Tunbridge Wells: English Democrats chairman exposed as Muslim-hating EDL supporter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Adrian Ratcliffe 3An ex-preacher and hospital chaplain from Tunbridge Wells is an associate of a “terrible” far-right anti-Islamic group, we can reveal.

On the “likes” listed on his Facebook page, local politician Adrian “Charlie” Ratcliffe has a link to an offensive joke about strapping pork on to oneself and running into a mosque. The page also contains a picture depicting the Koran in a highly offensive light.

Mr Ratcliffe’s views were condemned across the town this week, with West Kent Muslim Association president Nasir Jamil saying: “This is absolutely concerning for all Muslims in this area.”

But the 61-year-old, an English Defence League (EDL) activist, was unrepentant, and endorsed extremely insulting remarks made by others about the prophet Mohammed. He also made inflammatory comments that English girls needed to be on the lookout for gangs of Islamic rapists.

Mr Ratcliffe, also chairman of the Tunbridge Wells branch of the English Democrats party, said he would do “whatever necessary” to fight “militant” Islam – a term he used to describe “a very large number” of people following the faith in the UK. He denied he was a racist.

The retired trade union official from Greggswood Road was once an assistant chaplain at Pembury Hospital and a preacher at St Philip’s Church in Sherwood. Both organisations distanced themselves from him this week.

The EDL regularly stages protests about the building of new mosques – and Mr Ratcliffe was proud to have taken part in one in Dagenham, east London.

Mr Ratcliffe – the one-time chairman of Sherwood Community Action Group – and his fellow EDL members openly discuss their beliefs on their Facebook pages, pointing each other in the direction of anti-Islamic material.

An online quiz question posed by a Facebook friend of Mr Ratcliffe asked recipients what they thought of Muslims. The choices were: “They’re OK”, “I hate ’em” or “I can’t stand ’em, send them all back”. Mr Ratcliffe chose the last option.

After originally denying he had taken part in the quiz, he told theCourier his answer was referring to “extremists”. When pressed on having a link to the offensive website suggesting people should strap pork on to themselves and run into mosques, Mr Ratcliffe said he had found it “humorous” and would not advocate doing such a thing in real life.

And he claimed he was unaware the anti-Islamic picture was on his Facebook page at all – despite the fact it was displayed at the top, directly below his name.

This is Essex, 31 March 2011

See also This is Kent, 1 April 2011

Geert Wilders denounces Prophet as ‘insane, paedophile, rapist murderer’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL England Needs a GertGeert Wilders has stepped up his anti-Islam rhetoric by describing the Prophet Mohammed as an “insane, paedophile, rapist murderer” just two weeks before the opening of his trial on charges of inciting race hatred.

The leader of hard-Right Dutch Freedom Party will be prosecuted in an Amsterdam court on April 13 for previous comparisons of Islam to Nazism. On Thursday he fuelled the controversy surrounding his anti-Muslim politics and trial by publishing an article citing academics who accuse Islam’s founder of crimes ranging from child rape to murder.

“The historical Mohammad was the savage leader of a gang of robbers from Medina. Without scruples they looted, raped and murdered,” Mr Wilders claimed in the Dutch magazine HP/De Tijd.

Continue reading →

Debunking conservatives’ skewed interpretation of sharia law

Posted on by Bob Pitt

'Ground Zero mosque' opponents3

Over at the Center for American Progress Wajahat Ali and Matthew Duss have prepared a briefing on sharia law and how the issue has been misrepresented by the US Right – specifically in the September 2010 report Sharia: The Threat to America, published by the Center for Security Policy.

Download the briefing here.

See also Tim Murphy, “The great sharia freakout”, Mother Jones, 31 March 2011

And Greg Sargent, “Debunking the right’s crackpot sharia panic”, The Plum Line, 31 March 2011

Transport police hunt for EDL racists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The British Transport Police are hunting for a group of men who chanted racist slurs onboard a train on Saturday 5 March – the group are believed to have been travelling to Rochdale for the EDL demonstration which took place that day. The incident happened on the 11.08am Leeds to Manchester Victoria service, when a group of around 50 men boarded the service at Halifax.

