Stop the racist English Defence League in Leeds

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UAF_logoThe racist English Defence League is planning to descend on Leeds this Saturday 31 October.

Initial reports suggest that they are building heavily for this event to make-up for a poor showing in Swansea earlier this month and a complete no-show in Newport last weekend. On both occasions Unite Against Fascism organised successful counter demonstrations to show that the EDL and their affiliates are not wanted in Wales.

We need to get as many people as possible to Leeds on Saturday to send a clear message to the EDL that their brand of noxious racism has no place in Yorkshire either. Every UAF supporter in the North of England should try to get to Leeds with their friends, family and workmates. On every previous occasion where the EDL has tried to march it has been blocked by a much larger contigent of anti-racists. The presence of a multi-racial crowd standing in solidarity with Muslims against the EDL is the most powerful force stopping them from growing further.

UAF protest against the racist EDL
assemble 12 noon, Saturday 31 October
Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, Leeds LS1 3AA

CAIR: Islamophobia machine targets American Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today distributed an editorial, entitled “Islamophobia Machine Targets American Muslims,” outlining what the Washington-based Muslim civil rights group says is a campaign by “extremists of all stripes who coordinate and cooperate in a relentless effort to demonize Islam and deprive American Muslims of their civil rights.”

CAIR press release, 28 October 2009

Mayor’s office defends Mohamed Ali Harrath

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ConservativeHome carries a piece by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens (“Boris fails to tackle Islamic extremism“) revealing that it was the Centre for Social Cohesion who were behind the recent Sunday Express article (“Boris’s terror link“), which attacked the mayor of London for organising Eid in the Square in co-operation with the Islam Channel and allowing its CEO, Mohamed Ali Harrath, to address the event.

Meleagrou-Hitchens tells us that the CSC wrote to Boris Johnson complaining about his association with Mohamed Ali Harrath. They received the following response from the mayor’s office:

“The Islam Channel Chief Executive Mohamed Ali Harrath is not regarded as a threat by the British Government. He accompanied Robert Lambert, the former Head of the Met Police Muslim Contact [Unit] to a meeting last year with the Statutory Deputy Mayor. The Mayor’s office is proud to support Eid in the Square and this year’s celebrations were enjoyed by thousands of Londoners. The Islam Channel played a major factor in this success by broadcasting to millions of viewers in 132 countries.”

‘Flying while Muslim’ is no reason to detain or remove passengers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The recent settlement in the case of the six imams, or Islamic religious leaders, who said their rights were violated in 2006 when they were removed from a US Airways flight in Minnesota should not prevent anyone from acting on legitimate security concerns. But reports based solely on anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias and hysteria should not be used as the basis for a ‘flying while Muslim’ incident.

“Absent actual suspicious behavior, merely offering one of the five-daily Islamic prayers in a terminal, speaking Arabic to a fellow passenger, wearing a head scarf, or ‘looking Muslim’ is insufficient justification to detain passengers or remove them from a flight.”

Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR at USA Today, 26 October 2009

See also “Flying imams in the rear-view mirror: What was the evidence against them?”, MinnPost, 26 October 2009

Boris Johnson promotes Islamist extremism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

If you thought the Sunday Times‘ recent attacks on Jack Straw for consorting with Islamist extremists were bizarre, the Sunday Express has gone one better by levelling the same accusation against Boris Johnson, under the jaw-dropping headine “Boris’s terror link”! In Johnson’s case, the charge is that Mohamed Ali Harrath, CEO of the Islam Channel, spoke at Eid in the Square last month, where the Islam Channel was one of the GLA’s media partners along with the BBC Radio Asian Network.

Step forward Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens of the Centre for Social Cohesion, who tells the Express: “The invitation shows a worrying inconsistency in what the Tories have said about Islamic extremism recently.” It was notable that Meleagrou-Hitchens was one of the few people to treat the Sunday Times attack on Jack Straw seriously (“the noose is tightening around both the MCB’s extremist connections and government ministers who have been championing them. It’s about time…”). Even Harry’s Place baulked at reproducing that particular rant, though their co-thinkers at the Spittoon evidently had no problems with it.

The parallels between the present wave of Islamophobia in the UK and the 1950s Red Scare in the US are increasingly striking. In both cases the campaign began as an attack on the Left but then broadened out into a general assault on anyone who failed to join in the hysterical witch-hunt against Communism/Islamism. This was what eventually discredited and destroyed McCarthy. Surely it can only be a matter of time before Meleagrou-Hitchens announces that the British Army has been infiltrated at the highest level by Islamist fellow travellers who pose a threat to national security.

