Woolas comments have only achieved greater demonisation of Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Government minister Phil Woolas’s call to sack a Muslim teacher for wearing the veil has made race relations worse by adding to the current demonisation of Muslims, according to anti-racist organisation The 1990 Trust.The minister’s tactless and opportunistic intervention merely whips up Islamophobia and contributes to a climate of racism against an increasingly marginalised community.

The 1990 Trust are today calling for a code of conduct on dealing with “Muslim issues” to halt the overly-simplistic approach which is contributing to the demonisation of all Muslims. Politicians have a responsibility not to worsen race relations for political gain, and every party must have a duty crack down on Islamophobia within their ranks.

BLINK press release, 16 October 2006

See also Osama Saeed’s comments at Rolled Up Trousers, 15 October 2006

1990 Trust surveys Muslim views

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain’s foreign policy is marginalising Muslims, a new survey by The 1990 Trust has found. This new survey (sample: 1,213) reinforces that there is almost no support for terrorism amongst the Muslim community. Just 1% of those surveyed supported the 7/7 London bombings.

Many mainstream polls have shown higher rates of support for extremism. The difference is explained by the way questions are phrased. The 1990 Trust believe their new survey reflects the real views of Muslims, and that other polls have attempted to generate headlines claiming more support for terrorism than is actually the case.

BLINK press release, 16 October 2006

For the survey itself (pdf) click here.

‘We’ll target Muslim hotspots’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The government will today unveil plans for a map of Britain’s Islamic extremist “hotspots” – so they can be targeted and broken up.

Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly will reveal the campaign at a Whitehall summit with police and town hall chiefs. She will order them to identify the universities, schools and mosques where young Muslims are brainwashed – and then take the battle to the fanatics by aggressively countering their hate-filled propaganda.

But the hotspot map risks further infuriating Muslim groups who already claim they are being persecuted by a new anti-Islamic mood within the government. Many are angry after a series of ministers criticised veils worn by Muslim women and warned of the dangers of Islamic schools.

Ms Kelly, below, will tell 20 council bosses and senior police officers that Britain must confront Islamic extremists such as preacher Omar Bakri head-on. She will warn:

“The new extremism we are facing is the single biggest security issue facing local communities. The world has changed since September 11 and 7/7. The government has to change and respond to that and we appeal to local authorities to do the same. We need to work closer together in partnership with the police and local communities to face down this threat.”

Ms Kelly will stress that identifying the hotspots is merely the first step to neutralising the radicals. A source close to Ms Kelly said they wanted town hall bosses and the police to study key questions today, adding:

“Do they understand which sections of their communities might be vulnerable to extremism? Have they mapped likely hotspots? Are they alert to the threat of extremism in universities, colleges and schools? Is there a vacuum of information that can be exploited by extremists?”

Daily Mirror, 16 October 2006

Veil teacher ‘should be sacked’, says Phil Woolas

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim teaching assistant suspended for refusing to remove her veil in class should be sacked, a local government minister has said.

Phil Woolas told the Sunday Mirror that Aishah Azmi, 23, had “put herself in a position where she can’t do her job”. Mr Woolas, whose brief covers race relations, stopped short of repeating the demand on the BBC’s Politics Show. But he said if the head teacher at the school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, chose to sack Ms Azmi “so be it”.

Ms Azmi, who is originally from Cardiff, said pupils at Headfield Church of England Junior School had never complained about her wearing a veil. She said she would remove the garment, but not in front of male colleagues.

Ms Azmi’s lawyer called for Mr Woolas to withdraw his comments, which he warned might influence the classroom assistant’s employment tribunal.

“Mrs Azmi is very well able to carry out her role as a teaching assistant providing support to pupils who speak English as a second language,” said Nick Whittingham, of Kirklees Law Centre. “She is able to do this effectively while wearing the veil. She has demonstrated in a number of interviews that she can communicate effectively while wearing the veil.”

Mr Whittingham described Mr Woolas’s comments to the Sunday Mirror as “ill-advised” and called for him to withdraw his demands.

BBC News, 15 October 2006

Update:  See “Minister calls for veil-wearing teaching assistant to be sacked”, Independent, 16 October 2006

Muslims are the new Jews

Posted on by Bob Pitt

India Knight“It’s open season on Islam – Muslims are the new Jews…. Especially since July 7, it has become acceptable to say the most ignorant, degrading things about Islam….  I am particularly irked by ancient old ‘feminists’ wheeling out themselves and their 30-years-out-of-date opinions to reiterate the old chestnut that Islam, by its nature, oppresses women (unlike the Bible, eh,?) and that the veil compounds the blanket oppression….

“Oppressed women are everywhere: there’s probably one living in your street. She may be a Muslim wearing a veil, or a white woman whose husband beats her. She may be covered from head to toe, dressed like a librarian, or fond of micro-skirts. She may be your mother or your sister. She may be you – regardless of how you dress, what you believe or where you come from. And that is the point. Unhappy, abused people come in all colours, shapes and sizes. It is absurd to suddenly appoint ourselves moral arbiters, and decree, very loudly, that a piece of fabric is an indicator of an unhappy, down-trodden life….

“I am particularly offended by Straw’s comments because the women Straw described are by and large first-generation immigrants – ie, poor working-class women trying to get on with their lives…. Straw and his acolytes – the self-appointed sisterhood among them – are picking on the women who are most voiceless and least able to defend themselves. They should be ashamed.”

India Knight in the Sunday Times, 15 October 2006

Tories accuse Muslims of ‘creating apartheid by shutting themselves off’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David Davis (2)The Conservatives today accuse Muslim leaders of encouraging “voluntary apartheid” in Britain by shutting themselves away in closed societies and demanding protection from criticism.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, says that Britain risks social and religious divisions so profound that society’s very foundations, such as the freedom of speech, will become “corroded” and that the perfect conditions for home-grown terrorism will be created.

