Tim Marshall debunks the Hamas/”child brides” story that has been doing the rounds of the right-wing blogosphere. See also The Heathlander.
Prepare for the Islamic Antichrist, warns new book
Richard Bartholomew draws our attention to the publication by WorldNetDaily of a new book, The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth about the Real Nature of the Beast, by one Joel Richardson. It is advertised on the WND site as a “devastating account of the possible connection between the Biblical Antichrist and the Islamic Mahdi”.
WND explains: “The Bible predicts that in the last days a charismatic leader will establish a global following in the name of peace. The Koran also predicts that a man will rise up to lead the nations, pledging to usher in an era of peace. The man in the Koran is called the Mahdi, or Islam’s savior. However, the man in the Bible is the Antichrist. Could it be possible that this is the same person?
“Richardson’s stunning research and analysis suggest that it is. In ‘The Islamic Antichrist’, he exposes Western readers to the traditions of Islam and predicts that the end times may not be that far away. His book will stun readers who are unaware of the similarities between the Antichrist and the ‘Islamic Jesus’.”
Richard Barthlomew also notes a follow-up post at WND in which Joel Richardson suggests that the election of Barack Obama may well foreshadow the arrival of the “Islamic Antichrist”. The article is subtitled: “Massive wealth redistribution will be economic policy of the Beast”!
WND explains: “Richardson says the Book of Daniel reveals the Antichrist will invade the wealthy nation of Israel specifically to plunder and gain control of its commodities and wealth. ‘But what is so interesting is the Bible tells us his reason for seizing this wealth is to give it away to his followers,’ says the author. ‘While slightly more violent than Obama’s tax plan, it is no less populist in its methodology of radical wealth redistribution’.”
Assorted rightwingers who can’t tell the burkha from the niqab condemn police
A police force has been accused of wasting public money after three officers dressed in burkhas and pretended to be Muslim women for a day. Two sergeants and a community support officer wore either a full burkha or a Muslim dress and headscarf as part of an “In Your Shoes Day”.
But the idea was blasted as a “complete waste of police time and taxpayers’ money”, by Douglas Murray of The Centre For Social Cohesion. “It’s not the duty of police to empathise with particular sections of the community. It is the duty of the police to prevent crime,” said Mr Murray.
The day was branded “an absurd diversion from real policing” by Matthew Elliott of The Tax Payers’ Alliance. People want the police out catching criminals, not indulging in politically correct gimmicks,” he added.
The burkha was a “symbol of oppression of women” which police should not encourage, said Sid Cordle, of the Christian Peoples Alliance. “Are they going to go out dressed as prostitutes or the homeless to see how they feel?” he added.
See also the Daily Mail and the Daily Express.
Scary Muslim visits East London Mosque
The usual suspects – Harry’s Place, Peter Tatchell – have been trying to whip up a scare over the fact that Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, will be speaking at the East London Mosque this evening. “I don’t understand why the Home Secretary is allowing al-Sudais into Britain, given that similar hate preachers have been banned”, Tatchell has declared.
This is not al-Sudais’s first visit to the East London Mosque. In 2004, on the occasion of the opening of the London Muslim Centre (see here and here), he told thousands of worshippers:
“Muslims should exemplify the true image of Islam in their interaction with other communities and dispel any misconceptions portrayed in some parts of the media…. Muslims should remember that throughout this long history Islam has carried the message of building communities, not isolating themselves…. The history of Islam is the best testament to how different communities can live together in peace and harmony.”
Frightening, huh? Clearly Tatchell is right. This preacher of hate should be banned.
Update: And here’s the Evening Standard and the East London Advertiser – both of which take their cue from Tatchell – making their usual helpful contributions to building harmonious relations between London’s diverse communities.
Further update: Tatchell has also inspired the coverage over at Jihad Watch. He must be so proud of himself.
Standing reveals his real agenda
Edmund Standing has published the second part of his eGov monitor article on the BNP.
The opening paragraphs are an attack on the Muslim Council of Britain, although Standing evidently detests that organisation so much he can’t even bring himself to use its name. According to Standing, the MCB “deliberately fosters a sense of Muslim self-pity and a victim mentality (just as the BNP deliberately fosters white self-pity)”.
(You can just imagine how Standing would respond to a self-styled anti-fascist who attacked the Board of Deputies for fostering “a sense of Jewish self-pity and a victim mentality” and drew a parallel between the BoD and fascism.)
As any anti-fascist activist could tell you, the MCB has in fact long played a major role in combating the BNP by mobilising the Muslim community against it (see for example here, here, here, here and here). But Standing sees fit to ignore all that. He is clearly more interested in cranking out the anti-Islamist agenda of Harry’s Place than in actually combating fascism.
