EDL tells Terry Jones he’s not welcome

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Luton February 2011The EDL have issued a press release announcing that they have withdrawn their invitation to Pastor Terry Jones to speak at their rally in Luton in February. The EDL state:

“we strongly disapprove of burning the Koran, precisely because we believe in those principles of free speech and free expression. We do not believe the Koran should be burned, but rather read, so that people come to understand its inherent violence, supremacism, and hatred and contempt for non-Muslims. It is essential that people know what the Koran teaches, so they can see how far its teachings are from the free traditions of England that we have pledged our lives to uphold and defend.”

Perhaps they should tell that to their own members, who evidently are far from clear that this is the EDL’s policy. And shouldn’t Nick Griffin be given credit by the EDL, since this argument is lifted directly from the BNP’s website?

The EDL offer the following additional explanation:

“The EDL is extremely proud of its diverse support base including it’s primary base of geographical divisions from all across England encompassing much ethnic diversity. In addition we have specific divisions drawn from groups particularly threatened by encroaching Sharia: a Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Division; a Jewish Division and recently a Pakistani Christian Division. The EDL also enjoys the active participation and support of many former members of the Armed Forces. In light of our strong commitment to these groups and some of the Pastor’s statements and associations, we feel it inappropriate to offer Pastor Terry Jones an invitation to attend an EDL demonstration.”

Oddly, the press release concludes with a link to a CBS report about the Westboro Baptist Church picketing the funeral of a US serviceman killed in Afghanistan, which would suggest that the EDL have confused Terry Jones with Fred Phelps. Could they really be that stupid? On past experience, yes they certainly could.

If the EDL are worried that association with Jones might tarnish their hard-earned reputation for moderation, they might be advised to deal with some of the hate-filled racists in their own ranks. The first comment that follows the press release on the EDL’s Facebook page reads: “I hate stinkin muslims… Fuck off home.!!!!”

Postscript:  Or perhaps, to be charitable, the EDL meant to link to a report about the support given by Jones’s Dove World Outreach Center to a Westboro Baptist Church protest outside a liberal church in Gainesville last April.

Temecula pastor says mosque would be ‘frontal assault’ on his church

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A California pastor is warning about a “frontal assault” against Christianity in the wake of a planning commission’s overwhelming approval of a proposed mosque.

A 25,000-square-foot mosque to be built in Temecula Valley has gained unanimous support from the local planning commission, despite concerns from citizens and critics who say the facility may be a safe-haven for terrorists. William Rench, pastor of neighboring Calvary Baptist Church in Temecula Valley, feels his congregation’s attempts to voice their opposition to the planning commission were futile.

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Posted in USA

Heinz-Christian Strache wants to build links with Tea Party

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The head of Austria’s far right Freedom Party says he wants to meet with representatives of the ultraconservative U.S. tea party movement.

Heinz-Christian Strache described the movement as “highly interesting” and claims his party has received and will accept invitations from the United States.

Strache made the comments in an interview with Austria’s Die Presse newspaper published Sunday. Spokesman Karl Heinz Gruensteidl confirmed the remarks but declined to provide more details.

The anti-immigration Freedom Party is the third largest political force in Austria’s parliament and recently saw a surge in support in local elections in Vienna, the country’s capital, following a campaign laced with anti-Islamic rhetoric.

Associated Press, 12 December 2010

‘Muslims for Bush’ founder defects to Democrats because of anti-Muslim bigotry in Republican party

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muhammad Ali HasanMuhammad Ali Hasan, a member of the wealthy and influential Colorado Republican Hasan family and a past state House and treasurer candidate, said he is switching parties.

Speaking at the University of Colorado-Boulder on his experience growing up Muslim in the American West and later in conversation with the Colorado Independent, Hasan said he is ending his affiliation with the party for the bigotry he believes has shaped Republican politics over the last year. The FOX News regular and founder of Muslims for Bush said he met recently with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the controversial Democratic leader won him over.