His stark intervention, in an article for The Sunday Telegraph, represents a toughening of the Tory stance on the dangers of Islamic radicalism and follows calls from some leading ministers for Muslim women to remove their veils. It is also a departure from the “caring Conservatism” message laid out by David Cameron.

Mr Davis says he supports the stance on veils adopted by Jack Straw, the Commons Leader, but believes the wider issue is one of the “very unity of our nation”.

“What Jack touched on was the fundamental issue of whether, in Britain, we are developing a divided society. Whether we are creating a series of closed societies within our open society. Whether we are inadvertently encouraging a kind of voluntary apartheid. At the starkest level, we may be creating conditions in the recesses of our society that foster home-grown terrorism.”

Sunday Telegraph, 15 October 2006

Robert Spencer welcomes this example of “Anti-dhimmitude from the Conservative Party”.

Dhimmi Watch, 15 October 2006

Kelly calls for ‘real leadership’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ruth_KellyCommunities Secretary Ruth Kelly has urged council leaders to raise their game in the fight against extremism as she called on Muslim leaders to demonstrate “real leadership”.

After talks with 17 local authorities and police chiefs, she said everybody had a part to play in responding to the extremist threat. “We have a shared responsibility and must all raise our efforts to a new level – central government, local government, community organisations and individual communities themselves,” she said.

Councils will be required to present strategies within the coming weeks setting out how they intend to prevent radicalisation in their communities.

Ms Kelly also refused to back down on moves to withdraw Government support for Muslim groups that failed to take a leading role in tackling extremism.

She said the Government was “absolutely committed” to working with Muslim organisations with a “genuine commitment” to pluralism. “I am determined to raise to a new level our partnership with these Muslim organisations who are showing real leadership on these issues,” she said. “We will provide them more support.”

In a letter to Muhammad Abdul Bari, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Ms Kelly rejected claims that ministers would not work with those who disagreed with Government policy.

But she added: “I don’t accept that those in leadership positions can be passive in tackling extremism and yet expect government support. The question the public are not unreasonably asking is why should any organisation object to taking a leadership role in tacking extremism?”

Her letter to Dr Bari followed his criticism that ministers were “marginalising” Muslims with recent comments, including Jack Straw’s suggestion that Muslim women should remove their veils.

Metro, 15 October 2006

Ministers ‘are Islamophobic’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dr BariMuslim leaders have accused ministers of “stigmatising an entire community” and launching a “relentless barrage” against Islamic Britons.

Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), has written to Ruth Kelly, the communities secretary, accusing her of pandering to an “Islamophobic” agenda.

The letter follows Kelly’s announcement last week that the government was cutting funding and official ties with the MCB, which until now has been the main body representing British Muslims. One senior Muslim source said: “The government is pandering to a far-right neocon agenda which is promoting Islamophobia.”

The MCB says in the letter: “In recent months there has been a drip-feed of ministerial statements stigmatising an entire community. We have seen ministers’ tours and even legislation being proposed on the premise that ‘mosques are a problem’.”

The council is understood to be particularly concerned by comments by Jack Straw, the Commons leader, about Muslim women wearing full veils. They are also concerned by the level of stop-and-search by police of Muslim suspects. According to a poll by Yougov, Straw’s popularity has jumped 15 percentage points since he made his comments.

Sunday Times, 15 October 2006

See also “MCB responds to Ruth Kelly’s speech”, MCB press release, 15 October 2006

Read the MCB’s letter to Ruth Kelly here.

Update:  See “Kelly calls for ‘real leadership'”, Metro, 15 October 2006

Mayor says the freedom to dress in accordance with ones religious conscience is a fundamental human right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said:

“Britain today faces a concerted campaign by sections of the media and some politicians, fanned by fascist grouplets, aimed at sowing hatred against Muslims. This has now culminated in physical attacks, firebombings, and assaults on women. This 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.

“Whatever a person’s view on the most suitable forms of dress they have no right to impose this on others – it is a fundamental human right that every person should be allowed to dress in accordance with their religious views, as dictated only by their individual conscience. This right had to be defended in the past for Sikhs and other communities and it must be today for Muslims or indeed any other community that faces such a challenge. It applies equally therefore to those who wish to wear crucifixes.

“The prosperity and cohesion of London as one of the most diverse city’s in the world is inextricably linked to respect for these basic principles of freedom of individual choice.”

GLA press release, 14 October 2006

Mayor defends multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Interviewed on this morning’s Today progamme, Ken Livingstone was asked: “Which do you think is more important: the freedom of religion and cultural identity which encourages many young Muslim women to wear the veil, or a sense of integration in a society in which everybody has fundamentally some kind of common commitment to that society and its values?” The Mayor replied:

“But I think we’ve got that. We have here – and London typifies it more than almost anywhere else in Europe – a whole group of shared values, but at the same time people can continue to carry on with their cultural difference. Step back and think, if we had said, over a hundred years ago to the great wave of Jewish refugees fleeing anti-semitism in Russia, ‘you can come here but you’ve got to leave your religion, you’ve got to leave your form of dress’, we would have been immeasurably diminished as a society. That community gave a vast amount to London.

“I don’t hear politicians saying that they feel intimidated or cut off because Orthodox Jews dress the way they do. We fought a long time ago to get the right for Sikhs to wear their turban while they’re in the police force or on the buses. It seems there’s a different standard being applied to Muslims. And it’s nothing to do with domestic politics. It’s the background of war and oil and international politics that drives that agenda.”