Category Archives: UK

The ‘clash of civilisations’ comes to Clitheroe

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Clitheroe mosqueCLITHEROE, England – On a chilly night this winter, this pristine town in some of most Britain’s untouched countryside voted to allow a former Christian church to become a mosque.

The narrow vote by the municipal authorities marked the end of a bitter struggle by the tiny Muslim population to establish a place of worship, one that will put a mosque in an imposing stone Methodist church that had been used as a factory since its congregation dwindled away 40 years ago.

In Clitheroe, the tussle involved a passionate young professional of Pakistani descent coming up against the raw nerves of tradition-bound local residents. “We’ve been trying to get a place of worship for 30 years,” said Sheraz Arshad, 31, the Muslim leader here, his voice rattling around the empty old Mount Zion Methodist Church that will house his mosque.

In all, Mr Arshad and his father made eight applications for a mosque, and even proposed buying a modest terrace house on the edge of town to be used for worship. Mr Arshad said he tried to buy land from the council but was rebuffed. Often there was booing at council meetings, and, he said, cries of “Go home, Paki!”

The authorities’ official reasoning for the rejections was generally that a mosque would attract outsiders – a veiled reference to Muslims – to Clitheroe. Letters to the local newspaper, The Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, warned that what had happened in Blackburn and Preston, two bigger nearby industrial towns with substantial Muslim populations, would happen to Clitheroe.

But the fight is hardly over. Beneath the official vote lies a river of resentment among those who fear that the broader patterns in Britain will emerge here. In one sign of the tensions, some of the church’s windows have been smashed.

In the nearby town of Kendal, an Anglican vicar, Alan Billings, has written a book, “Secular Lives, Sacred Hearts: The Role of the Church in a Time of No Religion.” He says the growing opposition to new mosques among the white population reflects an anxiety in Britain that has become more exposed since the London suicide bombings in July 2005.

“Often it’s expressed as low objections, more cars, more people,” said Mr Billings, who is also a frequent contributor to the BBC’s religious programs. “But it is really a deeper anxiety about what is happening in society. It is the fear of what will happen to the culture and feel of Britain.”

At a Saturday gathering of about 50 believers, almost all of them white-haired, Mr Billings warned that the church was under pressure. Islam could now be seen as an alternative to Christianity, he said.

New York Times, 2 April 2007

Yusuf Islam’s manager refutes ‘veil’ allegations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yusuf Islam’s manager Marc Marot has refuted allegations that his client refused to speak to non-veiled women at the Echo Awards in Germany on the night of Sunday 25 March as reported by some media. He describes the allegations surfacing on the internet as “baseless and stupid” – especially as millions of people have seen Yusuf being interviewed by women on television during the course of the last decade.

Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement award at the German “Echo” awards for his “lifework as a musician and as an ambassador between cultures” at the ceremony which was recorded in Berlin and broadcast on RTL that evening. He also performed his single “Maybe There’s A World”.

Marot says: “The accusation that Yusuf doesn’t speak or interact with women who are not veiled is an absurdity. He plainly has no issues with working and interacting with women and did so in a perfectly normal manner over the awards weekend, even signing autographs and posing for photographs with many of the legion of men and women who had queued for hours at both the airport and hotel.

“In his normal daily life women feature amongst some of the most influential people in his core team, including the joint President of US record label: Atlantic records, the marketing directors of both Polydor and Atlantic records, his set designer, his TV promotions manager and his video commissioner, all of whom are in almost daily contact with Yusuf. At the moment he’s in a London edit suite with BBC TV director Janet Fraser Crook and producer Serena Cross working on the edit of the BBC Sessions concert recently filmed in London. These are not the actions of a misogynist.

“It would seem that certain sections of the media feel that for every good news story featuring a Muslim, a balancing bad news story must be invented to maintain the level of ignorance that surrounds the Islamic faith.”

PR Newswire, 2 April 2007

Watch out for those ‘moderate Muslims’, warns BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The fascists complain that “Anglican leaders have taken a major step towards handing over what remains of the faithful into the embrace of Islam by appointing a Muslim member of its educational staff at Blackburn Cathedral”. Yes, it’s yet another example of how our Christian culture is being undermined as “hand wringing ministers kneel before the advancing waves carrying aloft the mighty sword of Islam”.

But it would be a mistake to think the Muslim takeover will necessarily require the use of violence – “not a single sword need ever be carried aloft, not a single shot fired in anger for Britain to become an Islamic state ruled by shar’ia law. The cowardly elite in Westminster, the media and the established Church are doing everything the softly spoken moderate Muslims want them to do, these moderates thus pose a far bigger threat to the survival of the British way of life than a handful of well monitored would-be suicide bombers”.

BNP news article, 30 March 2007

Call that humiliation?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“I share the outrage expressed in the British press over the treatment of our naval personnel accused by Iran of illegally entering their waters. It is a disgrace. We would never dream of treating captives like this – allowing them to smoke cigarettes, for example, even though it has been proven that smoking kills. And as for compelling poor servicewoman Faye Turney to wear a black headscarf, and then allowing the picture to be posted around the world – have the Iranians no concept of civilised behaviour? For God’s sake, what’s wrong with putting a bag over her head? That’s what we do with the Muslims we capture: we put bags over their heads, so it’s hard to breathe. Then it’s perfectly acceptable to take photographs of them and circulate them to the press because the captives can’t be recognised and humiliated in the way these unfortunate British service people are.”

