Category Archives: Multiculturalism

Walthamstow: EDL march ‘will inflame tensions’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tensions could rise in the community if far-right group the English Defence League (EDL) is allowed to march through Walthamstow, critics claim. Both the Waltham Forest Anti-Cuts Union and Trades Council have criticised plans posted online for an EDL demonstration in the area on Saturday August 18.

The EDL, which describes itself as an “inclusive movement” opposed to Islamic extremism, denies being a racist organisation. But a spokesman for the WF Trades Council said: “There is no other reason that this organisation should come to Waltham Forest other than to seek to divide our multicultural community and to incite racial tension”. He added that plans were underway for an alternative ‘We Are Waltham Forest’ event on the same day, designed to celebrate the borough’s multiculturalism.

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Melbourne’s northern suburbs regarded as a hot spot for potential terrorists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Melbourne’s northern suburbs were regarded as a hot spot for potential home-grown terrorists, a Labor MP revealed yesterday.

Maria Vamvakinou, whose federal seat of Calwell includes suburbs with high populations of Muslims – such as Broadmeadows and Dallas – said the area had been under surveillance by national security agencies.

“My area, having such a high concentration of Australians of Muslim faith, was an area of interest to the federal police and to ASIO, especially immediately in the aftermath of September 11,” she said. “Most people who live in Broadmeadows, they might be of Muslim background, but they pretty much live ordinary lives.”

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BBC refuses to screen play about Islamic threat to freedom of speech

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Well, that’s the headline to an article in the Daily Telegraph. The play is the theatre-dance piece Can We Talk About This?, currently being performed at the National Theatre, which reportedly treats Ray Honeyford as a legitimate critic of multiculturalism and Geert Wilders as a hero of free speech.

If the BBC had indeed refused to screen a play which promoted racists and Islamophobes like Honeyford and Wilders, they would certainly have a point. But there is no evidence to suggest that the play was even being considered for broadcast.

The Telegraph report quotes a spokesperson for BBC director-general Mark Thompson as stating: “We are currently working with the National on various ideas. There are currently no plans to broadcast Can We Talk About This?, but this is not due to the play’s content or themes.”

Still, no point letting the facts get in the way of another scaremongering headline about “how Islam is curtailing freedom of speech”, as the Telegraph puts it, is there?

Update:  Predictably, over at Jihad Watch Robert Spencer denounces “more dhimmitude from the BBC”.

Football NSW backs cultural diversity, welcomes IFAB decision on hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

FNSW logoFootball NSW has thrown its support behind Harmony Day, a day designed to recognise Australia’s cultural diversity as well as women footballers.

Harmony Day is an initiative of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). It gives people the opportunity to celebrate what makes each Australian unique and share what we have in common.

In 2012, the Harmony Day theme is sport – play, engage, inspire recognises the important role and positive influence that sport has in our multicultural nation.

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Notorious bigot ‘courts controversy’ with book on multiculturalism in Dewsbury

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Danny Lockwood Islamic RepublicDanny Lockwood, an editor and publisher, has courted controversy by writing a book with a provocative title, The Islamic Republic of Dewsbury.

It is a blunt assault on multi-culturalism seen through the prism of his experience of immigration in the town of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. Lockwood refers to his book as a “hard-hitting chronicle of the massive social changes in the district” and what he describes as “20 years of failed multi-culturalism.”

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Mad Mel as dance

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“This is Islamophobic shit,” cried an angry spectator two-thirds of the way through DV8’s investigation of multiculturalism. I was later told that the intervention was a “staged performance”. If so, it was both exceptionally convincing and dangerously counterproductive, since I spent the rest of the evening wondering whether it contained a measure of truth.

Michael Billington reviews “Can We Talk About This?”, a show at the National Theatre in London created by Lloyd Newson.

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Warsi’s call for the dominance of Christianity ignores that it’s Islam under threat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Responding to the claim by Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi that Christianity is under attack from militant secularism, Rebecca Wainwright and Peter Allen examine recent campaigns against the construction of mosques in London.

They conclude: “Warsi’s call for a renewed dominance of Christian values relies on an assumption that they are under threat. The examples discussed here suggest that perhaps the opposite is more accurate: that Christianity continues to dominate expectations of faith buildings in Britain, something that is unlikely to change if the government continues with its anti-multiculturalist approach.”

Left Foot Forward, 3 March 2012

Pickles ‘signals an end to multiculturalism’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric PicklesThe English language and Christian faith will be restored to the centre of public life, ministers are to pledge today. Eric Pickles will praise the traditions and heritage of “the majority” and describe multiculturalism as the politics of division.

Public bodies should no longer “bend over backwards” to translate documents into dozens of languages and migrants must be asked to learn English and understand the British way of life, the Communities Secretary will say.

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One Society Many Cultures conference tomorrow

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Multiculturalism conferenceA huge range of speakers, including MPs, campaigners, writers and musicians is lined up for the one-day conference on defending multiculturalism on 15 October.

The event, titled Celebrate diversity, defend multiculturalism, oppose Islamophobia and racism, is organised by UAF and One Society Many Cultures and sponsored by SERTUC.

It is backed by the NUT, Unite, CWU, UCU and PCS trade unions, the Muslim Council of Britain and the NUS Black Students Campaign.

Speakers announced for the conference include Frances O’Grady TUC deputy general secretary, Kevin Courtney deputy general secretary NUT, Jack Dromey MP, Helen Goodman MP, Peter Hain MP,Claude Moraes MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Farooq Murad secretary general, Muslim Council of Britain, Edie Friedman executive director, Jewish Council for Racial Equality, Michelle Stanistreet general secretary NUJ, Hugh Lanning deputy general secretary PCS, Steve Hart political director Unite, Megan Dobney regional secretary SERTUC, Zita Holbourne PCS NEC, Bob Lambert co-director European Muslim Research Centre, Jody McIntyre journalist, Peter Oborne journalist, Dilowar Khan director, London Muslim Centre, Alaa’ Samarrai vice-president student affairs, Federation of Student Islamic Societies, Kanja Sesay NUS black students’ officer, Nitin Sawney musician, Sabby Dhalu secretary One Society Many Cultures, Denis Fernando Lesbian and Gay Coalition Against Racism, Weyman Bennett joint secretary UAF, Martin Smith national co-ordinator, Love Music Hate Racism.

>> Go here to download the conference flyer
>> Read more about the conference

The event takes place at the TUC conference centre, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS from 9.30am to 5pm on Saturday 15 October.

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