One Step Behind

As I mentioned I'm reading a series of articles by Adrian Morgan about the rise of the EDL and co. In it he offers a transcript of an interview with John Denham (taken from the BBC Today programme from September 12th). According to the transcript, Denham said:

What we're seeing at the moment is small, but I think we do need to take it seriously enough to say that there are obviously people who would be provocative, hope that there's not just a reaction but there's an over-reaction and then people blame the people who over-react and the situation gets out of control.

While he may be talking about the protests of the EDL and others, his statement makes far more sense when read about Al Muhajiroun's protest in Luton back in March. That was the latest in a series of a protests designed to provoke an over-reaction and this time it worked.

The Government clearly understands the game being played here, but they're one step behind meaning that though they know that the danger lies with blaming those who over-react and not those who are doing the provoking, that is precisely what they have done. Had they acted earlier and stronger against Al Muhajiroun we would not be seeing the rise of the EDL now.

Proving My Point on Prevent

Earlier in the week I argued that the Prevent strategy should be scrapped. The main reason was that the State should not be in the businesses of funding one idea over another or trying to encourage its citizens to adopt one set of beliefs over any other. However, I also made the more practical point that Prevent can never do what it hopes to do.

Prevent hopes to give funding to groups that oppose Islamism in the hope that these groups will discourage the growth of Islamic extremism in the UK. It seems to me that this can never work because any organisation receiving money from the British State will be ignored and shunned by anyone who harbours ill-feeling towards the British State.

Engage (the Islamist group) has a piece today that underlines this point. Talking about the Quilliam Foundation (an Islamic group set up to fight against Islamic extremism) they say:

As ENGAGE readers will be well aware, Ed Husain and Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation have been funded by the Home Office and the Foreign Office to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds to help promote the idea that violent extremism is the result of 'Islamist ideology' and of course has nothing whatsoever to do with our own violent warmongering policies abroad. The Quilliam Foundation are openly regarded with utter contempt and derision by UK Muslims...

Is there any point funding a group to tackle extremism in the Muslim communities when the very act of funding them undermines their ability to do the tackling?

Honour Attack in Burnely?

According to The Asian News:

Mohammed Islam, 48, struck Shadiya Islam repeatedly, threatened to pour acid in her face and told her he would kill her after the police arrived.

According to the prosecution this was the result of his daughter's declaration that she intended to move in with her boyfriend. If that is true (and since the defence was so weak it probably is) then this was the first step on the route to a possible "honour killing".

As a side note, this is quite worrying:

Jawad Babar, defending, said [Mohammed] Islam was quite liberal and had not imposed any major sanctions on his children. They had gone to school, he allowed them to work and they were free to chose their partners.

Allowing your kids to go to school and choose who to marry is not exactly the preserve of liberals. Makes one wonder what he would consider normal.

Some Thoughts

For those interested in the EDL and co I've just come across a series of articles written by Adrian Morgan on an American site called Family Security Matters. Not read them yet but worth noting for future reading.

On another note two websites have gone down. Islamist site Engage has apparently exceeded its Bandwidth while the BNP site is simply not loading. Apparently this is not the first time the BNP site has gone down, see here about it in May this year.

MCB - Scrap Prevent and Change Foreign Policy

A favourite line of Islamists is that all Islamist terrorism is the result of foreign policy and that to end terrorism we must change our foreign policy to fit in with their demands. In short they advocate that we surrender to the demands of the bombers (or at least some of the demands).

The MCB has put on its website its response to the inquiry about Prevent. They essentially call for it to be scrapped and say that it could never work anyway because foreign policy must change. The key bits are paragraphs 7 and 8:

7. Significant amounts of public funds have been invested in the Prevent programme. The monitoring and intelligence gathering agenda of Prevent are matters that best reside within the National Security Strategy. It was an error to have contaminated the way a department like Communities and Local Government is publicly perceived by placing national security concerns in its orbit. Community development and cohesion policies ought to apply to all communities fairly and equitably, based on need.

8. While the focus should be on a criminal and policing strategic response, the MCB appreciates the need to explore the underlying causes. However, there seems to have been an expectation that community bodies, by showing ‘leadership’, can wave a magic wand and ask young people to remain oblivious to international political developments at the root of the frustration – not least the injustice in Palestine that has lasted well-nigh sixty years.

If there's one thing we mustn't do to stop terrorism it is to give in to the demands of the terrorists. And groups that shout from the sidelines that we should surrender should be compared to the bloke who watches his mate punch you in the face then suggests that you should pay up to stop it happening again.

