Prosecutors press for action against BNP leaflets

BNP changing face of london leafletSenior prosecutors are calling for the laws on race hate crimes to be strengthened to counter the threat posed by the British National party.

The threshold for securing a conviction is so high that far-right activists are able to evade prosecution for material that many people would consider to be threatening and racist, according to sources at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Several BNP leaflets have been referred to the CPS over the last five years – some by senior police officers and one by a judge – but no further action has been taken.

Peter Herbert, the chairman of the Society of Black Lawyers and a part-time judge, submitted a complaint last year over a leaflet called The Changing Face of London that had two pictures, one depicting an all-white street party from the 1950s, the other showing three Muslim women wearing a niqab, one of whom is making a V-sign towards the camera.

Under the law, it has been extremely difficult to mount a prosecution against extremism and hate speech,” said Herbert. “But with the rise of the BNP, and the subsequent rise in racist attacks and the fear the party’s leaflets can provoke, it is essential we are given the tools to deal effectively with this threat.”

Guardian, 29 June 2009


Of course, the main obstacle to a successful prosecution of the BNP over its incitement of Islamophobic hatred is that Muslims are legally defined as a multi-ethnic faith group. They are therefore covered not by the racial hatred laws but by the 2006 Act dealing with incitement to religious hatred. The latter requires not only that the offending material should be explicitly “threatening” but that the prosecution should prove subjective intent, which in practice means that the religious hatred law is completely useless as a means of combating the BNP.

Czech Christian Democrat leader against new mosque in Brno

Prague — Czech Christian Democrat (KDU-CSL) leader Cyril Svoboda today supported the KDU-CSL south Moravian branch that is against the construction of a second mosque in the city of Brno, planned by the local Muslim community.

Svoboda said he respected traditional Muslims and wanted an open Europe but that newcomers had to respect the local traditions. It would help if Muslim countries were open to Christians, he added. Svoboda noted that it is often a problem for Christians in Turkey to build a church. He said “the time is not ripe” for the opening of a new mosque in Brno.

Czech Happenings, 28 July 2009

Standing reality on its head: the BNP and Islamophobia

CSC BNP pamphletHarry’s Place contributor Edmund Standing, whose report The BNP and the Online Fascist Network was recently published by the right-wing anti-Muslim propaganda organisation the Centre for Social Cohesion (blandly characterised by Standing as “a non-partisan independent think-tank”), has offered us some more of his thoughts on the BNP in an article for eGov monitor.

Standing’s latest piece is characteristic exercise in political evasion and confusion. Adopting the diversionary tactic of throwing his opponents’ accusations back in their faces (rather as the BNP accuses its enemies of being racists and fascists) he claims that Sunny Hundal and other critics of his CSC pamphlet have demonstrated “a complete failure in understanding of the true nature of the BNP’s anti-Islam campaign”.

In fact almost everything Standing has written about the BNP has been designed to downplay the significance of the fascists’ turn towards inciting hatred against the Muslim community. Elsewhere he has dismissed this turn as “little more than a superficial political trick” and he now asserts, bizarrely, that “the reality is that Griffin and co don’t really care about Islam”.

Anyone who has followed the endless stream of anti-Islam propaganda on the BNP’s website will be left rubbing their eyes in disbelief. Is Standing asserting that the BNP leadership don’t actually hate Islam, but are simply pretending to do so, as a cunning political manoeuvre?

Trying to make sense of Standing’s argument, he seems to be saying that the BNP’s Islamophobia is a mere epiphenomenon of traditional colour-based racism and that anti-fascists should concentrate on resisting the latter. He writes: “The truth is that the BNP hates Muslims because they are predominantly brown skinned. In ‘white nationalist’ ideology, everything ultimately boils down to an obsession with race.”

It is of course true that the BNP’s hatred of Islam is inseparable from the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not white. But racist ideology is not based solely or even primarily on the physical characteristics of members of the victimised minority community. These days it is more often justified in cultural terms. When the BNP denounces Islam as “alien” to “Western values”, and rants on about the threat to European civilisation posed by a “barbaric desert religion”, this isn’t reducible to a hatred of Muslims because they are brown. The far right really does despise and fear Islamic beliefs and religious practices.

As for Standing’s assertion that Griffin is “may be an odious figure, but he’s not a complete idiot, and knows very well that Britain is not on the verge of turning into an Islamic State”, what Griffin has in fact argued (the quote is from a 2005 interview on the Think-Israel website) is this:

“We are deeply concerned about the mainly – though not exclusively – French elite project to morph the EU, Turkey and the Maghreb into ‘Eurabia’. Bat Ye’or is 100% right about this. If this now far-advanced scheme comes to fruition then it would in turn lead to the Islamification of the whole European continent. A generation ago the revival of the historic Islamic threat to Europe would have been unthinkable; now it is clearly destined to be the great issue and decision of our time. For us, the closely linked threats of mass Third World immigration and Islamification outweigh all other considerations.”

