Sarkozy takes stand against far right anti-Muslim bigotry (not)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Brigitte Bardot is facing prison if convicted for a fifth time of inciting racial hatred. Brigitte loves animals and hates Muslims, which is why she sent a petition to the president about halal butchers: ‘I’ve had enough of being led by the nose by this whole population which is destroying us, destroying our country, imposing their ways.’ Sarkozy takes a tough line on this sort of abuse. ‘When you live in France’, he is fond of reminding voters, ‘you respect the rules. You don’t have lots of wives, you don’t circumcise your daughters, and you don’t use the bath of your apartment to slaughter sheep in.’ The peace prize is in the post, M President.”

Fiachra Gibbons in the Guardian Paris Diary, 6 May 2008

‘Boris Johnson defeated Islamic extremists as well as Ken Livingstone’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“This result isn’t just a wonderful victory for Boris and the termination of Livingstone. It’s also a defeat for the campaign – an exceptionally dirty one, at that – waged against Boris by a small band of separatists claiming to act in the name of all London’s Muslims.”

Tory MP Paul Goodman attacks the role of the British Muslim Initiative and Muslims4Ken in the London mayoral election. (Yes, that the same Paul Goodman who David Cameron appointed as shadow minister for Communities.)

Conservative Home, 3 May 2008

See Anas Altiktiti’s responses in the comments section. He writes: “Paul Goodman’s piece is symptomatic of all that’s wrong with politics and politicians today. Neither Mr. Goodman nor his party have ever asked to meet up with myself or with any of the organisations that he has so steadily listed, yet he hesitates not for a second to label me and those organisations as extremists. In fact his whole argument seems to suggest that all Muslims who voted for Ken Livingstone are on the extreme side, and that only those who voted for his party are ‘moderates’.”

And see also Anas’s piece at Comment is Free: “The constituency we were addressing was worried about Islamaphobia. And we managed to ensure the issue of Islam, Islamaphobia and discrimination against Muslims was on every candidate’s agenda and a hot topic in every hustings. If it did nothing else than persuade Johnson to clarify his views on Islam, assert his conviction that it is indeed a religion of peace, and get him to visit a few mosques in an attempt to win back votes he was convinced he had lost, then it was a great success.”

Berlusconi to appoint far right Islamophobe to cabinet

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Roberto_CalderoliRoberto Calderoli, 52, a senior member of the Northern League, enraged Muslims two years ago during the row over a set of Danish cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed. He appeared on television wearing a T-shirt printed with one of the cartoons. The Italian consulate in Libya was set on fire and 11 people died in riots.

Mr Calderoli has also threatened to defile the proposed site of a mosque in Padua by walking a pig over the ground. When Italy beat France in the 2006 World Cup, he said France had “sacrificed its identity by fielding niggers, Muslims and communists”.

Despite the controversies, which forced him to resign as a minister for reform in 2006, Mr Calderoli is likely to get another job when Mr Berlusconi picks his cabinet because of the strong results obtained by the Northern League in the general election.

Daily Telegraph, 5 May 2008

See also “Muslims feel under siege as Italian Right sets up town vigilante groups” in the Times, 3 May 2008

A new era of Islamophobia?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Fosters 1027 24“What an election! We have the first Conservative Mayor for London and we also have the first racist Islamophobe from the BNP in the London Assembly. So what do we make of this? Is this the end of an era or is it a beginning of a new one? …

“So what caused this shock result? Was it anti-Brown or anti-Labour sentiments? Was it the recognition that ‘the Conservatives have changed into a party that can again be trusted after 30 years’? Was it the overt support of Muslims 4 Ken, as some have commented? Or was it the politics of fear created by the government and media? Can it even be as simple as ‘he’s been there too long’? We may never know the real reasons, as most voters will have different reasons for voting the way they do – but here is my thought on why the BNP got its first Assembly Member.

“If you recall the last 2 to 3 years, you will no doubt notice that the most discussed subject has been Islam and Muslims. The rancorous manner in which the government – a Labour government – attacked Islam and Muslim has been unforgivable. Together with the relentless and vitriolic media, it created the perfect atmosphere for the racist BNP to peddle its malevolence with impunity. In the eyes of the BBC this racist party has now become ‘The anti-immigration British National Party’. Anti-immigration! When Jack Straw said that it’s not Ken’s fault alone and that everybody in government had some responsibility, I sincerely hope he together with the likes of Ruth Kelly and others recall their Islam bashing and how they allowed the BNP to espouse the myth of ‘Islamofascism’. And how the hatred they spew is becoming acceptable and mainstream. Maybe this is the ‘new era’ that has begun!”

Azad Ali assesses the results of the London elections.

Between the Lines, 3 May 2008

Barnbrook calls for flying of Union Jack and a ban on burkas

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The mainstream party candidates walked off the stage when Richard Barnbrook stepped up to speak after becoming, early on Saturday morning, the first member of the British National Party to win a seat on the London Assembly. Mr Barnbrook was unpeturbed. He expects to be treated as a pariah for the next four years, but insists that he will not be cowed. “If I have to be a lone wolf I will be one,” he told The Times.

Mr Barnbrook, 47, said that he intends to become the voice of “true Londoners”, fighting against political correctness and preferential treatment for racial minorities. He will press for the Union Jack to be flown permanently over City Hall, for burkas to be banned from public buildings and for official celebrations to mark St George’s Day. He will resist the planned construction of a huge new mosque, the biggest place of worship in Britain, in Newham, East London.

The Times, 4 May 2008

Martin Freeman on multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Chris Sullivan interviews Martin Freeman:

Politely, I comment on his lovely house and the tranquillity that surrounds it. “When I moved up here this woman I know said, ‘Ooh! There are a lot of whiteys up there’, and I said, ‘I love white people; I’ve no problem with them at all’. The idea was that I was going to complain because there weren’t enough blues dances out here; not enough ragga around. But I’m not bothered by it.

“Multiculturalism hasn’t and doesn’t help, because rightly or wrongly it polarises people so much,” he continues. “Racism is one thing – and I don’t agree with that in any form – but noticing that there are differences is normal and fine and to be encouraged. We’ve reached a state now where it’s, ‘You shouldn’t notice. Why are you noticing he’s got a bomb and has a beard and is Muslim and wants to kill your family’?”

Mail on Sunday, 4 May 2008

Claiming damages, the Muslim policeman removed from Blair guard duty

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim policeman removed from his job guarding the Prime Minister on “national security grounds” yesterday launched a claim for compensation.

Firearms officer Amjad Farooq, 40, was transferred from the elite Diplomatic Protection Group on the advice of MI5, after it had carried out vetting checks on him.

Now, in what is believed to be a first for employment tribunals, the hearing into his claim that he suffered racial and religious discrimination is being held behind closed doors on the grounds of national security.

The case centres on concerns over a mosque that PC Farooq and his family attended in Swindon.

Daily Mail, 2 May 2008

See also “Muslim PC barred from own tribunal” in the Swindon Advertiser, 2 May 2008