Category Archives: UK

Am I the demoniser… or is it Ken’s ‘experts’? asks John Ware

Posted on by Bob Pitt

John Ware 2Poor sensitive John Ware complains that he’s been “demonised” – by the Muslim Council of Britain and by the recent report on Islamophobia commissioned by the Mayor of London, which included a detailed analysis of Ware’s 2005 Panorama documentary on the MCB. “Who were the three ‘experts on Islam’ who helped to produce the report?” Ware writes. “Surprise, surprise: they all turn out to be from the MCB.”

Sunday Telegraph, 18 November 2007

The nine experts who helped to compile the publication The Search for Common Ground: Muslims, Non-Muslims and the UK Media in fact included Robin Richardson, editor of the famous 1997 Runnymede Trust report Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All and Chris Allen, co-author of Islamophobia in the European Union after 11 September 2001, published by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia – both of whom, most of us might think, qualify as “experts on Islam” – along with people with a specialist knowledge of the media, such as Julian Petley, Hugh Muir and Laura Smith.

John Ware’s capacity for manipulating the evidence to suit his polemical purposes, which was such a notable feature of his Panorama documentary atttacking the MCB, has evidently not deserted him.

MPs ready to fight Brown’s terror laws

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MPs ready to fightMPs ready to fight Brown’s terror laws

By Tom Mellen

Morning Star, 16 November 2007

DETERMINED MPs from across the political spectrum prepared to fight Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s plans to extend detention without trial to 58 days on yesterday.

Mr Brown has declared that he believes that a cross-party consensus can be found on the issue. But the Tories, Liberal Democrats and many Labour MPs are opposed to any extension of internment beyond the 28-day compromise that was agreed after former premier Tony Blair was defeated in the Commons in 2005 over proposals for a 90-day limit.

Back then, 49 Labour rebels voted against the government. Mr Brown enjoys a working majority of 69 seats in the Commons. If he can win the backing of some Northern Irish parties, over 40 Labour MPs would have to rebel to save traditional British liberties.

Socialist Campaign Group chairman John McDonnell MP reported that “the opposition within Labour ranks to these ‘fortress Britain’ proposals remains the same as in 2005. It has certainly not decreased.”

Under the government’s latest proposals, detention without charge beyond 28 days could only be triggered in “exceptional circumstances” agreed in advance by Parliament. This would include cases where there are “multiple plots or links with multiple countries or exceptional levels of complexity.” It would also require the Home Secretary’s agreement and the extension of the powers would be time-limited. There have already been assurances about greater judicial approval and parliamentary scrutiny.

But Mr McDonnell described the new plans as, “in effect, no different from the old ones. “Mr Brown’s claim to be concerned about our civil rights has been undermined in practice by his attacks on basic human rights. He now has a significant battle on his hands,” Mr McDonnell warned.

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Losing the fight

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anas Altikriti“In recent years, anti-terror legislation, coupled with a multi-fold increase in stop-and-search rates, hundreds of false raids and detentions, control orders that are based on flimsy evidence and inconsistent judicial sentences have created a sense of suspicion, fear, intimidation, distrust and possibly even hatred throughout society. And not only within the Muslim community for whom these measures seem to have been designed, but throughout society as a whole….

“How would a person feel if they saw their street cordoned off at dawn by the anti-terror squad who then move to blast into their neighbour’s house and drag one or two people out handcuffed and blindfolded? … How should we view Atif Siddique, charged with possessing material (downloadable from the internet) being handed an eight-year prison sentence when Robert Cottage, formerly of the BNP and found with what was described as the largest haul of chemical explosives, a rocket launcher and a nuclear biological suit, was jailed for quarter of that term?

“What of Samina Malik, or the ‘lyrical terrorist’, who wrote silly and childish poems glorifying terrorism on the back of WH Smith receipts and who now expects to be handed a prison sentence following a media frenzy, and is seen and described in the same light as the DVLA bomber, Miles Cooper?

“The UK already has the longest pre-charge detention period in the western world and, by all accounts, it doesn’t seem to be working. What is required is a new and creative line of thinking as to what mistakes have been committed and how new approaches can be adopted so that the fight for our collective security, safety and prosperity, can become a common ambition of everyone who lives in this country. That would be a way of life worth fighting for.”

