Enoch Powell was right says Simon Heffer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“There is one particularly disturbing question about the London bombings: how could four young British subjects, who had spent their lives in our free and democratic country, murder their fellow Britons so callously? The answer lies in the British state’s policy of multiculturalism….

“In 1968, Enoch Powell was vilified for predicting what the Press misquoted as ‘rivers of blood’ if we did not protect and advance the culture and traditions of our country. He has been proved right. It is now up to our political leaders to make multiculturalism a dirty word, and overturn the victory of the ‘enemy within’.”

Simon Heffer in the Daily Mail, 16 July 2005

US turns away British Muslim leader

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Zaki BadawiOne of Britain’s most senior Muslim leaders said Thursday that he was denied entry to the United States without explanation, nearly a week after the deadly subway and bus attacks in London. Dr. Zaki Badawi, head of the Muslim College, told The Associated Press he was denied entry when he arrived in New York on Wednesday. No explanation was given, he said. He had been invited to speak at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, where he planned to give a talk under the title “The Law and Religion in Society.”

USA Today, 14 July 2005

See also BBC News, 15 July 2005

Met appeals to London Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ianblairMet Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair spoke today at the Minhaj-ul-Quran Mosque in East London.

The attacks were not anything to do with Islam, he said, but were done in the name of Islam “and that puts the responsibility on all of us.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a fundamentalist Muslim, Jew or Christian, the key issue is the slide into extremism,” he said.

He compared the “perversion of the virtues of Islam” behind the London “atrocities” to anti-abortionists in America who shoot doctors.

“For you I know this is the worst nightmare that can happen to the British Muslim community,” he said.

BBC News, 15 July 2005

Boris Johnson calls for the ‘re-Britannification of Britain’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Boris Johnson blames the London bombings on the development of a multicultural society “in which too many Britons have absolutely no sense of allegiance to this country or its institutions. It is a cultural calamity that will take decades to reverse, and we must begin now with what I call the re-Britannification of Britain.

“That means insisting … on certain values that we identify as British. If that means the end of spouting hate in mosques, and treating women as second-class citizens, then so be it. We need to acculturate the second-generation Muslim communities to our way of life, and end the obvious alienation that they feel.

“That means the imams will have to change their tune, and it is no use the Muslim Council of Great Britain endlessly saying that ‘the problem is not Islam’, when it is blindingly obvious that in far too many mosques you can find sermons of hate, and literature glorifying 9/11 and vilifying Jews. We have reached a turning-point in the relations between the Muslim community and the rest of us, and it is time for the moderates to show real leadership.”

Daily Telegraph, 15 July 2005

‘Multiculturalism: dishonest and deadly’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The news that the London terrorist attacks were carried out by second-generation Muslim immigrants should not surprise us. For years now we in the West have indulged a whole set of destructive ideas whose bitter fruit we will all continue to harvest, as more and more unassimilated and disaffected immigrant children turn against the countries that welcomed their parents and provided them with a prosperity and freedom unknown in their countries of origin. This baneful idea goes by the name of multiculturalism.”

Bruce Thornton on what has become a major theme among right-wing commentators post-7/7.

Private Papers, 14 July 2005

Foreign Office backs Tariq Ramadan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

tariq-ramadan2The Guardian reports:

“There has been media pressure to block the entry of the Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan, who has been banned by America. But the Home Office is unlikely to act in his case, as he is a best-selling author who promotes a progressive Islam and has condemned the London attacks. He has been described by the Foreign Office as ‘the leading Muslim leader/speaker in Europe’.”

Guardian, 15 July 2005

It’s paranoia, not Islamophobia (according to David Goodhart)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Iqbal Sacranie is a capable leader who has helped to turn the Muslim Council of Britain into an effective lobbying body, but his organisation’s default position remains grievance.

“Here he is in the introduction to a recent booklet for British Muslims: ‘The unleashing of a virulent strain of Islamophobia, inflammatory media reporting and the misconceived wars against Afghanistan and Iraq have all contributed to the undoubted increase in prejudice we face.’

“There will, regrettably, be some backlash after the London bombs. But to glorify this with the term Islamophobia is silly…. An undifferentiated rhetoric of grievance contributes to alienation, lack of integration and even indirectly to extremism.

“… the terrorist threat that Britain faces comes overwhelmingly from British or foreign Muslims…. So it follows that most terror-related investigations will focus on Muslim communities. This isn’t picking on Muslims; it is simply a fact of life.”

David Goodhart instructs British Muslims to stop their whingeing.

Guardian, 15 July 2005

Law to ban religious extremists will be tightened

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Islamic extremists denied entry to the United States would be banned automatically from Britain under anti-terror measures outlined by the Cabinet yesterday. Charles Clarke plans to prevent Muslim figures such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Tariq Ramadan entering the United Kingdom if they have been barred from the US or European Union.”

Times, 15 July 2005

See also the Daily Telegraph, 15 July 2005