Category Archives: Anti Muslim bigotry

Those who benefit from Islamophobia

By Faisal | Published: August 4, 2010

Yesterday the Guardian reported on a poll on public perceptions on Muslims, carried out for the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iEra). The report revealed high levels of bigotry and hostility to Muslims in Britain, as well as antagonism towards Islam as a belief.

George Readings, of the Quilliam Foundation, made some essential observations about the findings made in the report. Firstly he argued that anti Muslim bigotry in Britain has been fuelled by extremists from both the far right as well as the far-left, but also in addition, from the Muslim (Islamist) far-right. He has also identified a root cause of anti Muslim bigotry – perpetrated by the British press, when it makes almost no distinction between ordinary Muslims and extremist Muslims, their political groups and their beliefs.

Also posted in Islamism | 18 Responses

White Liberals and Politically Correct Racism

By Guest | Published: July 31, 2010

This is a cross-post by Edmund Standing

The white liberal is an unhealthy type of creature that you will undoubtedly have encountered, if not in real life, certainly via the media. By ‘liberal’, I do not mean simply someone who has a generally liberal outlook, in the sense of a ‘live and let live’ philosophy, nor do I mean liberals in the sense of the classical liberals of the conservative tradition. By ‘white liberal’, I mean a white Western individual who is likely to come from a middle class background and have a university education, considers him or herself to be both ‘left-wing’ and socially ‘liberal’, and almost certainly reads The Guardian or The Independent. White liberals espouse an artificial and pretentious form of ‘egalitarianism’, a patronising and hypocritical approach to ethnic minorities and non-Western cultures, and – in a re-hash of the notion of the ‘white man’s burden’ – devote themselves to a delusional Messianism in which they seek to ‘save the world’ through protesting against war (in real terms, protesting against non-white people having a chance at freedom and democracy), Israel (the one truly liberal society in the Middle East), globalisation (thereby opposing the one great vehicle by which poorer nations can develop), and so on, while making themselves feel and look ‘good’ by flaunting their pious support for campaigns to end poverty in the Third World (which will do no such thing, as Dambisa Moyo, Stephen Pollard, Marian L. Tupy, and others rightly point out ), and boasting about how ‘progressive’ they are by showing ‘solidarity’ with genocidal Islamists in Gaza.

Also posted in Moral relativism, Racism, The Regressive Left | 8 Responses

The EDL in Bradford

By Guest | Published: July 27, 2010

This is a message by Nick Lowles from Hope Not Hate
****

Day by day the violent and racist English Defence League are becoming more dangerous. This shocking video exposes the truth behind this self professed “peaceful” group. Watch this video and then share it with everyone you know:

The EDL exists for one simple reason: they want to spread fear and hatred throughout the UK – and it’s only going to get worse.

In a few weeks the EDL will be invading Bradford for what they’re calling “The Big One.” Once again they plan on attacking the Muslim population.

We’ve been down this route before – the riots in Bradford in Oldham were sparked by small groups of violent racists attacking the local community.

Also posted in Activism, Racism | Leave a comment

Support Gheyret Niyaz

By Faisal | Published: July 25, 2010

Here’s a story of Islamophobia and brutal state-oppression of Muslims.

The intellectual, Gheyret Niyaz, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for endangering state security, a vague charge that is often used by officials to lock up people they deem political threats. The sentence was especially severe given that Mr. Niyaz was not accused of taking part in the ethnic rioting. Other Chinese intellectuals have recently been slapped with the same sentence: Last December, Liu Xiaobo, a main author of a pro-democracy manifesto called Charter 08, was also sentenced to 15 years.

Mr. Niyaz, 51, holds what are considered moderate political views — he has not, for example, advocated for Xinjiang independence, a position held by some Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people that is the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang. Many of them resent the policies of the Chinese government, which is dominated by ethnic Han, saying that those policies are diluting the Uighur culture and leading to their economic disenfranchisement.

Also posted in The Far Left | 3 Responses

Using Muslims to protect Islamists

By Effendi | Published: July 4, 2010

Consider two stories carried by Bob Pitt on Islamophobia-Watch.

Exhibit A, published by I-W on June 25th, is the story of Sureyya Ozkaya:

These are the shocking injuries inflicted upon schoolgirl Sureyya Ozkaya during a brutal daylight assault near her Thornton Heath home.

