Category Archives: Right wing

Lessons of Birmingham schools witch-hunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Incalculable damage has been inflicted on the Birmingham schools caught up in this affair and to their pupils and parents. There are already acute staff shortages which will get worse. The way the affair has been handled is entirely down to Gove and Ofsted. They should provide extra resources and staff to mitigate the damage to the children and community in Birmingham. As they pick up the pieces they will probably never forget what’s been done to them. One hopes they can bring themselves in time to forgive. They will be more likely to do so if they are given some help, in recompense for the injustices they are suffering.

Tim Brighouse, formerly chief education officer of Birmingham and schools commissioner for London, identifies the real villains in the “Trojan horse” affair and proposes some solutions.

Guardian, 17 June 2014

Anti-Islamic group behind black balloons stunt in Bendigo

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bendigo black balloonsAn anti-Islamic group has sent an anonymous email to all Bendigo media outlets, local politicians and prominent media commentators claiming it was behind the black balloons that have mysteriously appeared across central Bendigo.

The email has ended weeks of speculation about what the balloons mean and who is behind them.

The first line of the email states that the “black balloon campaign was established by those who are against the legislated inequality and abuse in our Western society of women and children”. It says Islamic influence, especially in relation to abuse of women and children, is “creeping into our Western culture”.

It says Western communities are being “forced to accept cultures like Islam”. The final line of the email reads: “The view of the black balloon supporters is to accept Islam into our community is endorsing domestic and child abuse in our community.” The email also says it is a “misconception” that the views expressed are “racist”.

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Trojan Horse plot driven by same ‘warped’ Islamic extremism as Boko Haram, says Tony Blair

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The alleged Islamic extremism seen in the Birmingham schools affair is the same as that practised by Boko Haram, the Nigerian terrorist network, Tony Blair has said.

The Trojan Horse ‘plot’ to bring hardline practices into Birmingham classrooms is part of a global extremist movement stretching from Britain to Africa to the Far East, the former Prime Minister claimed. Mr Blair said the alleged plot was part of a movement that included extremists in Pakistan and Boko Haram, the Nigerian terrorist group. The group is responsible for the kidnapping of hundreds of schools girls in Nigeria two months ago and dozens of deadly attacks on churches and predominantly Christian villages.

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Cameron calls for promotion of ‘British values’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mail on Sunday Be More BritishMuslim clerics in the UK who inflame terrorism by denouncing free speech, equality and democracy will be opposed in a “muscular” new defence of “British values”, David Cameron has pledged.

In a powerful intervention clearly aimed mainly at “preachers of hate”, the Prime Minister says the failure to stand up to such firebrands has “allowed extremism – both the violent and non-violent kind – to flourish”.

He plans to use the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta – 12 months from today – to reassert British values in a “Magna Carta for Modern Britain.”

It is time to stop being “squeamish about Britishness” and tell everyone who lives here that refusing to accept British laws and the British way of life is “not an option”, Mr Cameron argues.

The Prime Minister will emphasise the commitment by insisting that Magna Carta becomes part of the school curriculum.

Downing Street stressed the Prime Minister’s comments, which come in an article in today’s Mail on Sunday, are aimed at all sections of the community, not just Muslims. However, they appear to signal a key change in the stance of successive recent governments, Tory and Labour, on this sensitive issue.

They have faced claims that some unrepresentative ethnic minority leaders have been given free rein to promote extremist views – and trample on UK laws and rights on democracy, women’s equality, religious freedom and tolerance.

Mr Cameron’s initiative is a direct response to the “Trojan Horse” scandal of Islamist extremists who infiltrated state schools.

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Bikers ditch anti-Muslim rally in Dearborn, called ‘a bunch of stinkin’ cowards,’ by Terry Jones

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terry Jones at Dearborn City HallDEARBORN, MI — The bikers who invited anti-Muslim activist Terry Jones to demonstrate in Dearborn split before the rally. More police were on hand than Terry Jones supporters in attendance.

Jones, in a black leather Harley Davidson jacket, jeans, with blue-tinted sunglasses and a handlebar mustache, said he and a cavalcade of nearly 100 bikers from an organization called American Patriotic Riders made passes at mosques in Detroit and Dearborn before arriving at Dearborn City Hall for a rally.

