EDL switches Luton march date to up support

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL supporterA march against extremism has been rescheduled for next month – so more than 1,000 protesters can take part.

The right-wing English Defence League (EDL), which had originally organised the march for August, said it put it back as a direct result of our front page story last week revealing the Royal Anglian Regiment would deliberately avoid Luton on its 150-mile charity walk. The regiment said it was doing so because of the abuse it received from extremists on its homecoming parade in the town centre in March.

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Glen Jenvey admits to faking evidence for Sun article

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terror Target SugarRichard Bartholomew has the latest on Glen Jenvey, who now admits to his role in faking the evidence behind the notorious “Terror Target Sugar” story in the Sun, which reported that Muslims were plotting to attack British Jews.

Glenvey now claims to have converted to Islam under the guidance of Anjem Choudary’s “School of Shariah”. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be some sort of sting operation on Glenvey’s part. But then again, it could be that I’m doing him an injustice and he is in fact just a total fruitcake.

Research shows multiculturalism is working in the UK

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Children of International Migrants in EuropeMuslim teenagers in the UK are much more assimilated with the nation than their counterparts growing up in other European countries, new research claims.

For the study, young second generation Pakistanis and Indians who were also Muslims living in Blackburn and Rochdale were compared with Moroccan and Algerian youngsters in France and Turks and former Yugoslavs in Germany.

The British “multicultural” approach of accommodating immigrants actually works better than the French or German approaches, it is claimed.

In France, where head coverings have been banned in schools, there is no allowance for ethnic and religious differences by the state. And the widespread ethnic tensions seen between North Africans and the police in France in 2007 were repeated this summer.

In Germany, unless you have a German ancestor you cannot legally become a German citizen no matter how long your family have settled in the country. Citizenship relies on a German blood line.

The research is to be published in a new book out tomorrow, titled Children of International Migrants in Europe. Professor Roger Penn, from Lancaster University, who co-authored the book said:

“Perceptions of discrimination were lowest in Britain and highest in Germany, reflecting the failure of the German model of exclusive ‘ethnic nationalism’. Britain’s model of multiculturalism is proving far more effective for the incorporation of ethnic minority groups than the French ‘assimilation’ or German ‘ethnic nationalist’ ones. There is simply a moral panic going on about young Muslims because of 7/7.”

Daily Mail, 20 August 2009

Harrow Central Mosque rejects ‘Sharia court’ claims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Harrow MosqueHarrow Central Mosque has hit back at suggestions that the new building will host a Sharia Law Court after protesters against extremism released plans to rally outside the centre. Last week the Observer revealed the English Defence League’s plans to protest outside the Station Road based Mosque on August 29, after suggestions it would host a court on the site. But Ghulam Rabbani, general secretary of Harrow Central Mosque, said:

“It is important to make clear that there are no plans to hold Sharia court meetings at the new Mosque. We have never considered any such plans and it is a matter of public record from our planning applications. We are confused as to why the protesters ever thought this was the case. The new Mosque is a building which will be open to all and has been welcomed by other faith communities and we reject attempts to divide us. We are proud to be British, Muslim and Harrow residents, and we embrace all three of these identities.”

It is thought that the protests will go ahead irrespective of this and as a result an emergency meeting between senior council officials and community leaders has been scheduled for Friday, August 21.

Harrow Observer, 18 August 2009

Burkini-wearer at Verona swimming pool ‘frightens children’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Italy on Tuesday got its first close-up look at a burkini – an outfit consisting of head scarf, tunic and trousers – when a woman showed up at a Verona swimming pool wearing the outfit. Christian Panzarini, the manager of the Verona pool, said he had not asked the woman to leave despite several complaints from mothers who said she had frightened their tots.

Life in Italy, 18 August 2009

Via Islam in Europe

‘Why do we tolerate this shameful gender separation?’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Two countries, two weddings, two outcomes. In the first instance, a minister in the British government has been accused of bad manners for leaving a Muslim wedding in east London when he was asked to sit in a separate room from his wife. In the second, 41 women and children died when fire broke out in the women’s marquee at a wedding party in Kuwait….

