Writing at The Third Estate, Reuben R draws our attention to the fact that David Starkey, under fire over his disgraceful racist contribution to a Newsnight debate on the riots last week, is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.
Reuben asks whether the NSS will now sever its links with Starkey. Unlikely, I would say, given the past record of the organisation.
A national day of protest demanding the burqa be banned has raised fears it could provoke Cronulla riot-style hysteria. Almost 14,000 people have signed up for Monday’s “Ban the Burqa Day”, which urges protesters to wear a balaclava or mask. But Islamic leaders labelled the event racist.
Organiser Kye Keating, 20, instigated the protest with two friends via Facebook after Sydney woman Carnita Matthews used her burqa to quash a jail sentence for deliberately making a false statement to police. “This event is not aimed at race, it is not aimed at religion,” Mr Keating said. “It is just aimed at concealing your identity in a public place. If everyone is not allowed to do it, no one should be allowed to do it.”
But many have said they are disappointed with Mr Keating’s apparent lack of knowledge on the topic after he appeared on Nine’s TODAY this morning. “I’m not the most educated on this subject, I just had an idea,” Mr Keating said on Nine.
Viewer Natasha Kastermans said: “It was great that this got heard on the TODAY show, but seriously you knew you were going to go on there and you had nothing constructive to say about it… FAIL.”
David Thatcher said the “Ban the Burqa Day” was absurd and irrational. “The vast majority of Muslims, and groups that represent Muslims, support the police in verifying the identity of women who wear burkas,” he said.
The furore comes after the Baillieu Government revealed this month it would investigate if there was a need in Victoria for laws, being adopted in other states, that empower police to force Muslim women wearing a full veil to reveal their faces.
Islamic Council of Victoria director Nazeem Hussain said that fewer than 3000 Muslim women who wore burqas in Australia had no problem taking the garment off for police, who have power to demand identification. “This kind of mass demonstration, this mass show of intolerance is just that,” Mr Hussain said. “I would say it’s hysteria reminiscent of Cronulla.”
Muslim community spokesman Keysar Trad said women chose to wear the burqa for religious observance, not to hide their identity. “All I see beneath that call is bigotry and intolerance,” Mr Trad said.
Liberal backbencher Bernie Finn, who supports banning the burqa in some places for security reasons, said people were entitled to express concerns about the garment.
The family of a terror suspect has launched a fresh petition urging the government to finally give him his day in court.
This month marks seven years since Babar Ahmad, from Fountain Road, Tooting, was imprisoned without trial following an extradition request from the United States.
To mark the unhappy milestone, his family has set up an e-petition calling on the official government website urging them to put him on trial in the UK. They are aiming to get 100,000 signatures to force a parliamentary debate about the case.
Mr Ahmad’s father, Ashfaw Ahmad, said: “This anniversary brings back dreadful memories of that day seven years ago when I received a call from the police telling me that my son had been arrested. Babar – it’s been 7 years but we will not let you be forgotten.”
Babar Ahmad remains in a maximum security prison in Worcestershire where he has become the longest-serving British terror detainee without a formal charge.
An IT technician at Imperial College, London, he was believed to be the leader of a small UK based group providing “logistical support, financial assistance, recruits and computer expertise” for overseas Jihadi groups when he was arrested.
He was later released without charge but was placed back in custody in August, 2004, awaiting extradition to the United States on terror charges. His final appeal against extradition is currently with the European Court of Human Rights, with a judgement expected later this year.
Wandsworth Guardian, 13 August 2011
Sign the petition here
A major charity that tackles racism in schools has been forced to expand its work to combat the growing influence of the English Defence League (EDL), its chief executive has warned.
The EDL, which has organised a series of protests which have turned violent, has become a “significant street force”, according to Ged Grebby from Show Racism the Red Card.
“The rise of Islamophobia combined with organisations like the EDL show we have a real problem in society,” Mr Grebby said. “There’s no doubt some young white people do feel disenfranchised. The EDL has given us a kick up the backside. It has been a focus for young people in particular.”
Show Racism the Red Card, which delivers workshops to schools to tackle racist attitudes, has made a series of films to tackle anti-Muslim sentiments. It now also speaks to children about homophobia and prejudice against asylum-seekers.
The expansion of its work follows a report released by the charity last month, which found that racism is still a “very real issue” in English schools. More than eight out of 10 teachers questioned said they had witnessed racist jokes, name-calling and stereotyping by pupils; 31 per cent said they had witnessed racist attitudes among fellow teachers.
Mr Grebby said teachers needed better training to combat racism, especially anti-Muslim abuse. “On traditional racism teachers are quite confident,” he said. “But when it comes to Islamophobia they are terrified. They worry if it’s an issue they don’t know a lot about, it could make things worse if they tackle it.”
Kevin Carroll addresses the rather thin ranks of the UK’s ‘biggest street movement’
The EDL protest in Telford yesterday passed off relatively peacefully. During the rally itself there were only around half a dozen arrests for offences including possession of offensive weapons, and later three people were arrested for assaulting police officers. Police estimates put the attendance at 300-350 but other accounts suggest that the real figure was much lower.
A state lawmaker wants Michigan to join the trend of states banning “foreign laws”, but Muslim activists say the effort is a thinly veiled attack on Islam.
Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, is pushing a bill to bar the implementation of foreign laws. It doesn’t mention Sharia – Islamic law – but he acknowledged it would be prohibited in courts under the legislation intended to prevent anyone “who tries to shove any foreign law down our throats”.
“No foreign law shall supersede federal laws or constitution or state laws or constitution,” Agema said. “Our law is our law. I don’t like foreign entities telling us what to do.” Agema said his bill would protect the “vast majority” of Muslims, whom he contended “come to this country to get away from Sharia”.
