Gay rights should not be harnessed to an Islamophobic agenda

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In a brilliant exposé the Guardian reported how a lone man held up a pink triangle at a demonstration of the English Defence League – one of the most openly anti-immigrant and Islamophobic organisations in the country. When the reporter asked him what it was for he replied nervously: “This is the symbol gay people were made to wear under Hitler. Islam poses the same threat and we are here to express our opposition to that.”

Given fascism’s history of violent and outspoken homophobia, the news that the EDL would have a 115-strong lesbian, gay and transgender wing would appear, at the very least, incongruous.

But in fact it just the most glaring example of the misguided and ill-informed shift in our nationalist discourse that has moved the emphasis from creed to culture and race to religion in a bid to erect a moral rampart between the a mythological modern, enlightened, progressive west and the demonised medieval, backward, bigoted south. Far from being a contradiction confined to the far right, these issues have taken on totemic significance in the mainstream in the broadside against both multiculturalism in general and non-European immigration in particular as though they were inimicable with the principles of social equality.

Gary Younge in the Guardian, 7 June 2010

‘Ground Zero mosque’ protestors turn on Copts

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mike Kelly’s report on the SIOA ‘Ground Zero mosque’ protest contains a revealing insight into the ugly emotions aroused by Geller and Spencer’s exercise in anti-Muslim bigotry:

At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims. “Go home,” several shouted from the crowd. “Get out,” others shouted.

In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry – were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called “The Way.” Both said they had come to protest the mosque.

“I’m a Christian,” Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face. But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

Via LoonWatch

Islamic schools cleared by watchdog

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The charity watchdog today cleared two Islamic schools which the Tories had accused of being “front” organisations for extremists.

There was no evidence that the centres run by the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation had links to an extreme Muslim group, the Charity Commission said. The ruling is a blow to David Cameron, who last year accused Gordon Brown’s government of “funding extremists” by giving grants to the schools in Haringey and Slough.

In the Commons, Mr Cameron described the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation charity as “a front” for Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Evening Standard, 7 June 2010

Not only a blow Cameron but also to Andrew Gilligan, whose witch-hunting article in the Sunday Telegraph provided the basis for the Tories’ now discredited claims. You do wonder what more Gilligan has to do before his reputation as a journalist is completely destroyed.

‘Inspired by Muhammad’ campaign launched

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Inspired by Muhammad

CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED AS POLL REVEALS MOST BRITONS LINK ISLAM WITH VIOLENCE AND EXTREMISM

A new awareness campaign to improve public understanding of Islam and Muslims has been launched in London as an opinion poll shows widespread public concern at Islam’s impact on Britain today (Monday 7th June).

The campaign – “Inspired by Muhammad” – showcases how Muslims are inspired by their faith to contribute positively to British society. The public campaign focuses on women’s rights, social justice and the environment.

It was launched by TV presenter Kristiane Backer in a London cab decorated with the campaign’s logo, in front of Tower Bridge on the River Thames.

The high profile media campaign, commissioned by the Exploring Islam Foundation, will include adverts at bus stops, tube stations and on London’s iconic cabs. A new website www.inspiredbymuhammad.com has been launched to explain Islam’s ethical principles and core beliefs.

Alongside the launch, a YouGov national opinion poll commissioned by the EIF at the end of May 2010 has been published. It shows:

  • More than half the British population associate Islam with extremism (58%) and terrorism (50%)
  • Fewer than one in seven believe that it is a religion of peace (13%) and only one in 16 a religion of justice (6%).
  • Less than one in five Britons believe that Islam has a positive impact on British society (19%) with almost a third believing it is a violent religion (33%)
  • Two-thirds of people believe it encourages the repression of women (68%)
  • Only 16% of the British population believe that Islam promotes fairness and equality and just 6% believe it promotes active measures to protect the environment.
  • Most people get their information about Islam through the media such as newspapers (41%) and TV (57%) yet a third of people questioned they would be interested in finding out more about Islam (33%).

EIF is a charity established in 2009, to challenge popular stereotypes about Islam.

EIF press release, 7 June 2010

Inspired by Muhammad2

EDL outnumbered by anti-fascists in Cardiff

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UAF demonstration Cardiff

One of Wales’ biggest-ever police operations yesterday saw three events in the capital pass off without serious incident yesterday. The rival rallies between the UAF and EDL had the most potential for trouble but police said that, despite security fears, they had made just four arrests and were pleased with the way the day went.

Nearly 400 UAF supporters marched from Cardiff Bay’s Millennium Centre through Riverside and the city centre in protest at the EDL rally, and arrived at City Hall shortly before 1pm. Roughly 200 EDL activists were later bused in to a nearby rallying point at 2pm and verbal exchanges and scuffles broke out.

Former First Minister Rhodri Morgan, wife Julie, MP for Cardiff South and Penarth Alun Michael and MP for Caerphilly Wayne David joined the UAF march, holding banners and chanting with protesters.

Mr Michael said: “It has been a terrific turnout and a very strong and positive message about the nature of Cardiff as a multi-racial city which is determined to maintain harmony. The whole city is increasingly multi-racial and proud, and confident in it. It is a quiet, peaceful demonstration that has real authority – we don’t need conflict with the EDL, we just need to demonstrate Cardiff is not an environment in which they can flourish.”

Unemployed Jamie O’Brien, 30, left Newcastle at 3am to get to Cardiff to support the EDL. He said: “We want to keep the Muslim bombers off our streets – they are getting away with blue murder. We’re ultimately cast as racists by the UAF but they haven’t got a clue. I’m sick of seeing these Muslims – why do they want to change our country to suit them?”

Wales On Sunday, 6 June 2010

See also Unite Against Fascism, Welsh Icons and the Morning Star.