Islamists Push "Jewish Control"

As we reported a few days ago the Jewish Board of Deputies (a communal organisation) wrote a submission to the Commons' Communities and Local Government Committee for their inquiry into the 'Prevent' strategy. (see here, and here for my thoughts on Prevent). In the submission they suggested that it was probably best not to give money to Islamist organisations as part of a plan to stop the spread of Islamism. Among the groups mentioned was the Muslim Council of Britain and this has annoyed other Islamists. Their response - push the angle that Jews are too powerful.

At Engage (the Islamist organisation run by MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala) the story ran under the headline:

UK Jewish body sets conditions for government engaging with MCB

Is it reading too much to consider the title to be deliberately misleading with the aim of giving the impression that the "Jewish body" is somehow forcing a change rather than simply advising one?

And then we have MPACUK with their headline:

Islamophobia within the Jewish community questioned as JBoD attacks MCB

It doesn't say who's doing the questioning so we can assume that it is MPACUK itself. Moreover, note that the headline talks of the "Jewish community" then the article starts of talking about the "Jewish Zionist community" before accusing the Jewish community as a whole of having a problem with Islamophobia.

In the last paragraph of the article they also push the "Jewish control" line:

It is the height of arrogance for a Jewish group to tell our community what political views we can and cannot hold, it is also a sign of its immense political power that it can dictate to the Government who they should talk to, but most telling it shows that rampant Islamophobia within the community has reached its most powerful groups and governs its policies towards our community.

In the minds of Islamists, it seems, being Jewish and mentioning your concern about the funding of Islamists by an anti-Islamist programme and this amounts to dictating to the Government in a demonstration of your control.

MPACUK Attempts to Hijack Peaceful Prayer

3,000 Muslims gathered on Friday in America to pray at Capitol Hill. The organisers say this on their website:

The objective of this gathering is to invite the Muslim Communities and friends of Islam to express and illustrate the wonderful diversity of Islam. We intend to manifest Islam's majestic spiritual principals as revealed by Allah to our beloved prophet Muhammad (PEACE BE UPON HIM) of Arabia. Likewise; we intend to inspire a new generation of Muslim to work for the greater good of all people. We shall serve all people, regardless of race, religion or national origin.

Moreover, Fox News reports:

The rally is intended to be all about prayer, and no political speeches or signs will be allowed, said the event's organizer, Hassen Abdellah, president of the Dar-ul-Islam mosque in Elizabeth, N.J.

Another organiser said:

This is not a protest, it is a day of prayer, of devotion, hoping that we can work ... for the betterment of the world community.

And finally the crowd were informed at the beginning of the event:

We’re here to pray, and not to protest.

Yet, despite all this, MPACUK is trying to hijack the simple and peaceful act of praying for their own ends. They say:

This prayer is a political act

...

We must use politics in all spheres of life to communicate the truth to the world - through mass political acts such as this, to voting, to lobbying the media in order to give a balanced representation of Islam and Muslims.

Not content with stirring up trouble themselves they now seek to spin the acts of other Muslims to their own ends. They might like to read what one of the organisers told the crowd, though:

America is not perfect. But I will say something it took me my whole adult life to come to: America is not perfect, but I want to tell the truth: It is one of the best places in the world to live.

Vicar of Bolton Slams EDL

The Vicar of Bolton, Rev Matt Thompson, spoke out against the EDL ahead of their proposed "protest" in Manchester. The EDL claim to be fighting only against Islamic extremism with the best of intentions, hoping to uphold all that is great about Britain.

The Reverend said:

What worries me about the English Defence League is when we see pictures of young, white males giving Nazi salutes. This is the kind of hateful ideology their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents fought to defeat.

Quite so. Below is the kind of thing he is talking about (taken from here):



Lest anything think that the snap was not from an EDL march, see the man in black in the background and compare his t-shirt with those available from the EDL shop here.

Islamists and BNP agree - it's the Zionists!

The emergence and rise of the EDL seems to have caused some confusion and concern. Islamists are confused as to how to react. Up to now it was simple - everything the Islamists didn't like was a Zionist plot. The terrorist attacks carried out by Islamists were Zionist plots. Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were Zionist plots. Bad press was Zionists etc etc.

As we all know, when Islamists talk of Zionists they generally mean Jews. And Zionist plots must have someone Jewish involved to be valid. Not normally hard to find since there are plenty of Jewish people working in important posts in the Western World. But the EDL doesn't have Jews involved with it and hence the confusion. No Jews means no Zionist plot so how can Islamists react without sacrificing their simple world view?