“Muslim organisations have attacked Fitzpatrick, saying he should have respected the wishes of the bridal couple, and they defend gender-segregation at weddings and social events as a matter of ‘personal choice’. It isn’t. As the ghastly fire in the Gulf state demonstrates, insisting that men and women occupy different spaces is common in states where Islamic law is in operation. At last weekend’s wedding, male and female guests were directed to different tents and children sent to sit among the women, which is why no men died in the conflagration.”

Joan Smith – who else? – in the Independent, 19 August 2009

Update:  See letters in the Independent, 20 August 2009

Caldwell’s ‘extended apologia for Enoch Powell’s views’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“… the author’s synthesis and analysis are hard-eyed and bracing. A relatively weak, self-doubting Europe, he argues, has allowed mass immigration from a fundamentally alien, basically antagonistic culture on such a scale that the continent’s future is no longer its to decide. Caldwell’s Cassandra is the brilliant anti-immigrant Tory parliamentarian Enoch Powell, who sacrificed a promising career to this issue. In fact, this book can be read as an extended apologia for Powell’s views.”

Tim Rutten reviews Christopher Caldwell’s Reflections on the Revolution in Europe.

Los Angeles Times, 19 August 2009

Burqini banned in Italian town

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lega Nord posterMuslim women have been banned from wearing the body-concealing swimming costume known as a burqini in the northern Italian town of Varallo Sesia, according to a report.

Women wearing the garment, made up of a veil, a tunic and loose leggings, face a fine of €500 (£430) if they are spotted at swimming pools or rivers, the ANSA news agency reported.

The anti-immigration mayor of the northern Piedmont town said: “The sight of a ‘masked woman’ could disturb small children, not to mention problems of hygiene. We don’t have to be tolerant all the time.”

Mr Buonanno belongs to the Northern League, a party allied with the centre-Right People of Freedom party led by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister.

Daily Telegraph, 19 August 2009

Danish Conservatives call for burqa ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jyllands Posten Khader“We don’t want to see burqas in Denmark. We simply can’t accept that some of our citizens walk around with their faces covered,” Naser Khader, a Danish member of parliament of Syrian-Palestinian extraction who was recently appointed spokesman for integration issues for the Conservative Party, told the newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

In comments published on Sunday, Khader said the burqa is un-Danish and oppressive towards women and should be completely banned. He and his party say that what people do in their own homes is their business, but as soon as they walk into the public domain, one should be able to see their faces.

The Danish People’s Party and the Social Democratic Party have welcomed the proposal, while the Liberal Party, which is the senior partner in Denmark’s coalition government, rejects the idea of legislating about citizens’ clothing, provided they are not employed in a public function.

“It’s going too far if we start legislating on what sort of clothes people can and cannot wear. The burqa and covered faces should not be allowed if you work with people in the public sector — but that is where we draw the line,” says Liberal Party political spokesman Peter Christensen, who adds that it is important that politicians know where to draw the line in introducing policy.

Khader, however, says a ban is the only solution. “My view is that (the burqa) is not Islamic at all,” Khader says. “The modern burqa was introduced by the Taliban when the movement came to power. So I associate the burqa with the Taliban.”

The burqa ban is part of an integration initiative that the Conservatives’ parliamentary group approved on Friday, although the party has not decided what punishment should be meted out to those who break the ban.

“Initially we’re sending out a signal by saying that it should be banned. Then it’s up to the lawyers to find out what sanctions should be introduced,” Khader told the Jyllands-Posten.

Denmark is not the only European country where politicians have proposed a ban on burqas. French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently said that the burqa was “not welcome” in France, while France’s urban regeneration minister, Fadela Amara, told the Saturday edition of the Financial Times that she was in favor of the burqa “not existing in my country.” The Netherlands has also considered a ban on burqas.

Spiegel, 18 August 2009

Quilliam accuses anti-BNP protestors of ‘thuggery and hooliganism’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-BNP Codnor protest2

“Last weekend the BNP’s annual shindig ‘Red, White and Blue’ took place in a small town in Derbyshire. Reports said that the number of attendees was only marginally more than the number of anti-fascist protesters who congregated outside the gate.

“Unfortunately, these anti-BNP protesters soon became violent – leading to a total of 19 protesters being arrested. Although it is good to see ordinary people protesting against the BNP, such protests become ineffective when they descend into thuggery and hooliganism.”

So Lucy James, research fellow at the Quilliam Foundation, writes at Progress Online.

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