Update:  See also Meleagrou-Hitchens’ piece, “Boris fails to tackle Islamic extremism”, ConservativeHome, 27 October 2009

Islam is biggest threat to Sweden since World War II says far-right leader

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jimmie Akesson2With their party conference just barely over, the ultra right wing Sweden Democrats are creating headlines in Sweden again. In an article in Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet Jimmie Åkesson, party leader, writes that Islam is the greatest threat against Sweden since WWII.

According to Åkesson “today’s multicultural Swedish power elite is completely blind to the dangers of Islam”. He goes on to say that there are 10 Muslim terror organisations established in Sweden today, that Sweden has the highest number of rapes in Europe and that Muslim men are highly represented among the offenders. He concluded his article by saying that if the party is elected into parliament in 2010, he will do everything in his powers to “change the trend”.

Per Hultengård, lawyer for the Swedish Newspaper Publishers’ Association, told Aftonbladet that the article can be read as a warning to Swedish Muslims, not in the least due to Åkesson’s promise at the end. “I would take that as a threat,” said Per Hultengård to Aftonbladet. According to Jan Hjärpe, Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Lund, the rhetoric used by Åkesson has clear racist undertones. “This is the same kind of propaganda that was used by Nazi anti-Semites,” Hjärpe told Aftonbladet.

Aftonbladet‘s Jan Helin decided to print the article against the advice of legal experts. “I have decided to take that risk. Åkesson’s text is important because it shows clearly on what values a party, on its way into Parliament, rests on. You may think that he is right or wrong in his views. But through reading this article you get a chance to consider what the Sweden Democrats actually believe,” Helin writes in Aftonbladet.

In the latest opinion polls the Sweden Democrats received 4.7% of votes. This means that if elections were held today the party would get in to Parliament.

Radio Sweden, 19 October 2009

See also the response by Anna Waara, chairperson of Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice, “What do the Sweden Democrats want to do with us Muslims?”, The Local, 21 October 2009

You can watch Alan Lake, the businessman who bankrolls the English Defence League, speaking at a Sweden Democrats meeting here and here.

EDL fails to spread its poison in Wales

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-EDL demonstration Newport

Newport anti-fascists scored a major victory this weekend when an impressive show of local unity stopped the English Defence League’s (EDL) attempt to spread its racist poison in Wales.

The EDL had planned a rally in the city’s John Frost Square on Saturday to launch the Welsh Defence League, but a 500-strong counterprotest and a complete lack of local support forced it to cancel.

This followed the fascists’ disastrous visit to Swansea last weekend, where they were driven off by a larger counterdemonstration.

“Newport is a multicultural city with an industrial background,” explained Ian Titherington of Searchlight Cymru, “and today’s fantastic turnout shows that racists are not welcome here.”

Campaigners, joined by local politicians and faith groups, occupied the square to celebrate multicultural Newport with live music, including a drum band and an impressive performance from the Cor Cochion Caerdydd (Cardiff Red Choir).

Unite Against Fascism marched through the city centre before joining the rally, which also heard speeches from Welsh Assembly Minister John Griffiths and local Labour MP Paul Flynn.

Morning Star, 26 October 2009

See also “Racists day off” on Paul Flynn’s blog, 24 October 2009

English Nazis plot to bring terror to streets of Scotland

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A mob of English racists and neo-Nazis planning to invade Scotland can be exposed by the Sunday Mail today.

The far-right trouble makers are planning to march in Glasgow under the banner of the Scottish Defence League near the country’s biggest Mosque.

Despite portraying themselves as Scots, the right-wingers – including senior BNP activists – will travel to Scotland from Birmingham, Luton, London and Carlisle.

The ragbag army of football hooligans, far-right activists and racist thugs want a confrontation with Scots Muslims.

They have even started selling s20 Scottish Defence League polo shirts on eBay for marchers to wear.

Organisers have admitted that previous marches have been attended by fascist thugs from Combat 18.

They hope to take advantage of the heightened profile given to the far right from Nick Griffin’s Question Time appearance on Thursday.

Sunday Mail, 25 October 2009

Mad Mel on the rise of the BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Melanie Phillips Jihad in BritainIn this week’s Spectator Mad Melanie Phillips has another go at explaining the factors behind the rise of the BNP.

And, wouldn’t you know it, these include “uncontrolled immigration, multiculturalism, the loss to the EU of Britain’s ability to govern itself. Most toxic of all, however, is the threat from Islamic supremacism and the concern of the disenfranchised white voters that the political establishment is supinely going along with the progressive Islamisation of Britain.”

As we’ve pointed out in the past, Phillips’ analysis of the BNP’s political appeal always omits one major contributory factor, namely the legitimisation of their hysterical anti-Muslim propaganda by “mainstream” right-wing journalists like Phillips herself.

See also “Mel P rationalises the BNP’s anti-Muslim prejudice”, ENGAGE, 23 October 2009