By Faisal | Published:
March 10, 2010
One of the strange ironies of the Southasian immigration experience to Great Britain was how the near-universal levels of racism in the host community dissipated at the same time levels of religious identity politics and radicalisation became endemic. White racism started to fall back but at the same time secular politicisation receded in the immigrant Muslim community. We are now living in times when the kind of visceral racism we Southasians experienced in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s is at an all time low, but Muslim immigrant communities have organised themselves into political structures which are emanations of reactionary political groups from “back home”, such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islam.
By Effendi | Published:
March 8, 2010
Last week’s Dispatches discussed irregularities in the voting patterns in London’s 2008 mayoral elections. This Daily Telegraph article goes into more detail in how this was an attempt to secure victory for then-incumbent Ken Livingstone:
In an election lost by Mr Livingstone, the Islamic Forum of Europe helped secure massive and unexpected swings towards him in its east London heartland.
In one ward, Spitalfields, his vote share rose from 29.6 per cent in 2004 – an election he won – to 68.4 per cent in 2008, a rise of nearly 39 percentage points.
In every other ward in Tower Hamlets and Newham with a sizeable Muslim population, his vote rose by between 23 and 36 percentage points. His vote in other Muslim and ethnic minority areas of London also rose, but by far smaller amounts.
Also posted in Islamism |
By Effendi | Published:
March 4, 2010
Current defenders of the IFE peddle the line that is merely an organisation of ordinary Muslims involved with democratic engagement with the British polity. One such defender, for example, is their fellow-Mawdudist, Bunglawala:
For a number of years now, British Muslims have been told that they must all eschew terrorism and instead seek to influence policy through the process of democratic engagement. In Tower Hamlets we have seen young people – particularly following the deeply unpopular war against Iraq – seeking to do just that and join the local political parties including George Galloway’s Respect party. And instead of being commended for this they get smeared as being “entryists” by people like Fitzpatrick. Of course, Fitzpatrick’s bitterness would have nothing whatsoever to do with the fact – not mentioned by Gilligan – that he is up against George Galloway in the upcoming general election and his majority of 8000 might not be enough to save him – just as the pro-war Oona King’s 10000+ majority failed to save her in 2005.
Also posted in Islamism |
By Effendi | Published:
March 3, 2010
More fallout from the Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary. The East London Advertiser takes up the story of Peter Golds, whom the ruling Labour group are trying to oust because of his involvement in the programme.
Members of the ruling Labour group are planning to table a resolution to suspend Tory Opposition leader Peter Golds after he took part in journalist Andrew Gilligan’s programme Britain’s Islamic Republic.
They accuse him of leaking confidential documents about the controversial appointment of Lutfur Ali as the £120,000-a-year assistant chief executive.
Gilligan’s programme, which heavily researched breaking news from the East London Advertiser over the past three years about the internal politics of Tower Hamlets and the power block at the Town Hall, examined Mr Ali’s qualifications and questioned his CV.
Peter Golds was a dissenting voice on the appointments panel who challenged Labour’s choice and spoke openly on the programme.
Also posted in Islamism |
By Effendi | Published:
March 3, 2010
On Monday’s expose of the Islamic Forum Europe (IFE) on Dispatches, Andrew Gilligan conducted an interview with Lutfor Rahman, Labour Leader of the Tower Hamlets council. In the face of overwhelming evidence and given that we now know that a number of councillors are IFE entryists or that a senior member of the IFE helped him win the leadership of the council, Cllr Rahman refuses to deny any of it.
The following is a transcript of that interview taken from Gilligan’s blog.
Q: Lutfur, why is the local Labour Party in special measures?
Cllr Rahman: It has been in special measures since 2001, it’s a question you should direct to the regional office.
Q: But you are the leader of the Labour Party in Tower Hamlets.
Cllr Rahman: The London region could give you that answer.