Detective Constable Jason Ridgway, of BTP’s Criminal Investigation Department, said:

“The group’s behaviour included chanting racist and inappropriate remarks and aggressively punching and banging on the train’s interior, causing unnecessary fear for passengers and staff onboard the train. The behaviour of these men was outrageous and has no place on the railway – or in the wider community – especially at a time when families are travelling between cities.”

DC Ridgway added: “Racism and Islamophobia in our community and on the rail network is totally unacceptable. Everyone has the right to travel without fear of abuse or threatening behaviour, and when that behaviour is further exacerbated by racist undertones, our stance becomes firmer still. BTP and the wider rail industry will not tolerate any form of racism on the rail network and we will do everything in our power to take action against those responsible.”

If you have information contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 quoting background reference B12/NWA or call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Rochdale Online, 30 March 2011

Update:  See also Exposing the English Defence League, 31 March 2011

New York: 12-year-old charged with attack on Muslim schoolgirl

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Staten Island schoolkid has been charged with felony assault as a hate crime after he tried to rip the religious headscarf off a fellow female classmate, The Post has learned.

Osman Daramy, 12, allegedly attacked the victim today around noon inside the Dreyfus Intermediate School on Warren Street in Stapleton. He and a 13-year-old accomplice beat the girl up, punching and kicking her, before she fell to the ground, authorities said.

“Are you Muslim?” Daramy allegedly barked before grabbing at the hijab wrapped around the victim’s head. He was apparently unsuccessful in removing the covering.

Daramy, who has previously attacked the victim four times over a two-month period, was arrested, authorities added. He is also charged with aggravated harassment.

Cops were still seeking his alleged accomplice. Disciplinary against Daramy is pending, said a Department of Education spokeswoman.

New York Post, 30 March 2011

Update here.

In a characteristically thoughtful contribution, Pamela Geller claims that Osman Daramy has been “charged with blasphemy”, because “‘hate crime’ is enforcement of islamic law (sharia)”.

Mail resurrects ‘smell of bacon offends Muslims’ story

Posted on by Bob Pitt

You may remember the “Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan in case smell of frying bacon offends passing Muslims” story in the Daily Mail last October (as you can see from the url, that was the original headline – it was later amended).

The story concerned Stockport Council’s rejection of a retrospective planning application for the retention of an extraction vent to the front of a cafe. This decision was the result of a successful objection by one individual, a Mr Graham Webb-Lee, who lived next door to the cafe and was not himself a Muslim. He stated: “The vent is 12 inches from my front door. Every morning the smell of bacon comes through and makes me physically sick.”

The “Muslim” connection consisted in the fact that Webb-Lee added: “I have a lot of Muslim friends. They refuse to visit me anymore because they can’t stand the smell of bacon.” He also stated that he had “a daughter with an eating disorder” whose health was affected by the odours from the extractor fan and that they made his clothes smell. But the only one among this range of objections that the Mail highlighted was Webb-Lee’s reference to his Muslim visitors.

Richard Bartholomew took the story up at the time, as did Tabloid Watch, and three readers wrote to the Press Complaints Commission objecting to the Mail‘s inaccurate and irresponsible reporting. Predictably, the PCC ruled in favour of the Mail – a decision criticised by Tabloid Watch, Roy Greenslade and Sunny Hundal.

Greenslade quoted the bigoted comments that the Mail‘s misleading report had provoked on its website. Some examples:

“Well how about, you go back to your own country and we can eat our food in peace” … “Absolutely ludicrous! If Muslims are affected let them ‘pass by on the other side of the street!’ I’m fed up of hearing about the possibility of offending Muslims in this God forsaken country!”… “If the Muslims don’t like our way of life they know where the airport is. Sick of listening to whinging religious fruitcakes.” And so on.

Greenslade also reproduced a comment on the Mail‘s report by Mr Webb-Lee himself:

“This vent is affecting my children’s health and that is why the council denied planning! Yes, I have some Muslim friends who it offended, but nothing was said about my English friends who avoid my house within opening hours of the shop! Shame on you Daily Mail. You have stirred up lots of racial tension in my area now, so for you its ‘mission accomplished’.”

Today the Mail has returned for a second bite at the cherry with a story headlined “‘A victory for common sense’: Cafe owner wins extractor fan appeal after neighbour claimed ‘smell of bacon offends Muslims'”. It begins, with characteristic disregard for accuracy: “A cafe owner was yesterday celebrating victory after a six-month legal battle to fry bacon triggered by Muslim complaints.” (The original version read: “A cafe owner who was ordered to tear down an extractor fan because the smell of bacon offended Muslims was celebrating a ‘victory for commons [sic] sense’ today.”)

