Category Archives: UK

‘A monster of our own making’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“These British bombers are a consequence of a misguided and catastrophic pursuit of multiculturalism”, according to the Observer‘s strap to an article by William Pfaff. The author explains:

“A half-century of a well-intentioned but catastrophically mistaken policy of multiculturalism, indifferent or even hostile to social and cultural integration, has produced in Britain and much of Europe a technologically educated but culturally and morally unassimilated immigrant demi-intelligentsia.”

Observer, 21 August 2005

Admittedly, this is only one point in a rather rambling article – but it’s evidently the point the Observer wants to highlight.

Muslim groups condemn stop-and-search policy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim groups angrily condemned British Transport Police yesterday for suggesting that young men from ethnic minorities were more likely to be stopped and questioned in the wake of the London bombings.

Government ministers appeared to be divided on the issue. While Home Office minister Hazel Blears has backed the BTP, Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland minister, said a stop and search policy of discriminating against Muslims would simply act as recruiting agent for terrorism, as it had done with Irish communities in the past….

Home Office figures show that stop and searches of Asian people have risen steeply since the September 11 attacks.

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said that while it understands the police need to take all necessary actions, it had to avoid “alienating or stigmatising” and an entire section of society. “Otherwise this action will be counterproductive,” said a spokesman. Muslim Association of Britain said such a policy would worsen the situation. “It won’t help in terms of building a relationship or trust between the communities.”

Independent, 1 August 2005

See also ‘Searches of Asians will boost bombers, says Hain’,  Daily Mirror, 2 August 2005

And ‘Blears backs away from racial profiling’, Guardian 2 August 2005

Racist gang attack two Asian men

Posted on by Eddie Truman

Police have said that two Asians were racially attacked by a gang who made comments about the London bombings. The incident came after Lothian and Borders Police called for calm amid fears that racial incidents might increase following events in London. The gang hurled racist abuse and vandalised the car of the men who had parked near Leith Walk in Edinburgh.

BBC News, 2 August 2005

Suspect’s tale of travel and torture

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A former London schoolboy accused of being a dedicated al-Qaida terrorist has given the first full account of the interrogation and alleged torture endured by so-called ghost detainees held at secret prisons around the world. For two and a half years US authorities moved Benyam Mohammed around a series of prisons in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan, before he was sent to Guantánamo Bay in September last year.

Guardian, 2 August 2005

Nazis take time off from racist thuggery to study ‘semantics’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Arabic words, Salaam, Islam and Muslim all derive from the same root, however to describe this as peace is another clever use of semantics. A steady stream of officials from the New Labour authorised Muslim Council of Britain, have being towing the party line, Islam = Peace. When you here these words again you must not think in terms of peace and love in any sense of the meaning meant by the Beatles, Jimmy [sic] Hendrix and what you feel after a weekend at Glastonbury, but think more on the lines of total SUBMISSION to the will of Allah and his followers on earth.

“The potent force of Islamic terrorism, violence and intimidation in areas bordering Muslim communities, backed up with New Labour legislation to silence those brave enough to speak out against this threat to our civilization is enough to focus the mind. Until the whole world is in submission to Allah, there can be no peace. A fact the people of Britain already have been getting used to on a daily basis in Bradford, Burnley, Keighley, and Oldham before the recent atrocities that have captured all the headlines.”

BNP news article, 2 August 2005

Blair must overturn 40 years of mistakes, says Mark Steyn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“We complain about ‘unassimilated’ Muslim immigrants, but in some respects they’ve assimilated too well. Witness the suspected Tube bomber who on his arrest last week cried: ‘I have rights!’ He and his colleagues demonstrate an impressive mastery of the salient features of the advanced social democratic state – the legalisms, the ethnic pandering, the bureaucratic inertia.”

Mark Steyn in yet other rant in the Daily Telegraph, 2 August 2005

But tell us, Mark, what should Tony Blair do?

“He has to regain control of Britain’s borders from the EU and of Britain’s education system from the teachers’ unions and of Britain’s welfare programmes from wily Somalis and others…. If ‘the images of ruin and destruction’ come to pass, it will not be because of the bombers but because of a state that lacked the cultural confidence to challenge them.”

Straw provokes outrage by claiming terrorism is ‘justified by Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Tuesday provoked outrage in the Muslim community by claiming that terrorism is “justified by Islam.” Speaking to The Financial Times, he said “One of the things we’ve got to do is give [Muslim] leaders the confidence to face down terrorism justified by Islam.”

“His phrase ‘terrorism justified by Islam’ is utterly meaningless and deeply offensive to Muslims,” chair of the Muslim Council of Britain’s Media Committee, Inayat Bunglawala told Irna.

“Our scholars have made it clear that there is no basis whatsoever or targeting Muslims,” Bunglawala added. He also suggested that his provocative comments could add to the current backlash against Muslims following the recent London bombings.

“The foreign secretary of all people should know that no terrorism can be justified by Islam,” Bunglawala said. “His comments could unwittingly give succor to Islamophobes who are forever trying to link the face of Islam with violence,” he warned.

IRNA report, 2 August 2005

For Straw’s FT article, see here.

MAB response to ‘preachers of hate’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MAB logo“In the aftermath of the London bombings Tony Blair called on the Muslims to tackle hate preachers in their community. While the Muslim community has been under tremendous pressure to act against a possible few who advocate hatred and mass murder, the government seems to ignore individuals who preach hatred of Islam and Muslims.

“The level and extent of incitement of hatred against Islam and Muslims by some individuals and by certain sections of the media have risen substantially in the last few weeks. Unsurprisingly this has coincided with a phenomenal rise in hate crimes against Muslims around the UK.  We are forced to think that if such blanket hatred was aimed at another community the government would have been quick to react to it, but the government’s inability to do so raises serious questions among the Muslim community.”

The Muslim Association of Britain responds to recent articles by Anthony Browne, Jonathan Freedland and Patrick Sookhdeo.

MAB news release, 2 August 2005

Exploiting terror and death for bigotry and hate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Exploiting terror and death for bigotry and hate

By Ken Livingstone

Morning Star, 30 July 2005

The central pressing issue facing us in the wake of the bombings and attempted bombings in London over the past weeks is of course to apprehend those involved.

This is the issue that every Londoner, from tube driver to city banker will expect to be addressed.

But one issue that remains vital – and not at all unconnected to the task of stopping terrorism – is to stop the bombings from being used to promote bigotry and racism in our society.

In particular there is now a sustained campaign to use the bombings to attack the advances we have made against racism in our society by blaming multiculturalism, “diversity”, immigration, and even the “political correctness” of the police.

Continue reading →

Police ‘must single out Muslims’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims are certain to be singled out in police stop-and-search operations in the wake of the bombings, ministers have warned. Home Office Minister Hazel Blears gave her backing to a British Transport Police chief who vowed that his officers will not shy away from targeting Asians because they came from a group most likely to present the gravest threat. Chief constable Ian Johnston told a Sunday newspaper: “We should not bottle out over this. We should not waste our time searching old white ladies.”

Civil liberties groups attacked Mr Johnson, claiming that “racial profiling” could undermine race relations. But the Metropolitan Police and BTP believe that targeted stop and searches are vital at a time of high alert. Ms Blears said: “If your intelligence tells you that you’re looking for somebody of a particular description, perhaps with particular clothing on, then clearly you’re going to exercise that power in that way. That’s absolutely the right thing to do.”

Evening Standard (London), 1 August 2005