when policing future such events.”
UAF press release, 3 April 2010
Update: See also Birmingham Mail, 4 April 2010
Muslim prayer room is against secular values claims City University
Some Muslim students at City University in London are praying in the street in a row over prayer room facilities. The university says it goes against its philosophy to provide a room for just Islamic students.
“We felt that the provision of a dedicated prayer facility to a sub-section of our Islamic students did not fit with our university’s values,” said Professor Julius Weinberg, who is the acting vice-chancellor at City University.
“We’re a secular organisation. Our university values statement says that we will not discriminate and having a dedicated prayer room actually went fundamentally against the core values of the organisation.”
CIA given details of British Muslim students
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.
Muslim leaders ‘failing to tackle extremists’
Muslim leaders have been criticised by a University of Oxford academic for not doing enough to tackle extremists. Nick Chatrath, a researcher at Oxford’s Faculty of Oriental Studies, claims in a paper to be published this week that in the face of growing radicalisation in Britain, Muslim leaders are ignoring extremists’ points of view and glossing over some of the more unsavoury parts of Islam’s ancient texts.
In an essay in next month’s Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Mr Chatrath called for a more open engagement by moderate Muslims with the arguments of extremists.
Based on interviews with Anjem Choudary, of the banned extremist group Islam4UK, and Dr Musharraf Hussain, an adviser to the Muslim Council of Britain, Mr Chatrath said: “Moderate Muslim leaders are doing a poor job of tackling extremism in Britain.” He said that extremists such as Mr Choudary, who has argued that democracy should be replaced with obedience to Allah, were using the Koran and other ancient texts to justify their actions. He called on moderate community leaders to do more to counter this.
“This attitude must change, as the best way to extinguish extremist arguments is to deal with them out in the open, not just sweep them under the carpet and hope for the best,” he said. “Some recent polls suggest ordinary British Muslims are becoming more sympathetic to extremists, and this could be related to the way moderate Muslims are ignoring the extremist threat.”
See also Jihad Watch, 30 March 2010
Cordoba Foundation welcomes Select Committee report on Prevent
The 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.
Hundreds gather for East End discussion on Islamaphobia
Hundreds of people gathered for a seminar on ‘poisonous’ anti-Muslim hatred organised by the Islamic Forum of Europe.
The event was held at the London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel last night and the IFE estimate that it attracted 700 people to hear a discussion about hate crimes against Muslims and the portrayal of Islam in the media.
The discussion also looked at ways of tackling extremism in all sections of society, including the far right.
Speakers included Dr. Robert Lambert, former head of Scotland Yard’s Muslim Contact Unit, Oliver McTernan, Director of Forward Thinking and Senior Associate Fellow of the UK Defence Academy, Neil Jameson, Lead Organiser of London Citizens, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow George Galloway and Conservative London Assembly member Andrew Boff.
The IFE president Musleh Faradhi said: “Islamophobia is an issue which we can’t ignore. This is poisonous for this community. It will destroy everything that this society stands for.”
MPs call for investigation into ‘spy’ allegations against Prevent
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.
Read the Communities and Local Government Committee’s report here.
See also Phyllis Starkey, “Mishandling Muslim communities”, Comment is Free, 30 March 2010