Category Archives: UK

Ban Muslim headscarves, say [some] teachers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Teachers TVForty-six percent of primary and secondary school teachers suggested that allowing pupils to wear religious symbols went against British values. They also feared it would undermine the drive to promote religious and racial harmony in schools.

The findings, in a poll carried out by YouGov, will fuel the controversial debate about the wearing of religious symbols in schools.

Currently, individual schools are free to make their own decisions, but a string of recent court ruling said some policies amounted to “unlawful discrimination”. In July, a Sikh schoolgirl, won a discrimination case against her school after she was banned from wearing a religious bangle.

The poll, commissioned by Teachers TV, found that more than 70 per cent of teachers agreed that the promotion of British values was part of a teacher’s role.

Andrew Bethell, chief executive of Teachers TV, said that the results marked a “shift away from multiculturalism” in the “post 7/7 Britain”. He added: “There seems to be an increasing feeling among teachers that simply embracing difference is no longer enough. Pupils need a sense of common identity and ‘Britishness’ is a big part of this.”

Daily Telegraph, 3 October 2008

UK police accused of misusing terror laws against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain’s police were accused Friday of misusing the country’s terrorism laws against Muslims after three men were charged under criminal law for firebombing a publisher in north London.

“What is surprising is that they were held under anti-terror legislation for almost a week and then charged under fire arm offences,” Muslim News editor Ahmed Versi said. “It seems anti-terror laws are being used as fishing expedition,” he said.

Ali Beheshti, Abrar Mirza and Abbas Taj, all from London, were due to appear in court Friday after being charged with conspiring to damage the home of a man publishing a controversial American novel about the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

The men, charged with conspiring without lawful excuse to damage the premises between September 8 and 27, could have only been held by police for a maximum of three days under criminal law.

Versi condemned the petrol bomb attack carried out last Saturday but said that the case was “another evidence that the police are misusing the anti terror legislation whenever Muslims are involved in committing criminal offences.” “When it is extremist white criminals who may have bombs and all kinds of weapons, they are still arrested under normal fire arm offences,” he said.

The police told the Muslim News that the arrests were the “culmination of investigation of the three trying to set fire to the property and other information received deemed to be suitable under Terrorism Act 2000 and it was intelligence led.” The police also confirmed that they wanted to catch the culprits “red-handed” following reports that they asked the publisher to leave the premises before the petrol bomb attack.

But Versi said it was “also of concern is that the police allowed the attack to take place before apprehending them thus putting the neighbours and other public under danger.” “Surely they could have been arrested with the bomb making equipment?” he asked.

IRNA, 3 October 2008

MPACUK criticises Woolas appointment

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Phil WoolasMuslim groups expressed anger last night after a Labour politician who has been at the centre of a series of race controversies was made Immigration Minister.

Phil Woolas, previously an Environment Minister, was handed the brief despite infuriating the Pakistani community earlier this year by warning they were fuelling birth defects by inter-marrying. He also caused anger following the Oldham race riots by calling for “the reality of anti-white racism” to be acknowledged.

Last night, the Muslim Public Affairs Committee condemned his appointment. A spokesman said: “Phil Woolas has a track record of insensitive, inappropriate outbursts that have verged on Islamophobia. He is a Minister clearly out of his depth. We will monitor his work for any more signs of his all too obvious antipathy towards British Muslims.”

Mail on Sunday, 5 September 2008

Another ‘free speech’ controversy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lenin’s Tomb on the Jewel of Medina controversy:

“The mundane truth is that one publisher protected its reputation by postponing and then cancelling publication of a putatively offensive anti-Muslim novel, while another intends to build on its reputation by publishing said material…. Despite the energetic efforts of polemicists and hacks to produce a dense collage of imagery and associations whose total effect is to incriminate Muslims in particular as an egregious threat to free expression, this is not about courage or Enlightenment or ethics, but about strategies for conquering market share. As far as I know, neither publisher has been the recipient of a legal threat, and the current publisher is protected by the state in the unlikely event that a handful of sad young arsonists tries to burn his house down again.

“There has not been any censorship worth the name. If there were to be censorship, perhaps in the form of a legal challenge to prevent publication, then there would be an argument. And if a court decided that the book was actually in violation of the law – unlikely given the law’s bias against Muslims – one could then talk about whether censorship was justified, what the limits on free speech should be, etc. As it is, 99% of this melodrama has been concocted by overheated imaginations.”

