Election results here.
Update: See Socialist Worker, 7 May 2010
UKIP leader says veil is symbol of violence and hatred
The leader of UKIP has said the Islamic veil should be banned as it represents fear and is a security risk.
Speaking in a phone-in on BBC 5 live, Lord Pearson said there was a “problem” within Islam because some people used the Koran to justify terrorist acts.
Speaking to Nicky Campbell, Lord Pearson said: “I constantly say to my mild Muslim friends, listen, you must realise these days, when we use the word ‘terrorism’ we are almost always referring to a problem which comes from violent Islam.
“You must realise that we do not hate you, but we fear your violent co-religionists and we have good reason to do that. And we see the burka in public and the niqab as a symbol of that and we fear it. The hatred is coming towards us.”
Via ENGAGE
Australian senator calls for veil ban
The shadow parliamentary secretary assisting Tony Abbott, Cory Bernardi, has called for Islamic women to be banned from wearing the burqa in a pointer to the growing assertiveness of the party’s conservative wing.
Writing on his blog yesterday, he argued his case on law and order grounds and the basis of respect for women. ”The burqa is no longer simply the symbol of female repression and Islamic culture, it is now emerging as a disguise of bandits and n’er do wells,” he wrote. He was responding to a police report describing a hold-up in Sydney by a suspect in a burqa and sunglasses and said the garb could be used as a disguise.
”Perhaps some of you will consider that burqa wearing should be a matter of personal choice, consistent with the freedoms our forefathers fought for. I disagree,” the senator wrote. ”New arrivals to this country should not come here to re-create the living environment they have just left. They should come here for a better life based on the freedoms and values that have built our great nation.”
Sydney Morning Herald, 6 May 2010
See also “Burqa ban is ‘un-Australian’ say Muslims”, Herald Sun, 7 May 2010
Support for refusal to participate in school visit to mosque
A teenager who refused to participate in a school trip to a mosque said she is proud her mother has made a stand. Fourteen-year-old Amy Owen, of Bodiam Court, Ellesmere Port, was one of a number of Ellesmere Port Catholic High School pupils who opted out of a scheduled trip to the Al Rahma Mosque in Toxteth, Liverpool, last week. The excursion was intended to involve all Year Nine students, split into three groups on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Amy, whose mother Michelle Davis spoke about her frustration over the “compulsory” nature of the trip, said: “I am proud that my mum stands up for what she believes in and she has taught me to do exactly the same. I did not wish to go on the field trip to Al Rahma mosque for various reasons, the main one being the list of instructions that was sent home and the fact I had to wear what a Muslim girl would wear. I think it’s a shame that we had to dress this way in order to visit the mosque.”
Miss Davis claims that up to 10 female pupils did not take part in the trip. She is angry that the school refused to provide alternative arrangements and will mark all those involved as an “unauthorised absence”, unless a doctor’s note can be provided. She said: “It’s one day on her record, so I’m not too worried and I’m glad that we stuck to the principle.”
Kirsty Ashworth, of Ellesmere Port, whose daughter Charlie Sheen, 14, was also due to take part, said: “I didn’t see the educational benefit of the trip. I can’t see how it would help her get a job or anything like that. I’m not racist or anything but I live in England, I send my daughter to an English speaking catholic school, so I don’t see why she should go to a mosque.”
Who’s Afraid of Tariq Ramadan?
“Ramadan, it is true, is neither a Hirsi Ali nor a Salman Rushdie, who are both self-declared apostates. They have left the community and call to those trapped within. In contrast, Ramadan is an internal critic, to use Michael Walzer’s term. Internal critics push their community to change, but they do so from within it, out of love. To follow Berman is to say that Muslims in their mainstream intellectual and religious traditions do not deserve internal critics. They deserve only apostates. As communism in another era had its Arthur Koestlers and Leszek Kolakowskis, so Islamic orthodoxy must have its Rushdies and Hirsi Alis.”
Andrew March responds to Paul Berman’s book The Flight of the Intellectuals.
Anti-Muslim backlash will not be tolerated in New York says Mayor Bloomberg
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that the arrest of a Pakistan-born US citizen in connection with the attempted car bombing in Times Square should not be as used as an excuse for actions against Pakistanis or Muslims.
