Inayat Bunglawala’s IEngage organ, as ever, joins the MCB/ELM/IFE phalanx when it is called upon to do so. But the response offered is the same old pile of tired and over-used counter-accusations. No attempt whatsoever is made to address the body of allegations made in the Dispatches documentary, the factual research, the voices from the Bangladeshi community who bravely spoke out against the IFE – on camera. We’re treated to the old strategy of ‘defence by offence’. The offence here is made on the “usual offenders”:
1) “The Jews”
At a time when Israel is enlisting the help of friendly nations to improve its image abroad after its devastating assault on Gaza and the crippling blockade, and the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Justice Secretary are being heavily lobbied by pro-Israel groups to change the war crimes legislation to protect suspected Israeli war criminals from arrest in the UK, one can see more clearly why the efforts of IFE, ELM/LMC and MCB to politically mobilise British Muslims might upset other quarters in British society.
2. “The Islamophobes”
And then there’s Jim Fitzpatrick, the Minister for Food, Farming and Environment and MP for Poplar and Canning Town. Fitzpatrick made headlines last summer when he reacted with supreme arrogance and complete disregard for his hosts by complaining to the local papers of being asked to be seated separate from his wife at a segregated Muslim wedding. And who should pipe up and support Fitzpatrick’s ridiculous claim that the hand at work was that of IFE and ‘Islamists’ – Paul Richards and Martin ‘The Great Koran Con Trick’ Bright.
3. “The Jewish Islamophobes”
Who does Gilligan parade in front of our cameras to extemporise and validate his arguments? Well, first up is Paul Richards, former ‘special advisor’ to Hazel Blears. We’ve already exposed the hypocrisy that underlies Richards’ position. Richards seems strangely unaware of the blatant double standards he appears to invoke, decrying the IFE in the programme while in an article for the Jewish Chronicle, lauding the creation of:
‘New groups [which] were nurtured and supported, such as the Muslim Women’s Advisory Group’.
No prizes for guessing the democratic credentials of this particular invention of Blears and her aide, Richards.
4. “The self-hating Muslims”
Gilligan also brings on board Houriya Ahmed of Douglas ‘conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board’ Murray’s, misappropriately named, Centre for Social Cohesion.
And no documentary would be complete without at least one representative from organisations that have made it their business to attract government funding for battling ‘Islamism’.
Gilligan relies on Rashad Ali, formerly of the Quilliam Foundation and now housed at CENTRI, the organisation headed by Haras Rafiq, formerly of the Sufi Muslim Council.
15 Comments
Bungle is so dim, I almost could fancy him.
which factual points? ex awami leaguers complaining about lack of attention, are not really considered facts by most sane people.
hmm, let’s see. How about these for starters:
IFE activists boasted to the undercover reporters that they had already “consolidated … a lot of influence and power” over Tower Hamlets, a London borough council with a £1 billion budget.
The group and its allies were awarded more than £10 million of taxpayers’ money, much of it from government funds designed to “prevent violent extremism”.
IFE leaders were recorded expressing opposition to democracy, support for sharia law or mocking black people. The IFE organised meetings with extremists, including Taliban allies, a man named by the US government as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing (Bilal Philips), and a man under investigation by the FBI for his links to the September 11 attacks (Anwar al-Awlaki).
Moderate Muslims in London told how the IFE and its allies were enforcing their hardline views on the rest of the local community, curbing behaviour they deemed “un-Islamic”. The owner of a dating agency received a threatening email from an IFE activist, warning her to close it.
George Galloway, a London MP, admitted in recordings obtained by this newspaper that his surprise victory in the 2005 election owed more to the IFE “than it would be wise – for them – for me to say, adding that they played a “decisive role” in his triumph at the polls.
Funding for other, secular groups was ended or cut. In the borough’s well-known Brick Lane area, council funds were switched from a largely secular heritage trail to a highly controversial “hijab sculpture”, angering many residents who accused the council of “religious triumphalism”.
Schools in Tower Hamlets are told by the council should close for the Muslim festival of Eid, even where most of their pupils are not Muslim.
Rashad aka “abu wanabe arab the wanker” probably gave gilli one to get on tv.
The spittoon are a bunch of turds – waste of time.
Islamist comeback.
What is it about Islamists and references to body functions?
One might think that they were a bunch of illiterate goons incapable of defending their position… oh wait.
Why don’t you contact the IFE for a clarification instead of jumping to unfounded conclusions based on shoddy investigative tactics.
For purposes of objectivity, make sure you look at the entire organisation. And tell us how much good to the community you clowns have done in comparison. How many young people have you got off drugs and how many street ids you boys and girls engaged (you probably spliff yourselves anyway), how many projects have you set up for children, for jobseekers, for raising money for disaster relief, for providing community needs?
But of course you folk don’t give a shite about this stuff, so long as you win the factional fight, you couldn’t care less about the community or give credit where it’s due. Blind barbarians.
Or do you buffoons just sit behind your desks in your comfy selfish lifestyles banging away at the keyboard in an illusion you’ve got a cause? Whatever makes you feel like your life’s worth something…
Steady on! Someone might think you were having a go at key players of IFE in Tower Hamlets!
