Peterborough: hundreds reject EDL’s hate-mongering, gather for peace vigil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Peterborough vigil

About 200 people from all sections of Peterborough society came together for a candle-lit vigil for peace yesterday (12th December). There were tears as school children from Thomas Deacon Academy, The Voyager School, Jack Hunt School and The Iqra Academy read poems and sang songs calling for unity in the city.

Speaking after the event outside the Cathedral at 4.30pm yesterday, Mayor of Peterborough Cllr Keith Sharp, praised everyone for taking part. He said: “It’s great to see so many people turn out for this. We’ve had a week of uncertainty over what would happen this weekend but this just shows no matter what faith or religion we are united against hatred.”

The vigil began with the candle of peace brought to the stage, accompanied by drummers from Bhangra Beat. Fr David Jennings welcomed everyone before pupils lit candles held by the crowd while Kumbaya was sung. Several poems were read out, songs and carols were sung and rap group Improvement Stars Entertainment performed So I Pray For A Better Day.

Rt Revd Donald Allister, Bishop of Peterborough also addressed the crowd. He said: “What we are doing today, following yesterday’s events is affirming we are one community. This isn’t just for people of faith, it’s for all people of our city to say we are proud to be diverse.”

The crowd read the inter-faith declaration of tolerance followed by a minute’s silence before everyone sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 13 December 2010

‘Pandering to Islam’ – Express and Alan Craig attack NAMP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NAMP_logoHome Office chiefs were last night accused of pandering to Islam after it was revealed that they handed out a staggering 15 times more funding to a Muslim police support group than to its Christian equivalent.

A furious backlash followed revelations that the Christian Police Assoc­iation received just £15,000 over the past five years while the National Association of Muslim Police was paid £90,000 in the past two years alone.

The newly released figures revealed that the CPA received an average of £3,000 a year, while the NAMP received £45,000 a year, despite both organisations having around 2,000 members.

The information was released by Home Secretary Alan Johnson after a written parliamentary question from his shadow Chris Grayling.

Last night Christian groups reacted with anger after learning of the difference in Home Office funding. Alan Craig, leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, said the move was “yet another sign of discrimination” against Christian groups in the UK. Mr Craig, a councillor in the London borough of Newham, added: “Christians are constantly marginalised and discriminated against by the Government, who are ignoring one of this country’s principal faiths.”

Daily Express, 13 March 2010

EEOC finds bias in forced resignation of Debbie Almontaser

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A federal commission has determined that New York City’s Department of Education discriminated against the founding principal of an Arabic-language public school by forcing her to resign in 2007 following a storm of controversy driven by opponents of the school.

Acting on a complaint filed last year by the principal, Debbie Almontaser, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the department “succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel and a small segment of the public succeeded in imposing its prejudices on D.O.E. as an employer,” according to a letter issued by the commission on Tuesday.

The commission said that the department had discriminated against Ms. Almontaser, a Muslim of Yemeni descent, “on account of her race, religion and national origin.”

The findings, which are nonbinding, could mark a turning point in Ms. Almontaser’s battle to reclaim her job as principal of the school, the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn.

New York Times, 12 March 2010

France plans bill banning veil for spring

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A bill banning the full Muslim veil will be introduced this spring, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Thursday. “A full veil that hides the whole face runs contrary to our idea of free and open social interaction. In a democracy, we don’t live behind a mask. That is why we have decided, with the president to legislate in the spring, ” Fillon said.

While a law against the full veil was already in discussion, no precise calendar had been put forward until now.

“All religions deserve respect, but what should not be respected is aggressive proselytizing, and withdrawing into one’s community”, Fillon told an audience of UMP party activists and supporters, at an electoral meeting in the west of France.

His announcement comes three days ahead of the first round of regional elections which is expected to end in an embarrasing defeat for the ruling party. With the far-right Front National in a position to overtake the UMP, the Prime Minister linked the “burqa legislation” to immigration. “There’s nothing shocking in saying that those who settle here should adopt the heritage of the home of Human Rights”.

According to the media, police research has shown that the full veil is a very limited phenomenon in France, with at most several thousand women, many of them French converts, opting for the attire.

France 24, 12 March 2010

See also Islam Online, 12 March 2010

Being anti-Islam is not racist claims Ian McEwan (as do the EDL, of course)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ian McEwan has insisted that criticising Islam is not racist and blamed left-leaning thinkers for “closing down the debate”. The Booker Prize winner said those who claimed judging Muslims was “de facto” racism were playing a “poisonous argument”. McEwan, 61, the best-selling author of novels including Amsterdam, Atonement and Saturday, thought many in the left wrongly took this position because they had an anti-Americanism shared with Islamists. In an interview with today’s Telegraph Magazine, McEwan said:

“Chunks of left-of-centre opinion have tried to close down the debate by saying that if you were to criticise Islam as a thought system you are a de facto racist. That is a poisonous argument. They do it on the basis that they see an ally in their particular forms of anti-Americanism. So these radical Muslims are the shock-troops for the armchair Left who don’t want to examine too closely the rest of the package – the homophobia, the misogyny and so on.”

