Friday, March 26, 2010

“Islamophobia is a Threat to Democracy”

Our British correspondent JP points out this letter published in yesterday’s Guardian and signed by various notables, both the culturally enriched kind as well as progressive “persons of British background”.

JP includes this note:

This letter deserves highlighting, primarily for its sheer and utter egregiousness.

A perfectly valid documentary was broadcast on Channel 4 recently which investigated the entryist tactics of an Islamic organisation, Islamic Forum of Europe as it infiltrated the Labour Party in east London, a documentary which was supported by the local Labour Party MP, Jim Fitzpatrick, who also appeared in the film.

Now, according to the letter writer and co-signatories this is an attack on democracy.

These people will not be happy until democracy and London are smoking ruins, because this is exactly where these interventions are leading.

Below is the letter, which has some familiar signatures — the usual suspects — but most are people I’ve never heard of:

Islamophobia is a threat to democracy

We are concerned by the rise of Islamophobia, the negative coverage of Muslims in the media, the violent street mobilisations of extreme rightwing organisations like the English Defence League, and the rising electoral support for the British National party (The battle for Barking, Weekend, 13 March). Following Channel 4’s recent inflammatory documentary, Britain’s Islamic Republic, which saw concentrated attacks on the East London Mosque, the English Defence League marched through central London with placards including the demand “Close the East London Mosque now”.

The East End of London is not new to having its communities attacked by fascists and the media. The 1930s saw the Battle of Cable Street when Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts attempted to march into the Jewish community in the area. We cannot allow this terrible history to repeat itself. Further, the documentary, and articles since, have attacked the participation in politics by the Muslim community. We cannot stand by and watch this continue without remark or action.

In the runup to the general election, all parts of the population should be actively encouraged to exercise their votes. That is democracy. We welcome the work of organisations who work to this end. We call for solidarity and support for those organisations that work to encourage political participation from all sections of society, including Muslims, and condemn those who seek to undermine it.
- - - - - - - - -
Ken Livingstone
Bonnie Greer
Dr Abdul Bari Secretary general, Muslim Council of Britain
Brendan Barber General secretary, TUC
Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC
Dr. Edie Friedman Executive director, Jewish Council for Racial Equality
Diane Abbott MP
Neil Jameson Executive director, London Citizens
Jagtar Singh Sikh Secretariat
Tony Woodley Joint general secretary, Unite the Union
Bruce Kent
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
Professor Eric Hobsbawm
Louise Christian Christian Khan solicitors
Billy Hayes General secretary, Communication Workers Union
Rabbi Lee Wax
Anas Altikriti Spokesperson, British Muslim Initiative
Caroline Lucas MEP
Professor Avi Shlaim

Lord Nazir Ahmed
Kate Hudson Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Andrew Stunell MP
Ismail Patel Co-ordinator, YouElect
Claude Moraes MEP
Rev. Alan Green Chair, Tower Hamlets Interfaith forum
George Galloway MP
Musleh Faradhi
Central president, Islamic Forum Europe
Jean Lambert MEP
Salma Yaqoob
Leader, Respect party
Jenny Jones AM
Steve Hart Regional secretary, Unite London Region
Andrew Murray Chair, Stop the War
Bell Ribeiro-Addy NUS black students officer
Sabby Dhalu Joint secretary, Unite Against Fascism

11 comments:

EscapeVelocity said...

Keep a running list of these folks, so we know who is the enemy.

EscapeVelocity said...

Islam is a threat to democracy, and these radical Leftwingers, too.

If all parts of the population should be actively encouraged to participate in democracy. Then these folks should embrace the BNP and their voters, and the people who march in the streets like the EDL, voicing their concerns should be lauded for their participation in the political process.

ɱØяñιηg$ʇðя ©™ said...

Most of them are new to me but it's only nice to get a list of new traitors. Livingstone and "lord" Ahmed sure deserves a short fall and a sudden stop. I'm sure when the britons take back their country it's gonna be exactly what they gets too.

Furor Teutonicus said...

not new to having its communities attacked by fascists and the media. The 1930s saw the Battle of Cable Street when Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts attempted to march into the Jewish community in the area.

We know they are already mad, but if they can not see the difference the case is proved.

The Jewish religion does NOT demand that they take over the communities into which they move, for a start.

Jews can see that many things in their "holy books" are allogarical, and do NOT take them as literaly meaning "kill the non believer".

Even if at one time it WAS taken literaly (IF it was), they have, like the christians, for CENTURYS, grown up, and out of that pubecent stage.

Muslims have not. And THAT is the VERY dangerous difference.

This is comparing chalk and cheese.

In Hoc Signo Vinces† said...

In hoc signo vinces

As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood".

[...]

Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now. Whether there will be the public will to demand and obtain that action, I do not know. All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal.

Jedilson Bonfim said...

Had Hitler, like mahound, laid any claims to prophethood, we’d see all those same monkeys signing letters describing “naziphobia/national-socialism-phobia” as a threat to democracy. Not that this means that Lard Nazir Ahmed doesn’t greatly admire the führer and doesn’t probably have his own copy of Hitler’s version of the glory-ass quran, maybe in Urdu, his likely native language.

Anonymous said...

Well, someone needs to compile a list with all the names of the sort of people who throw their weight behind such initiatives so that punitive actions, regardless of the general outcome of our struggle, might be taken at the appropriate time.

Juniper in the Desert said...

Caroline Lucas is a Euro MP and Leader of the Green Party UK. (yes Hitler was a vegetarian)

Bonnie Greer is married to a lefty english lawyer, is a person of zero talent(as a writer) and is a beneficiary of the affirmative action movement.

Sir Geoffrey bindman is a capo Jewish lawyer, clearly with a suicidal urge, considering the other head-chopping charmers on the list!

EscapeVelocity said...

Here you go stratomunckin...

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/

Zenster said...

Islamophobia is a threat to democracy

This is true but only in the sense of how vaccinations routinely threaten to kill a minuscule proportion of the individuals who are otherwise successfully innoculated against fatal diseases.

Islamophobia − and the mockery it makes of any rational fear − is only a threat to democracy in the same way that an awareness of Islam will trigger over-reactions in a very few whilst properly evoking a healthy survival response in the many.

Islam remains − as it historically has been − a primary threat to democracy, while those who eagerly anticipate democracy's downfall will, Muslim and Infidel alike, most likely be quite unprepared for, and shocked by, what ensues thereafter.

Those who, at present, live under yet least cherish democracy will − once it has disappeared − learn to long for it unrequitedly much as Muslims will eventually be taught to yearn for the day that Osama bin Laden had never been born.

WAKE UP said...

There is NO SUCH THING as Islamophobia. What there is, is: a growing awareness of Muslim madness, and the threat it poses.