Category Archives: UK

Niqab-wearing mother excluded from parents’ evening

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A mother was told she could not attend a school parents evening because she was wearing a veil. The 34-year-old woman who does not wish to be named claims she has taken the issue up with the school but she has been told she must remove her veil whenever she enters the school on “health, safety and security grounds”.

Speaking exclusively to Asian Image she said, “If I had been told this was their intended policy then maybe I would not have considered asking my son to go to the school in the first place. The whole situation has upset me and I don’t like going to the school any more because I always leave crying.”

The woman, who is also a former pupil of the school, said the policy was not in force before she enrolled her son at the school, neither was it in the school prospectus. She said the problem started in 2007 at Our Lady and St John Roman Catholic School in Blackburn. Since then the woman said she has been asked to remove her veil before she can step into the school.

Headteacher Mrs Gillen said, “Although a high percentage of our pupils are of Asian Heritage pupils she was the first lady to come to parents evening wearing a full veil. I have made it quite clear that I will arrange for her to meet with staff on a one to one in my office. The difficulty would be if a number of ladies wearing veils were free to wander corridors or rooms. It would not be feasible to monitor who is who.”

Asian Image, 3 April 2009

See also Lancashire Evening Telegraph and Daily Mail.

Councillor held by Special Branch at Heathrow Airport

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tower Hamlets councilor Oliur Rahman was detained at Heathrow airport today (Wednesday) under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He has expressed outrage over the incident.

Cllr Rahman was held for more than 30 minutes and quizzed by Special Branch about why he had attended the sixth Cairo international anti-war conference in Egypt. Cllr Rahman told the Advertiser from Heathrow: “A man standing behind the desk at immigration control asked to see my passport and said he was a police officer. He asked why I’d been in Cairo, how long I’d been there, what contacts I’d made and where I lived. I asked what was the purpose of these questions and he said he was from Special Branch and had the right to ask under the Terrorism Act.”

“I’m really shaken about it,” he continued. “They didn’t stop anyone else from that flight and I’m sure it was because of the colour of my skin and because I’m a Muslim.” He is writing a letter of complaint to the Met Police.

East London Advertiser, 2 April 2008

National Secular Society promotes ‘Islamization’ of Britain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Traditional Values CoalitionWhich will no doubt come as a surprise to the deeply Islamophobic NSS. But the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon is convinced:

“A disturbing cultural trend is emerging in Britain – one that could result in the eventual Islamization of this great ally in the war on terrorism. More than 100,000 Brits have downloaded ‘certificates of de-baptism’ from a National Secular Society (NSS) web site. These men and women have decided to openly reject their Christian heritage….

“Last year, the Bishop of Rochester, England, Right Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali warned against the increased secularization of British culture. He noted that Britain’s ascendency in world history could never have been achieved unless it had been based on Christian principles. He noted that Islam poses a major threat to England. In fact, he was so outspoken about Islam last year that he faced death threats. Regrettably, he resigned his post just a few days ago. A prophetic voice is now gone.

“With a Christian vacuum emerging in England, radical Islam will fill the void – and those Britains who so casually rejected their Christian heritage, will eventually be subjugated under Shariah Law…. Christianity not only brought the truth of Jesus Christ to Britain and other nations, but the concept of progress and human freedom. As Britains reject Christianity, the evil totalitarian political system known as Islam waits to fill this vacuum. If Brits thought Nazism was bad, wait until Islam seizes control of this island nation.”

Traditional Values Coalition, 1 April 2009

The CSC’s latest exercise in undermining social cohesion

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Robin Simcox promotes the latest publication by the surreally misnamed Centre for Social Cohesion – foreigners, you’ll be shocked to hear, and worst of Saudi Arabia and Iran, are funding courses at colleges in the UK. David Shariatmadari accuses Simcox of drawing “peculiar conclusions that only really make sense in the context of the CSC’s relentless Islamophobia”.

Quilliam Foundation links up with Harry’s Place

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Well, it had to happen eventually, didn’t it? Today the pro-war, frothing-at-the-mouth, anti-Muslim blog Harry’s Place features a guest post by James Brandon, Senior Research Fellow and Head of Communications at the Quilliam Foundation.

If Ed Husain’s project wasn’t sufficiently discredited already among the UK’s Muslim communities, this surely sets the seal on it. Yet the government pours hundreds of thousands of pounds into the Quilliam Foundation, while severing relations with the genuinely representative Muslim Council of Britain.

David Cameron wants UK to be ‘totally Islamified’, fascists claim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“In yet another example of how the Tory Party has utterly betrayed all British values, its shadow Minister of Community Cohesion has been named as ‘Britain’s most powerful Muslim’ by the ‘equality and Human Rights Commission’. Pakistani-origin Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, promoted to the House of Lords by Tory leader David Cameron and now using the title ‘Baroness’ so that she can pretend to be an elected Tory frontbencher, said she was delighted to be selected…. Mr Cameron’s choice of Ms Warsi as Community Cohesion shadow minister is perfectly in line with his public demand that Britain be totally Islamified.”