“We will not tolerate any bias or backlash against Pakistani or Muslim New Yorkers,” he said in a television interview.
In fact, the mayor praised the Pakistani community for its contribution to the development of New York. Bloomberg said there are “a few bad apples” among any group. He also cited New York’s long history of accepting cultures from around the world.
‘The EDL targeted the Muslim community with their hatred’
The Bucks Herald has published a statement by the Aylesbury Muslims group in reponse to the EDL protests at the weekend
The EDL targeted the Muslim community with their hatred.
Despite their best efforts, the EDL was unable to break the harmonious coexistence between different ethnic and religious groups in and around Aylesbury. We believe that our diversity is also our strength and a reason for celebration.
We accept that during Saturday the majority of EDL protestors followed due process and protested peacefully. But as a community we’re extremely worried and angered by the actions of a significant minority of EDL supporters who targeted and intimidated people from the Muslim community.
We would like to make it clear that the police did deal with these situations, but on the whole this suggests that the EDL has a serious problem in not being able to guarantee or control the behaviour of significant numbers of their members and begs the question whether they should be allowed to protest again.
Here’s an account of some isolated events from witnesses:
1. As the coaches in convoy drove into New Street bottles were hurled at a group of Asian men including bottles thrown at the feet of two Aylesbury councillors.
2. A few people in coaches were swearing at Asian children and making hand gestures.
3. A significant group of EDL supporters came into Oxford Road and charged at a group of Asians of different ages including the elderly before the police came and dispersed the EDL group.
On hearing about these and other isolated incidents, hundreds of Muslim youths gathered outside the Mosque became enraged and wanted to confront the EDL. Despite this, the Muslim leadership fortunately managed to persuade them not to do so.
Griffin targets black Christian voters, accuses Labour of encouraging ‘the spread of Islam’
A BNP leaflet designed to woo the black Christian vote in Barking and Dagenham has been branded “obscene” by one of its recipients.
The targeted leaflet, which accuses Labour of undermining Christian values and promoting “ungodly lifestyles”, was sent to 24,000 people in the borough.
It features a picture of Nick Griffin next to the Rev George Hargreaves, the leader of the Christian party, and was sent out last week after the BNP trawled the electoral register looking for people with “African names”.
In it, Griffin says: “I am writing to you personally to set your mind at rest. A lot of rubbish is being written and talked about how the BNP is supposed to be some kind of ‘threat’ to black and ethnic minority groups in Barking … I want to reassure you that, as a Christian and a man who believes passionately in core British values including democracy and freedom, I am not standing in this election to persecute or hurt anybody, or any race and religion.”
After berating the government for damaging Christian values and encouraging “the spread of Islam”, he adds: “Surely, no believer can vote Labour and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Yes, that’s the same Nick Griffin who has described campaigning in Barking as “like leafleting central Nairobi“. And the BNP group on Barking & Dagenham Council is of course led by Bob Bailey, who recently made the news after he launched a racist tirade against Nigerian church-goers in the borough.
Religious right asks God to forgive Minnesota for electing a Muslim
Religious right leaders from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday for “May Day 2010: A Cry To God For A Nation In Distress.” Topics addressed from the podium ranged from decrying the evils of Dakota Fanning to praying for God to take over Hollywood. But then the prayer turned to Minnesota – and a state woman’s call for repentance after electing a Muslim to Congress, Rep. Keith Ellison.
The unidentified Minnesota woman took to the microphone to pray: “And father, we repent that we have not used godly wisdom when we have elected officials into elected positions in our state and nation, father, and that it has opened the door, that Minnesota holds the responsibility for placing the first Muslim in Congress, and, for that God, we repent.”
Minnesota Independent, 4 May 2010
Via LoonWatch
Dudley Muslim Association brands English Defence League as liars and bigots
The leader of Dudley Muslim Association has accused the English Defence League of provoking religious hatred over his group’s plans for a new mosque in the town.
Chairman Dr Khurshid Ahmed said far-right protesters, who staged a mock call-to-prayer in a rooftop protest on Monday, had been “un-English” in their lack of respect for the law.
He said: “This was not a protest – this was wilful incitement to religious hatred by playing that loud call-to-prayer. The people of Dudley have nine mosques and have never experienced a call as loud as that – or anywhere in Britain. Our call to prayer can only be heard within the parameters of the mosque.”