Daily Telegraph, 13 March 2010

Protests force council to reject plans for giant mosque next to Sandhurst military academy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL protest against Camberley mosque
English Defence League supporters protest outside the council meeting

A controversial plan to build a mosque with two 100ft minarets next to Sandhurst has been scrapped to the jubilation of thousands of residents.

The £3million building would have had a clear view over the military academy and is just 400 yards from its parade ground – prompting fears it could be a security threat. A listed Victorian school building was set to be demolished to make way for the huge Saudi Arabian-style building.

More than 6,500 residents signed a petition to oppose the application because of fears it would change the Victorian character of the area.

The gigantic mosque was the idea of the Bengali Welfare Association, which worships at the al-Kharafi Islamic Centre in Camberley. The Victorian school, built in the 1860s, has been used as an Islamic Centre since 1996.

The plans for a new mosque were originally approved by Surrey Heath Borough Council’s planning committee earlier this year, but overturned on a technicality. On Wednesday night they finally backtracked after massive public opposition.

A special council meeting had to be held at the Camberley Theatre because of the volume of interest. Residents queued from 9.30am to make sure they got into the meeting, which started at 7pm. More than a thousand people sat inside the hall, while more residents who could not get in waited outside for the verdict.

All but two of the 36 councillors voted to refuse the planning application – a decision which was greeted with cheers both in and outside the theatre.

David Chesneau, chairman of the Camberley Society, said: “This was definitely the right result. They were thinking of knocking down a listed building. A mosque in its place would not have preserved or enhanced the Victorian and Edwardian character of the area.”

Daily Mail, 12 March 2011

Tory MP calls for veil to be banned in UK

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Philip Hollobone (2)The Daily Telegraph reports that Philip Hollobone, Conservative MP for Kettering, has called for a ban on Muslim women wearing the veil, on the grounds that it is “offensive” and “against the British way of life”.

Hollobone told the Commons: “This is Britain. We are not a Muslim country. Covering your face in public is strange, and to many people both intimidating and offensive. I seriously think that a ban on wearing the burka in public should be considered.”

Hollobone was speaking in a debate on International Women’s Day. His intervention follows previous comments that wearing the veil was like “going round with a paper bag over your head”.

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Review rejects ban on fascist teachers, says BNP and NF are ‘legitimate organisations’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Islam Out of BritainTeachers in England should not be banned from membership of the British National Party or any group which may promote racism, a review has concluded.

The government commissioned the report last September after a leaked list identified 15 BNP members as teachers. Review author Maurice Smith added his recommendation should be reviewed every year, which ministers have accepted.

BNP leader Nick Griffin welcomed what he called a “common sense review” and said it was a great day for democracy.

Mr Smith said: “I do not believe that barring teachers or other members of the wider school workforce from membership of legitimate organisations which may promote racism is necessary at present.”

The NASUWT union, which has campaigned to have BNP members banned from schools, said it was disappointed by the review’s findings.

General secretary Chris Keates said the report was “an opportunity that’s been missed” to bring teachers into line with police and prison officers. “The idea that a person who signs up to membership of the BNP can simply leave these beliefs at the school gate and behave as a ‘professional’ when they walk into school is risible, ” said Ms Keates. “The report is woefully inadequate and littered with contradictions.”

BBC News, 12 March 2010

Update:  See “Why we must ban BNP from schools”, Sun, 13 March 2010

UN Human Rights Council to condemn Swiss ban on minarets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The United Nations Council of Human Rights is intended to condemn a move by Switzerland to impose a ban on the construction of new minarets in the Alpine nation, characterizing the measure as “Islamophobic.”

A draft resolution proposed by the Muslim states for consideration in the 47-member council, “strongly condemns … the ban on construction of minarets of mosques and other recent discriminatory measures,” AFP said.

Such actions are “manifestations of Islamophobia that stand in sharp contradiction to international human rights obligations concerning freedoms of religion, belief, conscience and expression.” They “fuel discrimination, extremism, and misperception leading to polarization and fragmentation with dangerous unintended and unforeseen consequences,” cautioned the draft resolution.

The draft resolution is to be put to the Council for adoption by the end of the month.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has described the ban as a “deeply discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take.”

Press TV, 10 March 2010

Update:  See also “UN resolution on minaret ban contested”, Swissinfo, 11 March 2010