Hasan said he felt alienated between national Republican leaders on one side railing against the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” and gays and illegal immigrants and, on the other, state Republican delegates convinced that as a candidate for treasurer he was angling to install sharia finance laws. He said the GOP convention in May was a low point. “You experience bigotry sometimes but I often just think it’s probably my personality that the person doesn’t like. At the convention, though, that was the first time I felt the real thing. It was the worst experience of my life.”

Hasan suspects a whisper campaign swept the convention, sounding a warning against placing a Muslim in charge of investing the state’s revenues. “Some goons were telling people that there’s a passage in the Koran that encourages Muslims to lie, that lying is considered a good thing in the service of advancing a Muslim or sharia agenda. I don’t know who was behind the rumor, but I’ve read the Koran, and I don’t know what they were talking about.”

He said the weekend of the convention he watched hundreds of supporters fall away. Delegate after delegate approached him and mentioned the Koran and said in so many words that they weren’t sure they could trust him. “It hurt. People who had said they were voting for me were now coming up to me and saying ‘You know, I hear you could be lying to us.’ I was shocked. I got the courage to approach some of them, people I had talked to and who said they were voting for me. Here they were wearing J.J. Ament stickers. I was like, you know, wow, and they said ‘But how do I know you’re not going to assert some form of sharia law against Colorado?'”

Hasan said he was deflated after talking to one woman at length. “I told her I started Muslims for Bush. I’m proud of that. I told her I have been a vocal fiscal conservative for years. I said I’ve given to Republican candidates on the federal and state level. I helped get Republican candidates elected to House seats in 2008 when Democrats were winning everything… Finally I asked her ‘There’s nothing I can say to win your vote because my name is Muhammad, am I right?’ and she said ‘Yeah, that’s probably right.'”

Colorado Independent, 9 December 2010

EDL invites Pastor Terry Jones to speak at Luton demonstration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terry Jones

Home secretary Theresa May is under intense pressure to ban controversial anti-Muslim preacher Terry Jones from Britain after far-right activists said he had agreed to address them at a demonstration about “the evils of Islam”.

The English Defence League (EDL) said it was “proud to announce” that the US pastor, who caused outrage with plans to burn the Qur’an on this year’s anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, would be attending the event in Luton in early February. Jones confirmed that he would be arriving in the UK. The pastor’s website said he intended to visit the EDL’s “biggest demonstration to date” in February. The website stated: “During the protest, Dr Terry Jones will speak against the evils and destructiveness of Islam in support of the continued fight against the Islamification of England and Europe.”

President Barack Obama warned in September that Jones’s planned Qur’an burnings would be a “recruitment bonanza” for al-Qaida and the US state department said it would put the country’s citizens at risk across the world.

The EDL announced Jones’s planned visit on its Facebook site yesterday, saying he would attend “our biggest demo to date” and describing it as “the big one”. There are fears that copies of the Qur’an could be burned by extremists.

The last time the EDL marched in Luton, 250 of their supporters went on the rampage through an Asian area of the town. Shop windows were smashed, cars overturned and a number of people were attacked. Thirty-five people were arrested as a result of the violence. Eleven people were arrested yesterday as 500 EDL supporters marched in Peterborough.

News of Jones’s planned visit comes as the head of the police intelligence unit on domestic extremism reveals that the EDL and related splinter groups have become his biggest concern.

Adrian Tudway, the national co-ordinator for domestic extremism, told the Observer: “We look at the extreme right and left, but currently our biggest single area of business are the various groups which call themselves defence leagues. These defence leagues can be found across England.”

The unit is monitoring a “number of individuals” connected to extreme rightwing groups, details of which are disseminated to local police forces.

Observer, 12 December 2010

See also “Koran-protest pastor Terry Jones may be banned from UK”, BBC News, 12 December 2010

Further details at Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion

Update:  See Jon Cruddas, “Ban the hateful Pastor Jones”, Comment is Free, 12 December 2010

Marine Le Pen compares Muslims to Nazi occupation forces

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Marine Le Pen and fatherThe daughter of French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen was under fire Sunday for comparing Muslims praying in the streets outside overcrowded mosques in France to the Nazi occupation.

Marine Le Pen said Friday at a rally of the anti-immigrant National Front that there were “ten to fifteen” places in France where Muslims worshipped in the streets outside mosques when these were full.

