BNP – refugee-hating, Muslim-hating Nazis

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP dustbinBritish National Party supporters cheered for one of their candidates to be awarded a Nazi military medal at a Euro election after-party.

A member of the crowd made the call after learning that Charlotte Lewis had travelled to Calais to lead a protest against the refugee camp there, taking placards reading “Britain’s full up” and “Asylum seekers don’t unpack, you’re going back”.

Bob Bailey, 43, a BNP councillor in Barking and Dagenham, gave two talks at the event, with Lewis – a candidate for Waddon, South London – giving a third.

Talking about her trip to Calais, she said: “The invaders are dangerous and they are not people we want in England or Europe or anywhere in the civilised world.” She claimed they “swaggered” around Calais before recounting a story about her Afghan neighbour.

She said: “The Afghan who lives in the flat above me… well, I say that, he hasn’t been seen for two weeks, so I’m hoping him, Fatima and the brat have moved out.” After a pause, and to raucous laughter, she added: “I don’t think they could take any more of my penchant for playing heavy metal music at 1am. It’s wishful thinking that they have gone back to Afghanistan, but it’s more than likely they have been allocated one of numerous brand-new housing association flats in the area.”

Lewis then described people who work in soup kitchens to provide food for refugees as “idiotic dim-witted liberals”. It was after this that Bailey made his ridiculous pledge to give Lewis a medal if the BNP get into government.

Sipping a pint, he said: “Under the BNP people like Charlotte would get a medal… there is no doubt.” Someone in the crowd then shouted out “the Iron Cross”. The German medal is closely associated with the Nazis – Hitler reintroduced it and added a swastika.

Bailey then went into an anti-Muslim rant. He said: “We do not need Islam in Europe and we do not need it in the UK. In London we know the stark realities of Islam more than anywhere else. They bomb buses, they bomb trains, they have created terror here.”

Sunday Mirror, 21 June 2009

Police and media accused of double standards over anti-Muslim violence

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Scottish man who describes himself as a “proud racist” has admitted threatening to bomb Glasgow Central Mosque and engage in targeted killings of Muslims. Neil MacGregor has been convicted of a breach of the peace but there has been surprise in some quarters that he was not charged with terrorist offences. Critics have also said that the case would have attracted considerably more media interest if the man’s motivation had been Islamic rather than anti-Islamic.

In an email to Strathclyde police, MacGregor demanded the closure of all mosques in Scotland, threatening to kidnap and behead one Muslim each week if this demand were not met. He later called police to say that he had planted a nail bomb in Glasgow Central Mosque but police found nothing suspicious after evacuating 100 worshippers. MacGregor pleaded guilty and has been remanded in custody but sentencing was deferred yesterday by Glasgow Sherriff Court.

Comparisons have been made with the case of the Islamic militant Mohammed Atif Siddique, who was sentenced to eight years imprisonment in 2007 for collecting and circulating terrorist material. Siddique’s lawyer Aamer Anwar, suggested this week that the authorities would bring terrorism charges against Muslims but not against white racists.

However, a spokesperson for the Crown Office insisted that “The facts of the case made it clear that this was a hoax bomb threat which was racially aggravated. There was no evidence of terrorist motivation or intention.”

Osama Saeed of the Scottish Islamic Foundation responded by saying “It’s all too easy to dismiss MacGregor as a fantasist and lunatic – many of the Muslims convicted of terror offences could be similarly described.”

Saeed, who is also the Scottish National Party’s prospective Parliamentary candidate for Glasgow Central, criticised the lack of media coverage. “Imagine if a Scottish Muslim pleaded guilty to threatening to blow up Glasgow Cathedral and behead one Christian a week until all British troops were pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said. “It would be splashed over every newspaper in the land.”

But the story has spread quickly in online discussions, not only amongst Muslims. “I just feel angry that a chance to convince the Muslim community that there is no bias against them has fallen flat on its face” wrote the Christian blogger Graham Martin yesterday. “This whole situation might actually be used to justify further violence.”

Ekklesia, 20 June 2009

Muslims snub drive against BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Well, so the Jewish Chronicle claims:

“Muslim interfaith activist Fiyaz Mughal is upset at the non-attendance of MCB representatives at a meeting held under the aegis of Faith Matters at Westminster last Friday. Mr Mughal – the Faith Matters director who was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours – had invited 25 ‘key figures’ from ethnic and religious groups to discuss the way forward after the BNP had taken two seats in the European elections. The absence of MCB delegates was ‘disappointing because this was an opportunity to learn from other communities about dealing with a common enemy,’ he said.”

