Category Archives: Liberal

‘Resist this culture of anti-British segregation’ – Observer columnist

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“I found myself resenting the idea that one group of people had removed themselves from the values that I admire about Britain, regardless of the level of tolerance and generosity offered to people of all faiths and backgrounds. Not only have some Muslims wilfully detached themselves from this great and ancient democracy, but they are actually opposed to it….

“It’s difficult to say how liberal democracy persuades such a large number of people to share its values, but I do know that we have to examine the processes of segregation which have been allowed to grow in the last few decades. For which reason I support – and urge others to do so – Ruth Kelly’s backing for Denbigh High School in Luton, which is fighting a case against a young woman who wishes to wear strict Islamic dress as her human right…. let’s be candid, we have to look after the things which make us a single, coherent society.”

The liberal press joins the assault on multiculturalism.

Observer, 31 July 2005

‘Tread more carefully’ over Qaradawi

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jonathan Freedland in yet another ignorant attack on Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Not quite as bad as you might have feared, but we get the usual stuff – originating with the likes of MEMRI and Outrage! – about supporting the killing of unborn Israeli children and the state execution of gay men.

Guardian, 27 July 2005

The burden of Freedland’s argument is to oppose “hugging people who are sharply at odds with Britain’s progressive tradition”. Which of course ignores the need for alliances with people who represent a progressive force within their own tradition – people like Dr al-Qaradawi who promote democracy, women’s rights and dialogue with the West in the Middle East, and who constitute a democratic-reformist alternative to the terrorists of al-Qaida within political Islam.

London bombings due to lax immigration policies, multiculturalism (it says here)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Sadly, many metropolitan leaders seem less than prepared to meet today’s current terrorist threat head-on, in part due to the trendy multiculturalism that now characterizes so many Western cities. Consider London’s multiculturalist Mayor Ken Livingstone, who last year actually welcomed a radical jihadist, Egyptian cleric Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, to his city….

“In continental Europe, multiculturalism has been elevated to a kind of social dogma, exacerbating the separation between Muslim immigrants and the host society. For decades, immigrants have not been encouraged or expected to accept German, Dutch or British norms, nor have those societies made efforts to integrate the newcomers. Not surprisingly, jihadist agitation has flourished in Hamburg, Amsterdam, Madrid, Berlin and Paris as well as London.

“If cities are to survive in Europe or elsewhere, they will need to face this latest threat to urban survival with something more than liberal platitudes, displays of pluck and willful determination. They will have to face up to the need for sometimes harsh measures, such as tighter immigration laws, preventive detention and widespread surveillance of suspected terrorists, to protect the urban future.

“They will also need to institute measures that encourage immigrants to assimilate, such as fostering greater economic opportunity for newcomers or enforcing immersion in the national language and political institutions.”

Joel Kotkin in the Washington Post, 24 July 2005

Explainers not popes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The British right-wing press’s campaign of vilification against Islam continues today, with no less than three hostile articles by three of the usual suspects: Anne McElroy, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Amir Taheri. The last gets a two-page spread in which he is allowed to defame a large proportion, if not the entirety, of the scholarly body of Islam.”

Indigo Jo blogs, 20 July 2005

Guardian journalist ‘revealed as hardline Islamist’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Guardian newspaper is refusing to sack one of its staff reporters despite confirming that he is a member of one of Britain’s most extreme Islamist groups. Dilpazier Aslam, who has been allowed to report on the London bombings from Leeds and was also given space to write a column in last Wednesday’s edition of The Guardian, is a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical world organisation which seeks to form a global Islamic state regulated by sharia law.”

Independent on Sunday, 17 July 2005

Shiv Malik takes up the witch-hunt against Dilpazier Aslam initiated by the Daily Ablution and Harry’s Place blogs.

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Islamophobia and liberalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Islamophobes don’t just see Muslims as culturally backward, they see Islam and any movement it might spawn as necessarily politically retrograde and monolithic. And the tendency by some to celebrate and congratulate ‘secular’ or ‘apostate’ Muslims (like the silly sap, Irshad Manji) reminds me of nothing so much as the Christian fundamentalist dictum about homosexuals – love the sinner, hate the sin. We nice liberals love Muslims, and wish to draw them to our breasts if only they’ll recant.”

Lenin’s Tomb, 15 July 2005

It’s paranoia, not Islamophobia (according to David Goodhart)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Iqbal Sacranie is a capable leader who has helped to turn the Muslim Council of Britain into an effective lobbying body, but his organisation’s default position remains grievance.

“Here he is in the introduction to a recent booklet for British Muslims: ‘The unleashing of a virulent strain of Islamophobia, inflammatory media reporting and the misconceived wars against Afghanistan and Iraq have all contributed to the undoubted increase in prejudice we face.’

“There will, regrettably, be some backlash after the London bombs. But to glorify this with the term Islamophobia is silly…. An undifferentiated rhetoric of grievance contributes to alienation, lack of integration and even indirectly to extremism.

“… the terrorist threat that Britain faces comes overwhelmingly from British or foreign Muslims…. So it follows that most terror-related investigations will focus on Muslim communities. This isn’t picking on Muslims; it is simply a fact of life.”

David Goodhart instructs British Muslims to stop their whingeing.

Guardian, 15 July 2005

Crackdown on civil liberties? Muslims only have themselves to blame

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Thomas Friedman warns that “when Al-Qaeda-like bombings come to the London Underground, that becomes a civilizational problem. Every Muslim living in a Western society suddenly becomes a suspect, becomes a potential walking bomb. And when that happens, it means Western countries are going to be tempted to crack down even harder on their own Muslim populations”.

And what solution does he propose? The need for a vigorous defence of civil liberties, perhaps? No, Friedman argues that the central problem is that Muslims have been “derelict in condemning the madness of jihadist attacks”. Unless they change their ways, and “take on, delegitimize, condemn and isolate the extremists in their midst”, Muslims will only have themselves to blame for the resulting crackdown.

New York Times, 8 July 2005

In the same issue, Peter Bergen warns of the threat posed to the US by UK-based terrorists, who have been drawn to Britain by its “relatively permissive asylum laws”. Bergen cites a figure of 10,000 to 15,000 Al-Qaida supporters in Britain, based mainly on the fact that 10,000 Muslims attended a 2003 conference held by Hizb ut-Tahrir – an organisation which of course specifically repudiates Al-Qaida and its methods.

New York Times, 8 July 2005

‘Please don’t jail me for seven years’, terrified theatre director pleads

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The extremist end of Islam – the fanatics who wanted Salman Rushdie killed, and who … want their beliefs to be immune from criticism of any sort – will not be appeased by it. They will simply see it as a staging post for a more extreme law: one which will extend blasphemy legislation to cover all religions.”

Another silly article on the religious hatred bill, this time by theatre director Nicholas Hytner.

Sunday Telegraph, 26 June 2005

‘Ha, ha! This bill has incited luvvies to hate Labour’, Torygraph writer sneers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

stephenfryAnother jaw-droppingly ignorant attack on the religious hatred bill, by Jasper Gerard in the Sunday Times.

Still, we’re helpfully provided with Stephen Fry’s penetrating insights into the issue: “It’s now common to hear people say, ‘I’m rather offended by that,’ as if that gives them certain rights. It’s no more than a whine. ‘I’m offended by that.’ Well, so fucking what?”

Ah, the wonders of an Oxbridge education.

Sunday Times, 26 June 2005

Also worth noting that Fry’s description of the bill as “a sop to Muslims” has been approvingly quoted by the BNP. See here.