“For those who want to talk a lot about World War II, if it’s about occupation, then we could also talk about it (Muslim prayers in the streets), because that is occupation of territory,” she said at the gathering in Lyon.

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Faiths unite after attack on Stoke mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stoke faith groups marchFaith leaders across Stoke-on-Trent have come together in a show of solidarity after an attempt to blow up a mosque.

Members of North Staffs Forum of Faith were among those that met at the Muslim Welfare and Community Association at Hanley’s Equality House yesterday. They then walked across to the mosque in Regent Road, which was the target of an arson attack last Friday.

Arsonists connected a hose pipe to the gas supply of a nearby empty house before feeding it through a window at the Hanley mosque which is still under construction. Rubbish was then set alight on the ground floor, seemingly in an attempt to trigger an explosion.

Lloyd Cooke, chief executive of the Saltbox Christian Centre in Hanley, said: “We are deeply concerned at this recent event. We wanted to meet together as a sign of support and unity and to affirm that an attack on one faith is an attack on all. We are saying no to violence, crime and hate and no to the attack on the mosque. But we are saying yes to tolerance, peace and understanding.”

The Bishop of Stafford Geoff Annas said: “We make no attempt to hide our differences. We all have our ways of approaching God. The community needs to work together to safeguard the freedom God has given us and we rejoice in that.”

Before people walked over to the mosque Imam Abrar Hussain recited a chapter from the Koran. And outside the mosque they lit candles to symbolise light, hope and peace.

Rana Tufail, who helped raise money to build the mosque, said he was grateful to people for turning up. The Shelton Islamic Centre director said:

“It’s important that we are all here today to express our opinions and show our disgust at what happened to the mosque. This attack shocked a lot of people. The perpetrators were trying to destroy peace, providence and harmony. They were trying to destroy this beautiful building, which now when you look inside is smoke-logged and depressing. But with the help of the whole community it will be completed and it will be used by everybody.”

Peter Barber, chairman of districts for Stoke-on-Trent and Chester Methodist Church, said: “There is huge support in the community. It is important to show that with faith communities standing together we can stay strong. Attacks like this aim to destroy communities but we won’t let that happen.”

The Sentinel, 11 December 2010

EDL spews hatred of Islam in Peterborough

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL march PeterboroughTwo men have been arrested on suspicion of assaulting police officers during an English Defence League (EDL) march and counter-protests in Peterborough.

There were other arrests as the EDL marched and rallies were held by the TUC and Unite Against Fascism. Cambridgeshire Police said two people were also arrested for affray during a minor disorder in Wellington Street. And two people were held over possession of an offensive weapon at Peterborough railway station. The force said an estimated 500 protesters were involved.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson said: “Militant Islam is probably at its peak in this country. The problem will get worse and worse unless it’s tackled, and that’s what the English Defence League is trying to do.” Shortly after 1300 GMT he gave a speech via a loudspeaker in Lower Bridge Street. Some supporters chanted “EDL” and “I’m England till I die”.

Unite Against Fascism said it and Peterborough TUC had called for a “march for unity” from Bishops Road car park to show local opposition to the “invasion” by the EDL. “The EDL hope to stir up hatred against the city’s Muslim population and the many migrant agricultural workers who travel from across Europe to work on farms during the harvests,” a spokesman said.

BBC News, 11 December 2010

Update:  See “Celebratory mood in Peterborough as racist EDL seen off”, UAF news report, 11 December 2010

Further update:  Here are some quotes from the rambling speech by “Tommy Robinson” (Stephen Lennon) to the EDL rally in Peterborough: “Islam rules this country with fear… For fifteen years we have allowed 10 per cent to dictate to 90 per cent. No fucking more.” “Islam has never been a religion of peace. It never will be a religion of peace.” “Islam is a disease. [Shouts of ‘fucking scum’ from the crowd.] It is a disease. Winston Churchill once said Islam in a man is the same as rabies in a dog.”

So much Lennon’s lying claim that the EDL is opposed only to “militant Islam” or “Islamic extremism”.