The 14-year-old’s hair was set on fire and her hands and feet were cut with glass during the attack in Grangewood Park, before her attackers smashed her head against a tree and left her bleeding in a bush.

She was stumbled upon by a woman walking her dog and carried home to nearby Kitchener Road following the attack, at about 7.30pm on June 9.

Sureyya’s mother Pemdegul Kale, 39, said three girls taunted her daughter about her Muslim faith as they carried out the assault, before burning her hair with a lighter and stealing her trainers.

Also posted in Islamism, Moral relativism | 13 Responses

Fear and silence

By Guest | Published: June 27, 2010

This is a cross-post by Mohsin Hamid, author of the novels Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

WHY are Ahmadis persecuted so ferociously in Pakistan?

The reason can’t be that their large numbers pose some sort of ‘threat from within’. After all, Ahmadis are a relatively small minority in Pakistan. They make up somewhere between 0.25 per cent (according to the last census) and 2.5 per cent (according to the Economist) of our population.

Nor can the reason be that Ahmadis are non-Muslims. Pakistani Christians and Pakistani Hindus are non-Muslims, and similar in numbers to Pakistani Ahmadis. Yet Christians and Hindus, while undeniably discriminated against, face nothing like the vitriol directed towards Ahmadis in our country.

Also posted in Freedom of Religion | 9 Responses

Why Pakistan’s Ahmadi Muslims are officially detested

By Guest | Published: June 17, 2010

From the BBC News site, a moving and distressing testimony of how the state and the media sponsored persecution of the minority Ahmadi Muslim community in Pakistan with impunity. Here is an excerpt:

Over the last three decades the hatred against Ahmadis has become so widespread that Pakistan is now embarrassed by the only Nobel laureate it has ever produced.

Dr Abdus Salam Khan won the Nobel Prize for physics and, as a proud Pakistani, accepted his award in national dress.

But he was an Ahmadi so there is no monument to celebrate him, no universities named after him.
The word “Muslim” on his gravestone has been erased. Even the town he is buried in has been renamed in an attempt to erase our collective memory.

This hatred was evident in the reactions to the massacre. TV channels were more obsessed with making sure that in their broadcasts Ahmadi mosques were called “places of worship”.

Also posted in Freedom of Religion | 3 Responses

The EDL Uncovered

By Faisal | Published: June 13, 2010

You don’t have to look far into the English Defence League to find its nasty underbelly. And once you find it, it’s not an edifying sight. This is English racism at its most visceral and cowardly and this particular manifestation of it is specifically directed at Southasians, but Southasian muslims in particular. We in Britain haven’t seen this kind of thing since the 1970s but all the signs indicate that it is making a comeback.

Also posted in Racism | 1 Response

Tower Hamlets Stands Up to Haters

By Guest | Published: June 11, 2010

This is a cross-post by habibi from Harry’s Place

Here is some news from East London:

TOWN Hall leaders tonight have called for an Islamic conference to be scrapped in London’s East End on June 20, in the wake of a demo planned outside by the English Defence League.

The date was deliberately chosen by the EDL to coincide with the conference at the Troxy venue in Commercial Road, said Tower Hamlets council.

The Troxy must comply with the law and have regard to the impact such an event will have on social cohesion in the East End, the council warned today.

Deputy Leader Josh Peck said: “This Islamic conference is not supported by the council and we call on the Troxy to call it off in the interests of public safety and social cohesion.

“If necessary, we will review our working relationship with the Troxy.”

Also posted in Islamism | 6 Responses

religious idiots round up: vengeful volcanoes

By bananabrain | Published: May 12, 2010

of course, nobody should be surprised that when a natural disaster occurs, the usual suspects jump on the bandwagon to explain why it proves their wacky theologies and that G!D Is Having a good old Smite at people of whom they disapprove or, alternatively, that it’s all part of the dastardly plans of the illuminati or reptilian space overlords.

a reptilian overlord yesterday

anyway, we’ve had boobquake, gayquake and immorality-inspired flooding so, predictably, our new icelandic friend eyjafjallajökull has been pressed into surface for this purpose, proving variously that:

1. we should never have turned on that large hadron collider

2. iceland is being too tolerant of neo-paganism and europe of gay rights

3. G!D Disapproves of “obamacare”

4. people are having a go at the pope

5. aliens (or satan) are doing space paintings with ufos