Category Archives: UK

Woolas calls for crackdown on ‘Islamic anti-semitism’ on campuses

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Phil WoolasRace hate laws should be used to crack down on extremist groups whose activities are prompting a rise in anti-Semitism at Britain’s universities, vice-chancellors are to be warned by ministers today.

Ministers are particularly concerned about the infiltration of campuses by Islamic extremist groups who have stirred up hatred against Israel. Vice-chancellors will be warned they must not ignore anti-Jewish activity on campuses and must prevent prejudiced lecturers, guest speakers and extremist political organisations stirring up hatred of Israel.

Phil Woolas, the communities minister, who will announce the Government’s measures, said the findings of the all-party parliamentary report on anti-Semitism were “very worrying”, adding: “Our response will be far tougher than anticipated. We are very worried about Islamic anti-Semitism on campuses. In this country we tend to see it as something of the past. It is not.”

The report by the all-party anti-Semitism group said that Jewish students felt “isolated and unsupported,” and that pro-Palestine debates were being used as a “vehicle for anti-Jewish language”.

Independent, 28 March 2007

Of course, cracking down on genuine racism is admirable, but defining anti-semitism according to criteria determined by the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism (pdf of their report here), who characterise MPACUK as an “extremist” group based on evidence provided by the likes of Lorna Fitzsimons and the Community Security Trust, is something else entirely.

And, if Woolas is really interested in combating racism, how about a crackdown on the appalling Islamophobia promoted by a section of the Jewish community? The sort of bigotry demonstrated by Melanie Phillips, for example, in mainstream publications like the Daily Mail and Jewish Chronicle has no parallel within the Muslim community outside of the tiniest and most sectarian Islamist groups.

For critical responses to the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry on this site, see here and here.

Hewitt criticised for casting doubt on Muslim GPs’ ethics

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Patricia HewittThe health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has been criticised for suggesting that some Muslim GPs fail to respect the confidentiality of Muslim women who visit them.

Ms Hewitt said women feared talking about issues such as domestic violence and sexual health problems in case their details were shared among “close-knit” communities. A report in GPs’ magazine Pulse said Ms Hewitt had first raised the issue in a lecture to the Fabian Society in London.

In an interview with Pulse, she expanded on her comments, saying: “I have had Muslim women give me chapter and verse on very distressing breaches of confidentiality by Muslim GPs. Some women patients feel they cannot trust their own GP, who knows the patient’s extended families. If they go and talk to him about a very difficult situation concerning domestic violence or sexual health problems, they fear that he will share that with other members of the community. They are very close-knit communities.”

Jo Haynes, editor of Pulse, said: “These are serious accusations – failing to respect a patient’s confidentiality is a severe breach of a doctor’s code of conduct. It is generally something that happens very rarely. You would hope Patricia Hewitt has some firm evidence to back up her decision to single out Muslim doctors in this way. It’s worth bearing in mind that Muslims are hardly alone in living in close-knit communities, and doctors are generally very good at separating their personal and professional lives.”

Press Association, 28 March 2007

18 racist crimes every 24 hours in Scotland

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shocking figures have revealed a rising tide of racist crime in Scotland. Police recorded 6439 racist crimes last year – that’s 18 a day. The figure was up sharply from 5732 the previous year and 4556 in 2004. More than half of all the victims were of Asian origin. Offences ranged from “racially aggravated conduct” – usually verbal abuse – to vandalism, fire-raising and serious assault. The figures were set out in the first Scotland-wide report into racist crime, published by the Executive.

Bashir Mann, president of the Muslim Council in Scotland, said: “I think racism is on the increase in this country and in the UK as a whole. There has been a rise in Islamophobia and this has been aggravated by the anti-terrorism legislation introduced by the Government.”

