Islam, sex and the western left

Posted on by Eddie Truman

An excellent article by Kola Odetola on why Muslim women, in particular working class women, are turning towards organisations that would be classified as fundamentalist in the West; Hamas, Hizbollah etc.

“Curiously missing from the western left’s narrative in the issue of women’s rights in the poor world has been the calamity wreaked upon it by neo liberalism over the last 20 years. While there’s a lot of talk of the poverty created by the colonisation of the third world by the IMF and World Bank, it’s rarely linked to the rise of Islamic consciousness in these parts of the world.

“The fact is the economic genocide perpetrated by the west on the poor world over the last two decades has generated industrial prostitution there on a scale probably unprecedented in the etire history of the human race. Faced with ruin, deafened with spurious western talk of women’s rights – from Africa to Asia, from Latin America, to ‘recently liberated’ Eastern Europe, most women from poor families can now only survive by selling their bodies to men, mostly wealthy most pro west males, in prostitution of one form or another of varying degrees of degradation. In the third world and parts of Eastern Europe, women are now the major bread winners, feeding their families, keeping a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs, by trading their bodies for the means of survival. Imperialism and its local acolytes have turned two thirds of the planet, the home of the overwhelming majority of the world’s females to one giant brothel, underneath the blazing neon lit legend, forever flashing – ‘Women’s rights’.”

‘Stealth’ Islamists recruit students

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“An Islamic organisation facing a ban under terrorism laws has launched a campaign to recruit university students using an anti-racist front organisation. An undercover Sunday Times investigation has established that the party, Hizb ut-Tahrir, has been recruiting under the name Stop Islamophobia at University College London (UCL), the School of African and Oriental Studies, Luton University and other institutions.”

Another episode in the anti-Hizb witch-hunt, in this case inspired by the ridiculous and discredited Glees report.

Sunday Times, 16 October 2005

For Hizb reply, see here.

Dutch virtue of tolerance under strain from ‘immigrant tide’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Immigration, particularly of Muslims, has long been an issue in Europe, a challenge to overburdened welfare systems and to the self-image of countries where every village hoists a church spire to the sky. But what was once a subject of debate is now more a matter of survival. Difficulty, for many in the Netherlands, has become danger…. The murders, in 2002 and 2004 respectively, of the taboo-trampling politician Pym Fortuyn and the Islam-bashing movie director Theo van Gogh have left the Dutch bereft of certainties. They are not alone in their questioning. Islam is now of Europe, a European religion. But Europe, after terrorist killings in Madrid and Amsterdam and London, sees more threat than promise in the immigrant tide from its Muslim fringes.”

Roger Cohen in the International Herald Tribune, 16 October 2005

Cohen interviews right-wing Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali who explains that “immigrants from rural areas, most of them, are at a certain phase of civilization that is far behind that of the host countries, like the Netherlands, and because of that, these terrible events can occur”. She goes on: “All of Europe is in a state of denial. It thinks these killings will go away, but they will not. The Holy Book says infidels must be destroyed.”

Holland fears killings over ‘ban on burqa’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rita VerdonkYes, seriously, that’s the headline to a report in the Sunday Times. Matthew Campbell writes: “Holland’s Muslims have responded with outrage to government proposals to ban the burqa [in fact, any form of Islamic veil covering the face], and there are fears that Rita Verdonk, the minister behind the move, will be added to a list of ‘enemies of Islam’ targeted for assassination.”

Campbell adds: “For a country that has legalised gay marriage, prostitution, euthanasia and cannabis, Holland seems in no mood for compromise when it comes to applying tough laws on immigration.” This argument, notoriously promoted by Pim Fortuyn, that it is necessary to crack down on Muslim migrants in order to defend “our” progressive values, is becoming increasingly common. Even the BNP use it on occasion.

Double standards on free speech

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“In times of war on terror, the risk is that free speech will be the first casualty. The tension between free speech and the safety of the population is a genuine one. Charles Clarke, the home secretary, has just modified part of the Terrorism Bill which dealt with ‘glorifying’ terrorism. Imams and others will now be prosecuted only if their remarks are seen as as inducements to further terrorist acts. Most people will have little problem with such a law. The fact that certain people, mainly radical Muslims, have abused our tolerance to incite acts of terror has rightly provoked anger.