It’s only when you get to the bottom of the column that you find:

“An MCB spokesman said he was unaware of the invitation. He indicated that the council would consider becoming involved in the initiative if approached by the Board of Deputies.”

Greenwich Islamic Centre petrol bombed twice in a week

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mohamed KoheealleeA brave caretaker was hurt as he risked his life to save a mosque torched by arsonists in the second petrol bomb attack in a week.

Mohamed Koheeallee, 62, raced to tackle 7ft flames at the Greenwich Islamic Centre in Plumstead Road at 12.15am on Tuesday. Grabbing a bucket of water, he extinguished the fire as it spread inside but when he opened a fire exit, he was engulfed by flames burning his arm and his face.

Choking with smoke inhalation and despite his injuries, he carried on dousing the fire until the mosque was safe but when he tried to tackle the source of the blaze he was pushed back by its intensity.

Holy texts, including the most sacred in Islam – the Koran – were burned.

Mr Koheeallee, who believes the attack was racially motivated, was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital by ambulance to be treated for smoke inhalation and burns and was later discharged. He said: “It makes me feel really bad to see the burnt holy scriptures. If these people have a problem they should be brave enough to say it to my face, but not like this.”

The caretaker had also dealt with another arson attack at the mosque which had been less serious but had taken place a week before at approximately the same time of night.

The centre’s director, Dr Tariq Abbasi, said “enough is enough,” and has called on the new Greenwich borough commander Richard Wood to take action.

Dr Abbasi said: “This is as bad as it can get. Nobody deserves this. Seeing burnt copies of the Koran, the emotional impact has been devastating.  Monetary loss is one thing, the building can be re-built, but the emotional scars can last for years. The Muslim community see this as a racist attack on a place of worship.”

He said a racist minority may have been encouraged after BNP members won seats in the European elections.

Bexley Times, 17 June 2009

Via ENGAGE  See also Asian Image, 18 June 2009

In the European elections the four London boroughs in which the BNP registered its highest votes were Barking & Dagenham 19.3%, Havering 14%, Bexley 12.3% and Greenwich 8.4%.

Update:  See “CCTV images released after Mosque fire”, Bexley Times, 31 July 2009

Douglas Murray and Anjem Choudary – two self-publicists help each other out

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Murray and Choudary

Over at Comment is Free, Douglas Murray of the Centre for Social Cohesion tries to defend his decision to debate Anjem Choudary at a meeting at Conway Hall, London, organised by an al-Muhajiroun front calling itself the “Global Issues Society”.

The meeting was cancelled following a confrontation over al-Muhajiroun’s attempt to impose gender separation, resulting in lots of publicity for both Murray and Choudary.

Murray claims: “We were sceptical of GIS from the start. We strongly suspected that they were some sort of front group. But we couldn’t satisfactorily confirm the fact. Despite our concerns, and our knowledge that it was a possible ambush, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and decided to attend the event in good faith.”

According to Murray, he went to Conway hall with the highest motives, intent only on defending “religious pluralism, women’s rights, gay rights, and actual diversity in society”. It is, Murray asserts piously, “possible to chip away at the mindset of radicalised Muslims – sowing seeds of doubt. Even if it is just one member of the audience who is receptive to the anti-totalitarian possibility it is vital to do this. It is the reason why I debate.”

Yeah, right. This is the same Douglas Murray who in 2006 told the Pim Fortuyn Memorial Conference: “All immigration into Europe from Muslim countries must stop…. Conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board: Europe must look like a less attractive proposition.” Some defender of “actual diversity in society”!

Contrast Murray’s efforts at self-justification with Yayha Birt’s explanation of the CSC’s motives:

“the CSC says it acted in ‘good faith’ in accepting this invitation, an assertion that can’t be left unchallenged…. It seems probable that the CSC was more focused on highlighting their own campaign for a quick ban and burnishing their reputation as a scourge of radical Islam by playing up to al-Muhajiroun’s all-too-familiar tactics.”

