ENGAGE draws our attention to yet another article in the right-wing press boosting the profile of Anjem Choudary and his tiny gang of provocateurs.

Under the headline “Dewsbury, Bradford and Tower Hamlets … where Islamic extremists want to establish independent states with sharia law”, the Daily Mail reports that Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) have called for “Islamic emirates” to be established in areas of the UK with large Muslim populations. The fact that there isn’t the remotest possibility of MAC achieving that objective is of course of no interest to the Mail.

As has repeatedly been pointed out, Choudary and the right-wing press enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Papers like the Mail, the Express and the Star attract readers by feeding them paranoid fantasies about the “Islamification” of the UK, while Choudary happily provides these papers with the material they need to promote their racist myths, in exchange for which they offer him and his irrelevant group of misfits free publicity.

The victims are of course the British Muslim community who have to suffer the consequences of this irresponsible journalism – not least the assistance it gives to the far right.