If this onslaught was about Jews, I would be looking for my passport

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jonathan Freedland“I’ve been trying to imagine what it must be like to be a Muslim in Britain. I guess there’s a sense of dread about switching on the radio or television, even about walking into a newsagents. What will they be saying about us today? Will we be under assault for the way we dress? Or the schools we go to, or the mosques we build? Who will be on the front page: a terror suspect, a woman in a veil or, the best of both worlds, a veiled terror suspect.

“… we’re getting it badly wrong – bombarding Muslims with pressure and prejudice, laying one social problem after another at their door. I try to imagine how I would feel if this rainstorm of headlines substituted the word ‘Jew’ for ‘Muslim’: Jews creating apartheid, Jews whose strange customs and costume should be banned. I wouldn’t just feel frightened. I would be looking for my passport.”

Jonathan Freedland in the Guardian, 18 October 2006

We’ve had some harsh words to say about Jonathan Freedland in the past – over Qaradawi and the proposed new mosque at West Ham – but this article should be applauded.

Want to wear the veil? Go and live somewhere else, says the Sun

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Editorial in today’s Sun:

TONY Blair yesterday threw his weight behind Jack Straw’s call for Muslim women to drop the veil. The Prime Minister backed the school chiefs who suspended a teacher for refusing to remove her mask in front of pupils. The veil, he said, is a visible statement of separation and is “incompatible” with life in Britain, echoing Mr Straw’s earlier concerns.

Modern Muslim women agree the veil is a primitive throwback to an age when their oppressed sisters were treated little better than slaves. In benighted parts of the world, they still are.

Britain has a hard-won heritage of fairness and equal rights. It is the main reason so many migrants came here in the first place. Those who have taken advantage of such privileges must not be allowed to turn back the clock. It’s time to take a leaf out of Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s book. And tell extremists that if they want to live under Sharia law, they can’t live here.

Standing together against the Islamophobic attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The government’s attacks on Muslims have led to a series of racist attacks across Britain, but there is also resistance and signs of a new fighting unity between Muslims and non-Muslims.

Some 70 people gathered at an hour’s notice last Saturday, in Dudley, West Midlands to oppose the Nazi BNP and defend the right of the local Muslim community to build a new mosque. Around 30 fascist supporters had earlier turned up to use the opportunities created by ministers’ comments to boost their Islamophobic campaigning against the mosque. The mosque contacted Unite Against Fascism and together they held a protest to show their determination to keep the BNP out of Dudley.

A major rally is now planned for Sunday 29 October to stress mutual respect between people of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds, the rights of anyone to practice their religion and the need to stop the fascists.

In Glasgow anti-racists will gather this Saturday for a Unite Against Islamophobia rally called by Glasgow Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain.

Socialist Worker, 21 October 2006

BMI calls national rally to defend religious freedom and demand an end to attacks on Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BMI rallyFreedom of religion is one of our most precious democratic rights. It took hundreds of years, including international and civil wars, to establish the right of every individual to freely pursue their religious beliefs subject only to their conscience. It must be defended against every challenge.

Britain today faces a systematic campaign by sections of the media and some politicians, fanned by the BNP, to undermine this right by sowing hatred against Muslims. This has culminated in physical attacks, fire bombings and assaults on women. This campaign constitutes an attack on civil and religious liberties including an attempt to suppress the right of persons of all faiths to dress in accordance with their religious convictions. It must be strongly opposed – as indeed should any attack on the rights of Christians, Jews, Sikhs or any other religious group.

It is necessary for all democrats, of all faiths and none, to come together to defend these basic principles of freedom of religion and culture.

As the first step, Faith groups are coming together with all political parties and communities to a central London public rally to support Freedom of religion and culture and to call for an end to the recent attacks on Muslims on 20th of November 2006 at Westminister Central Hall, 6:30-9:30pm. The aim is to develop a national campaign to defend freedom of religion and culture and to combat the rise of Islamophobia.

The rally is called by the British Muslim Initiative and supported by the Muslim Council of Britain, the Mayor of London, Pax Christi, Stop the War coalition, National Assembly Against Racism, the 1990 Trust, Islamic Forum Europe, the Cordoba Foundation, Muslims for JUSTICE and PEACE, Islamic Human Right Commission, Islamic Times, Dawatul Islam and Assembly for the Protection of Hijab.

British Muslim Initiative press release, 18 October 2006

European politics swing right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Glyn Ford“Europe is in danger of seeing its extreme-right parties move into the mainstream. The message has changed. Anti-Semitism has metamorphosed into ‘Islamophobia’ since 9/11, finding a popular resonance with those bearing the consequences of the war on terror. Islamophobia has become the prejudice of the day, but the threat from the extreme right is real and it is found across the European Union.”

Glyn Ford MEP in the Japan Times, 18 October 2006

Blair says veil is a mark of separation, Cruddas launches campaign

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tony Blair has said that the veil worn by many Muslim women in Britain is a “mark of separation” that makes people from other backgrounds feel uncomfortable. The Prime Minister came off the fence in the heated debate over Muslim customs by urging them to integrate more fully into British society. His remarks confirmed a significant shift in the Government’s thinking amid fears that its support for multiculturalism may have encouraged the growth of “parallel lives” that never meet.