Terry Jones in the Guardian, 31 March 2007

School assistant loses veil appeal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim teaching assistant has lost her appeal against an employment tribunal’s decision that not being allowed to wear a veil in the classroom was not discrimination.

Aishah Azmi, 24, was suspended on full pay after staff at Headfield Church of England junior school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, said pupils found it harder to understand her. A Leeds employment tribunal dismissed three of Mrs Azmi’s claims of discrimination and harassment, but found that she was victimised and awarded her £1,000 for “injury to feelings”. A month later, the local education authority sacked her from her post as a bilingual support worker. Mrs Azmi, of Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury, said she was willing to remove her veil in front of children but not when male colleagues were present.

Her lawyer Nick Whittingham said: “The EAT (Employment Appeal Tribunal) has not upheld the appeal.” But Mr Whittingham, of the Kirklees Law Centre, said the EAT accepted that it was possible for direct discrimination to occur in respect of a manifestation of a religious belief such as the wearing of the veil. He said it was an “important test case”.

Press Association, 30 March 2007

And you thought there couldn’t be anyone worse than Ruth Kelly? Think again

Posted on by Bob Pitt

John Reid has won a cabinet battle to become Britain’s “security supremo” under a plan for the Home Office to co-ordinate the fight against terrorism. A plan to split the Home Office into two separate security and justice departments is expected to be given the go-ahead by the Cabinet today.

Under the biggest changes to the Home Office in its 225-year history, the Home Secretary will take charge of counter-terrorism. Crucially, he will be responsible for all security threats to the UK, and the “contest” strategy against al-Qa’ida, now under the Cabinet Office.

The Home Office will also take charge of “winning the hearts and minds” of Muslims in Britain, currently shared with the Foreign Office and the Department of Communities and Local Government.

Belfast Telegraph, 29 March 2007

See also Financial Times, 29 March 2007

Stop bigots, voters urged

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Voters have been urged by religious leaders to use the ballot box to help tackle racism. Representatives from the Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish communities signed a declaration asking Greater Manchester people to reject all political parties that advocate racism in May’s local elections. The document was signed at Trinity United Church in Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester, which is used as drop-in centre for refugees and asylum seekers.

The statement reads: “We stand for a society of mutual respect and care where the hearts of all are heard and met through good neighbourliness at every level and in every circumstance. In particular, we regret that the British National Party now has 49 seats on local authorities in this country. Those who advocate racist policies cannot do so in the name of any of our faith communities.”

The community leaders were inspired by the similarities of their different faiths when they devised the statement. Dr Muhammad Junejo, Muslim representative for Greater Manchester, said: “We meet fairly regularly to discuss the important issues affecting our communities. One thing our religions all have in common is the commandment to love your neighbour. Racism is strongly at odds with this idea and we need to stand against it.”

Manchester Evening News, 29 March 2007

Tory MP urges Muslims to fly Union flag

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Philip DaviesA Yorkshire MP has called on Muslims in Britain to fly the Union Jack from mosques as a show of national unity.

Shipley’s Conservative MP Philip Davies submitted an early day motion which says that it would “show everyone that those in the Muslim community are very keen to integrate and positively contribute to good community relationships in the UK”.

However leading Muslim figures in Yorkshire accused Mr Davies of singling out their community, described his comments as offensive and likely to do more harm than good. Rashid Awan, president of the Pakistani Society of West Yorkshire said: “To identify Muslims as needing to do this will aggravate the situation.” Shahid Malik, the Muslim Labour MP for Dewsbury said: “What this country need is not more flags flying above mosques but less irresponsible politicians.”

Yorkshire Post, 29 March 2007

Davies, you may remember, figured in the entirely spurious Sun report about “Muslim yobs” wrecking the intended home of soldiers who had served in Afghanistan. He was quoted as saying: “This is outrageous. If there’s anybody who should fuck off it’s the Muslims who are doing this kind of thing.” Though the story was soon revealed to be false, Davies refused to issue a public apology for his provocative remarks. If we were looking for advice on how to improve community relations, Philip Davies MP is the last person we’d turn to.

Mind you, Davies does have his admirers.

We can stop the mega-mosque, say fascists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Red-Islamic Alliance is looking for its biggest single advance so far with London’s anti-English Mayor Ken Livingstone pushing hard for the £100 million mega-mosque which one of Britain and Pakistan’s most hardline Islamic sects wants to build next to the Olympic stadium in East London…. The London Evening Standard is at present running an opinion poll on whether or not the Super Mosque should be built…. Please go to the Standard website and add your own ‘No’ vote. And please forward this email on to everyone in your address book.”

BNP news article, 27 March 2007

And we urge our supporters to do the same and vote ‘yes’. The Evening Standard poll is here.