Muslims ‘facing most faith bias’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims in the UK are more likely to face discrimination based on religion rather than race, a study says. The report, by the Open Society Institute (OSI), says Islamophobia is adding to the problems of the UK’s most disadvantaged faith group.

Since 2002 increasing Islamophobia had added to the long-established problems of the group in areas such as education, employment and housing, researchers found. Eighty percent of UK Muslims have reported being victims of Islamophobia since September 11 and more than a third complain of being singled out by authorities while using UK airports. Young Muslim women were the most likely to report discrimination in the aftermath of September 11 and believed this was related to their decision to wear traditional dress.

“In the post-September 11 environment, religion is more important than ethnicity in indicating which groups are more likely to experience racism and discrimination,” the report concluded.

BBC News, 22 November 2005

Britain must ‘combat Islamophobia’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The UK government must combat Islamophobia and pursue a more Muslim-friendly foreign policy if British Muslims are to fully integrate into society, a new report says.

Released on Thursday by the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), the report states that most British Muslims suffer from negative media coverage, lack of legal protection from discrimination, and a lack of respect by government and society at large.

The study, which is based on the feedback of more than 1000 British Muslims, also challenges the widely held assumption that the loyalty of British Muslims to the state is open to question.

Over the past few years certain sections of the British media and some British politicians have blamed Muslims for their alleged lack of affiliation to the UK, and charged them with ingratitude to the government and wider society.

However, the IHRC survey found that most British Muslims see no contradiction between Islam and good citizenship, and argue they are loyal to the state because of their religion.

Aljazeera, 18 November 2004

On Theo Van Gogh’s assassination

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“I must admit when I heard the news I did not know Theo van Gogh and had not read anything by him. I read and found out that he had criticised Islam and made a film, which exposed Islam’s misogyny.”

Ajar Majedi of the Worker Communist Party of Iran backtracks from her expression of solidarity with the late Dutch racist Theo van Gogh.

WPI TV broadcast, 7 November 2004

So, to be fair, Ajar Majedi didn’t consciously endorse Van Gogh’s racist views – she just heard he was against Islam, and that was good enough for her.

Who’s afraid of Tariq Ramadan?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The U.S. government is so convinced that Tariq Ramadan is dangerous, it revoked the Muslim scholar’s visa to teach at the University of Notre Dame. Some in Europe think Ramadan is an anti-Semite who preaches moderation out of one side of his mouth and hate out of the other. Others, though, think he’s the man to reconcile Islam with modernity. So, who is right?”

Interview with Tariq Ramadan in Foreign Policy, November-December 2004

Pro-US Arabs petition the UN to establish an international tribunal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“On October 24, 2004, the liberal Arab websites www.elaph.com and www.metransparent.com published a manifesto written by Arab liberals, in which they petition the UN to establish an international tribunal which would prosecute terrorists, as well as people and institutions, primarily religious clerics, that incite terrorism.

“The idea to petition the U.N. with this request was raised by the Jordanian writer and researcher Dr. Shaker Al-Nabulsi in early September 2004, in response to the fatwa issued by Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi – one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and one of the most important religious authorities in Islamist circles – which called for the abduction and killing of US citizens in Iraq. The idea was developed and written up by Al-Nabulsi, Tunisian intellectual Al-‘Afif Al-Akhdhar, and former Iraqi Minister of Planning Dr. Jawad Hashem.”

MEMRI reports the launch of a widely publicised petition against the “sheikhs of terror”. The report omits to mention that the accusation against Qaradawi which prompted the petition – that he “called for the abduction and killing of US citizens in Iraq” – was in fact entirely false.

For Abu Aardvark’s demolition of the charge against Dr al-Qaradawi, see here.

For MEMRI’s Special Dispatch No.812, “Arab Liberals Petition the UN to Establish an International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Terrorists”, see here.

Europe confronts racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“‘War is deceit’, said Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, and deception remains a potent and little-recognized weapon in the hands of international jihadists. Radical Muslims today charge ‘racism’ against anyone who dares to point out their motives and goals…. The problem is not racism, but precisely a clash of civilizations, or a clash between two radically opposing views of how society should be ordered.”

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch in Front Page Magazine, 11 November 2004

Peter Tatchell on dialogue with Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The rise of Islamophobia post-9/11, and the need for a united response to the Bush government’s “war on terror”, have increased the importance of the labour movement engaging in dialogue with Muslim communities and co-operating on those issues where there is common ground.

There are, unfortunately, various pseudo-leftists who reject such dialogue and co-operation. The gay rights organisations Outrage!, whose most prominent figure is Peter Tatchell, are a particularly virulent example of this trend. They of course deny accusations of Islamophobia and try to cover themselves by arguing that they are in favour of dialogue and co-operation with progressive, liberal Muslim groups. But they define these terms so as to exclude the overwhelming majority of Muslims in this country, and indeed internationally.

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