Category Archives: Left Wing

Danes’ anti-immigrant backlash marks radical shift

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An anti-immigrant backlash, bordering on xenophobia, is sweeping across Europe. Sentiments once associated with ultra right-wing parties are becoming mainstream. Many taboos are being broken – nowhere more starkly than in Denmark – the erstwhile poster child of the welcoming and nurturing welfare state.

Currently, the nation’s best-selling book is called Islamists and Naivists. “We compare Islamism to Nazism and communism because they are all three of them a totalitarian ideology,” says Karen Jespersen, who co-wrote the book with her husband, Ralf Pittlekow.

Their politically incorrect analysis would suggest they’re right-wingers. But they’re diehard Social Democrats – proud veterans of the student protests of the 1960s. Jespersen, a feminist and a former interior minister in charge of immigration issues, says the radicals’ goal is the Islamization of Europe.

NPR, 20 November 2006

Charles Clarke joins Muslim veil row

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jack Straw 3Commons leader Jack Straw has been the subject of a hard-hitting attack by former home secretary Charles Clarke for starting the national debate on the wearing of the full veil by Muslim women.

Mr Clarke accused his ex-cabinet colleague last night of “grandstanding” and of launching a discussion that had had an almost completely negative effect.

Speaking at the Royal Commonwealth Society in London, the Norwich MP pointedly complained that what he dubbed the “Great British Veil Controversy” had been “started by Jack Straw in his local Blackburn paper”.

It “has been almost entirely negative in its impact and has done nothing to promote tolerance and understanding in our society”, he continued. “Building respect in our society means more common sense and less grandstanding from everyone.”

Norwich Evening News, 16 November 2006

Debating the veil in the Morning Star

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Over at the Shiraz Socialist blog Jim Denham of the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty, a pseudo-left sect whose Islamophobia is usually matched only by its Stalinophobia, applauds a letter in yesterday’s Morning Star from one Betty Tebbs on the issue of the veil.

Denham hasn’t actually read the letter Tebbs is replying to, but this staunch defender of Enlightenment values finds that unnecessary. Tebbs is, after all, a white former trade union activist, so according to Denham she’s entitled to adopt an attitude of cultural arrogance towards a minority ethno-religious community. As far as the original letter is concerned, Denham observes: “I think we can all guess roughly what it said (and that it came from patronising, middle-class scum)”.

For the benefit of readers who might actually like to examine the evidence before they reach a political conclusion, we reproduce the exchange from the Morning Star letters column.

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Race hate laws split the cabinet

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The government is facing a major split over race hate laws, with cabinet colleagues divided over whether the legislation should be toughened.

Two cabinet heavyweights – the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the Home Secretary, John Reid – differ over how to respond to Friday’s acquittal of the British National Party leader, Nick Griffin, and a fellow BNP activist.

The split comes as Brown, Reid and the Tory leader David Cameron all made moves yesterday to boost their credentials over anti-terror measures and law and order ahead of the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday. The speech will include sweeping new measures to tackle antisocial behaviour, immigration, reoffending and terrorism.

Brown responded to the BNP verdict by saying Griffin’s description of Islam as a “wicked, vicious faith” would offend “mainstream opinion in this country”. He said: “If there is something that needs to be done to look at the law, then I think we will have to do that.”

But Home Office sources said Reid was taking a more cautious line, ruling out new legislation until well into next year. They said he wanted to see how a new race and religious hatred law – watered down by amendments in the House of Lords – “bedded in” when it came into force in February.

The Brown-Reid divide was seen as particularly significant because the Home Secretary is being mentioned by some Blair loyalists as a potential successor to the Prime Minister.

The Chancellor’s suggestion that the law might have to be tightened also prompted a strong reaction from the Liberal Democrat peer who helped lead the Lords’ opposition to last year’s bill.

Lord Lester, a leading human rights lawyer, said he and others would strongly oppose tougher legislation, and criticised the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, for bringing a prosecution against the BNP leader. “What we need is not new laws but a more sensible attorney-general,” he said.

Goldsmith is planning a meeting tomorrow with the Crown Prosecution Service lawyers who prosecuted Griffin and the other BNP member, Mark Collett. “He will examine whether prosecutors have sufficient powers to take the necessary action,” a spokeswoman in the Attorney General’s office said yesterday.

Last year’s bill, before it was diluted by the Lords amendments, would have allowed people to be prosecuted for using “threatening, insulting or abusive behaviour”. Under the final version only “threatening” behaviour is covered. The prosecution will also have to show intention to foment hatred rather than just recklessness.

Observer, 12 November 2006

How veil remarks reinforced its support

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jack_StrawJack Straw’s comments on veils have been good news for the owner of The Hijab Centre in the MP’s constituency of Blackburn. Nadeem Siddiqui tells me he is selling more veils than he did before his local MP made his controversial remarks.

Mr Siddiqui is the largest seller of veils in the area. “I used to sell two or three a week but now I am selling five to six. They are mainly being bought by young, British-born Muslim women,” he said. “These women are experimenting with the wearing of the niqab. Their mothers often do not cover themselves but they seem to want to do it.”