If we accept Standing’s analysis, the BNP leadership doesn’t believe a word of this. Griffin is stupid and bigoted enough to embrace paranoid fascist fantasies about Jewish control of the media (see his 1997 pamphlet Who are the Mindbenders?) but apparently he’s too intelligent to imagine that the “liberal elite” are complicit in a plan to facilitate the Muslim takeover of Europe. Indeed, according to Standing, Griffin has a far more sophisticated understanding of this issue than a mainstream right-wing commentator like Melanie Phillips, who clearly does hold the view that the Islamification of Britain is an imminent threat.

Standing goes on to say that the right-wing tabloid press, by giving disproportionate coverage to unrepresentative nutters like Anjem Choudary and his followers, has whipped up an atmosphere of anti-Muslim bigotry that provides favourable conditions for the growth of the BNP – which is true enough. But he omits to mention the role played by writers who claim to be liberals, leftists or progressives in promoting hostility towards the Muslim community and its representative organisations. Indeed, Standing himself is a good example of this. Thus his article concludes with the following passage:

“Another important factor that is undoubtedly greatly assisting the BNP in its promotion of anti-Muslim sentiment is the problem of largely self-appointed Muslim ‘community leaders’ and organisations and their very vocal and, to the majority of Britons, unreasonable lists of demands of how British society should change to accommodate what is presented as Islam and the ‘rights’ of Muslims.”

Leaving aside the question of who the unnamed “self-appointed Muslim community leaders” might be – perhaps this refers to the Muslim Council of Britain with its 500 affiliates and elected national committee and officers? – Standing might ask himself how he would react to someone explaining fascist antisemitism on the basis that it had been encouraged by “self-appointed Jewish leaders” posing “unreasonable lists of demands” about “how British society should change” in order to accommodate “the ‘rights’ of Jews”.

Standing would undoubtedly condemn the writer as an antisemite. And he would be right.

Update:  See also ENGAGE, 30 July 2009

Islamic school ban sparks protest in Sydney

Hundreds of people have protested against a government’s decision to scrap plans to build an Islamic school in Australia’s biggest city, Sydney. Parents and prospective students have said the decision was unfair and racist.

Plans to build an Islamic school for 1,200 students in the Sydney suburb of Bass Hill survived objections from residents, the local council and legal challenges only to be scrapped at the last minute by the New South Wales government. Construction was due to begin but the state has intervened to buy back the land it sold several years ago.

Busloads of angry parents and their children have demonstrated outside the education department, calling on the authorities to allow the project to go ahead. A spokesman for the protestors, Rafik Hussein, says the government has made a big mistake. “We do not accept that decision. It is un-Australian,” Mr Hussein said

Some campaigners have said the debate has been laced with racial and religious intolerance. Supporters of the plan to build the Islamic school believe that residents’ concerns about noise and traffic congestion have become a euphemism for prejudice.

BBC News, 27 July 2009

See also ABC News, 24 July 2009

JC editor plugs Bruce Bawer

Stephen_PollardStephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, gives a boost to Bruce Bawer’s latest exercise in anti-Muslim bigotry:

“There is no more important issue facing the West than Islamism, Islamofascism or – to use yet another label – radical Islam. And there is no more necessary precondition to countering that threat than understanding it: where it springs from, how it is expressed and the ways in which it is spreading. But before we do any of that, we have to agree that the threat exists.

“For the United States, the danger so far has taken the form of terror, as 9/11 so clearly demonstrated. In Europe, terror is real too, but a more insidious problem has now taken hold: many liberals and others on the European left are making common cause with radical Islam and then brazenly and bizarrely denying both the existence of that alliance and in fact the existence of any Islamist threat whatever. Bruce Bawer’s ‘Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom’ is focused on this phenomenon.”

New York Times, 24 July 2009


It’s no surprise that the JC, never exactly known for its efforts to build bridges between the Jewish and Muslim communities, has taken a lurch in a particularly Islamophobic direction since Pollard took over as editor.

Sunny Hundal on the smearing of Mehdi Hasan

Mehdi_HasanSunny Hundal offers some further observations on the disgraceful witch-hunt of New Statesman journalist Mehdi Hasan by Harry’s Place:

“Using a 45 second clip from a 45 minute speech to imply that the guy is an Islamist and all sorts (just read the comments) is precisely the kind of politics and smearing that Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch has done for years.

“… this sort of tactic is designed to promote the racist notion that all Muslims, even the mainstream ones working at national titles, are closet Islamists. The word ‘taqqiya’, used to imply that a person is hiding their true beliefs, constantly pops up in the comments of that expose. It’s the ‘Islamists under your bed’ narrative that unfortunately Harry’s Place has descended into over the last few years….

“HP and their friend Martin Bright are essentially saying that the New Statesman should not employ such a person, which is a deeply undemocratic and censorious position to take. It’s also a character assassination to try and ruin someone’s career….

“If the New Statesman editor gives in to this hatchet job then it feeds into a debasement of our political culture, where witch-hunts like the kind constantly seen on neo-con hubs like FrontpageMagazine.com become the way our politics is conducted.”

