Yusuf Smith replies to Nick Cohen’s “extraordinarily conspiracy-minded article” in last Sunday’s Observer.
Islam-is-Peace launches national media campaign
Monday September 24th saw the launch of a national media campaign which aims to correct misconceptions about Islam and British Muslims. The nationwide campaign is designed to educate the general public about the real views of British Muslims. ‘Islam Is Peace’ aims to break down barriers of suspicion and division, challenge stereotypes, combat prejudice, and offer an opportunity for strengthening the values of respect, tolerance and peaceful co-existence.
The official launch of the campaign will take place on the 1st of October. It will be attended by prominent figures from civil rights groups, politicians, community leaders and representatives of all faith groups.
Praising the initiative, MCB Secretary General Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari said: “The silent majority of Muslims are coming forward and now challenging the misleading and negative assumptions of our faith that exist in sections of our media. It is a brave undertaking”.
Dr Hany El Banna OBE President of Islamic Relief Worldwide said “We are pleased to support this initiative by young British Muslims who are standing up for their faith and their country. It is a commendable act of citizenship and reaching out to the wider community.”
More on ‘Muslims’ Against Sharia
Over at Dean’s World Aziz P summarises the case against “Muslims Against Sharia”, one of whom is the emphatically non-Muslim, ultra-right-wing, anti-Islamic bigot Pamela Geller, author of the Atlas Shrugs blog. MASh have now responded to the exposure of their fraudulent operation by claiming that their critics are motivated by … Islamophobia!
‘Islamophobia is not the problem’
So Zia Haider Rahman claims. Apparently the problem is Muslims themselves, a large number of whom support terrorism, so is it any wonder that the non-Muslim majority is afraid of them?
Comment is Free, 25 September 2007
Yes that’s the same Zia Haider Rahman who recently wrote in the Torygraph: “Multiculturalism has not worked…. For too long, local authorities have had a free hand to promote a multiculturalist agenda, wreaking untold harm on race relations…. The Government must now catch up with what many of us have been arguing for years; that many of Britain’s ethnic minorities are adrift in ghettoes and that some are proving to be incubators of radicalist tendencies and havens for criminals.”
Yes, it’s another article defending ‘Undercover Mosque’
“… after deciding against prosecuting the imams, an extraordinary thing happened. The police and the Crown Prosecution Service reported the programme makers to Ofcom, the TV regulator, alleging ‘complete distortion’ in the way the programme had been edited. The police even asked the CPS to consider prosecuting Channel Four, under the Public Order Act, for broadcasting a programme including material likely to stir up racial hatred, something the prosecutors rightly balked at.
“There was no suggestion that the Dispatches team had done anything other than what all media organisations do, which is to edit hours and hours of footage into a 60-minute programme. [Except that the CPS lawyer’s charge that the documentary had ‘completely distorted’ what the speakers had said suggests precisely that the documentary makers had done something very different from just editing down hours of footage.] But the police said that the documentary ‘had an impact in the community and the cohesion within it’.
“Since when has that been a matter for police investigation or referral to Ofcom? The greatest damage to community cohesion in this country is being caused by the separatist political ideology preached by extremists, not by those seeking to expose it. This is something the Government must confront if it is to support the Muslims who are taking on the fanatics….”
Philip Johnson in the Daily Telegraph, 24 September 2007
From Johnston’s warped perspective, of course, the “damage to community cohesion” produced by dishonest and inaccurate media propaganda directed against the Muslim communities is of no concern at all.
(Non-)Muslims Against Sharia
“Muslims Against Sharia burst onto the scene last week with its announcement of a counter-bounty on the head of the probably-imaginary Abu Omar al-Baghdadi…. Bearing the slogan ‘Acknowledging Mistakes, Accepting Responsibities, Moving Forward’ they seemed almost too good to be true. Unfortunately, they almost certainly are – as it is not clear that any of their members are actually Muslims!”
Dave McKeegan at The Freethinker, 24 September 2007
Fight all kinds of racism – Tariq Ramadan
Tariq Ramadan contributes to a forum on the subject “The one pledge I’d like to hear from the podium this afternoon”:
“Gordon Brown should pledge to reconsider the policies that divide the communities that make up British society. If we are serious about British values of democracy, freedom, equality and fairness, it is crucial to start by trying to be consistent in our domestic policies. It means fighting all kinds of racism, the old (anti-semitism) as well as the new one (against Muslims).
