College told to reinstate pair

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The National Union of Students has called on a Birmingham college to reinstate two students it claims have been suspended for criticising management.

Assed Baig, aged 24 and Darrel Williams, aged 21, were apprehended by security guards at Matthew Boulton College’s new £40 million city centre campus. The “underground” pamphlet, called The Guerilla, attacked the college’s policy on banning religious groups and also highlighted “rude security guards”.

The college has confiscated the students’ identity cards, claiming they have breached their “learning agreement” by distributing the publication.

But the NUS labelled bosses at the college “reactionary” and claimed the students were merely exercising their right to free speech. The college, based on Jennens Road, refused to comment on the case.

But principal Christine Braddock said: “If we have any students suspended we would be taking them through due process.” She said the college was meeting with the students this week in an attempt to resolve the issue.

Mr Williams, aged 21, said: “There are a few policies at the college that we tried to make clear we don’t feel are correct.

“There are some Muslim students who would like a prayer room and a society to express their needs. But the college said they won’t allow any religious societies. We thought that was strange because other colleges have this kind of thing so we wrote an article on that.”

The NUS has written to Ms Braddock demanding the two students, who are on access to higher education courses, be allowed back to finish their studies.

Birmingham Post, 21 December 2005

‘Islamofascist’ backs Tatchell

Posted on by Bob Pitt

OsamaSaeedI see that Osama Saeed has given favourable coverage on his blog to Peter Tatchell’s New Statesman article defending asylum rights. “He exposes the prejudice and brutality of the asylum system”, Saeed writes, “from the lawyers who don’t care about their refugee clients, to the detention centres where stuff like this is carried out.”

Rolled Up Trousers, 20 December 2005

As a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain in Scotland and the author of a recent article in the Guardian proposing a modernised version of the caliphate, Osama Saeed obviously has some deep disagreements with Peter Tatchell. However, where there is common ground over a progressive political cause – in this case, opposition to racist asylum laws –  he is ready to express his solidarity with a notorious Islamophobe like Tatchell.

Tatchell, by contrast, has never had a good word to say for the Muslim Association of Britain or its members. Indeed, he rejects in principle any bloc with MAB, whether it is over opposing the Iraq war, defending the right of Muslim women to wear the headscarf or backing candidates in elections. Thus he has denounced the Stop the War Coalition for “forging a strategic alliance with right-wing Islamists like … the MAB”, condemned the Mayor of London for “cosying up to Islamic fundamentalists like … the reactionary Muslim Association of Britain” and attacked Respect for being “in alliance with the right-wing, anti-gay Islamist group, the Muslim Association of Britain”.

It is revealing that a leading representative of a Muslim organisation that Tatchell has repeatedly characterised as backward and barbaric can take an admirably balanced and rational approach to the issue of political solidarity – whereas Tatchell, along with many of his fellow self-styled defenders of Enlightenment values, takes refuge in mindless sectarian bigotry.

Violence? Blame Muslims, says Mark Steyn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“These days, whenever something goofy turns up on the news, chances are it involves a fellow called Mohammed. A plane flies into the World Trade Centre? Mohammed Atta. A gunman shoots up the El Al counter at Los Angeles airport? Hesham Mohamed Hedayet. A sniper starts killing petrol station customers around Washington, DC? John Allen Muhammed. A guy fatally stabs a Dutch movie director? Mohammed Bouyeri. A terrorist slaughters dozens in Bali? Noordin Mohamed. A gang-rapist in Sydney? Mohammed Skaf.

“Maybe all these Mohammeds are victims of Australian white racists and American white racists and Dutch white racists and Balinese white racists and Beslan schoolgirl white racists. But the eagerness of the Aussie and British and Canadian and European media, week in, week out, to attribute each outbreak of an apparently universal phenomenon to strictly local factors is starting to look pathological.”

The inimitable Mark Steyn in the Daily Telegraph, 20 December 2005

‘Muslim bigots impose blasphemy laws on Victoria’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“At the behest of Muslim bigots and multiculturalist fanatics the Bracks Government suspended free speech in Victoria by imposing a blasphemy law dressed up as an anti-vilification law. This has given Islamo-fascists a freehand to attack critics of Islam…. The provoked riots in Sydney are revealing what happens when Australians get sick of a minority trying to impose, with the tacit agreement of cowardly politicians and half-witted multiculturalists, its reactionary Muslim beliefs on them.”

Gerard Jackson takes issue with the prosecution of rightwing Christian pastors Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot for inciting hatred against Muslims.

Brookes News, 19 December 2005

Cronulla riots caused by multicultural education

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“In Western Australia, as evidenced by the Curriculum Framework document, students are told they must value ‘the perspective of different cultures’ and ‘recognise the cultural mores that underpin groups and appreciate why these are valued and important’. The curriculum policy of the South Australian branch of the AEU is underpinned by ‘five core values’. One of the underlying values is that there should be respect for diversity and ‘no discrimination on any grounds’.

