This summer has been a bad one for people proud of Britain’s multiethnic, multifaith identity. Especially if you have any attachment to Birmingham where the actions of some anti-fascists have proved a propaganda boon for the far right anti-Muslim bigots of the English Defence League, BNP and Stop Islamisation Of Europe (SIOE).
Today there is a major risk of serious disturbances in Harrow and all, these organisations say, because they hate “Islamist extremism”.
A common criticism made of people who oppose Islamist extremism is that they blur the lines between Islam and Islamism so as to attack all Muslims. The Spittoon has often been accused of this, an accusation which we entirely reject. But the EDL and its anti-Muslim fellow travellers of the BNP and SIOE do not just blur the line, they ignore that such a line exists and trample it into the dust.
From 45 seconds on in this clip an EDL spokesman explains what they are opposed to:
That’s right, they’re protesting against “all devout Muslims”.
And then here’s the image SIOE chose to illustrate their blog post advertising that police approval had been given for today’s protest. Yes, that’s a mosque as a skull.
SIOE also have some unexpected interests beside stirring up trouble in Harrow. Their website claims that they support Greenlanders Against Ethnic Cleansing, Serbian Kosovo, Israel and “Lionheart” and that their protest will be joined by “Approved groups such as the English Defence League, British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists, March for England, For a Democratic and Secular Iran, will join the demonstration and the police will be notified as to which groups will attend as soon as such participation has been confirmed.”
How many of these groups are gathering in Harrow this afternoon is not yet known, but one thing is. The right to protest is a fundamental one, but it is deeply disturbing that people should choose to do so outside a mosque (or any place of worship for that matter). There can be no doubt that these groups are part of an anti-Muslim alliance which must be peacefully opposed.
24 Comments
I’m sorry if this is a digression but I am more disturbed by that picture in the background of Salma’s video clip. What is that? Some animal head with snakes? Medusa?
I was appalled to see the photo of this scum carrying the Israeli flag i n this morning’s Jewish Chronicle.
They don’t support Jews, they don’t support Israel, this is pure mischief making.
Maybe they do support Israel. Are you suggesting they are just using an Israeli flag to wind up Muslims?
for once it is good to see appropriate reactions from the cst, the bod and even the israeli embassy. unfortunately the likes of mpac will obviously take it as “evidence” of a conspiracy in which jews are hiding behind anti-muslim racists – and, obviously, it’s pretty sad to see that they have fallen for such an evident ploy hook, line and sinker.
if this were happening in america, i’d fully expect a bunch of beitarniks to steam into the edl and try and get the flag back, turning it into a three-way pagga.
of course, this is going on on friday night, so the chances of any jews intervening are pretty slim.
b’shalom
bananabrain
“Are you suggesting they are just using an Israeli flag to wind up Muslims?”
Just a bit.
Oh, and Jews too.
“A common criticism made of people who oppose Islamist extremism is that they blur the lines between Islam and Islamism so as to attack all Muslims. The Spittoon has often been accused of this, an accusation which we entirely reject. ”
reject it all you like. You and your friends at Harry’s Place are responsible for providing succour to these bigots. You have blurred the lines, with your arbitary terms of Islamism. Your divisive content feeds into the bigotry of the daily express and which in turn is siezed upon by these bigots.
Who was there calling for calm? That’s right, Ajmal Masroor, a person associated with the Islamic Society of BritaiN and the Muslim Council of Britain. In your books he will be an Islamist and perona non grata.
So shame on you. You have the audacity of wishing everyone peace during this holy month of ramadan, but all you do is continue to smear good works and good people.
No use crying over spilt milk now. Reflect on your actions.
Where have we called Ajmal Masroor an “Islamist and perona non grata”? Care to back that up with a reference?
As far as I can tell, Ajmal Masroor is engaging in democratic politics, pluralism and British values and tackling Muslim insularism by standing as a Muslim candidate for a mainstream British political party, the LibDems. In that regard, he is to be saluted.
Jack – I think political Islamist groups like the IFE and MCB have done far more damage to the image of Muslim in the UK than any website or blog. By claiming to be moderate yet promoting an Islamist agenda you have made ordinary members of the public believe that all Muslims harbour Islamist ideals. For that they should be ashamed. Thank God they are being challenged nowadays and are not taken seriously anymore outside of Tower Hamlets.
“promote an Islamist agenda” the imaginary one that you jokers cook up for your own end.
@Faisal . Harrow Mosque is an affiliate of MCB. Masroor is/was/continues to sit on the central body of the MCB and is a member of ISB, which is a founding member.
We are all aware of the smears by association of your pitiful outfit. It is only a matter of time.
The EDL is also speaking out against this so called Islamism, so yours and their aims align.
No the very real one Islamist loons dream about.
We are all aware of the smears by association of your pitiful outfit. It is only a matter of time.
