Useful summary of the case in Spiegel, 8 December 20068
‘Importing ghastly patriarchal values’ – Joan Smith on the veil
Joan Smith complains that “we now have a growing minority of the population demanding the right to go about their everyday business in masks, which is what the word ‘niqab’ means in Arabic. This, I think, is where a lot of people discover the limits of tolerance … rightly perceiving that the face-covering is not so much an obligatory religious requirement as a challenge to the values of our largely secular society….
“Of course it upsets people in an open society where we’re used to seeing each other’s faces; our identity is expressed in facial expressions, which ease everyday transactions by indicating whether someone is happy, sad, pleased to see us or lying – an important issue when so many of our dealing with strangers are based on trust. In that sense, it can’t be read as anything other than an assertion of not belonging, of separation from the majority population, a political position some Muslims have begun to take to absurd lengths….
“It’s the worst sort of identity politics, importing ghastly patriarchal values into a country where we already have enough problems with a male political class which believes it knows what’s best for us….”
Increase in race hate crimes casts doubt on ‘One Scotland’ campaign
Racist crime is growing across Scotland despite a multi-million-pound Executive campaign to tackle the problem, new figures obtained by The Scotsman have revealed. Some 3,387 racially-aggravated crimes and offences were recorded by the country’s eight police forces between April and December this year, compared with 3,192 during the same period last year – a rise of 6 per cent.
The increase has cast doubt on the effectiveness of the Executive’s “One Scotland” campaign launched in 2002 to tackle racism in the country’s streets and classrooms, and sparked calls for Jack McConnell, the First Minister, to put the issue on a platform equal in size to the one given to sectarianism in recent months.
Ethnic community leaders are also accusing politicians of failing to wake up to the “elephant in the room” that is growing Islamophobia, saying thousands of Muslims and members of other minority racial groups are continuing to be victimised following the 11 September and 7 July terrorism attacks.
In 2005-6, 4,294 racially-aggravated crimes were recorded by police – 358 every month and more than ten times the level recorded in 2001-2. Since then, the number has continued to rise according to new figures obtained by The Scotsman, with reported verbal and physical attacks rising to 376 per month.
The biggest increase has been seen in the Lothian and Borders police area, where police recorded 970 assaults and other racially-aggravated offences between April and December this year – up 26 per cent on the 768 crimes recorded for the same period in 2005. Grampian also saw a big rise in reported race hate crimes, from 271 to 312, up 15 per cent.
Chief Inspector Doug Forsyth, who is in charge of diversity issues at Lothian and Borders Police, claimed a greater willingness to report incidents lay behind the increase, rather than more crime.
“If people don’t want to go to the police station, they can report crimes with other agencies such as the council and health service who will pass the details to us. I think the rise is mostly due to greater confidence within ethnic communities that the police will take these things seriously and investigate them thoroughly.”
But Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, disagreed, saying Asians were increasingly being victimised on religious grounds. “The police have not got to grips with the scale of the problem, which is vast. Incidents are not being reported because there isn’t a good link-up between communities and the police.
“People are more likely to be called a terrorist than a Paki. It’s more likely to be religiously-based abuse, particularly directed against Islam. The One Scotland campaign is fine but it isn’t really dealing with the changing face of racism. There’s an elephant in the room at the moment, attacks directed at Islam, which no-one is addressing. One Scotland isn’t hitting those buttons.”
PM shelves HT ban
“The Prime Minister has been forced to shelve a central plank of his ‘war on terror’ strategy after opposition from senior police officers and the Home Office. Plans to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, the radical Islamic group, have been dropped in the past few days following intense discussions between Number 10 and legal advisers.
“Counter-terrorism sources said Tony Blair had been warned that banning the group, which campaigns for Britain to become a caliphate – a country subject to Islamic law – would serve only as a recruiting agent if the group appealed against the move.
“The decision is a significant personal blow to Blair, who announced his intention to outlaw it shortly after the London bombings on 7 July, 2005, as part of a 12-point strategy to counter Islamic extremism.”
HT have welcomed the decision, while also pointing out that the organisation “works for the return of the Caliphate in the Muslim world” – which, contrary to the Observer‘s assertion, does not include the UK.