Fortunately for them the EDL are also aware that Islamists hate Jews so, as part of their provocation, they march with Israeli flags. And that, you see, is all that Islamists need to draw the link. Hence articles on MPACUK's website entitled "Exposed! The EDL and Its Zionist Connection" and "Far-Right and Zionist Thugs Unite Against Palestinians". The evidence for the connection is the flag:

their [the EDL's] motives were soon revealed by their racist chanting and by the unfurling of an Israeli flag by the EDL skinheads.

and

Together they chanted “We hate Muslims” while waving Israeli flags

Some Islamist groups are more subtle. Take the IHRC as an example. It is not a coincidence, I think, that the images they use to illustrate their articles about the EDL are the ones in which Israeli flags appear prominently. See here and here.

So much for the Islamists, what about the BNP? Well, they're concerned. The EDL are gaining much publicity with their own brand of racism and anti-Muslim feeling. The BNP is worried for two reasons. Firstly they might well lose support as the EDL gains ground because the two have similar aims. Secondly, though, the BNP is terrified that the EDL will make them look bad. They have tried hard over the last decade or more to look respectable and become electable and have sadly, succeeded to some extent. If people link the EDL to the BNP, even just by having common membership, then this could ruin their plans.

So finally the BNP find common ground with the Islamists - they blame it on the Zionists. In an audio message on the website of Simon Darby (the BNP's Deputy Chairman) Griffin explains how he thought the EDL was a conspiracy by the British State (again any excuse to ensure that the EDL being racist doesn't make people realise that the BNP is also racist) but now realises that it is a Zionist false-flag operation. (see here for the audio from about 6.55 and here for some of the transcript).

Once again we find that the common denominator among these three groups of extremists is anti-Semitism. Scary times for Britain's Jews if they find themselves caught in the crossfire.

Casuals United Come Clean

The group calling itself Casuals United is claiming that it was one of the main reasons for the establishment of the EDL and now acts as a feeder to that group. They say:

If these 30 - 40 [members of Casuals United] had not embarked on the initial anti Choudrey protests, then the EDL and other Defence Leagues would not be where they are now.

...

Casuals United now exists simply as a recruiter for the English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Defence Leagues. We do not organise demos, we simply use online and otherwise communication networks of lads to drum up support.

This is part of an article starting with the question "What are we all about?" The EDL have gone to great lengths to portray themselves as being simply anti-Islamist. They have no problem with Muslims, apparently, and hate Nazis too. They have nothing to do with the BNP and they're certainly not racists.

But go to their site and you will quickly believe otherwise. The background is a tiled picture of the UK with the words "**** off, we're full". Nothing anti-Islamist about that. That's anti-immigration pure and simple, along the lines of the BNP. But more damning is the article in which they try to explain what they're about. At the end of it they have a video of Shahid Malik giving a speech. In it he explains how there are growing numbers of Muslim MPs and he jokes that one day all MPs will be Muslim (because of the exponential growth in their number) and suggests that one day we might have an MP who happens to be Muslim too.

The reaction?

Do Muslim MP's like Malik really think we are that thick? Our advice is this, NEVER EVER vote for any Muslim MP or Councillor as its clear their main interest "inshalla" is the advancement of Islam and not the interests of this country.

Extrapolating from a joke from one Muslim MP to every Muslim in the country? Sounds like simple racism to me. So much for being only anti-Islamist.

Anti-Semitism at MPACUK?

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has apparently written a submission to the Commons’ Communities and Local Government Committee arguing that Prevent money should not be given to groups including the Muslim Council of Britain that espouse Islamism. MPACUK isn't happy about this. They say as follows:

This just highlights a common suspicion in this country concerning many Jewish bodies over their unheeded support for Israel's oppression. We call on all Jewish organisations to abandon the racist Zionist political ideology and look towards creating a long lasting peace in Palestine.

If I understand this right, MPACUK is giving an ultimatum to all Jews in the UK - reject Israel completely or be considered a whole-hearted supporter of Zionism and any and all crimes (real and fictional) that MPACUK and other Islamist groups consider Israel to be guilty of. Since in the mind of the Islamist a supporter of Israeli "oppression" seems to be a perfectly valid target for attack this seems to me very much to be MPACUK declaring all Jews to be "enemies" unless they meet the Islamist standard of Israel-rejection (eg Neturei Karta).