Also posted in Islamism |
George Galloway claimed the IFE played a “decisive role” in his election victory to become MP for Bow and Bethnal Green. Yesterday the Sunday Telegraph reported Galloway had used IFE influence in the area to consolidate his victory:
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.
Mr Galloway now says they were one of many groups which supported his anti-war stance and had never sought to influence him.
Indeed he does. Galloway has now sprung to his own defence, as he does, and in a quick and dirty entry in his blog, distanced himself from the IFE and now pleads ignorance of their brand of sectarian, supremacist politics.
Also posted in Islamism |
By Guest | Published:
February 10, 2010
Denis MacShane, the Labour MP for Rotherham and staunch defender of free speech and human rights, has sent a letter to Amnesty International’s UK Director, Kate Allen, regarding the organisation’s decision to suspend Gita Sahgal. It is reproduced below in full:
Kate Allen
Director
Amnesty UK
17-25 New Inn Yard
London
EC2A 3EA 10 Feb. 10
Dear Kate,
I was very concerned to hear on Today this morning that Amnesty International has suspended Gita Saghal because she quite rightly raised questions about whether Amnesty should be promoting someone whose views run contrary to everything Amnesty stands for.
I know she works for the International Secretariat but Amnesty UK is involved as it has been promoting the man in question. Given your own admired and respected role in raising women’s right issues as part of Amnesty’s work I do think some reflection is required before the International Secretariat victimises one of its most respected researchers because she rightly called into question Amnesty’s endorsement of Mozzam Begg whose views on the Taliban and on Islamist jihad stand in total contradiction of everything Amnesty has fought for.
By Faisal | Published:
February 5, 2010
Hypocrisy Time
Did anyone manage to sit through Question Time last night without having to fight back an overpowering sense of nausea? I certainly couldn’t and neither, it appears, could Shiraz Socialist:
Clare “See No Evil – so didn’t resign when it would have made a difference” Short, Charlie “I Done No Evil, Guv” Falkner; Melanie “Evil Is (actually) Good” Phillips, George “To Distinguish between Good and Evil would have meant removing my tongue from Saddam’s arse” Galloway and Theresa “What Is Evil?” May…
What a fucking shower they were, each and every one of them, on display tonight. All that’s wrong with present-day British politics.
Right. Probably the most inept and insincere panel on QT ever.
By Guest | Published:
January 19, 2010
This is a cross-post by habibi from Harry’s Place
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The government and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) are talking again:
“The Muslim Council of Britain has made a commitment to Government to examine their internal processes and ensure that the personal actions of all members, including senior leaders, remain true to the organisation’s agreed policies, avoiding a repeat of the issues which arose after one member signed the Istanbul Declaration.
“The MCB has stated its categorical opposition to attacks on British defence interests and confirmed its unwavering support for British troops across the world. It has also made clear that it stands firmly against Anti-Semitism and other forms of racism.
“The significance of these actions on the part of the MCB has led to the Government lifting the suspension of its formal relationship with that organisation. The MCB will now contribute to ongoing dialogue with Government as one amongst a wide range of Muslim organisations.
By Guest | Published:
January 15, 2010
This is a cross-post by Edmund Standing
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Commenting on the time he had spent with Mark Collett and the BNP while filming for the Dispatches programme ‘Young, Nazi, and Proud‘, film maker David Modell stated:
To me, this organisation is no army, or even really a political party, more a fundamentalist movement – a cult.
This analysis of the BNP is as accurate as it was when Modell made his remarks in 2002. In many ways, the recent rise of the BNP as a political force has served to obscure the cult-like nature of the organisation, especially as it has now picked up single issue voters who are only really concerned about immigration and would have no interest in bizarre ideas about ‘the Ethno-State‘, conspiracy theories about ‘Zionists’, or the whacky pseudo-scholarship set out in Arthur Kemp’s ‘history of the white race‘, not to mention the occultism of the BNP Legal Director, or the Holocaust denial that founder member Richard Edmonds has spent decades promoting.
Also posted in Anti Fascism | Tagged BNP |