Ban veils in public, says bishop
Muslim women should be banned from wearing the veil, to improve security and cohesion in Britain, the Church of England’s only Asian bishop has said. The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, urged the Government to introduce legislation that would force Muslims to remove the veil when they are at work or travelling.
In an outspoken attack on the custom of Muslim women to cover their faces, the Pakistani-born bishop said that the Islamic community needed to make greater efforts to integrate into British society.
His call for new laws to control the wearing of the veil in public comes only days after it was revealed that Mustaf Jama, the Somali suspected of murdering WPc Sharon Beshenivsky, is thought to have fled the country by dressing in the niqab, which covers the whole face except the eyes.
Veiled meanings
The reason young Muslim women wear the hijab is not to hide from people’s gaze, but to invite and challenge it, argues Brendan O’Neill of Spiked.
Comment is Free, 21 December 2006
The first comment on O’Neill’s piece nails its arrogance precisely: “Now, now, Mr O’Neill, neither you nor I nor anyone can get away with such sweeping statements. Maybe some muslim women do wear the veil for reasons you have deduced. Maybe not. This is merely what you, a politicised, white male imagines. I will listen with respect to what a woman who wears the hijab produces as her reasons – yours are simply an imposed narrative and interesting as a revelation of your reactions more than anything else.”
Update: See also Dervish, 23 December 2006
Media: ‘Muslim woman = ruthless gunman’
“The sharp differences in how the papers reacted to the verdict in the trial of the killers of policewoman Sharon Beshinivsky this week exposed the media’s vicious racism and Islamophobia. After all, it’s tough being a newspaper editor. Should we use page 1 to bash the Muslims, or the asylum seekers? Decisions, decisions…”
Media Workers Against the War examine press coverage of the baseless story about a suspected murderer fleeing the country disguised as a Muslim woman in a veil.
They conclude: “The truth is that the Times, Express, Sun and Guardian seized on the flimsiest of hints of a story in order to fill their pages with anti-Muslim bile.”
Pupils taken out of Islam lessons
Parents in Swindon want their children pulled from religious education classes that teach them about Islam, town headteachers have warned.
According to the annual report of the Standing Advisory Council On Religious Education – the thinktank of religious leaders, teachers, councillors and community members that meets four times a year to devise the religious education agenda in Swindon’s schools – headteachers are looking for advice after being approached by parents who don’t want their children to learn about Islam.
While the report says the parents concerned are a small minority, town Islamic leader Mansoor Khan has warned that fears about his religion must be addressed.
Mr Khan, the general secretary of Thamesdown Islamic Association, blamed the boycotts on fears created by the actions of extremists in the July 7 bombings and September 11 attacks in New York. “That’s bearing on people’s minds but that’s nothing to do with Islam,” Mr Khan said.
‘Can you spot the villain in the veil?’ asks Daily Star
“Can you go one better than Britain’s security staff and spot the villain in the veil?” the Daily Star asks its readers.
“Ministers are facing a storm of criticism after resisting calls for routine checks on anyone wearing one while boarding a plane in the UK. That went against the wishes of an overwhelming 99% of Daily Star readers, who voted in our poll yesterday that Muslims should be forced to remove veils before boarding a plane.
“The outrage follows the astonishing revelation that a Muslim asylum seeker had hidden under a veil to escape justice over the killing of policewoman Sharon Beshinivsky, 38. Somalian Mustaf Jama, 26, skipped security at Heathrow as he jetted out of the UK to his homeland by donning a woman’s niqab. His brother Yusuf Abdillh, 20, was convicted earlier this week of murdering Pc Beshenivsky in Bradford in November last year.
“Jama’s escape has highlighted the poor state of Britain’s airport security and raised fears that political correctness is preventing full checks from being carried out on veiled passengers. But despite the public outrage, the Goverenment is refusing to order checks on ALL veiled passengers.
“To prove how tough this makes identification, we have veiled up some of the world’s most notorious criminals, plus a few famous faces. Can you tell the goodies from the baddies?”
Australia: one year after the Cronulla riots, racialist provocations continue
“The anniversary of Sydney’s December 11, 2005 Cronulla race riot witnessed no serious incidents, but not for want of trying on the part of the media and political establishment.”