“Where there is a problem, however, is with another government assault on free speech that has no direct connection with terrorism – the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. If it becomes law, anybody who publishes or says anything ‘likely to be heard or seen by any person in whom it is likely to stir up racial or religious hatred’ will be committing an offence that could make them liable to a seven-year prison term.

“This bill has so far attracted most attention because of the efforts of comedians such as Rowan Atkinson. They have argued that it would prevent them poking even gentle fun at any religion. It also featured during the election campaign when Mr Clarke – billing himself as ‘Labour’s home secretary’ – wrote to every mosque in the country highlighting Conservative and Liberal Democrat opposition to the proposals. There was a clear implication that the government was trying to secure the Muslim vote.”

Editorial in the Sunday Times, 16 October 2005

Short version: laws that penalise Muslims, good; laws that protect Muslims, bad.

Bush’s Islamophobic fantasy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Most American must realize by now that President Bush will claim almost anything to justify the constantly escalating tragedy of his Iraq policy. So atop his long refusal to drop the implied linkage of Saddam Hussein to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush’s vision of an attempt to create a ‘radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia’ is not surprising…. The frightful terms with which Bush warns of rampant Islamism recall the ‘yellow peril’ that once obsessed U.S. opponents of immigration from Asia, and the tales of Mohammedan conquest that fueled the Crusades…. The Osama bin Ladens have not managed to take over a tiny Persian Gulf fiefdom much less an actual country in their regions of maximum strength…. The Islamic ’empire’ promises to be a storybook affair for many decades after Bush has left the White House.”

Editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle, reproduced by Muslim News, 14 October 2005

Muslims are the real threat, claims Nazi

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Nazi argues that the traditional fascist emphasis on resisting the supposed Jewish control of government and society is now outmoded:

“… the world is facing a bigger threat. Right now our whole way of life is under a threat of the magnitude that no Jew has ever presented us: Sharia Law. Little by little, piece by piece Blair is facilitating the Muslim take over of our society. Burger King remove icecreams because a squiggle on the packaging looks like ‘Allah’. A council removes pictures of pigs during Ramadan. They are pushing and pushing – seeing what they can get away with. If they are refused it’s ‘Islamophobia’. How long before all pork is banned because of ‘Islamophobia’. How long before we are told what to wear, what to drink, what to say?

“At the moment our society is the best on the world (even if it is run by some secret group of Jews!!) Compare our way of life to the real enemy: People who’ll flog your feet for listening to music or being clean shaven. People who’ll behead you for drinking a lager…. Groups like Hisb ut Tarir want an Islamic world, with white people as subservients – paying tax to their caliph king. Despite the noise made by Blair, they are still all around us and still getting stronger.

“Obesssion with ZOG [Zionist Occupation/Occupied Government] is a distraction. Fuck it – forget about the Jews. Focus on the real enemy. Defending the Jews isn’t something I make a habit of, but at least they are more or less like us…. The Jews don’t eat pork, but they don’t shove their religion down our throats, but there are people out there who will – if we lose sight of who the real enemies are.”

Combat 18 Blood & Honour discussion forum, 13 October 2005

Joan Smith defends modernity against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Joan Smith“I haven’t opposed religious reactionaries all my life to suddenly go soft on people who argue that calling for a ban on ‘adulteresses’ being stoned to death is a bit too radical for Islam at the moment (yes, I do mean Tariq Ramadan).” Joan Smith takes up the refrain we hear endlessly from Nick Cohen, Harry’s Place et al that the Left have abandoned their principles by allying with Muslims in opposition to US imperialism. “It’s time they took an honest look at where they may be heading and I don’t just mean the restoration of the Caliphate.”

Tribune, 14 October 2005

Personally, I think the Islamophobic self-styled defenders of secularism and rationalism should take an honest look at where they are heading – and I do mean (cf. Gay and Lesbian Humanist) into a de facto racist bloc with the likes of the BNP.