Anas Altikiriti at Comment is Free, 16 November 2007

Muslim alienation caused by multiculturalism, claims Boris

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“… here is how John Reid could prove that he was really tough. Here is the bravest thing he could possibly say. He should say that the real problem in our society, and the reason we have so many disaffected and alienated Muslim youths, is that for a generation he and people like him supported the disastrous multicultural agenda. The reason that 40 per cent of British Muslims would like some form of Sharia law in this country is that the Left has traditionally deprecated British institutions and even the teaching of English. A truly brave John Reid would now publicly grovel to Ray Honeyford, the Bradford head who called for teaching in English and who was vilified and persecuted by the Left.”

Boris Johnson in the Daily Telegraph, 16 November 2006

In a notorious article published in the Salisbury Review in 1984 Honeyford claimed to expose “the real educational consequences of the general acceptance of the notion that multi-racial inner cities are not only inevitable but, in some sense, desirable”. Reporting on a meeting with Bradford Asian parents at his school, he wrote: “The hysterical political temperament of the Indian sub-continent became evident – an extraordinary sight in an English School Hall.” He denounced as “totalitarian” the proposals that “Schoolbooks with a racist content should be scrapped. Racist teachers should be dismissed.” And this is the man Boris Johnson acclaims as a hero!

‘Comparisons with the 1930s’ – MCB replies to Torygraph

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Following the Secretary General’s interview with the Daily Telegraph on 10 November, the Muslim Council of Britain releases the following transcript for the discussion relating to comparisions with the 1930s.

Dr Bari: “Muslims are in the centre of discussion that is accepted by everyone. There is a disproportionate amount of discussion surrounding us. The air is thick with suspicion and unease. It is not good for the Muslim community; it is not good for the society. I think it is creating a scare in the community and wider society. It probably helps some people who try to recruit the young to terrorism. Muslim young people are as vulnerable as any others. Under this climate of fear they will begin to feel victimised. Every society has to be really careful so the situation doesn’t lead us to a time when people’s mind can be poisoned as they were in 1930’s. If your community is perceived in a very negative manner, and poll after poll says that we are alienated, then Muslims begin to feel very vulnerable. We are seen as creating problems, not as bringing anything good for the society.”

The account as published only included selections,which is understandable given the limitations of space on the printed page. However what is inexcusable is an editorial insertion which has upset many and led to the MCB receiving abusive calls and hate mail. The Daily Telegraph insertion was a statement never made by Dr Bari: “Britain must, he warns, beware of becoming like Nazi Germany”.

MCB news release, 15 November 2007

Racist graffiti plagues Ipswich

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A victim of a racially motivated vandalism attack spoke of his horror today as fears of an escalation of racist graffiti in Ipswich grew. Ipswich grocer Koysor Miah, who is a member of Ipswich’s Muslim community, spoke of his shock after vandals daubed a string of swastikas and racist abuse on shops and a mosque in the town. Mr Miah said the attacks would frighten worshippers at Shahjalal Mosque after it was one of seven buildings targeted this week.

Abusive words were scrawled on the mosque and the side of Al-Amin Halal Grocery, both on St Helen’s Street, and also on the exterior of a Suffolk New College building on Rope Walk. Swastikas were painted on a newsagent’s shutter and the side of the Millennium Martial Arts Centre building, both on St Helen’s Street, as well as in a subway on St Matthew’s Street and on a front wall of a Norwich Road property.

All the incidents apart from the swastika in Norwich Road were reported to Ipswich Borough Council on Tuesday.

Mr Miah, 35, who owns Al-Amin and worships at the mosque, said: “This is getting worrying. It’s happening more frequently and I don’t know what they want to achieve. “I care for everyone who comes to the mosque – the older people will be frightened.”

The businessman said he had suffered racist abuse from teenagers outside his shop a fortnight ago and they had knocked on his window and repeatedly opened and shut the door to annoy him. Someone has also repeatedly knocked on the door of the mosque in the middle of the night for weeks. Racist graffiti was also daubed on the mosque two years ago, he added.