And, again, the Mail‘s misrepresentation of the facts has fuelled the predictable outburst of anti-Muslim bigotry. Exposing racism and intolerance online has provided a screengrab of some of the Facebook comments by supporters of the English Defence League.

EDL Daily Mail bacon offends Muslims

See also the Sun, which reports: “A café boss ordered to tear down an extractor fan as the smell of her frying bacon offended passing Muslims has won her appeal against the decision.”

And for a critical view of the press coverage, see “There’s a nasty smell about this story”, www.MethodistPreacher.com, 31 March 2011

Epsom man charged over Kingston Mosque attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man suspected of being part of a gang that threw beer at and urinated on a mosque during a march against Muslim extremism has today been charged by police.

Twenty-year-old David Morris, of Elm Way Epsom, was charged with affray and religiously aggravated criminal damage by Kingston Police following the protests on November 21 outside Kingston Mosque.

He will appear before Kingston Magistrates Court on April 7.

Kingston Guardian, 30 March 2011

Bryan Fischer dedicates yet another program to attacking Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last week, the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer declared that the First Amendment does not apply to Islam and therefore, Muslims have no right to freely practice their religion in this country.

A few days later, Fischer was in Iowa to broadcast his radio program from the Rediscover God in America conference where he lined up an all-star list of guests, including Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, and Haley Barbour.

As such, People For the American Way released open letters to Gingrich, Huckabee, and Barbour, asking them not to give Fischer credibility by appearing on his program or, at the least, to denounce Fischer’s bigoted views.

Not surprisingly, our request was roundly ignored.

Yesterday, Fischer dedicated nearly the entirety of his two-hour radio program to railing against Islam and demanding an end to immigration from Muslim nations and a ban on the construction of mosques in America.

This is where George Bush was simply plain wrong: he believed that there’s a hunger in every human heart for freedom. Not true. That hunger for freedom does not exist in the Islamic heart. It’s not in their DNA. Why? Because the spirit of God is absent in Islam. There is no spirit of God in Islam. It is the spirit of Satan. It is the spirit of darkness. It is the spirit of tyranny. It is the spirit of bondage.

The Quran is based on hallucinations. These hallucinations, I think Mohammad really experienced something, but what he experienced was what Paul refers to as the Angel of Light. This was a messenger of Satan masquerading as a messenger from God. You want to see what a religion looks like when it has been revealed by the Prince of Darkness, you look at Islam and the Quran.

From now on, no more immigrants from Islamic countries. Can’t have it. It’s going to corrode western culture. No more mosques because these are places of subversion, places where Sharia law, places where jihad is inculcated, where it is taught and where there are recruits made for jihad.

Right Wing Watch, 30 March 2011

Alaska: Republican party turns to Geller as Islam expert

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pamela Geller UndeadWhen an Alabama Republican legislator introduced a bill to ban Shariah law and subsequently couldn’t define Shariah law, I thought we had seen the single most ignorant and problematic of the anti-Shariah efforts.

But now the Alaska GOP is giving Alabama a run for its money. In becoming the latest state legislator to seek to ban Islamic law, Alaska Republican Rep. Carl Gatto called a fringe anti-Muslim blogger to testify as an expert witness in the House Judiciary Committee.

That would be Pamela Geller. The New York-based blogger delivered a statement by phone and then took questions from Alaska legislators during the hearing Wednesday.

Geller is the blogger who spread many of the original falsehoods about the so-called “ground zero mosque” (sample headline from her “Atlas Shrugs” website: “Monster Mosque Pushes Ahead in Shadow of World Trade Center Islamic Death and Destruction”). Her blog also regularly features conspiracy theories such as the classic, “Malcolm X is Obama’s father.”

That Geller was called as an expert in anything in a deliberative body is remarkable. The Anchorage Daily News reports on her testimony:

“Geller maintained ‘surveys in the Muslim world’ show most Muslims want a unified caliphate with a ‘strict al-Qaida-like Sharia’. She spoke of Muslim polygamy, jihad in support of Sharia, and said Muslims have demanded special accommodation in U.S. schools, workplaces and government.”

Salon, 31 March 2011