Pickled Politics, 27 July 2009

Harry’s Place and the smearing of Mehdi Hasan

Harry’s Place continues its witch-hunt of Mehdi Hasan, senior editor (politics) at the New Statesman, in what is clearly a campaign aimed at getting him dismissed from his job. In the comments section fellow NS journalist James Macintyre has posted a defence of his colleague which we reproduce here:

Harry’s Place – I have just seen this unspeakable smear campaign – “part 1” – against my colleague Mehdi Hasan at the New Statesman. You have just lowered yourself to the rankest form of fact-free, context-free, bent hatchet-job “blogging”. I am one of many outsiders who is repulsed. You pose as a quasi-intellectual blog-site, and yet you operate with no rules of journalism. Let me, therefore, offer you some facts.I have known Mehdi Hasan for seven years. In that time I have been honoured to know an actively moderate Muslim; easily the most moderate Muslim I have met and among the most religious people I know, and that catagory includes senior members of the Anglican communion to which I belong.

Mehdi Hasan does indeed have a double life: and it is the exact opposite to what your libelous bile presents. At the same time as being dismissed on neo-con sites like this as an “extremist” or fan of bin Laden, he in fact lectures his own community of London Shias of the need to integrate and be fully British. He does this on a weekly or monthly basis.

Only a few months ago Tony McNulty MP – not known for his pro-extremist stances – praised Mehdi Hasan at a public meeting in the House of Commons. He said he was previously unaware that this kind of speaking – in which Muslims were told by a Muslim to inegrate and be British – took place within the community.

This clip which you have seedily honed in on merely shows him sticking up for religion in the way that your heroes Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins denounce it and passionately defend atheism. As a Christian believer myself, I agree with Mehdi Hasan in his comments you seek to sensationalize – tell me then Harry’s Place, does that make me one of your targets, or are your dangerous smears purely based on race?

You have disgraced yourself, and it would be amusing were it not a calculated attempt to damage a man’s reputation. I have never known a more open-minded person who speaks publicly on religion. Many a time have I heard Mehdi Hasan angrily denounce anti-semitism, racism, prejudice of any kind.

If you seriously intend to run this series, by a doubtless fake “Channel 4 insider” – what have you got to hide, C4 Insider? Surely this is a great story if you are on safe ground? – then you had better be prepared for the consequences. Legalities aside, you threaten to shame your web site once and for all.

I feel like I am posting on the BNP site, and it is on that level that you will place yourselves with this pathetic smear, based purely on the fact that Mehdi got the better of your contributors last week. If you are going to go after him, go after me too – as I agree with almost everything he says about the world’s religions.

Mehdi Hasan is a friend, a colleague, and someone who deserves the utmost praise for his amazing role as an educator and moderator of those in his own faith.

It’s time for you to decide: are you going to be a serious blogsite, or are you going to place yourselves in the same catagory as bnp.org.uk?

Think about it.

Judge clears way for lawsuit by 6 imams arrested at Minneapolis airport

In a strongly worded ruling, a federal judge on Friday cleared the way for a lawsuit by six Muslim men who claim they were falsely arrested on a US Airways jet in Minneapolis three years ago to move forward.

“The right not to be arrested in the absence of probable cause is clearly established and, based on the allegations … no reasonable officer could have believed that the arrest of the Plaintiffs was proper,” U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery ruled Friday.

The case of “the flying imams” has sparked ongoing debate about the power of law enforcement to override personal rights in the name of security.

The imams were arrested in November 2006 as they were returning home from the North American Conference of Imams. A passenger had passed a note to a flight attendant noting what he considered suspicious activity.

FBI Special Agent Michael Cannizzaro and airport police officers had argued that the arrest and removal of the imams was valid because there were reasons to be suspicious of a crime. They argued that a law passed by Congress to protect people who report suspicious activity from being sued also extends to them.

But Montgomery’s opinion and order stated that they were bound by longstanding rules requiring probable cause before arresting someone.

Being of Middle Eastern descent, praying aloud before their flight and asking for seat belt extenders did not constitute reasonable suspicion to arrest the Muslim spiritual leaders, Montgomery ruled. The officers are not immune to being held accountable for their actions, she said. She did dismiss a false arrest claim against Cannizzaro.

Continue reading

Georgia courts to allow religious head coverings

Lisa_ValentineGeorgia courtrooms will allow religious headgear after last year’s arrest of a Muslim woman who refused to remove her headscarf in a west Georgia courthouse.

The Judicial Council of Georgia voted unanimously this week to allow religious and medical headgear into Georgia courtrooms. It also allows a person to request a private inspection if a security officer wants to conduct a search.

“If this had been a nun, no one would have required her to remove her habit,” said Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol Hunstein, who heads the Judicial Council. “I think this is a good rule, and I think it’s clear.”

The policy shift stems from the December 2008 arrest of Lisa Valentine, who was ordered to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court after she refused to remove her hijab at a courtroom in Douglasville, a town of about 20,000 people west of Atlanta.

Associated Press, 24 July 2009

See also CAIR press release, 24 July 2009