I see. Unable to back up your claim that we have called Masroor an “Islamist and perona non grata” (sic), you’ve resorted to a piss-poor smear of your own.
The Spittoon will continue to identify Islamists and their organisations for what they are, you can be sure of that.
On the other hand, Islamists and anti-Muslim bigots, like the EDL, have one thing in common. They will both continue to try and conflate Islamism with Islam and try with the suggestion that the aims and values of your average Islamist project is that of Muslims in general.
You mean the so-called Islamism that the Ikhwan in Egypt refer to as Islamiyyah? Who leading Islamists in the UK like Tammimi write about openly.
No, Jack. Our aims and those of the EDL are not the same. We understand that there are devout Muslims and there are Islamists and that the difference between the two is profound. The EDL have no idea what Islamism is but try to talk about it as a way to disguise their (anti-Muslim) bigotry. Unfortunately for them, this mask is not secure so it often slips.
There is a link though. Potkin and his political outfit. According to what you’ve written they were due to take part in the bigotry in Harrow. Potkin has had guest posts on Harry’s Place. Any comments?
“You mean the so-called Islamism that the Ikhwan in Egypt refer to as Islamiyyah? Who leading Islamists in the UK like Tammimi write about openly.”
Quite clearly you know absolutely nothing of al-Ikhwaan – a deeply unpleasant bunch of religious bigots, assorted bullies and mentally unstable turds (usually sporting those suspicious beards with no moustaches) who have absolutely no interest in Islam, save as a vehicle for their unquenchable political ambitions in Egypt and across the Arab world.
However if you were an Arab – rather than a “wannabe Arab”, you would already know this. But you don’t.
Abu Faris – I think you have missed my point entirely. I wasn’t supporting the Ikhwan in any way you idiot but discussing the usgae of the term. I don’t see what relevance being ‘arab’ has to do with any of this, unless your suggesting that only the great holy Arab race has the mental faculties to understand these issues and other mere mortals stand no chance.
“unless your suggesting that only the great holy Arab race has the mental faculties to understand these issues and other mere mortals stand no chance.”
Hardly – I was rather suggesting that a “wannabe Arab” might want to learn a little about al-Ikhwaan before holding forth on the matter. I do not think that the Arabs are any better than anyone else, as it happens. However, I do not trade on cheap comments suggesting that one community is little better than the dirt beneath my fingernails as appears to be your wont when tetchy.
If I misunderstood you, then apologies.
Please explain what exactly I have misunderstood about the Ikhwan and what relevance being an Arab has to any of this?
Most Arabs have had some experience of al-Ikhwaan – especially if those Arabs are of the Egyptian variety. Being an Arab has relevance to the degree that there is something surely to be said for direct, upfront and nasty personal experience of the disparity between the “Brothers” and their supposed “piety” and their practical cupidity, venality, corruption and plain violence in the service of their entirely self-interested political agenda. That is all.
Not quite sure why you cannot grasp that, especially as you seem to like calling me an “idiot” – odd that.
“I wasn’t supporting the Ikhwan in any way you idiot but discussing the usgae of the term. ”
Perhaps you should have made yourself clearer to this “idiot”, ya majnuun. Again, apologies for not understanding your blistering critique of contemporary Arab politics the first time around.
The term means “brotherhood” – it’s usage is here related to a fascistic political group that have been making ordinary Arabs’ lives a bloody misery for decades now.
Calm down.
Let me ask the question again, since you have completely avoided it. What have I misunderstood about the Ikhwan?
I think we are at cross purposes, Abu Wannabe Arab – I think that is what I have been trying to point out to you.
“the so-called Islamism that the Ikhwan in Egypt refer to as Islamiyyah?”
Why “so-called Islamism”? If ever there was an Islamist group it is al-Ikhwaan.
al-Ikhwaan do not refer to Islamism as “Islamiyyah”, as the latter term means “Islamic”, not “Islamism” (for which there is no direct Arabic translation – but plenty of other derogatory terms will suffice instead).
I’m not being obtuse – simply pointing out something about usage that you appear to have missed
Okay, so now I have grasped the misunderstanding. When I used the words ‘the so-called Islamism of the Ikhwan’ I was para-phrasing what another poster had said earlier. The earlier poster was denying that the Ikhwan were Islamist and I was challenging him/her by pointing out that Islamists use this term to describe themselves. Therefore, you should have followed the thread in its entirity and directed your comments towards him/her and not me. Since essentially we both agree that the Ikhwan is a nasty group.
Anti-Islam bigotry is the result of anti-infidel bigotry. Anti-Western bigorty. If Muslims and Allah and Muhammad tell Muslims to hate and kill Jews and Christian aNd Hindus, what do you expect. Dont infidels have the right to defend themselves? If Muslims think that non-Muslims dont have any rights they are mistaken. Fair is fair. The infidel holy book now says, DO UNTO MUSLIMS BEFORE MUSLIMS DO UNTO INFIDELS. INFIDEL 1:1