Sunny from Pickled Politics recorded an interview with Bill Baker of the English Democrats at Saturday’s anti Al-Muhajiroun demo.
Most of the English Democrats I spoke to on the day were, like Bill Baker, thoroughly decent and sensible people.
Best line:
Sunny: So you don’t think Englishness is a racial identity?
Bill Baker: No, England is a society.
Shaaz Mahboob has a good article on Saturday’s demonstration by the BMSD against Al-Muhajiroun.
Anjem Choudary’s chums abandoned their own demo, of course, and the field was left open to the supporters of liberal democracy. But to be precise, when I say “open”, I am ignoring the identity politics played by the organisers of the Mulsims4UK counter-demonstration, who made it a point to distance themselves from the Secular Democracy message of the BMSD counter-demo.
As Shaaz mentions:
Sadly, we were not joined by the Islamic Society of Britain and Inayat Bunglawala’s group, Muslims4UK, who called off their own counter-demonstration. Also, disappointingly, we discovered that Inayat Bunglawala had formally requested that the police set up a separate pen, so that they would not have to stand with pro-democracy and anti-sharia Muslim groups such as us. This sort of sectarianism is incredibly damaging, not only to Muslims, but Britain as a whole.
The radical Islamist cult Islam4UK, called a demonstration for the abolition of democracy and the imposition of Sharia law in the UK, to be held today. Rumours about Islam4UK’s cancellation of their demo had been circulating since yesterday but were dismissed by the BMSD as just more of the usual tactical disinformation from Anjem’s camp. However by this morning it was official: Islam4UK had withdrawn from their own protest!
The British Muslims for Secular Democracy (BMSD) carried on, in spite of the Islam4UK’s retreat. In the absence of Choudhary’s goon-squad, it was only the BMSD and the English Democrats who showed up. As the afternoon progressed, the BMSD presence soon transformed from a counter-demo into the protest against Islamist extremism and Al-Muhajiroun. And of course, a celebration of democracy, pluralism and secularism at the foot of Eros, in Picadilly Circus.
On Saturday 31 October, Islam4UK plans to hold a procession called “March for Sharia” starting at 1pm. They intend to march past the Houses of Parliament where their members will call for the imposition of Shariah law and for the House of Commons to be abolished.
This website was set up by a collection of groups and individuals – both Muslim and non-Muslim – to organise a counter-demonstration against those who seek to undermine and challenge our values. We come from diverse social and religious backgrounds but share a common belief in secular democracy and the values of the British liberal state such as legal and constitutional equality for all, equal rights for women and minorities, and the right to religious freedom (including freedom from religion).
British Muslims for Secular Democracy (BMSD), is organising and coordinating a broad based counter-demonstration of those of all faiths and none who are determined to stand together, in defence of liberal secular democracy.
This is a cross-post of an article by Edmund Standing
****
I admired Baroness Warsi’s performance on Question Time. She spoke reasonably and rationally on the question of immigration and got some very good points in. I had a look at her website as a result and read her Conservative Party Conference speech. In a way, I wish I hadn’t, as it contains some really pathetic self-pitying material on ‘faith’:
This is a guest post by British Muslims for Secular Democracy
****
British Muslims for Secular Democracy today announces the launch of its plans to organise a demonstration on Saturday 31st October to counter a demonstration by Al Muhajiroun, at which they will call for the abolition of democracy in Britain and the imposition of Shariah Law on all.
That demonstration has been called by Islam 4 UK – a successor organisation to Al Muhajiroun.
British Muslims for Secular Democracy are organising the counter demonstration, bringing together a number of religious and non-religious groups.
Shaaz Mahboob, vice-chair of British Muslims for Secular Democracy says:
“Our counter-demonstration is based on our belief in, and commitment to, those liberal values that define the British state, including legal and constitutional equality for all, equal rights for women and minorities, and religious freedom, including the right to be free of faith”.
This excellent op-ed by Zafar Khalid Farooq, published in the The News in Pakistan, is well worth the read.
The money shot comes at the very end and it is spot on:
Even more worryingly, a new generation is being radicalised, often with the very government funds that are supposed to be countering radicalisation. The British Government’s counter-terrorism strategy is called Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE). In the past three years, 90 million pounds have been spent on PVE. However, by focusing on ‘violent extremism’, as opposed to all extremism, the government has allowed itself to hop into bed with organisations and groups deeply opposed to liberal, democratic values. These groups have ties with the Muslim brotherhood, and our very own Jaamat-e-Islami. Perhaps by joining hands with non-violent extremist groups, the government hopes to provide a defence, a pressure valve if you like, against violent extremism among the angry Muslim youth. But by collaborating with these groups, the government is effectively supporting and funding the Islamist ideology that spawns an illiberal, intolerant and anti-western view.
My article on Islam and secularism was recently published in Forum, a supplement of the Bangladeshi paper the Daily Star. The editors chose to title the piece ‘Live and Let Live’. Wouldn’t be my first choice but there you go.
I argue that secularism, far from being anti-Islamic, was a key part of the debate integral to the development of Islamic philosophy which continued throughout its classical period between the 10th and 15th century up to colonial times. The tension between secularism and theology is a false dichotomy fomented by political extremists and religious fundamentalists on both sides of the divide. In spite of these abuses, secularism is a standalone normative ideal that needs to be upheld if we value religious freedom and pluralism.
Here is an excerpt:
This is a guest post by David T of Harry’s Place
****
Dr Sayyid al-Qimni is a remarkable Egyptian political theorist who started off as a pan-Arabist and Nasserite, and ended up an Egyptian liberal.
It should be a source of shame to us, as fellow liberals and progressives, that his name is not more widely known. His face should be beaming down from posters in Universities and his ideas hotly debated on the European Left. But, instead, he is largely unknown here. He doesn’t even appear to have a Wikipedia page.
Qimni became a controversial figure in Egypt, when he gave an interview in which he expressed the following views: