Category Archives: UK

Defend multicultural Britain against the BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Salma Yaqoob Respect“Today, it is anti-Muslim racism that is at the cutting edge of the fascist strategy. It is effective because it feeds on the suspicion and prejudice that is the theme of so much mainstream discussion of our lives as British Muslims.

“Its consequences are real. Already, there are signs that attacks on mosques and individual Muslims may be rising. The police are warning of the danger of far-right terrorism. And, earlier this month, we saw an openly racist provocation in Birmingham city centre, under the guise of a protest against ‘Islamic extremism’ – a label that the organiser made clear applied to all Muslims.

“We, as British Muslims, have a direct and immediate interest in defeating this fascist threat. The anti-fascist movement must reach out to Muslim communities who are at the sharp end of BNP attacks. But the rise in racism is not only a threat to Muslims. The BNP may be playing down their anti-Semitism and anti-Black racism in order to drive a wedge between Muslims and the rest of society. But to the BNP we are all ‘racial foreigners’. Our very existence as British people is denied.

“Our task is not only to unite all those targeted by the BNP, with every possible ally who rejects racism and fascism. We have to also positively assert our multicultural and pluralist society. It is a message of hope that is in tune in an increasingly interconnected world. It is a source of strength and vibrancy. We are one society and many cultures. And we will only remain so if we are prepared to stand up and be counted.”

Salma Yaqoob in the Morning Star, 20 July 2009

Soccer hooligans plan another anti-Muslim protest in Birmingham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Luton riotPolice are being urged to ban a “sinister” new soccer group – said to include football hooligans – from staging a Midland protest against Muslim extremists.

Casuals United was set up after British soldiers were abused by Islamic radicals at a homecoming parade in Luton earlier this year. The group allegedly includes trouble-makers from soccer clubs across the country, including Aston Villa, Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Casuals have already staged a number of protests against Muslim extremists around the UK, including on July 4 at Birmingham Bullring when a 100-strong crowd was held back by riot police. Now the group are planning to return to the second city for a fresh rally on August 8 – leading to fears of violence.

Last night, Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood urged police to block the event. He said: “No matter what these groups say, people have to see that they have sinister intentions and only want to promote violence on our streets. This is the kind of thing we saw in the 1970s when the Far Right came to prominence and caused riots in our cities.”

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BNP councillor not to be prosecuted over racist leaflets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islam a threat to us allA Pendle councillor from the British National Party has been cleared of all charges after he was arrested for handing out leaflets believed to racially aggravate public order.

Coun. Brian Parker was arrested with three other men on November 19th, for handing out two leaflets. One was written by the BNP entitled “Islam – a threat to us all” and the other by Preston Pals, holding Muslims responsible for the heroin trade in Britain.

After his arrest, bail was postponed four times before it was found on July 6th there was “currently insufficient evidence to prove a realistic prospect of conviction.”

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‘How would liberals like it if 10,000 Muslims moved into the area?’ fascist asks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

bnp-islam-posterCommunity leaders have lashed out against British National Party leader Nick Griffin after he suggested putting immigrants in Hampstead to see how the “liberal elite” liked it.

The comments were made in an interview on the Andrew Marr Show last Sunday when the BBC One show host asked him what should be done about people who want to come to Britain. Mr Griffin said: “If we’re going to allow them to come, for a start, I’d say, Well, let’s start sticking them in Hampstead in the places where the liberal elite live instead of poor places like Barking and Barnsley and Manchester and see how you people like it.”

Rather than backtracking on Mr Griffin’s inflammatory comments, BNP press officer Simon Darby went further by preaching the party’s anti-immigrant sentiments. He said how “would they like it if 10,000 Muslims moved into the area”.

He said: “I suppose these people would have no objection to Hampstead becoming Islamified – if they had Muslim fundamentalists living next door. It all depends what kind of immigrants we are dealing with. If all of a sudden there were plans to turn Hampstead into east London, I’m sure it wouldn’t go down very well. Millions of white Londoners have moved out of the capital because of what’s happened.”

Hampstead & Highgate Express, 16 July 2009

BBC pays damages to MCB secretary-general

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Abdul Bari at TUCThe BBC has agreed to pay £45,000 in damages to the head of the Muslim Council of Britain over a libellous claim in the Question Time programme. The claim was made by a panellist on the programme, who accused Muhammad Abdul Bari of implicitly condoning the kidnap and killing of British soldiers.

Mr Bari argued this was untrue, citing his public condemnation of the killing of British troops in Iraq in 2007. The BBC accepted the argument and apologised unreservedly.

The libellous claim – made on the 12 March 2009 edition of Question Time – came in response to a question from an audience member concerning controversial protests in March by a group of Muslim men against a regiment of British troops on parade in Luton on their return from duty in Iraq. The audience member asked: “Should these protests we saw last week when the Royal Anglia Regiment came to Luton be banned?”

In response to the question, one of the Question Time panellists suggested that despite having been asked many times to condemn the kidnapping and killing of British soldiers, Mr Bari had failed to do so and thereby implicitly condoned such acts. The panellist also suggested that Mr Bari believed the kidnapping and killing of British soldiers was a good and Islamic thing. Mr Bari was not mentioned by name, but was implied in the panellist’s reference to the “leadership” of the Muslim Council of Britain.

The BBC is paying £45,000 in damages to Mr Bari – which he will donate to charity – as well as his legal costs.

BBC News, 16 July 2009

See also Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari – an apology.

