Tatchell and ‘free expression’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tatchell and NamaziePeter Tatchell justifies his decision to support Saturday’s “March for Free Expression”:

“Some of my friends on the left are refusing to take part. Preferring to remain marginal but pure, they object to the involvement of right-wing groups like the Libertarian Alliance and the Freedom Association. I share their distaste for these groups. But my participation on Saturday is based on supporting the statement of principle, not on who else is taking part. I will not let the dubious politics of others dissuade me from supporting what are important, progressive humanitarian values.”

March for Free Expression website, 23 March 2006

Odd, then, that Tatchell argued for banning the Muslim Council of Britain from the Unite Against Fascism conference last month. Presumably it’s OK to form an alliance with racists to oppose Muslims, but out of the question to form an alliance with Muslims to oppose racists.

‘No Danish cartoons, please’ – appeal from protest organiser

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Over a month ago Peter Risdon, organiser of the “March for Free Expression”, posted a notice on their website encouraging those attending Saturday’s protest to bring along and display copies of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons. He wrote: “Since we are in favour of free speech, and because the reason why newspapers and magazines across Europe (though not, shamefully, in the UK) have republished the infamous cartoons was principally ‘We are Spartacus’ – we stand together – we will be happy to see reproductions of the cartoons in question at the rally.”

March for Free Expression website, 19 February 2006

Now Risdon is frantically backtracking: “At the outset, we said that displays of the Danish cartoons would be welcome on Saturday. No, let me rephrase that: At the outset, I, Peter Risdon, said the cartoons would be welcome. I am going to take full responsibility for this. I now think that was a mistake…. I now appeal to people not to bring the cartoons on T-shirts or placards.” Not only that, but “Muslims are welcome” at Saturday’s protest.

March for Free Expression website, 23 March 2006

But what about the other t-shirts you advertise on your site, Peter? You know, the ones with slogans like “Get your fatwa out of my face. Support Denmark. Support free speech”, “Up yours, ‘religion of peace’!”, “Viking jihad” and “Islam is a blast”. Are you still encouraging people to wear these?

Well, apparently not. If you click here you’ll find that the advert, headed “T-Shirts – But Be Quick!“, has mysteriously disappeared from the MFE site.

Peter states piously: “The principle of freedom of expression is used, by some, as a trojan horse, as a proxy for racism and islamophobia. Not by me. Not by us. Not by this campaign.” No, no, Peter – of course not.

Some of Peter’s followers are not best pleased about this liberal backsliding over the right to display racist caricatures: “This is surely what the march is about. By restricting the free speech of the protestors you will play into the hands of Islamophobia Watch…” . “I’m hugely disappointed by this. You’ve done exactly what the censors want. I’m really not sure I’ll bother coming along now, to be honest, and I’m guessing plenty of other people who have supported this campaign feel the same. I donated money to this campaign in good faith, and right now this feels like a betrayal of that faith. Will you be reimbursing people?” “I gave you money because I thought you were standing up to the tyranny of Islam, you sniveling coward. Either reverse course once again and welcome those cartoons back again THAT WERE THE ORIGINAL REASON FOR THIS MARCH or refund my money.” “Another pathetic example of grovelling to Muslim ‘sensibilities’.” “I don’t see how you can claim this march to still be in favour of free expression.” “I am incredibly disappointed by this – it is nothing but dhimmitude.” “YOU ARE A JOKE. Maybe it would be better if the march was cancelled! Hello we want free speech, but remember not to talk about the cartoons!!!! I feel sorry for people that sent you money.” “Unless you reverse this decision ASAP, I hereby withdraw my support unreservedly.” “What a bunch of wimps. You have obviously caved in to the Islamic pressure groups and the Mayor of Londinistan. Another victory for Sharia law and another defeat for Liberty.”

It can only be a matter of hours before Peter makes an appearance on Dhimmi Watch!

Postscript:  Yes, here it is.

Vatican change of heart over ‘barbaric’ Crusades

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Vatican has begun moves to rehabilitate the Crusaders by sponsoring a conference that portrays the Crusades as wars fought with the “noble aim” of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity. The American writer Robert Spencer, author of A Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, told the conference that the mistaken view had taken hold in the West as well as the Arab world that the Crusades were “an unprovoked attack by Europe on the Islamic world”. In reality, however, Christians had been persecuted after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem.

Times, 20 March 2006

Neo-Nazis threaten to massacre Muslims at World Cup

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The World Cup in Germany is set to become a battleground between facists and Muslims, an Italian member of a new European neo-Nazi movement warned. In a statement published by Italian daily Repubblica, the member of AS Roma’s notorious ultras hooligan group claims neo-Nazis across Europe met in Braunau in Austria to plan attacks against supporters from Islamic countries during the World Cup in Germany from June 9 to July 9.

“We are united. For the first time we are talking and planning together, with the English, the Germans, the Dutch, the Spanish, everyone with the same objective. At the World Cup there will be a massacre,” said the Italian ultra. “We will all be in Germany and there will be Turks, Algerians and Tunisians. The Turks, we can’t stand them. In our country (Italy) there are not many, but in Germany, there are many of those guys there. They are Islamic terrorists. We will attack them. They are all enemies that need to be eliminated….”

AFP, 21 March 2006

School wins Muslim dress appeal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A school which was told it unlawfully excluded a Muslim pupil for wearing a traditional gown has won its appeal at the House of Lords. The Court of Appeal had said Denbigh High School had denied Shabina Begum the right to manifest her religion in refusing to allow her to wear a jilbab. But in a unanimous ruling, judges at the House of Lords overturned that.