BNP news release, 31 March 2009

The demonisation of British Islamism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“British Islamists aren’t the only Muslim political voice in modern Britain, but they don’t deserve the attacks they are enduring, and by the rules of our political system they don’t deserve to be excluded. Let’s hope that the government stops listening to the fringes, and recognises the variety of mainstream Muslim political voices before it’s too late.”

Robert Lambert and Jonathan Githens-Mazer at Comment is Free, 1 April 2009

Fascists hijack Christ for attack on Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP What Would Jesus Do election poster

The extremist British National Party (BNP) is to launch an advertising campaign featuring Jesus Christ. The far-Right party will use the advert which features a bible verse quoting Jesus’ words about persecution, in the run up to the European Elections in June. It comes after the Church of England passed a resolution at its General Synod last month banning clergy from being members of the party.

The advert features a picture of Jesus Christ on the cross and quotes a part of a verse from John’s Gospel (John 15:20) in which Jesus says: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you”. The verse comes in the context of Jesus’ teaching about love. The advert then asks: “What would Jesus do?”.

In recent years the BNP has used religious rhetoric with increasing frequency. In recent local elections, the party’s literature included copies of the controversial Mohammed cartoons. It also helped establish a “Christian Council of Britain”. The goal is to appeal to those in the population who identify with Christianity, but feel panicked both by “liberal secularism” and the growth of Islam.

In an email sent yesterday to BNP supporters, BNP leader Nick Griffin said: “The British National Party is the only political party which genuinely supports Britain’s Christian heritage. It is the only party which will defend our ancient faith and nation from the threat of Islamification.”

But Jonathan Bartley, co-director of the thinktank Ekklesia said: “This is clearly a gross misrepresentation of both Jesus Christ and Christianity. Jesus was completely opposed to bigotry. He is recorded in the Gospels as challenging those who didn’t welcome foreigners – not as working for their exclusion.

“But the church must critically reflect on how it is aiding the far-Right. Leading figures within the Church of England have become far more vocal recently in their calls to ‘stem the tide of secularism’, and to defend the predominant ‘Christian culture’ of Britain. The uncomfortable fact is that this puts the Church into the position of arguing the same political point about national identity as the BNP.”

Ekklesia, 30 March 2009

Muslim youth organisations denied state funding

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Muslim organisations find themselves in a strange place in relation to government policy. While being asked to tackle the ‘extremists’ and show leadership, they are denied the very infrastructure deemed necessary for every other provider of services to children and young people.

“While the YMCA and the other successful applicants can apparently be trusted to provide generic services, Muslim organisations seemingly cannot. One must ask whether an equalities impact assessment was carried out as part of this exercise. Funding will evidently be directed to young Muslims as Muslim terrorists, but not when they are mere Muslim young people. There is a name for this: it’s called Islamophobia.”

Muhammad Khan in the Guardian, 31 March 2009

How different things are if you’re a totally unrepresentative, widely despised, but enthusiastically pro-government clique like the Quilliam Foundation, in which case you qualify for a million quid’s worth of taxpayers’ money.

‘Now fire service introduces hijab headscarves for Muslim workers’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Fire Service uniformThus the headline to a story in today’s Daily Mail. The report itself is in fact quite neutral, but the editorial staff presumably chose this headline to provoke a particular response among the paper’s readers. And they were not disappointed. Some examples of online comments:

“God, I’m sick and tired of minority splinter groups.”

“Pathetic, the powers at be in this country are fast becoming our enemies.”

“I wonder when the Government will wake up or we will finally elect a Government which represent the majority and not ethnic minorities?”

“If Muslim recruits insist on wearing more than standard fire service uniforms, they can pay for it themselves.”

“another National Disgrace”

“Yet more discrimination against the Indigenous population. Uniform should be UNIFORM, whatever your religion.”

“How can a woman clad in all this flowing garb be expected to fight a fire?”

“Attending a fire with flamable material wrapped around your head – they are just taking the p!ss now aren’t they? However I have no objections to sending as many as possible into burning buildings.”

“Great outfit to burn to death in, Baggy unwealdy and totally unsuited to purpose.”

Though occasionally a voice of reason breaks through:

“Oh for goodness sake, read the article properly. This uniform isn’t for fighting fires in!! It clearly says: ‘The hope is that the uniforms, designed for wearing round the station and for outings such as school trips…’.”

“This is a good idea, it will help integration. The Muslim community are just as keen to get involved in the public services as any other grouping of the population and should be encouraged.”