It is probably not the impact that Mr Straw intended when he wrote in his local newspapers that he felt uncomfortable when dealing face to face with veiled women. The majority of Muslims condemned Mr Straw over his comments. One month later, they are still upset.

“I voted for Mr Straw at the last election” says Mr Siddiqui. “I’m now reconsidering my support for him. Most of the people around here are doing the same because of what he said about the veil”.

British Muslims do not accept the argument that veiled women contribute to segregation or are a barrier to integration. Instead they feel they are being deliberately stigmatised as a problem community and are fearful of the future.

BBC News, 5 November 2006

‘Muslim degree course is set to cause controversy’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Under that heading this week’s Tribune reports that the University of Chester is to offer a degree in Muslim youth work, which has been developed in collaboration with Muslim agencies.

Ron Geaves, head of theology and religious studies at the university, is quoted as saying: “It seems to me that if ever a community was crying out for more skilled youth workers, it is the Muslim community. There are a huge number of Muslims who work already in the voluntary sector but are not qualified, which limits their career choices.”

Ann Cryer, Labour MP for Keighley, is not impressed. “I get a bit fed up with the idea that we have to have specific things geared to the Muslim community”, she tells Tribune. “Why can’t we have a youth worker working with all youngsters generally?”

Yakoub Islam adds:

In relation to this story, it is worth mentioning that Professor Ron Geaves is an ethnologist who has been working with British Muslim communities for over two decades. His research has seen him spend prolonged periods living within Muslim communities in England, particularly working class Barelwi Muslims who voices are seriously under-represented in every area of British society.

Ann Cryer’s comments are therefore all the more offensive for their willful ignorance, in the face of one of the most authorative academic voices on Muslims in Britain, whose knowledge of the impact of decades of discrimination against Muslims comes first hand. British Muslim communities are dogged by high rates of youth unemployment due to Islamophobia. Many young Muslims feel marginalised by British society. This is reflected in the rates of drug abuse and criminality, such that today Muslims make up 1 in 10 of the prison population in England.

Professor Geaves’ comments reflect his understanding of a desperate need; Anne Cryer’s reflect the bigotry of a desperate and despicable politician.

Mass protest against Khatami at St Andrews

Posted on by Bob Pitt

St Andrews protestAbout a dozen protesters gathered outside Younger Hall, where the university principal, Brian Lang, presented the former president with his degree.

Among the protesters was Maryam Namazie, of the Iranian Women’s Liberation group, who fled the country in 1980. “It is disgusting that St Andrews University is conferring an honour on this man, he is responsible for more than 1,300 deaths during his presidency,” she said.

The university defended its decision to invite Mr Khatami, citing his moderate views and willingness to talk with the west as reason to engage with him. The students’ association backed that decision.

“What we can offer is acknowledgment of a courageous stand against insularity and congratulations on real and persistent efforts to reach out and engage with nations of the west,” said history professor Michael Bentley, speaking after the former president received his honorary degree.

Associated Press, 1 November 2006

St Andrews’ Students Association rejects witch-hunt against Khatami

Posted on by Bob Pitt

KhatamiA storm of protest is expected to greet a controversial Iranian former president in Scotland next week amid growing opposition to his visit.

The move to honour Mohammad Khatami by St Andrews University has attracted a furious response from exiled Iranians, the Israeli government, politicians and students across the UK, who claim he ran a tyrannical regime.

He will receive an honorary degree when he officially opens the university’s Institute for Iranian Studies during his visit on Tuesday.

A university spokesman said Mr Khatami’s visit reflected the international standing of the institution and added that the historic seat of learning had received messages of support from senior government officers and politicians.

But angry cries were led by Laila Jazayeri of the Association of Anglo-Iranian Academics in the UK who attacked his human-rights record while in office.

She said: “Khatami has always been a central pillar of the theocratic and brutal regime in Iran, which is responsible for the execution of more than 120,000 Iranians.

“It is ironic that Khatami should be invited to St Andrews University when, during his presidency, the Iranian regime responded to the just demand of students for democracy by ordering vicious dawn attacks on dormitories.

“Students were beaten using knives, chains, and batons, resulting in fatalities and hundreds wounded. Some were even thrown out of the second and third floor windows.”

The move has also infuriated Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson, who described the decision as a slur on Scotland. He said: “St Andrews University should be ashamed. Khatami’s presence in Scotland would be an insult to freedom, democracy, and human rights. I call upon Sir Menzies Campbell as chancellor of St Andrews University to withdraw the invitation to this odious man.”

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Did Italian right-winger take inspiration from Maryam Namazie?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daniela SantancheBritain and Australia are not the only countries where debate is raging over the Islamic veil. In Italy, the issue burst into the news this week after the interior ministry ordered round-the-clock police protection for an MP, believing she had been threatened for expressing her views on the subject.

Daniela Santanche, an MP for the formerly neo-fascist National Alliance, clashed in a TV chat show with the imam of a mosque near Milan. After Ms Santanche insisted that the Qur’an did not call for women to wear a veil, the other guest, Ali Abu Shwaima, angrily replied: “I am an imam and I will not permit those who are ignorant to speak of Islam. You are ignorant of Islam and do not have the right to interpret the Qur’an.”

The ministry said it had been advised that the words used by the imam might amount to a coded death sentence – which the imam has vigorously denied.

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