Except the bikers never arrived. Jones said they feared police would photograph their license plates and conduct surveillance on them. “They all had good leather jackets on; they looked really tough,” said Jones to about 20 attendees, not including media and law enforcement. But “they’re a bunch of stinking cowards … ”

Jones, whose anti-Muslim rhetoric has included widely publicized burning of the Quran, the Islamic Bible, spoke for more than 15 minutes on his perception that the religion is evil, focusing heavily on his opposition to Sharia law, the government enforcement of Muslim rules.

Jones, a pastor, leads the organization Stand Up America Now, a Christian-influenced organization that advocates free speech and criticizes Islam. Jones said American Patriotic Riders invited him to Dearborn and his organization paid the travel expenses for himself and several other members.

“Those Muslims are not welcome in America,” Jones said, referring to Sharia law supporters. He said small groups of Muslims are “peaceful,” but “as they get larger, they desire to put Sharia law in place.” He called Islam, “totally not compatible with Western society” and “the biggest violator of human rights of all time” for their treatment of women.

“You can’t trust Muslims,” he said, referencing Taqiyya, a Muslim principle that allows illegal acts or deception in the face of persecution.

There were no Jones protestors in attendance, but several admonished Jones from passing vehicles or bicycles. Several people in Islamic dress watched from across Michigan Avenue. “You’re a jackass,” said one passerby. Another vulgarly recommended Jones procreate with himself.

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Sharia expert warns of threat from Islam following ‘Trojan Horse’ inquiry

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sam Solomon Trojan HorseIn the wake of the so-called Trojan Horse inquiry into Islamic extremism in schools in Birmingham, Sharia expert, Sam Solomon, co-founder of Christian Concern, says that the Ofsted investigation rings a “warning bell” about the strategic aim that drives Islam – the imposition of sharia throughout British society.

Sam Solomon lectures on Islamic affairs to international audiences and is an adviser to governments including American, British and European politicians. He converted to Christianity after reading the New Testament.

In a detailed analysis of the lessons to be learned from the alleged ‘plot’ to apply sharia in Birmingham schools, Sam warns that Britain must safeguard its value system against an on-going plan by Islamists to subjugate the British way of life to sharia.

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An open letter to Student Rights

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Following their unanimous vote on 23 May to denounce the group, Imperial College student union has published an open letter to Student Rights:

“Being a project set up by the neoconservative Henry Jackson Society … we believe that your input in discussions around campus issues have and will continue to demonise and marginalise Muslim students, and we therefore have no confidence in your judgement. We are therefore pleased that our members, students of Imperial College London, have collectively decided to denounce Student Rights and its agenda, and as of today we are instituting a no-engagement policy with your organisation.”

New Jersey mosque plan prompts usual anti-Islam backlash

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Midland Park proposed mosque

Residents in Midland Park, New Jersey took no issue with a church in their backyard, but on Friday, some neighbors were saying they do not want a mosque to replace it.

As CBS 2’s Christine Sloan reported, the building at 218 Irving St. in Midland Park now houses the Korean Han Ma Um Reformed Church. But the El-Zahra Islamic Education Foundation is closing in on a deal to turn the building into a mosque. Some residents do not like the idea at all.

Kathy Peppes told CBS 2’s Sloan she was worried her street will see more traffic. “My main concern is the safety of my family, and my son, and all his friends that play on the street,” Peppes said. Peppes’ home is next to the parking lot for the building. She said she was also concerned about “the noise this might create, because I know that they also pray and chant outdoors.”

But Henry Stapel, whose backyard faces the property, said the church was not a problem. He is not worried about the mosque either. “It doesn’t matter,” Stapel said. “They’ll be good neighbors, and that’s all we’re concerned about is that they’re good neighbors.”

But the mosque controversy has gotten ugly on the Facebook page for the Midland Park Press. “I know more about Muslims than you do. They are not nice people. They are mean and ruthless ok. And yes they should all live on an island,” wrote one woman, Ruth Smith.

The comment drew a response from another woman, Jeannie Parrish Kimball: “I would be concerned having some of you as neighbors. So much anger and hatred.”

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Guardian columnist asks: Did notorious racist have a point after all?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ray Honeyford protestIt 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.

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