At his monthly Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister was asked if a woman who wore the veil could make a full contribution to British society. He paused before replying: “That’s a very difficult question. It is a mark of separation and that’s why it makes other people from outside of the community feel uncomfortable.” He added he was not suggesting women should be ordered to remove their veils. “No one wants to say that people don’t have the right to do it, that’s to take it too far, but I think we do need to confront this issue about how we integrate people properly with our society,” he said.

Jon Cruddas, MP for Dagenham, who will formally launch his campaign to become Labour’s next deputy leader today, will accuse ministers of playing “fast and loose” with religious tensions during the row. He will say: “The solution does not lie in an ever more muscular bidding war among politicians to demonstrate who can be tougher on migrants, asylum-seekers and minorities. Nor is it in using racial or religious symbols to create controversy. That only makes the situation worse. It is not the role of politicians to play fast and loose with symbols of difference, especially when they drive the political centre of gravity to the right as a consequence.”

Independent, 18 October 2006

Racism is the real obstacle we face – Salma Yaqoob

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Salma speaking“This week I’ve been told that women like myself are submissive, oppressed creatures who need rescuing by white, male politicians. But at the same time, I’ve been told that women like myself frighten white, male politicians and that we are a threat to social cohesion in this country.

“Frankly I’m getting fed up with other people’s obsessions being projected on people like me.

“If the government wants to tackle barriers to integration, how about tackling some of the real obstacles that we encounter? And, in this country, the widespread imposition of Islamic dress is not one of them – by any stretch of the imagination. In fact post 9/11, the most prevalent pressure on Muslim women is to NOT wear Islamic dress, out of fear for their personal safety.

“That’s not to say that cultural and patriarchal pressures do not exist in the Muslim community. They do – and many of us are actively engaged in challenging them. I defend the right of women to choose, for themselves, to wear the niqab or hijab. But I equally defend the right of women to choose not to wear particular forms of dress, whether it’s in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran or Britain.”

Salma Yaqoob in Socialist Worker, 21 October 2006

This carry-on about Muslim dress

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yasmin“It was refreshing to read the article by Martin Newland (G2, October 16). He is the only commentator who seems to understand that women choose to wear the Niqab as an expression of their faith and that you can still be a ‘regular person’, albeit religious.

“I am a Muslim woman, as well as a practising barrister, past Labour parliamentary candidate, human-rights adviser to the mayor of London and past worker for the UN mission in Kosovo. But I fast, give zakat (alms), have performed Haj, say the salat (prayers), do not drink, and am proud to call myself Muslim, will never wear a short dress or a bikini etc.

“At the same time, I love, like many of my Muslim friends and family, watching Carry On films, Benny Hill, Rory Bremner, Have I Got News for You, love fish and chips, and have friends from all religions, cultures and backgrounds. Go and talk to and get to know a Muslim. Then you will know they are no different to anyone else.

“I always thought the best thing about being British was that as long as you obeyed the laws, you could lead your life as you wanted. And yet we are all being pushed into one straightjacket. Just as people who want to ‘take their kit off’ have the right to do so, so should people who want to ‘keep their kit on’. This debate has already got some nasty undertones to it – and a lot of underlying ignorance.”

Yasmin Qureshi, letter in the Guardian, 18 October 2006

An excellent letter, only slightly undermined by some questionable aesthetic judgements. I mean – Benny Hill? Are you sure about that, Yasmin?

State snoopers turn on Muslim students

Posted on by Bob Pitt

State snoopers turn on Muslim studentsState snoopers turn on Muslim students

By Daniel Coysh

Morning Star, 17 October 2006

ACADEMICS and students vowed to fight “McCarthyite” government proposals for university staff to spy on Muslim and “Asian-looking” students yesterday. Lecturers’ union UCU and the National Union of Students both insisted that the proposals were unacceptable and would be vigorously opposed.

Reports said that The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) is drawing up plans to ask universities and colleges to inform on students to Special Branch. As the hysteria surrounding Islamist “extremism” threatens to completely engulf British political discourse, a leaked 18-page consultation document raised fears that Britain’s universities have become “fertile recruiting grounds” for radical groups.

But UCU joint general secretary Paul Mackney pointed out that “radicalisation is not the same as violent extremism or terrorism.”

He said: “The government’s premise is wrong. Radicalisation is not the result of Islamist segregation but government policy, especially in Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq. UCU has expressed its concern to the minister that our members may be sucked into an anti-Muslim McCarthyism, which has serious consequences for civil liberties by blurring the boundaries of what is illegal and what is possibly undesirable.”

The document calls for university authorities to closely monitor campus Islamic societies, particularly if they invite “radical speakers” to address their meetings. It suggests that checks should be made on guest speakers at such meetings.

Fellow UCU joint general secretary Sally Hunt insisted: “We will not accept further government attempts to restrict academic freedom or free speech on campus. There is little point in having these nominal freedoms if they can be removed when certain people don’t like what they hear.”

NUS national president Gemma Tumelty warned that creating a snooping culture on Britain’s campuses could prove counterproductive to anti-terrorism measures. “Demonising and stigmatising student communities is no way to defeat terror,” insisted Ms Tumelty. “Indiscriminate monitoring of groups on campus assumes collective guilt. This will only fuel the racism and Islamophobia that our society should be trying so hard to stamp out.”

University vice-chancellors also rejected the proposals. Universities UK president Professor Drummond Bone said: “Not only is this unreasonable but, crucially, it could be counter-productive. The key to this is balance and discussion and we have made this point repeatedly to ministers.”

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