After the ruling, Miss Begum said: “Obviously I am saddened and disappointed about this, but I am quite glad it is all over and I can move on now. I had to make a stand about this. Many women will not speak up about what they actually want. I still don’t see why I was told to go home from school when I was just practising my religion.”

BBC News, 22 March 2006

‘Today’s true feminists’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

According to one Cinnamon Stillwell, “the real radical women in the world go largely unremarked by the feminist movement. Today’s true heroines are those who do battle with the gender apartheid, violence and oppression practiced against women in the Muslim world” … and, in addition, preferably act as uncritical cheerleaders for the Israeli state.

Stillwell claims that “The oppression of women in Muslim culture and the threat it poses to women’s rights all over the world is clearly the next frontier for the feminist movement”. And who are the heroines of this new movement? As you might predict, they include Wafa Sultan, Brigitte Gabriel, Nonie Darwish, Irshad Manji, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Oriana Fallaci and Phyllis Chesler.

San Francisco Chronicle, 22 March 2006

Another example of how a progressive cause can be harnessed to an Islamophobic agenda.

‘Gays in Eurabia’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Four years after the assassination of gay Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, his warning of the threat posed to the rights of European gays and women by intolerant, anti-assimilationist Muslim immigrants is increasingly vindicated by events.

“Muslims have migrated in large numbers to Europe, have more children than ethnic Europeans, are disproportionately involved in crime, and increasingly insist on being governed not by the prevailing civil laws but by Muslim Shari’ah law. Many Muslim clerics in Europe look to the day when Europe will become a Muslim caliphate. Scholar Bat Ye’or has dubbed that future Europe ‘Eurabia’. Already, Muslim leaders in France, Britain, Denmark and Belgium have declared certain Muslim neighborhoods to be under Islamic jurisdiction….

“Submissive infidels are known as dhimmis, a role tacitly embraced by those Westerners who call any criticism of Muslims racist. Fortunately, some are refusing to surrender. On March 25 in Trafalgar Square, British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, a self-described ‘left-wing Green’, joined a crowd including humanists, libertarians and liberal Muslims in a rally to defend freedom of expression….

“Tatchell wrote, ‘Sections of the left moan that the rally is being supported [by] the right. Well, if these socialists object so strongly why don’t they organize their own demo in support of free speech? The truth is that some of the left would rarely, if ever, rally to defend freedom of expression because they don’t wholeheartedly believe in it. Mired in the immoral morass of cultural relativism, they no longer endorse Enlightenment values and universal human rights’.”

Richard J. Rosendall in Washington DC’s gay and lesbian magazine Metro Weekly, 20 April 2006

For an earlier article by Rosendall on Fortuyn, see here.

‘Bringing the gospel to the Muslim counterculture’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

While the Church in Wales shows sensitivity to Muslim opposition to the publication of caricatures of the Prophet, the Christian Right evidently has rather less interest in promoting harmonious interfaith relations. The Evangelical Times  website carries the following advertisement for a new publication entitled Islam in Britain:

“It helps us understand why Muslims find it difficult to adjust to life in a society where the majority ethos is secular with a fading Christian backdrop. It explains why most Muslims show allegiance to the worldwide Islamic community rather than the British state – and why full integration into British society is not really happening. And it shows why militant Islam was bound to be influential within the various Muslim communities here. This is an important report that deserves to be read by all who want to understand the Islamic community (or communities) in Britain. It provides background knowledge that will certainly be helpful to all seeking to bring the gospel to the Muslim counterculture.”

Evangelical Times, 20 March 2006

Church recalls ‘Prophet’ magazine

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Church in Wales has appealed to 500 subscribers to its magazine to return their copies after it printed a cartoon satirising the Prophet Muhammad. The editor has resigned after the cartoon was published in the Church’s Welsh-language magazine Y Llan.

The drawing – which was from the French magazine France Soir – satirises the Prophet Muhammad by depicting him sitting on a heavenly cloud with Buddha, and Christian and Jewish deities. He is being told “don’t complain…we’ve all been caricatured here”.

The Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan wrote to Y Llan‘s approximately 500 subscribers asking them to return their copies, which he said would be reprinted without the cartoon. Dr Morgan also personally contacted Saleem Kidwai, the Muslim Council of Wales’ general secretary, to apologise and to assure him that no offence had been intended.

BBC News, 21 March 2006

The Church showing admirable concern for the culture and sensibilities of the Welsh Muslim community? Surely this is a case for Dhimmi Watch?

Postscript:  Yes, predictably, here it is.

Australian poll shows ignorance of Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A poll of 1,300 Australians has found high levels of ignorance about Islam. One third of Australians admitted to knowing nothing about the world’s second largest religion, while about a quarter also believed it to be either a fundamentalist or intolerant faith. More than half of the poll respondents also said they felt threatened by Islam.

One of the researchers behind the study, New South Wales University’s Kevin Dunn, said people tended to feel less threatened by Islam when they had direct contact with its followers. “That varies according to the extent of knowledge someone has and also, fundamentally, the extent of daily contact someone has with Muslims,” he said. “If you know a few Muslims, you’re much less likely to perceive a threat from them.”

The Islamic Council’s Nade Roude said that with 7 per cent of Australia’s population identifying as Muslim, it shows a lot of work needed to be done.

ABC News, 20 March 2006