Daily Record, 28 March 2007

Ban the veil, says ultra-left sectarian

Posted on by Bob Pitt

namazie and racist placards 2Maryam Namazie of the Worker Communist Party of Iran – who was the National Secular Society’s “secularist of the year” in 2005 – once again explains why, in the interests of “progress”, the right of Muslim women to dress as they choose must be suppressed:

“There are innumerable women and girls in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa to right here in the heart of Europe who know from personal experience what it means to be female under Islam – hidden from view, bound, gagged, mutilated, murdered, without rights, and threatened and intimidated day in and day out for transgressing Islamic mores. The veil, more than anything else, symbolises this bleak reality….

“I know our opponents often argue that there are many more pressing matters with regards to women’s status. Why all the fuss they ask? To me, it is like asking what all the fuss was about racial apartheid – or segregation of the races – in apartheid South Africa.

“… some of these apologists will concede that compulsory veiling must be opposed … but if it is a choice freely made than one must defend the ‘right’ to veil. I wholeheartedly disagree…. There may be women who ‘freely choose’ to genitally mutilate their daughters or immolate themselves on their husband’s funeral pyre but that does not mean that we must then defend the right of women to do so or defend the practice of Suttee or FGM….

“The veil is not a piece of cloth or clothing, though it is often compared to miniskirts or other ‘lewd’ forms of clothing the rest of us unveiled women seem to wear. Just as the straight jacket or body bag are not pieces of clothing. Just as the chastity belt was not a piece of clothing. Just as the Star of David pinned on Jews during the holocaust was not just a bit of cloth….

“And this is why the chador, burqa and neqab must be banned – to defend women’s rights…. Because it is unacceptable for women to be segregated in the 21st century; and for women to walk around in a mobile prison or body bag because religion deems that they be kept invisible…. The hijab or any conspicuous religious symbol must be banned from the state and education and relegated to the private sphere. This helps to ensure that government offices and officials from judges, to clerks, to doctors and nurses are not promoting their religious beliefs and are instead doing their jobs….

“Throughout history, progress and change have come about not by appeasing, apologizing or excusing reaction, but by standing up to it firmly and unequivocally. This is what has to be against Islam, political Islam and the veil. We have to state loud and clear that sexual apartheid has no place in the 21st century; enough is enough.”

Scoop, 26 March 2007

‘A veiled threat by fanatics’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Paul Ross“Common sense seems to have prevailed in the High Court ruling giving schools the right to ban Muslim girls from wearing the full face niqab.

“Judge Stephen Silber rejected a 12-year-old grammar school pupil’s demand to wear one at school. She said it was her human right to turn up looking like a Muslim version of Bat Girl. He disagreed….

“This may seem like a small case but more and more it seems that extreme – and extremely vocal – Muslims are pushing away at our laws and customs in the name of religion when in fact it’s fanaticism.

“The judge agreed with the school’s view that wearing the niqab could lead to peer pressure on other Muslim girls to follow suit. Where’s the freedom of choice in that? But the bullying, bleating extremists never seem to be put off by a set-back. They also appear to have no sense of shame.

“On the same day the niqab decision was announced Britain’s most prominent Islamic organisaion, the Muslim Council of Britain, said that Muslim kids should have separate changing rooms for swimming and sport with individual cubicles – even for primary school kids – prayer rooms and single sex classes for biology lessons, which should stress ‘Islamic morals’. Oh, and they also want different uniform rules, a plea which has already been booted out.

“Of course these demands are not just unreasonable – they are downright impossible. And the Muslim Council of Britain must know that if they read even the occasional infidel’s newspaper or have an ounce of sense in their bearded bonces…. But it’s not really about getting what they want – it’s about making a lot of noise and nuisance and promoting a sense of grievance among Muslims – to keep the anger and resentment simmering.

“That’s why Mr Justice Silber’s verdict is so important. Respect and tolerance for other religions, yes – and a little tolerance by some Muslim leaders of Judaism and Christianity would make a real change.”

