Rev Cynthia Page addresses the crowd
Bendigo residents have responded to opposition to a mosque being built in the Victorian city with a celebration of diversity on Saturday. The celebration came after a lengthy debate over the issue which included anti-Islamic protests and one Bendigo councillor opposing the proposal because she was “not a fan of Islam.”
Bendigo Advertiser, 22 June 2014
It is a measure of the disorientation produced by the current wave of Islamophobia, and the accompanying assault on multiculturalism, that a liberal newspaper like the Guardian can publish an article lauding a notorious racist.
Here is Ian Jack (following the example already set by Allison Pearson in the Telegraph) writing about Ray Honeyford, who as a Bradford headteacher in the 1980s became a hero for the right because of his noxious opinions:
His views on schools – that they exist to teach rather than entertain or placate – have become orthodox long since. That immigrants “have responsibilities as well rights” is a cliche now embedded in every political party, which also demand that immigrants speak and read English before they take citizenship tests. And on the available evidence, the case of the Birmingham schools seems to show what happens when a version of multicultural freedom prevails, which Honeyford so fiercely opposed. By these lights, it’s hard not to think he was right or, if you prefer it more neutrally, well ahead of his time.
The most Jack is prepared to concede is that Honeyford showed a degree of insensitivity towards minority communities of recent migrant origin.
Jack cites “Education and Race – an Alternative View”, Honeyford’s infamous Salisbury Review article from 1984, observing that it “turned Honeyford from an obscure if opinionated headteacher into a national figure”. However, he omits to provide his readers with a link to the article, even though it is available online. And that is hardly surprising, since the article is quite sickening in its blatant racism.
Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, will warn on Saturday that “the pursuit of a divisive religious extremism” – as shown in an alleged conspiracy to take over schools in Birmingham – threatens to undermine Britain’s modern multicultural society.
Hunt’s remarks to the annual conference of the NASUWT teaching union in Birmingham follow the uncovering of a dossier named Operation Trojan Horse, claiming to reveal a plot to overthrow teachers and governors insecular state schools in the city and run them on strict Islamic principles.
The Spectator devotes the cover of this week’s issue to promoting a Muslim. Unlikely, you might think, until you find out that the Muslim in question is Irshad Manji, much admired by Daniel Pipes, Melanie Phillips and Geoffrey Alderman – not least because of her enthusiastic support for the state of Israel.
Inside the magazine, Manji outlines her views in an article entitled “It’s time to reclaim Islam from the fanatics. Here’s how”. Unsurprisingly, this involves reforming Islam along the lines advocated by unrepresentative individuals such as “my friend Maajid Nawaz” of Quilliam – one of the few Muslims who can reasonably claim to be held in even more contempt within the Muslim community than Manji herself is. She also boasts about posting links to the racist Jyllands Posten cartoons on her website – all in the interests of freedom of expression, you understand.
Around ten thousand people participated in the Stand Up to Racism & Fascism demonstration on Saturday 22 March 2014. The event coincided with UN Anti-Racism Day and was part of an international day of action with demonstrations taking place across the globe from New York, Athens to Sao Paulo.
The demonstration was vibrant, positive, diverse and lively with a range of different communities including EU migrants from Romania, Bulgaria and Poland to Roma, Gypsy, Kurdish, Muslim, Christian and other faith communities joining trade unions, anti-racist, anti-fascist and social movements. The event was a magnificent display of Britain’s diversity, multiculturalism and unity against racism and hatred.
A Ukip MEP who is under fire over his remarks about Islam also suggested banning halal and kosher slaughter of animals and outlawing the legal recognition of Islamic banking.
In 2011 Gerard Batten was the author of a four-page paper entitled “Confidential draft – Dismantling Multiculturalism”, which was billed as a policy discussion document with “suggested policies that could be adopted by political parties and governments”. It was sent to members of Christian Concern, a group that believes that abortion should be illegal and homosexuality is a sin. Batten said he held a meeting with them and sent a document to some of their members.
The paper claims that multiculturalism has failed and offers a doom-laden warning about the threat of radical Muslims. “Islamic fundamentalism is the cuckoo in the western multicultural nest. We can either address it now or be destroyed by it in the course of time,” he wrote.
A future government should also ban the religious slaughter of animals, he suggests. “Repeal the act of parliament that gives exception for ritual slaughter for religious reasons. These are outmoded and barbaric practices that have no place in the 21st century or in the light of humane animal welfare policies,” he wrote. Batten also suggested that Ukip might consider dropping any laws that recognise Islamic banking: “Repeal the Act (???) that gives official recognition to Islamic banking.” There are no references to Islamic finance in UK legislation, according to the Treasury.
A commission delving into the debate over the Quebec proposed charter of secularism can serve as an inspiration for an English Canada growing increasingly fed up with multiculturalism, the Parti Québécois government says.
It has been more than four months since Quebec began debating the need to further separate church and state and to enact a public-sector ban on religious symbols, but parliamentary hearings that start on Tuesday – the final step before the bill can be voted into law – could be the spark that sets a secular wildfire burning across the country.
That, at the very least, is the word from International Relations Minister Jean-François Lisée [pictured, with Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois], as nearly 300 Quebec citizens and organizations from across the spectrum prepare to dive back into the contentious debate over religious accommodation.
Lisée, who is the PQ’s interlocutor for Quebec anglophones and those outside Quebec, writes in a New York Times opinion piece that while the initiative is opposed by the federal government, anglophones, universities, hospitals, municipalities and others, it has the potential to push Quebec to the vanguard of a secular trail being blazed in Europe and around the globe.
“In a very real sense, the debate over Quebec’s charter may be the last stand of Canada’s multiculturalist experiment. Whatever the immediate outcome, it may be only a matter of time until Canadian multiculturalism finds itself buried alongside its European siblings,” he writes.
A Montreal-based group is calling on all Canadians to join them on January 12th and 13th to protest against the Quebec government’s proposed Charter of Values for the province, urging Canadians to join them by wearing a hijab, turban, kippa or crucifix for a day.
“We invite all Canadians to walk in the footsteps of a visible minority for a day, to show their support for our Canadian and Quebec rights and freedoms and protest against this discriminatory charter,” Sama Al-Obaidy, Support Another spokesperson, told OnIslam.net.
“As the hearings about the charter are scheduled to begin next week in the National Assembly, we will be speaking as one voice against Bill 60 and demonstrating what the true values of Quebec and Canada are – those of multiculturalism, understanding, respect and social harmony,” she added.
This year, it appears that Christmas hasn’t been banned because it offends Muslims – or at least I haven’t as yet come across that old familiar story or any of its many variants.
Still, the festive season wouldn’t be complete without some anti-Muslim story in the right-wing press. The Mail has run a report, which was then taken up by the Sunday Telegraph, that Muslim checkout staff at Marks & Spencer who do not wish to handle alcohol or pork have been told they can politely request that customers pay at another till.
You might wonder how prevalent this practice is at M&S – the Mail provides just one example of it happening. Other retailers – Asda, Morrisons and Tesco – appear to have adopted the more obvious solution that staff who object to handling certain products are not asked to work at checkouts.
France should reverse decades of strict secularism to integrate its immigrant population better, allowing Muslims to wear headscarves in schools and promoting Arabic teaching, according to an iconoclastic report commissioned by the prime minister.
The document, part of a government review of integration policy, sparked an outcry among conservative opposition politicians and unease among the governing Socialists.
It said France, with Europe’s largest Muslim population, should recognize the “Arab-oriental dimension” of its identity, for example by changing street and place names, rewriting its history curriculum and creating a special day to honor the contribution of immigrant cultures.