“The contradictions and weaknesses evident in the way multiculturalism has been taught in schools are manifold. Tolerance, the rule of law and a commitment to the common good are the very values needed if people are to live peacefully together. Cultural relativism and an uncritical acceptance of diversity denies such values…. Nobody should condone the violence in Cronulla perpetrated by those wearing the Australian flag or the actions of young Lebanese Muslims abusing women, destroying property and burning churches. But we also need to recognise that the PC approach to teaching multiculturalism in schools in part underpins the recent violence.”

Kevin Donnelly in The Australian, 19 December 2005

Muslims to blame for Australian riots (cont.)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“As in France, Australia’s Muslims have inflicted on their hosts harm that exceeds by far the scratches and other scurrilities they suffered from the surfers…. Decades of indoctrination by the ‘managerial professional elites’ were supposed to emasculate the surfer dudes for good. They were expected to toke it up or turn the other cheek. Instead, they fought back against what they perceive as a threat to their land and life. A threat that commenced approximately 40 years ago, when Australian central planners decided in favor of mass importation of immigrants from the Third World.”

Ilana Mercer in Front Page Magazine, 19 December 2005

White supremacists arrested with petrol bombs

Posted on by Bob Pitt

CronullaFive white supremacists have been arrested carrying material to build petrol bombs, enabling police to claim they were vindicated after locking down more than 200km of beaches to prevent a repeat of Sydney’s ugly race riots.

The men, dressed in camouflage gear, were caught yesterday in the southern suburb of Brighton-le-Sands carrying equipment to make Molotov cocktails including 25l jerry cans filled with petrol, as well as commando-style utility belts and Kevlar helmets.

The lockdown occurred on a perfect summer weekend when many Sydneysiders were winding down ahead of Christmas and forced Premier Morris Iemma to deny the gangs had won the battle. Police officers also found car stickers promoting the white supremacist movement in the men’s car.

The Australian, 19 December 2005

Meanwhile, in today’s Observer, Australian novelist Gabrielle Carey explains: “The war is essentially between one group of macho men and another. The hatred and bigotry shown by the blond Cronulla boys is equalled by that demonstrated by their enemies, ‘the Lebs’.”

UK Muslims held at US customs, forced to miss conference

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim leaders who gathered Saturday to discuss their role in combating extremism within the Islamic community complained that two scheduled speakers missed the event after being detained at Los Angeles International Airport.

“People are upset,” said Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, which organized the conference. “On one hand the U.S. government is asking us to do more, but on the other they are preventing us from doing our work.”

British citizens Mockbul Ali and Waqqas Khan had arrived on a flight from London at 4 p.m. but only cleared customs after 8 p.m., said Erin Robertson, a spokeswoman for the British Consulate-General in Los Angeles. Robertson said the reason for the delay was not clear.

Associated Press, 18 December 2005

That would be Mockbul Ali, the foreign office’s adviser on Muslim affairs, and Wakkas Khan of FOSIS. Unbelievable. (Mind you, after the experiences of Tariq Ramadan, Yusuf Islam and Zaki Badawi, perhaps they should be thankful they were allowed in at all.)

Australians march against racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Aussies Against RacismThousands of Australians in Sydney and Newcastle rallied on Sunday, December 18, against racism after a week of violence against Arabs and Muslims.

About 2,000 people have marched through the streets of Sydney’s central business district calling for racial harmony and understanding, Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported.

Unite Against Racism Rally organiser and National Union of Students (NUS) anti-racism officer, Osmond Chiu, said today was about uniting in opposition to a racist Australia. “The riots have drawn attention to the racism in this country,” Chiu told the paper. “I am shocked and appalled by what’s been happening, I never fathomed anything of this scale, that such violent racist clashes, could happen here.”

Chiu condemned some media and political leaders who he said may have fuelled the riots. He was particularly critical of Macquarie Radio for “spreading word about the wave of text messages this week that urged further race-based attacks.”

The rampage began when more than 5,000 people gathered at Sydney’s Cronulla beach last Sunday, December 11, after e-mail and mobile phone messages called on local residents to beat-up “Lebs and wogs” – racial slurs for people of Lebanese and Middle Eastern origin. They moved after Lebanese youths had beaten a beach guard for reportedly snatching the hijab of a beachgoer.

Chiu also called on Prime Minister John Howard to admit the existence of racism in Australia. “John Howard, the leader of our country, has denied that racism played a part in the week’s violence,” he said. “He needs to admit that racism played a big part in what happened.”

Islam Online, 18 December 2005 

See also “Rally cry: ‘We are all Australians'”, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 December 2005