“Tariq Ramadan, the world-famous ‘moderate’ Muslim scholar who is not allowed into the United States, will be speaking in Canada at an event that will also feature an Amnesty International dhimmi.” Robert Spencer is appalled.
Interview with James Yee
Former US Army Chaplain James Yee speaks about the abuse of prisoners at Guantánamo, his own wrongful imprisonment and anti-Muslim sentiment in the military.
Guardian to interview Qaradawi?
Reports that Madeleine Bunting may be interviewing Yusuf al-Qaradawi for the Guardian have not pleased some people. See Harry’s Place, 6 October 2005
You can understand why David T and the mellifluously-named “Drink-soaked Trotskyite Popinjays for War” might have a problem with this. They fear that Madeleine Bunting may present the same favourable view of Dr al-Qaradawi that is held by John Esposito, Karen Armstrong, Noah Feldman, Marc Lynch, Hugh Miles, Mockbul Ali of the FCO – and, indeed, by anyone of reasonably progressive views who actually knows something about the subject. On this issue, David T et al prefer the company of frothing-at-the-mouth right-wingers like Daniel Pipes and Robert Spencer.
Islamophobia Watch cruel to Panorama
Yes, it’s true – we were really, really horrible to poor John Ware, the reporter who headed the Panorama witch-hunt of the Muslim Council of Britain (see here). Still, Ware has his admirers. Anthony “The Muslims are coming” Browne is a supporter, and so is Brett Lock of Outrage.
And Lock also finds himself in a bloc with Mad Mel. See Melanie Phillips’s Diary, 3 October 2005
Alliances with Islamophobic right-wingers are par for the course with Mr Lock. See, for example, here.
Islam is the problem – Mark Steyn
“I found myself behind a car in Vermont, in the US, the other day; it had a one-word bumper sticker with the injunction ‘COEXIST’. It’s one of those sentiments beloved of Western progressives, one designed principally to flatter their sense of moral superiority. The C was the Islamic crescent, the O was the hippie peace sign, the X was the Star of David and the T was the Christian cross. Very nice, hard to argue with. But the reality is, it’s the first of those symbols that has a problem with coexistence. Take the crescent out of the equation and you wouldn’t need a bumper sticker at all.
“Indeed, coexistence is what the Islamists are at war with; or, if you prefer, pluralism, the idea that different groups can rub along together within the same general neighbourhood. There are many trouble spots across the world but, as a general rule, even if one gives no more than a cursory glance at the foreign pages, it’s easy to guess at least one of the sides: Muslims v Jews in Palestine, Muslims v Hindus in Kashmir, Muslims v Christians in Nigeria, Muslims v Buddhists in southern Thailand, Muslims v (your team here). Whatever one’s views of the merits on a case by case basis, the ubiquitousness of one team is a fact.”
Mark Steyn in The Australian, 4 October 2005
The world’s top 100 intellectuals
Prospect magazine publishes its list of the world’s top 100 intellectuals. Among others, it includes Tariq Ramadan and Yusuf al-Qaradawi. You even get to vote.
Torygraph attacks Muslim cultural takeover of Britain
“They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace/ Her Majesty’s Law is replaced by Allah’s.” Mark Steyn takes issue with “the United Kingdom’s descent into dhimmitude”, which stems from “the progressive liberal’s urge to self-abase and Western Muslims’ ever greater boldness in flexing their political muscle”.
Posted in Analysis & comment, Right wing, UK
BLINK today launches a campaign to free Farouq Kamara from behind bars where he is languishing after defending his family from attack. Devout Muslim Mr Kamara blames police for failing to protect his family during six years of racist and Islamophobic abuse. They were forced to flee the Hampshire village of Stubbington. Mr Kamara, 45, was jailed for five years after admitting carrying a loaded gun. The IT specialist, who did not produce the gun or threaten to shoot anyone, said he intended to kill himself in front of his persecutors. The case contrasts starkly with Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, who became a right-wing cause célèbre after shooting dead 16-year-old gypsy burglar Fred Barras at close range. Unlike Mr Martin, who was released in August 2003 after serving three years behind bars, Mr Kamara has never touched his persecutors. Robert Spencer is less than enthusiastic about the possibility of Turkey’s entry into the EU: “there is still some hope that Turkey will be rejected, and Europe saved. But that hope is slim”. He adds: “In a speech last month, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Turkish membership would ‘demonstrate that Western and Islamic cultures can thrive together as partners in the modern world’. Partners? Will the Islamic culture allow for that? What evidence does Jack Straw have that Islam has set aside or will set aside its supremacist imperative? None whatsoever, of course.” “The bombings in London have finally put the multicultural ideal under closer scrutiny…. At its deepest level, multiculturalism represents a denial of all Western claims to truth. The purpose of multiculturalism is to extirpate the truly free cultures by asserting that they are equivalent to primitive, Islamic cultures…. If all cultures and religions are equally worthy of respect, why didn’t the West remain in the age when we burned witches and held slaves? We progressed and left Islam behind because we possessed the ability to criticize ourselves and move on. The only cultures worthy of respect are those who can withstand scrutiny. If yours is too weak to survive this treatment, then you do not belong in a Western society.” Wolfgang Bruno’s blog, 3 October 2005 Note the approving nod to Kenan Malik.Set Farouq Kamara free
EU opens talks on membership for Turkey – Robert Spencer not happy
‘Multiculturalism – tribalism recycled’