Of course we are “barbarians”, darlink – after all we oppose clerical fascism. How barbaric of us!
Tango
There are some serious evidence-based allegations being made of the IFE. You would think that that it would in their interests to refute these seriously. Instead they have started to blame ‘Jews, “Islamophobes” and secular Muslims’ for highlighting these facts – such as receiving nearly £10 million in PVE funds. Do you think that’s sensible?
Is Mike a native Islamist, or a wide-eyed colonial who sees an opportunity for vicarious violence?
I understand that the root word in Arabic for slave is as that for the common word for black [skin]. Is this the case, and would be be comparable either to our calling blacks “negroes” or another n-word?
“IFE activists boasted to the undercover reporters that they had already “consolidated … a lot of influence and power” over Tower Hamlets, a London borough council with a £1 billion budget.”
-if this is true, so what? It is the legal right of any group to organise itself, get members into political parties. The countryside alliance does this. Of course, you house negroes, do not dare accuse white folk of the same thing. In any case – IFE has said the said individual had only recently joined IFE, and was in no position to make such claims.
“The group and its allies were awarded more than £10 million of taxpayers’ money, much of it from government funds designed to “prevent violent extremism”.”
The ten million was a random figure suggested – with no evidence. Even if they do receive tax payers money – whats your point? Money being received by alleged islamist organisations is nothing new. The government has not outlawed these organisations, and has recognised much of the good work they do.
“IFE leaders were recorded expressing opposition to democracy, support for sharia law or mocking black people.”
Many people oppose democracy – what kind of democracy are we talking about here? The very people who were interviewed in the programme to make its partisan points, oppose democracy in that they are against a directly elected mayor. A snippet of a quote that says “we won’t except democracy over sharia “– does not prove that you are a sinister individual trying to overthrow the regime. The way this quote was used – allows Gilligan to peddle his crap narrative rather than establishing any real fact. Maybe the quote would have more credence if Gilligan provided the full context of the quote, the statement before and after. As it stands, the quote is useless.
“The IFE organised meetings with extremists, including Taliban allies, a man named by the US government as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing (Bilal Philips), and a man under investigation by the FBI for his links to the September 11 attacks (Anwar al-Awlaki).”
The IFE invited Awlaki in 2003, there was no suggestion that he was any kind of extremist then. In fact the Washington post produced a short film with him at the time where he talks about how islam is peaceful religion terrorist acts are not justified. Does this prove anything about him? After Awlaki was jailed, and it became clear that he had radically changed his views – the mosque/IFE did not endorse him or invite him to any events. He was invited to a cage prisoner event at the mosque without their knowledge.
Again, Bilal Phillips has not been found guilty of anything – he regularly travels to the states, is invited by the US army to speak to its troops. I dislike the man personally – but again – no facts here.
“Moderate Muslims in London told how the IFE and its allies were enforcing their hardline views on the rest of the local community, curbing behaviour they deemed “un-Islamic”. The owner of a dating agency received a threatening email from an IFE activist, warning her to close it.”
There is no evidence that the organisation did this, rather the lone ranger who we discussed earlier. He had at that point only been on the organisation for a matter of months. It is telling that the programme invited the owner of the dating agency for an interview, but she declined – realising that this was an unsavoury production trying to make partisan points, and for which she did not wish to lend her name.
“George Galloway, a London MP, admitted in recordings obtained by this newspaper that his surprise victory in the 2005 election owed more to the IFE “than it would be wise – for them – for me to say, adding that they played a “decisive role” in his triumph at the polls.”
I refer you to my earlier answer, there is nothing wrong with IFE acting as a community/political organising force.
“Funding for other, secular groups was ended or cut. In the borough’s well-known Brick Lane area, council funds were switched from a largely secular heritage trail to a highly controversial “hijab sculpture”, angering many residents who accused the council of “religious triumphalism”.”
-so what if secular groups were not funded, many religious groups were also left unfunded. Interviewing a few people who basically failed in the bidding process, does not prove that there is a widespread move of funding away from secular groups to more religious groups. Maybe if the researchers were half decent, they could have established this by looking at the funding figures. Of course they would have found that such an accusation was baseless, so they interviewed two men who had not received funding, as evidence. Bravo.
The whole hijabgate affair is a farce concocted by the racist wing of the labour party and fed to the daily mail and of course Gilligan, as proof of the Islamsisation of tower hamlets. The architect himself stated that the gate was not at all based on the hijab. Who are we to believe?
“Schools in Tower Hamlets are told by the council should close for the Muslim festival of Eid, even where most of their pupils are not Muslim.”
-So?
If this is the serious evidence you are talking about, I think it’s back to the drawing board for David Toube and his boys.
Thank you for that Mahboob! Very enlightening. Faced with clear evidence, all you can do is bluster and deny (“random”, “no evidence” etc). You’ve learnt well from your IFE overlords. This was the same technique used by your confrére, Cllr Lutfor Rahman.
so you have no valid points to make in response i take it. I expected as much.
ha ha, cracking stuff Mahboob!