Richard Adams poses the question that other journalists would be advised to ask.
See also “‘Trojan Horse’: Calls for interfaith task force”, BBC News, 8 June 2014
Category Archives: Right wing
The return of halal hysteria
This is the headline to the latest article from the Mail on the supposed barbarism of halal slaughter.
Thousands march against racism in Belfast
Thousands of people have taken part in an anti-racism march in Belfast. Organisers said it was designed to “reassure ethnic and religious minorities in Northern Ireland”. Representatives of the Muslim community and trade unions were among those who spoke at a rally ahead of a march from Writers’ Square to Belfast City Hall.
It was organised in response to an upsurge in hate crime and controversial remarks about Islam by a pastor and First Minister Peter Robinson. Pastor James McConnell made a public apology on Friday for calling Islam “heathen” and “satanic”.
Saturday’s march was led by Belfast’s Lord Mayor, Nichola Mallon, Dr Donald Watts, president of the Irish Council of Churches and Dr Mazhar M Khan, a member of Northern Ireland’s Muslim community. Amnesty International, the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (NIC-ICTU) and the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM) organised the event.
Park View Academy hits back in Trojan horse row
Staff and pupils at Birmingham school have been left baffled and angry over its media portrayal, Daniel Boffey reports.
See also “Bob Jones criticises Michael Gove’s interference in Trojan Horse investigation”, West Midlands Police Crime Commissioner press release, 6 June 2014
Michael Gove book offers clue to Trojan horse row and his views on Islamism
Celsius 7/7, published in the aftermath of the London bombings, provides insights into the political outlook of education secretary Michael Gove, argues Alan Travis.
See also Tom Griffin, “Michael Gove and the subversives”, Spinwatch, 6 June 2014
The Godfather
Ryan Lenz profiles David Horowitz, the “godfather of the modern anti-Muslim movement” in the Summer 2014 issue of the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s Intelligence Report.
Racist graffiti outside London primary school: Mother reacts furiously to media coverage
Express reports on the ‘whites not welcome’ graffiti – omitting to reproduce the accompanying anti-Islam and anti-migrant slogans
A concerned mother has hit out at media coverage of racist graffiti at her local school after a series of articles claimed that white pupils alone were being targeted by the slurs.
Coverage of the vandalism, which was left on the entrance path to the Prince of Wales Primary School, focused entirely on just one of the messages which said “whites not welcome.”
But the mother who alerted the media to the graffiti has responded furiously to coverage by publications including the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Evening Standard who, she said, are creating “misconceptions and division.”
Jasmin Nathan, who has two sons aged nine and six at the school, sent several images of the graffiti to a number publications, including the Huffington Post UK. She has now said that she is “very disappointed and angry” that only the one image has been widely circulated.
Progressive Christians should take on the Christian right
We need to expose the truth about certain Christian groups that are happy to ally themselves with far-right politics. Foremost among them is Christian Concern (previously called Christian Concern For Our Nation).
Christian Concern claims to speak up for Christian values in public life. They are one of the main groups behind the Coalition for Marriage, which has drawn in more moderately conservative Christians and gained significant media coverage with its outrageously untrue claim that the legalisation of same-sex marriages would allow churches to be sued for not holding them. Many middle-of-the-road Christians have been happy to endorse the group’s ‘Not Ashamed’ campaign, which encourages Christians to be open about their faith.
Rumours have long circulated that the leaders of Christian Concern held a meeting by phone with Tommy Robinson when he was leader of the English Defence League. Christian Concern last month had the opportunity to get rid of these rumours, when they were asked outright by a journalist (not me) if they were true. Christian Concern’s press officer, after consulting with its leaders, told the journalist that they had no comment to make.
Christian Concern deny being party-political – they had to apologise to their supporters in 2010 when they appeared to endorse the tiny Christian party. But in 2011, the group held a meeting on ‘Dismantling Multiculturalism’ with Gerard Batten, Ukip MEP for London. Proposals they appear to have agreed on include a ban on kosher and halal food in schools and hospitals, an end to Islamic banking in the UK and a ban on non-English signs in public (Batten has since tried to play it all down, saying these were only ideas). By last year, Christian Concern’s bulletins to supporters were commenting on Ukip’s local election success in joyful terms.
Symon Hill writes at Politics.co.uk, 6 June 2014
Belfast preacher who denounced Islam as evil issues apology
A born-again Christian preacher who denounced Islam as “satanic” and the “spawn of the devil” has issued a public apology over remarks that ended up de-stabilising Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government.
Pastor James McConnell of Belfast said he never had any intention to “arouse fear or stir up or incite hatred” towards any Muslim in the region. The preacher’s statement was issued just hours before the Police Service of Northern Ireland questioned him about his comments and allegations that he had been inciting hatred.
Naming the narratives: The Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham
In a week when twenty leading educationalists and Muslim leaders have questioned Ofsted’s impartiality in the Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse’ affair, education consultant Robin Richardson reflects on the factors behind its controversial recent inspections.