Update:  See Yusuf Smith’s comments at Indigo Jo Blogs, 21 June 2009

Will France ban the veil?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Secularism is the religion of contemporary France. And the enforcers of that faith have a new target. ‘Today… we are confronted by certain Muslim women wearing the burqa, which covers and fully envelops the body and the head like a moving prison,’ said Andre Gérin, a Communist Party legislator who joined 57 others Wednesday in signing a motion for a parliamentary committee to study possible legislation to ban the wearing of the traditional costume in public….

“But what about the rights of Muslim women who honestly feel faith-bound to voluntarily don a burka? Or those prohibited by law from attending public school with the headscarfs they wear everywhere else? Why is no one ranting about nuns’ habits being ‘degrading’ (as Gerin called the burqa), just as no one lashed out at creeping extremism when then-First Lady Bernadette Chirac covered her head during Vatican visits?

“Probably because Catholicism has deep roots in French history and culture, and is not viewed as a foreign faith the way Islam is ….”

Bruce Crumley in Time, 19 June 2009

See also “Muslim council slams call for burqa inquiry”, AFP, 18 June 2009

Mel and Geert – spot the difference

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The enemies of reason sets a quiz.

You simply have to guess who said the following statements – Melanie Phillips or Geert Wilders.

1. “Socialists are the most inveterate cultural relativists in Europe. They regard the Islamic culture of backwardness and violence as equal to our Western culture of freedom, democracy and human rights. In fact, it is the socialists who are responsible for mass immigration, Islamization and general decay of our cities and societies.”

2. “The nation-wrecking ideology of multiculturalism and the Marxist redefinition of racial prejudice into racism – ‘prejudice plus power ‘– which have turned our society inside out are the product of the left.”

3. “Voters have been told in effect that there is nothing standing between national suicide on the one hand and racism on the other. If you don’t want the former, you are automatically branded with the latter.”

4. “And so, the voters have had enough. Because they of course realise that Europe is going in the wrong direction. They know that there are enormous problems with Islam in Europe. They are well aware of the identity of those who are taking them for a ride, namely, the Shariah socialists.”

5. “They are areas of very high immigration where the transformation of the ethnic, religious and cultural landscape has made indigenous inhabitants feel strangers in their own country — and yet they are told they are racist for saying so”

6. “Mass immigration, demographic developments and Islamization are certainly partly causes of Europe’s steadily increasing impoverishment and decay.”

7. “Above all else, we should absolutely refuse to countenance the spread of Sharia law, which is not only inimical to our own deepest principles but aims to supplant our own laws. Yet we are turning a blind eye to the steady Sharia-isation”

8. “Just like communism, fascism and nazism, Islam is a threat to everything we stand for. It is a threat to democracy, to the constitutional state, to equality for men and women, to freedom and civilisation. Wherever you look in the world, the more Islam you see, the less freedom you see.”

9. “The problem, however, is that it doesn’t understand what Muslim extremism is. Believing that Islamic terrorism is motivated by an ideology which has ‘hijacked’ and distorted Islam, it will not acknowledge the extremism within mainstream Islam itself.”

10. “Of course, there are many moderate Muslims. However, there is no such a thing as a moderate Islam. Islam’s heart lies in the Koran.”

11. “In the war being waged by radical Islamism against the west, such symbolism [as mosque-building] is of the utmost importance and significance. It is itself a strategic weapon of cultural and religious demoralisation.”

12. “We will have to close down all radical [mosques] and forbid the construction of any new mosques, there is enough Islam in Europe.”

Tricky, no? So there you have it – Geert Wilders and Melanie Phillips. One a dangerous extremist with vile views; the other a Dutchman with silly hair.

‘No, madam, it’s you who have offended MY values’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daily Mail pollWriting in today’s Daily Mail, Allison Pearson introduces us the the concept of “Burkha Rage”, defined as shorthand for anger directed against Muslim women “taking the mickey out of our country and its tolerant ways”.

According to Pearson, Muslim women continue to exploit “our” tolerance, “despite a growing acceptance that multi-culturalism has been deeply damaging to race relations”. That would be as distinct from the positive contribution to race relations made by the Daily Mail and its columnists, would it?

Speaking of which, arising out of Pearson’s column, the Mail is today running a poll on “Should immigrants be forced to respect British culture?”

See also ENGAGE.