Lennon also made his familiar pitch for support from the Sikh and Hindu communities: “The biggest community I wish to thank are the Indian community of this country, the Sikhs and the Hindus of this nation. They are the most British. If ever there is an example of integration it is the Sikh and Hindu communities. These people wear our badge of pride. 88,000 of them died in the world war. It has been left to us to educate the uneducated of this country to the difference between Sikhism, Hinduism and Islam.”

If anyone needs educating it’s Lennon. This idiot talks about the “Indian community” as being made up of Hindus and Sikhs, but is evidently unaware 13.4% of the population of India is Muslim, compared with 1.9% who are Sikhs. But then, this is a man who thinks that Muslims constitute 10% of the population of the UK (the real figure is around 3%). Still, Lennon isn’t quite as thick as his mob of violent racist followers, who fail to make any distinction between Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims, and habitually abuse all British citizens of South Asian origin as “Pakis”.

As for Lennon’s attempt to counter charges of racism and fascism by applauding the readiness of Hindus and Sikhs to “integrate”, while simultaneously spitting bile against Muslims, Nick Griffin has been playing that game for years. But then, we know that Lennon was once a member of the BNP, so he obviously learnt a lot from his former leader.

Particularly risible was Lennon’s pious condemnation of the current student protests: “The demonstrations in London have disgusted us all. We never want to see British police attacked by the people of this country.” This from a man who in 2005 received a 12-month prison sentence for assault after kicking a police officer in the head.

Postscript:  And Sky News, disgracefully, has provided Lennon with a platform to repeat his attacks on Muslims. In the course of a televised interview Lennon stated:

“It’s only in our country that our politicians are not talking up for us against the struggle against Islam. We have been sold out and led to believe that Islam is a religion of peace. It’s not. It never has been. It never will be. And it’s time to make a stand against it … twenty years down the line we will be over-run by Islam, because Muslims are breeding at four point four children. That’s what they’re having on average. We’re having one point three.

“Now, they keep saying, we’re a minority, we’re a minority. But their communities are going to quadruple over the next twenty years. And that wouldn’t be a problem if they were integrating. If they weren’t being taught hatred from the age of four against every single one of us in their madrassa schools, it wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s a ticking time bomb. Unless we wake middle England up now to realising what is coming to a town near you, in towns and cities like Luton, where I live, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. So, unless it stops and we wake people up, there’s going to be civil unrest across this whole country.”

Lennon has his own proposals for dealing with this threat: “I’d like to pull any Muslim that doesn’t swear allegiance to Queen and country. Anyone who goes against trying to undermine our country with Shariah law. Get rid of all the Shariah law courts. Stop all Islamic immigration into this country.”

Griffin promises ‘increased militancy’ by BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Bletchley mosque protestThe British National Party will become more militant in physically defending British troops against Islamic militant abuse and against mosque-building programs, party leader Nick Griffin has announced.

Speaking to a 120-strong audience attending a black tie dinner to launch the party’s 2010 conference in the East Midlands, Mr Griffin said that in future, the party would start acting as well as talking about protecting Britain.

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Mosques in Netherlands receive threatening leaflets from Wilders’ supporters

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The faithful at three Moroccan mosques in Amsterdam are keeping guard over them at night. They are doing so because the houses of worship recently received threatening leaflets.

According to a spokesman, mosques across the country also received such leaflets. He couldn’t say if they were being guarded too. The leaflets contained statements such as “Wilders will deliver us from you”, according to the spokesman. He called these threats and similar recent incidents “very worrying”.

It is now more common for mosques to be the target of graffiti, threats or violence. An Islamic prayer house in Dordrecht was recently shot at. Earlier this year unknown persons attempted to set fire to a mosque in Groningen.

The National Police Agency (KLPD) recorded five such incidents in the first half of 2010. There were 16 last year and 32 in 2008. According to the spokesman for UMMAO [Organisation of Moroccan Mosques in Greater Amsterdam], mosques often do not report such events.

The series of recent incidents was the reason why the Association of Dutch Moroccans (SMN) and the Council of Moroccan Mosques in the Netherlands (RMMN) called for increased surveillance of mosques.

De Telegraaf, 9 December 2010

Via Islam in Europe