About 130 people have marched through Ipswich town centre in a show of “unity” against the English Defence League (EDL). Unite Against Fascism (UAF) said it held the march after members of the EDL protested outside a recent meeting in Ipswich, shouting “racist comments”. About 25 EDL members held a counter march in Ipswich on Sunday, saying UAF supported “Muslim extremists”. There were some heated exchanges but the marches were without any violence.
Writing in the Jewish Chronicle, David Aaronovitch replies to Douglas Murray’s recent article denying any parallel between Islamophobia and antisemitism, in which Murray claimed that “the word ‘Islamophobia’ is a crock” and is “used against critics of anything said or done in the name of Islam”. A sceptic might respond that Aaronovitch is not averse to promoting a bit of Islamophobia himself. All the same, he makes some good points here.
Aamer Anwar responds to the hysteria provoked by Channel 4’s announcement that it will be broadcasting the adhan every day during Ramadan
The unedited version of this article can be read here.
A broad coalition of Ipswich people including members of all major trade unions, the Labour party and many other community groups will be marching on Sunday in support of the town’s tradition of multiculturalism. The march is organised by Ipswich Unite Against Fascism (UAF).
David Ellesmere, leader of Ipswich Borough Council, said: “Ipswich has a long and proud history of being a diverse town where people of all communities get on. Extremists who seek to create divisions amongst Ipswich people do not speak for us. They are not Ipswich and we will not let them divide us.” Miles Hubbard Unite regional officer said: “By marching we are showing that there is no place for the politics of hatred in Ipswich.”
The march will gather at Giles Circus in Queen Street, Ipswich at 11am. For more information, contact Unite Ipswich on 01473 250321.
“Simon Blackaby thinks that you can’t have a debate about nationalism without inviting the leader of a violent and reactionary gang of racist thugs. We disagree.”
Tessa Frost and Orlando Lazar-Gillard challenge the thinking behind the proposal to invite English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon to speak at the Oxford Union.
An academy is to host a public meeting to counter an anti-Islam demonstration in Croydon later this month. Oasis Academy Shirley Park in Ashburton will hold a roundtable event on Thursday July 11 for locals to publicly reject the protest by the English Volunteer Force (EVF).
The EVF, an English Defence League splinter group, is to stage a rally at the UK Border Agency’s Lunar House headquarters on July 27. The group says it is protesting “Islamic, African and east European immigrants,” who it claims “suck and bleed our country dry”. Oasis’s meeting, which will be held at its the primary academy building in Long Lane, will invite community groups and local residents to respond to the EVF and celebrate the diversity of Croydon. The meeting, hosted by Oasis founder Steve Chalke, will run from 7pm to 11pm.
The Committee against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) says there has been a steady rise in anti-Muslim acts in France in recent years. The CCIF said in its annual report on Wednesday that the number of anti-Muslim acts jumped to 469 cases in 2012 from 298 in 2011, and 188 in 2010.
The report also denounced France’s civil service as “one of the principal vectors of Islamophobia” as it said bureaucrats often over-interpreted official secularist policies to incorrectly reject to serve Muslim women who wear Islamic headscarves.
According to the law, civil servants and girls who attend state schools are banned from wearing headscarves, but adults using a public service are not. However, some French officials refuse to conduct a civil wedding or issue documents if the woman concerned covers her hair, the report said.
The CCIF report added that anti-Muslim acts have increasingly targeted people, especially women, adding that assaults against mosques had approximately doubled in 2012 compared with the year before.
Unite activists in Ipswich, Suffolk will be joining a march for multiculturalism on Sunday (7 July) – a week after members of the far right English Defence League (EDL) tried to force their way into Unite’s offices in the town.
Unite, the country’s largest union, condemned last weekend’s attempt by EDL members to get into the union’s Grimwade Street’s offices and the racist chanting at Unite members attending a meeting in the building.
Unite regional officer Miles Hubbard said: “The actions of EDL members in trying to get into the Unite offices gives the lie to any notion that the EDL is a mainstream political organisation. In attempting to break up a peaceful meeting through intimidation and racist chanting they have demonstrated all the characteristics of the fascist ideology.
“The EDL is opposed to integration and multiculturalism, and is trying to stir up division. By marching on Sunday we are showing that there is no place for the politics of hatred in Ipswich and throughout Suffolk.”
West Midlands Police has been urged to log Islamophobic hate crimes as a separate category following a series of attacks on mosques. The call comes as the anti-Muslim campaign group the English Defence League is gearing up for a demonstration in Birmingham City Centre on Saturday, July 20.
His name is Steve Crispin, and he has adopted “Aryan English” as his Facebook identity. EDL News has the details. You may remember Crispin. He was the thug who was was jailed last year for his part in an attack on two Muslims during an EDL anti-mosque protest in Dagenham in 2011, in the course of which he kicked one of the victims and fractured his jaw.