This is really divisive stuff and if anti-fascists were to take it seriously it would undermine a united fight against the BNP. In that connection, I’m surprised that a genuine and well-respected anti-fascist site like Lancaster Unity has seen fit to publish Standing’s article without even referencing the sharp criticisms that have been made of his warped analysis and bigoted views.
Update: For a more detailed critique, see ENGAGE, 4 August 2009
Further update: See also Sunny Hundal’s piece at Pickled Politics, which includes this perceptive comment by Yahya Birt.
Edmund Standing continues to get the BNP wrong
ENGAGE has posted a further response to the Harry’s Place “expert” on the British National Party.
How Phil Woolas plays into the hands of the BNP
“Just how many people were on the now-notorious al Muhajiroun-organised demo in Luton earlier this year, in which a small group of Islamists chanted anti-war slogans at British troops marching through the town? Just a couple of dozen, if memory serves.
“Yet the nationwide impact of the protest was out of all proportion to the numbers involved. This is presumably why immigration minister Phil Woolas thinks it is clever politics explicitly to recall the incident when presenting his plans for a points-based citizenship scheme in the media this morning.
“In practice, the stipulation will probably be pertinent to just a statistically insignificant handful of the hundreds of thousands of passport applications each year. But that’s not the point. The point is getting headlines such as ‘Immigrants who jeer at British troops in the street to be barred from gaining citizenship’.
“New Labour’s tactics to counter the inroads the British National Party is making into sections of its electoral base centre on tacitly conceding the BNP case, and then showcasing policies that seem to respond to BNP voters’ concerns.”
Stop the racist hooligans from marching in Birmingham on Saturday 8 August
Unite Against Fascism supporters in the West Midlands will be joining the local Muslim community in Birmingham city centre on Saturday 8 August to protest against an “anti-Muslim demonstration” planned that day by right-wing thugs linked to the fascist BNP and promoted on openly Nazi internet sites such as Stormfront.
The racist demo is planned by a group of football hooligans operating under the names “Casuals United” and the “English Defence League”. There was a spate of Nazi and BNP graffiti in the local area after their last outing in Birmingham on 4 July.
The English Defence League website was set up by Chris Renton, a BNP activist from Weston-super-Mare.
In May this year the same group ran rampage through Luton attacking Asians and Asian-owned businesses.
The counter-demonstration against the racists meets at 5pm, outside Zavvi/Waterstones, High Street, Birmingham.
Everyone in the area should come along and show these thugs that their brand of vicious racism is not wanted in Birmingham or the West Midlands.
BNP whips up hatred against Muslims in Loughton
The British National Party has been accused of whipping up racial tensions in the district after it issued an inflammatory leaflet about a local Muslim community group.
In the latest edition of the BNP’s Epping Forest Patriot, delivered to many households in Loughton, the group attack the use on Friday afternoons of the Murray Hall, in Borders Lane, for Islamic prayer sessions. Under a picture of a union flag being eaten away by the Islamic moon and crescent the leaflet says: “In parts of neighbouring Redbridge and east London the Islamification process is almost complete. We’ll do all in our power to prevent Islam creeping into our town.” The leaflet is headed in capital letters: “No mosques in Loughton!”
Noor Ramjanally, of Valley Hill, Loughton, who started the Islamic prayer sessions at the hall has already been subjected to threats and an arson attack, which the BNP deny knowledge of. He said: “I do find it worrying because of my wife and son. We don’t deserve to be going through all this stress, we just want somewhere to pray. It’s just from people who are basically idiots. They don’t know what my religion is about. We have the support of all the community.”
Epping Forest BNP group leader Pat Richardson said she had seen the leaflet and “didn’t disagree with it.” She added: “It shouldn’t be in a community centre and I don’t think it’s appropriate in a BNP ward. It brings all sorts of problems and we don’t want problems in this area.”
Swedish far right split over land sale to mosque
A councillor for the xenophobic Sweden Democrat party is facing expulsion from his party – after preparing to sell land to people who want to build a mosque on it. The Sweden Democrats often express hostility against Muslims and the Islamic religion, and some in the leadership have proposed a ban against the building of mosques in Sweden.
But their councillor Jan Hansveden explained to local paper Helsingborgs Dagblad that the land sale involves “a scary amount of money” – around 850,000 US dollars. And that as far as he is concerned, it is his business who he sells his property to. The councillor sits in Landskrona local government council, one of the far right party’s biggest success areas.
But SD party leader Jimmie Åkesson has slammed the councillor as “greedy” and said that if the deal goes ahead, he’s not welcome in the party any longer.