Proof that vilification leads to violence?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“My contention has been that media vilifications of ethnic or religious groups can lead to violence, and said as much in my letter two months ago to Standpoint, which they finally got round to printing in the most recent edition. While they printed most of the letter, they omitted that bit, despite the low hum of violence which has sounded for the last few years: an imam blinded in London, another suffering brain damage, a mosque being destroyed in Basildon, a man threatened with a chainsaw in Bolton, and this past weekend, a Muslim cemetery vandalised in Southall, west London….

“Recently, a pro-Israeli group paid various newspapers in ‘swing’ states in the upcoming American Presidential election, including Ohio, to distribute a propaganda DVD called Obsession, which features interviews with one anti-Muslim ‘expert’ after another and essentially portrays Muslims as Nazis. Some editors have refused to distribute it, and have faced accusations of ‘censorship’, as if newspapers did not have to make judgements from day to day (or week to week) on what to publish and what to hold, and as if the film cannot be downloaded for free off YouTube. It’s such a coincidence that last Friday night, a mosque was attacked in Dayton, Ohio. The thugs – terrorists, to some minds – who did this did not just pour petrol through the letterbox at night and set fire to the place; oh no, they sprayed a ‘chemical irritant’ into the building while people were praying their taraweeh.”

Yusuf Smith at Indigo Jo Blogs, 30 September 2008

Speaking nonsense about Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In response to Anjem Choudary’s inflammatory comments on the Jewel of Medina controversy the Daily Telegraph poses the question:

“Isn’t it time that moderate Muslims spoke out loud and long against the way a tiny minority of zealots can dominate the political debate and constantly depict Islam as intolerant and bigoted, when, in reality, those words apply only to its most extreme, blinkered adherents.”

What planet do Torygraph leader writers live on? Mainstream Muslim organisations have repeatedly condemned Choudary and his minuscule sect.

The real question is this: why does the Torygraph give headline coverage to the idiocies spouted by an unrepresentative nutter like Choudhary while ignoring the reasoned and measured arguments of, say, Inayat Bunglawala – who as a leading figure in the Muslim Council of Britain actually represents a broad swathe of opinion within the UK’s Muslim communities.

If anyone is responsible for the situation in which “a tiny minority of zealots can dominate the political debate and constantly depict Islam as intolerant and bigoted” it is the journalists who produce warped media coverage like that.

Far Right makes electoral gains in Austria on anti-Muslim platform

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Strache celebratesThe far Right has made a grand return in Austria, emerging from yesterday’s elections as the second biggest parliamentary block, according to preliminary results.

The two parties that campaigned on an anti-immigrant and anti-European Union ticket have captured about 29 per cent of the vote, pushing the country’s traditional conservative party into third place.

Heinz-Christian Strache [pictured] and his Freedom Party, who were accused of xenophobia and waging an anti-Muslim campaign, won 18 per cent – a rise of 7 per cent compared with the last elections. Mr Strache’s former mentor, Jörg Haider, won 11 per cent of the vote with his new party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria.

A throaty roar filled the Freedom Party’s election tent in Vienna when the results flashed up on a screen. The crowd – mainly young and middle-aged men drinking beer – punched the air in triumph. They cheered more when Mr Strache announced that his party would only join a government that was led by himself.

Many Viennese were horrified by such a prospect, however. “It is disappointing that so many Austrians agreed to what was basically a xenophobic campaign,” said Adelheid Mayr, 39. “I am ashamed of the results and I hope none of the far Right parties will be allowed to rule the country.”

Mr Strache, 39, the biggest winner of the day, had sought to exploit fear of foreigners and Islam during his campaign. Speaking at his final election rally in Vienna’s working-class district of Favoriten on Friday, he said that people were scared to see women in burkas running around “like female Ninjas”, and added: “Many decent people have come here and they integrated: Poles, Hungarians, Croats and also Serbs. We are all European brothers because we do not want to become Islamised.”

Mr Strache’s rally in Vienna last week was marred by a violent confrontation between hundreds of left-wing opponents and his far Right supporters, some of whom were jackbooted skinheads.

Times, 29 September 2008

Meanwhile, over at the Spectator, Mad Mel offers her insights into the rise of the far Right:

“Their success is due to the enormous feeling among the people of Europe against, on the one hand, the destruction of their powers of self-government and their assimilation into the undemocratic Euro superstate, and on the other the threat to western culture from Islamist conquest…. With no democratic party addressing these concerns and instead demonising legitimate nationalist feeling as ‘racist’, ‘xenophobic’ or ‘Islamophobic’, people are turning to parties which truly are racist, anti-foreigner, anti-Muslim, anti-Jew and sometimes, indeed, neo-Nazi, but which are exploiting this political vacuum….