Paul Ross in the Daily Star, 25 February 2007

Campbell attacks stop-and-search

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police stop-and-search powers are overused and alienating ethnic minority communities, Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell is expected to say later. The Lib Dems say nearly 167,000 people have been stopped under anti-terrorism laws, but only 40 have been convicted. In a speech at a mosque in Birmingham, Sir Menzies will say the powers are often used in an “indiscriminate” way.

BBC News, 23 March 2007

Is no-one safe from Britain’s police state?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain's Police StateIs no-one safe from Britain’s police state?

By Tom Mellen

Morning Star, 23 March 2007

CIVIL rights campaigners and MPs warned yesterday that no-one is safe from punishment without trial after Home Secretary John Reid announced that nine British citizens are now subject to “control orders.”

This means that half of all the 18 controversial orders that are currently in force are against British citizens, rather than foreign nationals. In comparison, in February last year, just one of the 18 orders in force was against a British citizen.

Control orders are a form of house arrest under which the liberty of the recipient is severely restricted upon an order made by the Home Secretary.

In a quarterly update to MPs, Mr Reid said that two new orders have been made against British citizens – one on December 11 and another on March 10. He also admitted that a terror suspect who absconded last summer is now thought to be overseas.

Labour leadership contender John McDonnell MP said: “When control orders were introduced, we warned that this measure was a ruse to detain people without trial. Now it is escalating. If there is evidence, these people should be brought to trial. If not, they must not be subject to control orders, which undermine the fundamental priniciple of habeas corpus, a key aspect of our legal system for centuries.”

A Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) spokesman warned that Mr Reid’s announcement is a “grave warning that no-one is safe from punishment without trial and that the government is moving further towards a police state.”

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Faith can bring Jews and Muslims together

Posted on by Bob Pitt

InayatA leader of Britain’s biggest Muslim organisation addressed a Jewish audience for the first time in Hampstead on Monday.

The assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Inayat Bunglawala, was at the Everyman Cinema Club in Holly Bush Vale to take part in a debate about the similarities between Muslims and Jews. The MCB’s decision to take part in the forum Does More Unite Jews and Muslims Than Divides Them, was seen as a step towards bringing the two communities together.

Before the meeting Mr Bunglawala said: “It really is to try and explore how much Jews and Muslims have in common as minority faiths in this country. We want to show some enthusiasm from our part towards more cooperation between Muslims and Jews and we want to stay away from importing any conflicts from abroad.”

The panel also featured leading Jewish historian David Cesarani, chairman of the London Jewish Forum Adrian Cohen and the Independent newspaper journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland chaired the debate which was organised by the Jewish Community Centre for London as part of its Opinion Soup series.

Apart from the tensions in Israel and Palestine the most controversial topic was the much criticised decision of the MCB to boycott Holocaust Memorial Day. In response to the criticism Mr Bunglawala said: “The MCB has made a decision about Holocaust Memorial Day, it’s just one of many decisions every year we make. It is always put to the vote but I understand the MCB’s position has caused some distress. There are divisions within the MCB over this and the decision is under review.”

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Tatchell and Pim Fortuyn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Over at Aaronovitch Watch, Bruschetta Boy makes some astute points in response to Peter Tatchell’s Democratiya article:

“… he is surely aware that being nasty to minority groups, who in general have a hell of a time, is something that you have to do very carefully indeed if you’re not going to cross the line into ordinary garden-variety racism. I can’t find any reference on the internet to Peter’s views about Pim Fortuyn and would be grateful for any pointers since I’m sure that he’s said something about him. It’s not exactly as if we’re in any danger of the List Peter Tatchell becoming a big force in British anti-immigrant politics, but Fortuyn does represent the far end of where it’s possible to take this line of reasoning, and those people on the Left who don’t feel comfortable in having a go at immigrants for this reason aren’t scared of nothing. A quick glance at the notorious ‘Harry’s Place’ comments boxes shows how careful you have to be about the kind of mates you tend to pick up if you make a career out of saying that we are in danger of being overwhelmed by aliens whose values are inimical to our own.”