Islamophobia Watch

It's not every day that Islamophobia Watch has cause to quote Polly Toynbee favourably, but her piece in today's Guardian features an effective polemic against right-wing myths about the Muslim attack on "our" Christian culture:

"In a daft parliamentary debate this month on something called Christianophobia, Mark Pritchard MP accused the politically correct of banning religion from Christmas cards and advent calendars: 'Many shoppers find it increasingly difficult to purchase greetings cards that refer to Jesus.' ... Evangelicals started a new myth this year that postage stamps with the Madonna and child are only sold under the counter: you have to ask for them, for fear of offending Muslims and Jews. Stuff and nonsense, retorted the Post Office. But you can bet this one will run and run – along with last year's myth that 70% of offices banned Christmas decorations for multicultural reasons....

"All this would just be seasonal silliness if it were not cover for a more sinister drumbeat. The right has taken to flying the 'Christian' flag in ways that suggest none too subtly that foreigners – Muslims – are stealing our culture and traditions. 'They' are stopping 'us' celebrating Christmas and teaching Christian stories to our children. When Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, appeared on GMTV this week, although as usual he denied any atheist plot against Christmas, the theme in about 3,000 emails afterwards was: 'We are not Muslims, our culture must not be silenced to avoid offending them.'

"The BNP has been quick to cash in. In the Christianophobia debate in parliament, the reported case of a BNP Christmas card was raised, 'which portrays the holy family on the cover and inside are the words "Heritage, Tradition and Culture".' Pritchard warned television firms: 'The fear of violence from a particular faith group should not be grounds for hand-selecting or targeting other faith groups who may choose to protest peacefully.' Fear of Muslim violence is killing off peaceful Christianity, he implies."

A report in the Bury Times demonstrates that there are some Labour politicians who are not averse to stirring up anti-Muslim sentiment in an attempt to gain political advantage.

"Over the past year or so the rural Italian idyll of Colle di Val d'Elsa has played host to a bitter battle for Enlightenment values. On one side, the hamlet's small Muslim community has raised a considerable amount of money to build a large mosque. Having gained the mayor's approval, the Muslims signed a declaration of cooperation with the town hall and even planted a Christmas tree at the site as a good-will gesture.

"In response, other locals pelted them with sausages and dumped a severed pig's head at the site. On a wall near the site vandals daubed: 'No Mosque', 'Christian Hill' and 'Thanks to the communists the Arabs are in our house!!!' Such is the central dynamic in European race relations at present.

"... the primary threat to democracy in Europe is not 'Islamofascism' – that clunking, thuggish phrase that keeps lashing out in the hope that it will one day strike a meaning – but plain old fascism. The kind whereby mostly white Europeans take to the streets to terrorize minorities in the name of racial, cultural or religious superiority."

Gary Younge in the Nation, 20 December 2007

A report claiming that extremist literature was being distributed through a mosque in Leyton was based on forged evidence, according to the mosque's imam and the BBC. Masjid al-Tawhid, in Leyton High Road, was named in The Hijacking of British Islam – published by the rightwing Policy Exchange think-tank in October.

Imam Dr Usama Hasan says the researchers bought the books from Tayba, an unaffiliated book shop next door, then faked a recipt to suggest the shop and the mosque were the same organisation. He said: "We're furious about this and we're considering taking legal action against Policy Exchange unless they correct their errors. The shop is nothing to do with us. It is an independent commercial enterprise. We never promoted these books at all. We're involved in interpreting the Quran and understanding it in a modern British context. The only message this mosque promotes is tolerance and co-existence."

The books in question, including Justice Is In The Law of Islam And Not In The Acclaimed Democracy, advocate a strict, literal interpretation of Shari'a law and instruct Muslims not to associate with non-believers. They also include misogynistic and anti-semitic views. Among their authors is Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz – a Saudi cleric who helped found Masjid al-Tawhid in 1984 with a large cash donation. However Dr Hasan says he rejects bin Baz's teaching on women and non-Muslims, saying he has little experience of life outside Saudi Arabia.

Leyton Guardian, 20 December 2007

The Iowa campaign manager of aspiring US presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has stated in a television interview that "we're fighting a radical religion in Islam" and that "the war on terror is a theological war".

NewsBusters, 19 December 2007

Watch video here

"In the Detroit-area, where a festering and metastasizing Muslim minority has managed to co-opt the media, every time a Muslim hiccups, it makes the news. And every time kids at a Muslim school celebrate a holiday, that makes the news, too. Christmas parties at a Catholic or Evangelical school, who cares? And a lot of these stories are – predictably – meant to impress upon us various areas of disinformation, such as how pro-female Islam is or how peaceful."

Right-wing US pundit Debbie Schlussel takes issue with the Detroit Free Press over its favourable coverage of the hajj celebration at a local Muslim school, the Muslim American Youth Academy.

debbieschlussel.com, 19 December 2007

Two New South Wales Members of Parliament have called for the scrapping of a 1,200-student Islamic school in Sydney's southwest. Joining hundreds of residents outside the Camden Civic Centre, Upper house Christian Democrat MP Fred Nile and Liberal Party MP Charlie Lynn highlighted Islam's opposition to Christianity, as a good enough reason to stop the building of the school.

Nile told ABC Radio after the meeting: "... all the Aussies that are celebrating carols by candlelight this week all over Australia, millions of Australians, are condemned by the Koran. And sincere Muslims are supposed to believe this book – the Koran is the word of God, the word of their god, Allah." Lynn said only 100 Muslim families lived in Camden, and added, "This is an attempt by social engineers to inflict culture shock, if you like on Camden."

Daily India, 20 December 2007

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The exposure of faked evidence for a thinktank report is a warning of the dangers of Britain's anti-Muslim media campaign, argues Seumas Milne.

Guardian, 20 December 2007

Henry Grunwald offers a perceptive analysis of the BNP's intervention in a recent by-election in Harrow, in a ward with a large Jewish electorate:

"....  it is important to understand that the recent foray into Canons Ward was meant to highlight a purported 'common cause' with Jews. How? Using the alchemy of hate, the BNP sought to turn a legitimate concern with radical extremism into generalised prejudice against British Muslims.

"If nothing else, this shape-shifting vilification tactic is a reminder of the BNP's core ideology. For no matter how they dress up their pitch, and how coded their language may be, the BNP remains dedicated to propagating their worldview in Britain, based on an anti-integration, white supremacist credo."

Totally Jewish, 19 December 2007

"A Halifax man with extreme Islamic beliefs has been jailed for four years. Rizwan Mahmood Ditta, 29, of Royd Terrace, Savile Park, supported the Taliban and the July 7 London bombings, a court heard. He admitted two offences under the Terrorism Act.

"Ditta, an English tutor for Asians in Halifax, would have been keen to take part in terrorist activity, said prosecutor Jonathan Sharp. Video footage found in his possession, showed military vehicles being blown up and audio messages encouraging terrorism.

"Ditta was arrested when counter-terrorism officers raided his Halifax home in January. He was charged with two counts of having data on a computer hard drive that contained information likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism."

Evening Courier, 18 December 2007

An accompanying editorial describes Ditta as having engaged in "a subtle type of terrorism" and observes: "Some may feel the sentence is lenient for a person described as supporting the Taliban and the London bombings on 7/7."

Some, on the other hand, may note that Ditta didn't actually engage in any form of terrorism at all, "subtle" or otherwise, nor did the prosecution present any evidence that he intended to do so. He was charged on the basis of downloading material from the internet. As for the supposed "leniency" of the four-year prison sentence, some may wish to contrast that with the two-and-half-years that BNP member Robert Cottage received after being convicted of possessing explosives.