“It also means stopping connecting terrorism with integration: the generalisation on this topic sheds suspicion on a whole segment of the British population, while Muslims are already integrated and contribute a great deal to the richness of this country.
“And finally, it means having the courage to say that the government has to reassess its involvement in Iraq: it was and remains a great mistake. Gordon Brown will get immense recognition, nationally and internationally, if he dares to set a new independent policy for the UK, stop listening to the lies of the current US administration and take the leadership for a new, just and reasonable policy in the Middle East, and especially towards Iran.”
Thank God for ‘Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week’
“Liberals are taking over the country. Their attacks range from brainwashing students by pinko-commie professors to extreme media bias. The academic left’s support of Islamic terrorist groups is placing American citizens in perilous danger.
“This is no joke. Ask the Young Conservatives of Texas. Every year YCT releases a campus watch list of the most dangerous professors at UT. Often times these dangerous professors unpatriotically criticize President Bush, while making critical examinations of counter-terrorist policy. Without the YCT list, we all might fall into the grasp of one of those sneaky leftists….
“Thank God that the true Americans, who believe in freedom, democracy and the pursuit of the good life, are fighting back. In no way are these brave patriots blurring the line between the entirety of Islam and the extreme minority of ‘Islamo-Fascists’, which poses a serious threat. Conservative writer and activist David Horowitz is one of those people, and he is spreading the truth next month during his ‘Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week‘.
“From Oct. 22 through Oct. 27, YCT and Horowitz’s organization, the David Horowitz Freedom Center, will organize on campus. Although YCT hasn’t announced their plans for the week, they’ll hopefully find a way to pit Christianity against Islam. While this might incite more racial hostility on campus, spreading the truth about the dangers of Islamo-Fascism is worth the risk.
“Horowitz and YCT want to give a heads up to everyone that Islamo-Fascists are out to get us. Their message isn’t meant to distract from the ongoing humanitarian disasters in the Middle East or to sensationalize the issue, but instead to point out that every single U.S. citizen is in extreme and immediate danger, especially at UT.”
Colin Pace in the Daily Texan, 24 September 2007
Muslims – ‘go back where you came from’
“Aamer Anwar accuses a Scottish court of suppressing free speech (your report, 18 September). The mindset, religion and culture of Muslims are incompatible with the indigenous Christian Briton and it will ever be thus. Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain Osama Saeed’s has a point: the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are illegal. I respectfully suggest that he and his fellow Muslims show their displeasure by returning to the countries of their roots, and take it from there.”
Letter in The Scotsman, 24 September 2007
Cohen defends ‘Undercover Mosque’
Rather belatedly, Nick Cohen adds his ten cents to the controversy over the Channel 4 documentary “Undercover Mosque” (for previous coverage see here):
“… the rules governing television documentaries remain incredibly tight. Channel 4 stuck to them. It substantiated every allegation and then gave the people it criticised a right of reply. Even so, the West Midlands police referred it to the television watchdog and, in the process, sent a message to other journalists thinking of exposing religious extremism to back off if they didn’t want the cops on their case as well.
“I could, if I wanted, go into a despairing peroration about a country so blinded by greed and stupefied by relativism it allows its police officers and libel lawyers to turn on those who report on hate-spouting imams.
“Fortunately, there are a few grounds for optimism. Ofcom will rule on Undercover Mosque in a few weeks and it looks like it will dismiss as laughable the West Midlands police’s claims that Channel 4 framed innocent preachers. The 56 hours of film shot by the documentary makers show that the crew didn’t turn tolerant men into howling bigots by using trick camera work and crafty editing but merely reported what its journalists found.”
Has Nick Cohen in fact seen the 56 hours of film, so he can – like the West Midlands Police – make an informed judgement on the accuracy of the programme? Don’t be silly. For Cohen, like many other self-styled defenders of Enlightenment values, when it comes to Islam and Muslims prejudice trumps objective evidence and rational thought goes out the window.