Category Archives: UK

Amis and McEwan – reinforcing stereotypes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Letter in today’s Guardian, by Dr Anshuman Mondal of Brunel University:

“Ian McEwan’s defence of his friend Martin Amis (Letters, November 21) rests on two arguments, which are conflated. The first is the freedom of speech argument. But just because one has the right to express an opinion does not mean it is right to express it. In any case, Ronan Bennett’s article (G2, November 19) did not argue that one should not criticise Islam or Muslims per se; rather, it was the manner of the criticism – sweeping generalisations and stereotypes, holding all Muslims responsible for the opinions and actions of just some – that he found objectionable, and rightly so…. McEwan’s logic would have us believe that a non-religious or secularised Muslim is an impossibility for fear of the repercussions – an Orwellian vision of a totalitarian Islam that is itself a stereotype. In defending his friend, he merely confirms that both of them do not really know what they are talking about.”

Islamophobia and the media: no common ground with Brendan O’Neill

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“As someone who recently defended media freedom in spiked and is co-chair of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, I was somewhat taken aback to find Brendan O’Neill last week including me (albeit implicitly) amongst the ranks of those mounting ‘an intolerable attack on media freedom’, wanting to ‘turn the press into an offshoot of Ken Livingstone’s political fiefdom’ and making ‘explicit demands for increased government intervention in the press’.”

Julian Petley, one of the contributors to The Search for Common Ground: Muslims, non-Muslims and the UK Media, replies to O’Neill’s piece “London’s PC despot“.

Spiked, 22 November 2007

‘Martin Amis is no racist’ (it says here)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

HitchensWell, that the claim made by ex-leftist-turned-Bush-supporter Christopher Hitchens, who rallies to the defence of his friend and fellow writer. Let us remind ourselves what Amis said in his September 2006 interview with Ginny Dougary:

“There’s a definite urge – don’t you have it? – to say, ‘The Muslim community will have to suffer until it gets its house in order’. What sort of suffering? Not letting them travel. Deportation – further down the road. Curtailing of freedoms. Strip-searching people who look like they’re from the Middle East or from Pakistan. Discriminatory stuff, until it hurts the whole community…”

So how does Hitchens justify this appalling rant? He tells us that “the harshness Amis was canvassing was not in the least a recommendation, but rather an experiment in the limits of permissible thought”.

Guardian, 21 November 2007

In a letter in the same issue another friend and author, Ian McEwan, also attempts to defend the indefensible.

For Yusuf Smith’s response to Hitchens, see Indigo Jo Blogs, 21 November 2007

‘Is rap the new voice of the Muslim youth?’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The 1990 Trust & The Salam Project Presents…………

‘Is Rap The New Voice of the Muslim Youth?’

at the Oxford Theatre 2, Bethnal Green High St. opp Tesco’s entrance

Friday 23 November 6.45-9.30pm

be there or nowhere….

A Seminar & Showcase

Featuring Asian Dub Foundation, Rakin of Mecca2Medina, The Palestinian Poetz,(Palestine) Truthful Movement, Rinse (Def Jam UK) Fasabeelilah, Poetic Pilgrimage, The Asian Muslim Sensation, Book of Rhymes, The Young Somali Soldiers, Rashad the Beatbox, Khalif & MC Vo (Kosovo), Pearls of Islam

Guest speakers include Miz – Muslim Youth Helpline/ Ansar Youth Foundation/ The Platform Magazine; Syeda – The Inter Faith Youth Forum; Ruhul – 1990 Trust

Plus a suprise guests and a well known spokesperson from the USA

This event is free……………

Posted in UK

‘Top cop shares platform with Islamic extremists’, fascists complain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The head of the Metropolitan Police Sir Ian Blair is due to speak at an Islamic conference where Hizb ut Tahrir is advocating its extremist Caliphate message. Sir Ian is one of several dhimmis lined up to speak at the Global Peace and Unity Conference taking place at London’s Dockside this coming weekend. The Met is an official sponsor of the event along with the London Mayor’s Office, The Islam Channel and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). Sharing the platform over the two day event will be MPs including George Galloway, Lord Chancellor Jack Straw and Acting LibDem leader Vincent Cable.”

BNP news article, 20 November 2007

‘Let’s stop handling Islam with kid gloves’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The failed action West Midlands police took against a Channel 4 programme exposing extremist Islamic preachers highlights our dysfunctional attitude to free speech…. The job of the police is to uphold the law but, deeming no law had been broken, they instead decided to be media watchdogs. They stepped wildly beyond their remit here.

“I think they did so in a public effort to seem sensitive to the Muslim community, which is apparently ‘demonised’ by the media (according to last week’s farcical report commissioned by Ken Livingstone). On the contrary: Islam is treated with kid gloves in Britain…. The police shouldn’t exceed their powers when addressing discussion of Islam. It only legitimises the misplaced sense of victimisation that extremists exploit in instances where they have no cause for complaint.”

Nirpal Dhaliwal (writing from another planet, apparently) in the Evening Standard, 21 November 2007

Muslims back police in Channel 4 row

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A senior British Muslim last night defended West Midlands Police from fierce criticism after it attempted to discredit a TV documentary exposing Islamic extremism in Birmingham. The force was accused by Channel 4 bosses of “staggering naivety” for referring an episode of the flagship documentary Dispatches to media watchdog Ofcom.

Police claimed the programme, Undercover Mosque, misrepresented the views of Muslim clerics in the city and undermined community cohesion and safety. But Ofcom yesterday ruled the documentary was “a legitimate investigation” and “found no evidence that the broadcaster had misled the audience”.

Channel 4 bosses and opposition politicians condemned West Midlands Police, with the broadcaster describing the force’s actions as “perverse” and giving, in some people’s eyes, “legitimacy to people preaching a message of hate”.

However, Tahir Alam, assistant secretary for the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “I think the police acted responsibly by investigating within the current context. There is an unhealthy focus on the Muslim community and coverage has been very unfriendly. It was not the first such programme to pursue a similar line of inquiry. These kind of irresponsible programmes damage community relations. Yes, there is freedom of the press, but that is no reason to target a select community in this way.

Birmingham Post, 20 November 2007

Martin Amis and the new racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Amis’s views are symptomatic of a much wider and deeper hostility to Islam and intolerance of otherness. Only last week, the London Evening Standard felt able to sponsor a debate entitled: Is Islam good for London? Do another substitution here and imagine the reaction had Judaism been the subject. As Rabbi Pete Tobias noted on Comment is Free, the so-called debate was sinisterly reminiscent of the paper’s campaign a century ago to alert its readers to the ‘problem of the alien’, namely the eastern European Jews fleeing persecution who had found refuge in the capital. In this context, Rod Liddle’s contribution to proceedings – ‘Islamophobia? Count me in’ – sounds neither brave, brash nor provocatively outrageous, merely racist. Those who claim that Islamophobia can’t be racist, because Islam is a religion not a race, are fooling themselves: religion is not only about faith but also about identity, background and culture, and Muslims are overwhelmingly non-white. Islamophobia is racist, and so is antisemitism.”

Brilliant piece by Ronan Bennett in the Guardian, 19 November 2007