Wilders’ PVV a potential coalition partner

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The sluice gates are wide open,” Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders says in a campaign video that shows planes landing in Holland as women in headscarves outnumber natives in shopping street scenes. “Every day we are confronted with mass immigration: headscarves, burqas, minarets, social security dependence, crime … it never ends,” Wilders laments as dramatic music plays in the background of the clip released ahead of June 9 parliamentary elections. Whole neighborhoods are being Islamized.”

Pollsters expect Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV), to double its strength from nine to 18 MPs in the 150 seat parliament on a ticket of halting the “Islamic invasion” – enough to make it a potential ruling coalition candidate.

“Wilders exerts a big influence on these elections,” political analyst Martin Rosema of Twente University told AFP. Wilders’ bold move onto the shaky ground of multi-cultural tolerance, for long a matter of Dutch pride, “has prompted other parties to adopt a stricter approach to security and the integration of Muslims,” said Rosema.

Agence France-Presse, 6 June 2010

Update:  See also “Poll favourite may put anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders in Cabinet”, Times, 7 June 2010

Anti-Islam website run by 16-year-old

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Carmarthenshire_Front

An extreme right-wing website calling for the closure of all mosques and warning of the threat to “the white man” is the work of a 16-year-old Welsh schoolboy, Wales on Sunday has learnt.

Website “The Carmarthenshire Front” – named after the far-right National Front – features videos of BNP leader Nick Griffin talking about the “Islamification” of Europe, and describes the dangers facing the “white man” from the “tsunami of immigration” coming into Britain.

But rather than a large-scale organisation, the website is written and run by a GCSE pupil at Queen Elizabeth High School in Carmarthen.

The website fights against mosques, saying: “Say NO, Vote NO, Mosques must GO!” It particularly attacks plans to build a mosque near the site of the 9/11 massacre in New York, saying: “This is the sickest thing I have ever heard, and it’s perhaps no surprise when we note that Obama is a Muslim himself, which I would say must go a long way to explaining why this evil plan has been passed.”

Wales on Sunday, 6 June 2010

‘We must unite to stop the war on Muslims’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Activists, journalists and trade unionists have urged communities nationwide to fight the “last socially acceptable form of racism” – Islamophobia.

At Saturday’s Stop Islamophobia conference, supported by an array of organisations including Stop the War Coalition, the British Muslim Initiative and Unite, speakers highlighted the relationship between daily attacks on Muslims promoted by mainstream politics and the media and the “war on terror.” Conference heard that paranoia over Islam and the “mushrooming” of the English Defence League “were no accident.”

Respect councillor Salma Yaqoob said Islamophobic attitudes were not just the preserve of far-right parties like the BNP and Ukip but were entrenched in mainstream political discourse. “It’s shocking that a country like Switzerland that we associate with being neutral and progressive is so paranoid that it is banning the building of any more mosques with minarets, even though there’s only four in the country,” she said.

Journalist Seumas Milne said the current situation where “white male politicians in Europe are dictating to women what to wear in the cause of freedom and liberal values” evoked British and French colonial history in north Africa. He said:

“They were trying to ban the hijab in the supposed cause of progress and freedom, but actually in the cause of empire and repression. In its modern incarnation Islamophobia is the direct result and ideological underpinning of modern imperial wars, of occupation and intervention.”

Morning Star, 7 June 2010

Geller and Spencer claim 5,000 at ‘Ground Zero mosque’ protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SIOA protest (1)

Protestors gathered in lower Manhattan mid-day Sunday to demonstrate against plans to build a mosque near the site of Ground Zero, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed by Islamist hijackers on September 11, 2001.

Protest organizer Pamela Geller, a conservative blogger, and her group, “Stop the Islamicization of America,” planned the event because, according to the group’s website, “Building the Ground Zero mosque is not an issue of religious freedom, but of resisting an effort to insult the victims of 9/11 and to establish a beachhead for political Islam and Islamic supremacism in New York… Ground Zero is a war memorial, a burial ground. Respect it.”

Geller said the NYPD and security at the rally told her about 5,000 demonstrators were there. But NYPD spokesman Sgt. Kevin Hayes said the police department’s policy is to not provide crowd estimates and that he could not confirm Geller’s number. CNN iReporter Julio Ortiz-Teissonniere, who attended the rally and sent photos to CNN, said the number was closer to 200-300 while he was there for the first 45 minutes of the event.

CNN, 6 June 2010

Over at Jihad Watch, Robert Spencer reports:

“The crowd carried signs expressing their love for freedom, their contempt for Sharia, and their anger at Islamic supremacism and insult to the memories of those murdered on 9/11 that this mosque represents. And we had a full spectrum of top quality speakers…. The theme among all the speakers was common: the mosque is an insult to the Americans who were murdered there. It is a manifestation of a radically intolerant belief system that is incompatible with the freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.”

SIOA_protest2

Richard Dawkins reproduces Pat Condell’s ‘Ground Zero mosque’ rant

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Here. In response to a request that the video be removed, Dawkins writes:

“I believe Pat Condell deserves a hearing. He may sound extreme, but that could just reflect the extremes he is fighting against. I don’t know the corresponding figures for America, but polls in Britain suggest that an alarmingly high percentage of young British Muslims support the terrorists of 9/11 and 7/7, and some 40% of Muslims want Sharia Law introduced into Britain. Disquietingly high percentages supported the death sentence against Salman Rushdie and the threats of violence against the Danish cartoonists. Even ‘moderate’ Muslim leaders support the principle that apostasy deserves the death penalty, even if they are too nice to carry out the sentence themselves. I think it is well arguable that Islam is the greatest man-made force for evil in the world today. Pat Condell is one of the few with the courage to say so.”