Evening Star, 15 November 2007

Pat Condell on the MCB and community relations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pat CondellSelf-styled “comedian” Pat Condell, hero of the National Secular Society, delivers his verdict on the Muslim Council of Britain – “duplicitous, mealy-mouthed, unprincipled, terrorist-sympathising scum” – and helpfully outlines his prescription for promoting harmony between Britain’s diverse communities:

“You know what’s good for community relations? People who come to this country and adapt happily to our way of life, or if they find it’s not quite to their taste they piss off and live somewhere else. That’s really good for community relations. If you don’t like how we do things in Britain, get out. You weren’t invited here and you’re not wanted here.”

In the course of this latest rant Condell expresses indignation that he has become something of a hero among racists and fascists too. Now, why do you suppose that might be, Pat?

Video (if you can stomach it) here.

Islam and Europe – there really is a conspiracy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“One rain-soaked evening, in a bus stop on the road leading to a castle overlooking the picturesque German town of Marburg, an especially frank piece of graffiti caught my eye: ‘To hell with Islam!’ In this remote, pastoral setting, the words at first appeared out of place. But in today’s Europe, and in Germany in particular, this sort of attitude toward Islam should come as no surprise. Since the September 11 attacks in America, and the subsequent terrorist attacks by al Qaeda on European soil, the Continent has witnessed a rising tide of hostility toward Muslims living there, from violent rhetorical outbursts to physical attacks on mosques and businesses….

“It is hard to avoid comparing this new animosity toward Muslims to the traditional manifestations of a much older hatred – anti-Semitism. The fear of a minority that practices an unfamiliar form of worship and is believed to be worming its way into Christian or Western culture, undermining its values, shaped the relationship between Europe and the Jews in its midst for hundreds of years….

“The temptation to draw parallels between past and present is unquestionably strong – but is it justified? There are certainly some notable points of similarity between prewar European anti-Semitism and the enmity directed toward the Muslim immigrants living in Europe now. However, there is a quintessential difference between the two: The fear of a Jewish conspiracy against European civilization had no basis in fact, whereas fear of the expansionist ambitions openly expressed by senior figures in the Muslim-Arab world, and shared by some ordinary Muslims, is not groundless….

“Egyptian born Muhammad al-Ghazali, one of the most outstanding contemporary Muslim scholars, conceives of the possibility that hundreds of thousands of immigrants ‘will not only keep their faith but will become pioneers in spreading it, if the Muslim nation wants this and will work toward achieving it’. Hamdi Hassan, who lectures on communications at al-Azhar University in Cairo, perceives the Muslim presence on European soil as proof that the spread of the Islamic faith has graduated from the defensive stage of the 18th and 19th centuries to a new phase of dissemination. And Muhammad al-Hanni, chairman of the Dar al-Ri’aya al-Islamiyya organization in London, believes Muslim immigrants represent the potential for establishing an ‘alternative civilization’ in the West, the decline of which we are now witnessing.”

Uriya Shavit in Azure, Autumn 2007

Reprinted in the Wall Street Journal, 14 November 2007

London’s PC despot

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“What kind of leader launches an open assault on the press, accusing it of jeopardising public safety and demanding that it put its ‘house in order’? What sort of ruler proposes ‘guidelines’ to the press on what stories it should cover, and even worse, what kind of language it should use to cover them, what kind of people it should employ, and what kind of values it should uphold and communicate to the mass of the population? Kim Jong-il, perhaps? Saddam Hussein, before he was chased into his hole in the ground and later executed? How about Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London?

“This week, ‘Red Ken’, as some people insist on calling him, launched a report on British media coverage of ‘Muslim issues’. Titled The Search for Common Ground: Muslims, Non-Muslims and the UK Media, the report was commissioned by Livingstone’s Greater London Authority. It explores the alleged rise of Islamophobia in the media. And in the name of tackling the apparent spread of prejudice through the papers (especially tabloid ones), Livingstone and his supporters have crossed a line normally only transgressed by despots: they’re using their political clout to try to shape the media in their own image. Strip away all the PC lingo about ‘protecting Muslims’, and the London mayor’s latest initiative comes across as an intolerable attack on press freedom.”

Brendan O’Neill continues the ex-RCP’s journey from ultra-leftism to right-wing “libertarianism”.

Spiked, 15 November 2007