The legislation comes at a time of heightened debate about Sharia, a set of religious rules governing personal conduct, family relationships and religious practice for Muslims. Critics fear Sharia could supersede civil law and have an impact on divorce and child custody cases, and similar legislation has been introduced in 25 states.
Some say the bills are unnecessary and pander to anti-Muslim paranoia. “Agema … is a reflection of a segment of the GOP that is openly xenophobic and Islamophobic,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan chapter.
State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, plans to speak out about the bill during a press conference Tuesday in Midtown. Victor Begg, a prominent Republican and co-founder of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan, called the bill “appalling”. “Some in our party find it politically opportune to target my faith by sponsoring an innocuous sounding bill, knowing well that their intent is so-called ‘creeping Sharia,'” Begg said.
Agema called the criticism “hogwash”. “If anybody has a problem with this that means they don’t agree with U.S. laws,” he said. “If they don’t want it passed then they have an ulterior agenda.”
In a special election to take place just two days after the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the GOP candidate running to fill former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s seat attacked his Democratic opponent for supporting the “Ground Zero mosque” last year.
Republican businessman Bob Turner released a TV ad Thursday, juxtaposing video of the burning World Trade Center with images of President Barack Obama. Turner blasted his opponent, Democrat David Weprin, for siding with the president on the issue.
“It’s been ten short years. Everyone remembers,” the ad says, with dreary music playing over images of smoke billowing from the World Trade Center. “Some, though, want to commemorate the tragedy by building a mosque on Ground Zero.”
The ad then says the president “thinks it’s a good idea,” as a photo of a smiling Obama appears next to a photo of a mosque, as well as video of the Twin Towers on 9/11. “And so does Congressional candidate David Weprin,” the ad says.
The ad then plays a soundbite of Weprin saying in a 2010 debate that he supported those who wanted to build the Cordoba House, an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero. Protests over the project spilled over into a national controversy last summer. “But Bob Turner says ‘no’,” the ad says. “He knows Weprin and Obama are wrong.”
Needless to say, Bob Turner enjoys the enthusiastic backing of mad Pamela Geller:
“Turner is going to need our help. And I like what he is saying. Gutsy! … Bob Turner opposes the Ground Zero mosquestrosity. It takes courage to take this stand publicly, although the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose this cultural obscenity…. We must support candidates who have the poltical [sic] will to stand up for America and against the leftist/Islamic machine.”
The Home Secretary Theresa May has this morning banned tomorrow’s planned marches in Wellington in a move that has been welcomed by Telford & Wrekin Council.
The Council had written to the Home Secretary Theresa May requesting the EDL march be banned following a recommendation by West Mercia Police. This request was made under Section 13 of the Public Order Act 1986.
The decision means that all marches including a planned counter Unity march will be banned from taking place in Telford and Wrekin. It is however expected that the English Defence League will still carry out a static demonstration in Wellington tomorrow, which West Mercia Police has decided will take place in Church Street.
Councillor Shaun Davies, cabinet member for Community Cohesion, said: “We welcome the fact that the Home Secretary has approved our request for the marches to be banned. However, there will still be a significant multi-agency operation in Wellington tomorrow in anticipation of a static protest. Telford & Wrekin Council and West Mercia Police have worked very closely over the past few weeks to develop a comprehensive plan for before, during and after the event.
“People can be reassured that both organisations have the resources available and the experience to deal with any incidents on the day. We have also worked very closely with local residents and the business community in Wellington and we would like to thank them for their support. Telford & Wrekin Council has always said that it does not want this to take place in the borough.”
Chief Inspector Keith Gee of West Mercia Police said: “Even though the Home Secretary has given her consent it does not prevent any static assemblies taking place, which are still lawful provided they remain peaceful, and we have no legal powers to prevent them. We shall do everything possible to ensure that any assembly on Saturday remains peaceful and poses the least amount of disruption possible for those not involved in the assembly.”
Shropshire Live, 12 August 2011
See also Independent, 12 August 2011
The usual objection from anti-fascists to bans on EDL marches is that the police escort them from their assembly point to the place where they are holding their static protest, so the EDL get to have a march anyway. I admit to unfamiliarity with the topography of Telford, and have had to resort to google maps, but it appears that the EDL coaches will park in Ten Tree Croft car park and then the demonstrators will cross over into Church Street where they will hold their rally (in the park, presumably). If so, it won’t be much of a march. And they will be kept north of the railway line, outside the town centre.
There is a lively debate taking place in the UK media between left and right wing commentators as to the causes of the English riots, in which hundreds of shops and businesses have been looted. However, both sides agree that the looting has been inexcusable. I hope both sides will also agree with me that Muslims have played an important role in helping to tackle the looting and preserve public safety. This would be an especially important acknowledgment if it came from those Islamophobic commentators who consistently denigrate Muslims.
“When accused of terrorism we are Muslims, when killed by looters, we become Asian”, a Muslim student explained to me. He was commenting on the media reporting of the death of three young Muslims in Birmingham on Tuesday night. Like many other Muslims, they were bravely defending shops and communities as rioters went on a violent rampage of looting.
In recent days Muslim Londoners, Muslims from Birmingham, and Muslims in towns and cities around England have been at the forefront of protecting small businesses and vulnerable communities from looting. Having worked closely with Muslim Londoners, first as a police officer and more recently as a researcher, for the last ten years this commendable bravery comes as no surprise to me. But their example of outstanding civic duty in support of neighbours is worth highlighting – especially when sections of the UK media are so quick to print negative headlines about Muslims on the flimsiest of pretexts.
Bob Lambert writes at Al Jazeera, 12 August 2011
Matt Duss doesn’t buy it.