And MCB press release, 16 July 2009

CSC report fails to address BNP’s anti-Muslim racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

CSC BNP pamphlet“What’s glaringly omitted from the report is an analysis of how the BNP has in recent years shifted its strategy from outright racism and anti-semitism to attacking Muslims and Islam generally. The report briefly mentions Muslims in the intro and lists some comments that include the word Muslim, but its conclusion doesn’t even mention anti-Muslim bigotry. It avoids the topic despite the fact Nick Griffin went on the record to say it was politically better for the BNP to focus on Muslims rather than Jews or racism.

“Now, why would a report by the CSC avoid talking about the one subject that the BNP constantly campaigns on now? Why ignore it when it is repeatedly mentioned in its literature and by its supporters online (much more than other enemies)?

“Is that because much of the anti-Muslim bigotry directed by BNP members sounds suspiciously like what the Dutch politician Geert Wilders would say ‘to save the west‘? Oh look – the BNP website has written approvingly about Geert Wilders repeatedly! Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, is a huge fan and defender of Geert Wilders. I think we should be told.”

Sunny Hundal at Pickled Politics, 15 July 2009

It might be added that the anti-Muslim bigotry of BNP members bears more than a passing similarity to the views expressed by Douglas Murray himself. (“Europe still has time to turn around the demographic time-bomb which will soon see a number of our largest cities fall to Muslim majorities. It has to. All immigration into Europe from Muslim countries must stop…. Conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board: Europe must look like a less attractive proposition.”)

It’s also worth noting that the author of the CSC pamphlet is one Edmund Standing, a regular contributor to the notoriously Islamophobic website Harry’s Place. Standing helpfully provided a list of his own articles supposedly exposing “what the BNP and its members and supporters stand for” here. Check through them, and you’ll find that there’s plenty of stuff attacking fascist antisemitism (which has now disappeared almost entirely from the BNP’s public propaganda) and anti-Black racism, but not a peep about the BNP’s anti-Muslim racism. Indeed, Standing has dismissed “Griffin’s turn away from anti-Semitism and towards anti-Muslim vitriol” as “little more than a superficial political trick” – rather than recognising it as a fundamental change in fascist strategy that poses a major threat to Muslim communities.

Standing’s views on the Qur’an (“I hope to demonstrate to the reader quite what a divisive, primitive, and insulting book it actually is”) can be consulted here, by the way. He condemns “the hateful attitude it takes towards those who do not accept Islam”, and demands: “how can texts like those I have just cited do anything but instill a negative or contemptuous attitude towards non-Muslims?”

Standing would no doubt claim that, as an atheist, he is against all holy books. However, in a post at Harry’s Place addressing press reports that the IDF rabbinate had issued a publication entitled “Daily Torah studies for the soldier and the commander in Operation Cast Lead”, which claimed to provide religious justification for Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, Standing’s response was not to denounce Jewish religious texts for giving scriptural authority to hostility towards non-Jews. He merely appealed to the IDF to “keep religion out of it“.

Tory council leader fails to block debate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A controversial school debate which Hounslow Council claimed would incite violence passed without incident.

Council leader Peter Thompson wrote to Lampton School headteacher Sue John after he heard the “extremist” group Hizb Ut-Tahrir would be speaking at the event on Saturday. Despite the group pulling out of the event, the council pushed the school and organisers to cancel the Putting Contest 2 in Context debate – a move which incensed the Muslim community.

Mohammed Chaudhry, of Hounslow Muslim Forum, said more than 200 people attended to hear speakers and join in the debate. He said:

“There were a mixture of people, young and old, Muslim and not Muslim. People were fascinated and wanted to know more about the community and have a healthy debate.

“It is important to realise if we stop debate the radical groups can flourish, a good balanced argument is healthy. There was no violence and it was a calm and civilised debate.”

Mr Thompson wrote in his letter prior to the meeting: “The event organisers, unwilling to properly engage in constructive debate, have not sought to ensure a balanced discussion or debate around the content of this Central Government document.

“We have real concerns that the lack of balanced debate could inflame perceived grievances and lead to a breakdown in community cohesion. In truth the only purpose of the event appears to be an attempt to increase fear and mistrust among Muslims in the UK, and in our borough.

“I am writing to ask that you give serious consideration to cancelling this booking before it is too late.”

A Hounslow police spokesman confirmed there were no incidents on the day.

Hounslow Guardian, 13 July 2009

‘It’s a white country, not a Muslim state’, BNP supporter told Asian neighbours

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nigel HesmondhalghA man who made his Asian next door neighbours’ lives a misery with his anti-social and racist conduct was spared immediate jail.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Nigel Hesmondhalgh, 36, who had a British National Party sticker in the window of his Accrington home, was abusive and insulting to the couple, repeatedly picking on the wife. He piled dog dirt up in the alley outside their home and told them: “It’s a white country, not a Muslim state.”

Hesmondhalgh, said to be the carer for his brother, who has learning difficulties, told the husband of the couple he should be scared and shouted support for the BNP. The couple had lived in their home for 14 years before he moved in.

The defendant, of Stanley Street, Accrington, was given 36 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, with 18 months supervision and the Thinking Skills programme. Martin Hackett, defending, said Hesmondhalgh had been very close to his mother who died last July and he may have been adjusting.

Lancashire Telegraph, 13 July 2009

Consulting Hesmondhalgh’s Bebo profile, we find him indignantly denying that any racist language was directed against his neighbours – a claim rather undermined by the accompanying messages Nigel Hesmondhalgh says:”Kill All The Fuckin Pakkis”and What Is The Difference Between A Tea Towel And A Baseball Bat? FUCK ALL The Both Wrap Nicely Round A Pakkis Head.

And this thug has escaped a prison sentence.