“The awful thing is that, as the far-right advances and social disorder increases – as it will – muddled liberals and malign leftists will blame these political and social calamities on ‘the far right’. As a result, the steady encroachment of Islamism will proceed apace – and anyone who objects will also be demonised as ‘the far right’. The rise of the neo-Nazis will thus turn the defence of democracy toxic. There is therefore a danger that the only people who will be fighting the Islamic fascists and in defence of the nation against the supranational supremacists will be the fascists.

“If this truly frightful outcome is to be avoided, it is imperative that social democratic politicians in Britain and Europe wake up from their trance and realise just what it is they have to defend, and against whom.”

Muslim graves vandalised at west London cemetery

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Southall cemetery vandalismNearly 40 Muslim graves have been vandalised at a west London cemetery.

Several headstones were damaged or pushed over, and flower pots and ornamental fencing were broken at the cemetery in Bridge Road, Southall.

Most of the vandalism is in the Muslim area of the cemetery, but there is also damage to the Christian area, a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said. Police are treating the incident as racially motivated, although no-one has been arrested.

The discovery was made after Muslims had finished praying all night for Layat Al Qadr, one of the holiest evenings of Ramadan.

“Pillars that have been embedded four feet in the ground have been uprooted, said Dalawar Chaudhry from the Central Jamia Mosque. “This has been a calculated attack. Glass smashed all over the place, two inch thick marble stones have been smashed in two with sheer determination.”

Muslim community leaders said it was possible the incident was timed to coincide with Ramadan. “Because this was the month of Ramadan we had a special evening the previous day and so I think it may have been targeted for that specific reason,” said Javed Mirza from the Muslim Funeral Society.

BBC News, 29 September, 2008

See also “Stacey attacks grave vandals”, Ealing Times, 29 September 2008

Cameron: I’ll curb Muslim fanatics

Posted on by Bob Pitt

I'll curb Muslim fanaticsA tough package is being drawn up by David Cameron to tackle Islamic extremism. One of the key proposals is to ban sharia law courts from operating in this country.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express, Mr Cameron’s security adviser, Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones, said the Tories were determined to “integrate” British Muslims into mainstream society.

Lady Neville-Jones, a former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee which advises the Prime Minister on terrorism, said: “We are not going to have any status for sharia courts. Absolutely not.”

She said the party would abandon the “blind alley of multiculturalism, which has deliberately gone down the road of separation for its own sake”.

The Tory plans also include:

  • Banning a string of groups blamed for encouraging Islamic extremism.
  • Working with other EU countries to change the Convention on Human Rights which has blocked the deportation of hate preacher Abu Qatada and others believed to be a threat to Britain.
  • Changing the school curriculum to encourage teaching of British values and make youngsters “proud of their country”.

The Conservatives are also looking at extending the list of Islamic groups banned from operating in this country on the grounds they foster extremism. Islamic extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which critics accuse of encouraging the killing of Jews, is a likely target. Lady Neville-Jones said the Conservatives would also look at the activities of certain charities, including the “charitable” arm of the Palestinian terrorist group Hezbollah, which operates freely here.

The major Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat, which wants to build Europe’s largest “mega mosque” near the London Olympics site, will also be examined. A spokesman for Tablighi Jamaat said: “Tablighi Jamaat is, in Muslim terms, the equivalent of the Methodist Church. The trustees do not condone terrorism of any kind.”

Inayat Bunglawala, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “Sharia courts operate with the blessing of UK law. As for banning organisations, we believe in a democracy it is far better to allow all organisations to operate freely, and if individuals happen to break the law then they ought to be prosecuted.”

Sunday Express, 28 September 2008

‘SNP making wrong deal with Muslims’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“A look at the statements from Osama Saeed, the chief executive of SIF and the SNP candidate for Glasgow Central indicates that he shares much of the world view of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) which is committed to establishing theocratic states across the Muslim world.

“It’s time for those who don’t want to see Scots forced into narrow religious postures to carefully scrutinise the SNP’s plans for Scottish Muslims. Perhaps the SNP aims to ensure that they fall under the sway of activists who make the younger generation conform to a rigid form of Islam.”

Tom Gallagher continues his efforts to provoke a witch-hunt against the Scottish-Islamic Foundation and Osama Saeed.

Sunday Herald, 28 September 2008