With the assistance of self-styled “Left-leaning Hampstead liberal” David Goodhart, the Daily Mail continues its anti-migrant, “Islamisation of Britain” propaganda with an attack on the Ahmadiyya movement’s Baitul Futuh mosque in Morden.
Update: See also “‘Merton’s not white anymore’, moans former liberal in the Daily Mail”, Indigo Jo Blogs, 26 March 2013
That’s the headline to a report in the Daily Mail.
Speaking at an Index On Censorship conference, playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti has complained that she was asked by BBC editors to remove a single line from a radio play she has written on the subject of an honour killing in a Muslim family. The reason given was that “we don’t want to suggest the entire Muslim community condones honour killings”, which sounds like a perfectly reasonable concern in the present climate. (See also the Independent, the Telegraph and Jihad Watch.)
Susi Meret shows how a housing association’s decision not to buy a Christmas tree this year was exploited by the far-right Danish People’s Party with the assistance of the mainstream media. Conservative and liberal figures helped to reinforce the narrative that Danish culture is under attack from Muslims.
“The most worrying aspect of this controversy was the total lack of response from the other side…”, Meret writes. “Those who violently oppose non-western immigration could make their point – extensively. And the voices that should have contradicted them were nowhere to be heard.”
Muslim Council of Britain assistant secretary Ibrahim Mogra replies to the Independent report claiming that he and the MCB had instructed Newcastle United’s Muslim players not to wear a new shirt advertising the Wonga loan company.
See also “Newcastle United, Wonga.com and Muslims”, MCB news report, 12 October 2012
Today’s Independent carries a report on Newcastle United’s decision to sign a sponsorship deal with the notorious short-term loan company Wonga, which will involve the team’s players wearing the company’s logo on their shirts.
Jaun Cole explains why the liberal US comedian and TV host has embraced Islamophobia.
“Nakoula Basseley Nakoula doesn’t sound nice. He has even been in prison for his lies. He was stupid to make the film, and stupid to put it on YouTube (if it was him who put it on YouTube) and stupid to make a film that’s so bad. But on one thing, he’s right. ‘There’s an angry mob in the street,’ says a character in his stupid little film, as he points at a group of men in long robes, with long beards. Yes, there’s ‘an angry mob in the street’, and it’s getting bigger every day, and what it calls itself is Islam.”
Christina Patterson offers her thoughts on the Innocence of Muslims controversy.
Jeff Sparrow responds to “the belligerent incomprehension with which so many, including self-proclaimed liberals, have responded to protests against the film The Innocence of Muslims“.
The Colorado Springs Independent has an interview with US talk show host Bill Maher. He is asked why he featured Geert Wilders in his religion-mocking film Religulous – “wouldn’t your hatred for racist xenophobes trump your hatred of religion?” Maher replies that he sees no contradiction:
ENGAGE draws our attention to a short notice that appeared in Sunday’s Observer:
Our coverage last week of Faith in the Public Square, a forthcoming book by the archbishop of Canterbury (News), contained this quote, supplied to us by the publishers: “To suggest that the Muslim owes an overriding loyalty to the international Muslim community (the Umma) is extremely worrying. Muslims must make clear that their loyalty is straightforward modern political loyalty to the nation state.” This is a representation of a view that the archbishop does not hold. It was drawn from a lecture he gave in October 2004 in which he went on to deconstruct the argument, maintaining that religious loyalty and political loyalty should not be seen as being in direct competition.