The Prevent Strategy

The Government's "Prevent" programme for trying to stop the spread of Islamism in the UK has come in for some attention recently. The Tax Payer's Allowance released a report on the 8th September detailing the various organisations that had received money under this scheme (read the report from here).

The report revealed that much of the money went to groups who did not oppose extremism (but who were not extreme themselves) while some went to extremist groups. Matthew Sinclair argued that the strategy should be scrapped essentially because the scheme is impossible to implement properly. Ed Husain argued that it should be continued but fixed.

I think Prevent should be scrapped for two important reasons. The first is that not only can it not be implemented properly but that it cannot work. The money must go to one of three groups. The recipient may be inactive in the area of extremism (neither opposed to it nor encouraging it) in which case the money is wasted. The recipient may be a proponent of extremism in which case the money is counter-productive. But even if the recipient works to oppose extremism the receiving of money from the State will undermine its efforts completely. No one with animosity towards the British State (the kind of people Prevent is supposed to encourage to turn away from extremism) is going to listen to groups funded by the British State. Perhaps this is why Rochdale Council refused to disclose who they gave money to claiming that it would be commercially detrimental to a third party.

But the main reason why Prevent should be scrapped is that it is wrong. The State should not be in the businesses of funding some ideas and not others. The State should not put its weight behind some ideology and should not preach to us what we should or shouldn't believe. If we want to be a liberal country we must allow the free flow of ideas, not gang up to fund some against others.

Scrap Prevent and let people believe what they want. Use the money to make sure that the Islamist cannot blow me up, don't use it in an attempt to force people to believe what the State wants them to believe.

Thoughts on Barnbrook Suspension

BNP member Richard Barnbrook has been suspended by Barking and Dagenham Council for bringing his office into disrepute. He has also been censured by the GLA. See here for the full story and here for the report concluding that he had breached the Code of Conduct.

Here are two thoughts. The first is that this was clearly politically motivated. Apparently Barnbrook lied saying that three people had been murdered in Barking and Dagenham when actually one had been killed in a different borough and the other two were on life support and later recovered.

Now, I have no time for the BNP - they're racist. But we all know that politicians lie. And in the year of the great MPs expenses scandal, Barnbrook's lie pales into insignificance. To abuse the Code of Conduct in this way brings far more disrepute onto the GLA and Council than Barnbrook's statement ever did.

Another interesting point is how this will relate to the suspension of Ken Livingstone. Will those who protested against Ken's suspension also protest against this one and vice versa? True the situations are not the same but it is interesting nonetheless.

I should point out that I was not entirely against Ken's suspension largely because he could and should simply have apologised for what he did yet stubbornly refused to. But there too, since the action was politically motivated it was wrong and I should have said so at the time.

Some News

The Home Secretary revokes a control order as the entire system looks set to fall apart. The problem is the refusal to charge and try the suspects because the Government doesn't want to reveal the evidence. In a liberal democracy it should be the case that we either try someone in court or else we leave them be. Yes this may well put us at risk but we mustn't sacrifice what makes us great in the face of threats from those who don't like that which makes us great. (full story here, The Guardian)

The EDL claims to have received support from all kinds of people (Muslims included) as they attempt to shake off the image of being racists of the far-right. People posting on their website doesn't mean much nor do gestures such as burning a swastika. Provoking others and telling British citizens to "integrate or go back to where you belong" (not a direct quote from anyone but the essence of their message from a video posted on their site) tells us all we need to know. (full story here, The Daily Star)

Abu Makr Mansha has been sent back to prison. He was originally conviced in December 2005 under the Terrorism Act 2000 and the belief is that he was planning to murder a British soldier. He was released on probation a few months ago but was recently arrested for another offence and, although released on bail, the probation service decided to send him back to prison as they were concerned he might reoffend. (full story here, The Mirror)

A Harrow councillor gets it spot on. Susan Hall said, (referring to the recent protests and fighting between the EDL et al and UAF and Muslim extremists) "From the left and from the right, they are all as bad as each other and we in the middle are left cleaning up the mess...If it [the EDL protest] was peaceful protest, we would support it all the time, but with these groups there is no intention for peaceful protest. Similarly, the groups who turn out to defend the mosque have no intention of being peaceful". (full story here, The Harrow Times)

Muslim Businesses United

I came across an article in the Telegraph and Argus reporting that a group called "Muslim Businesses United" was hosting a dinner on 2nd October to raise money for Gaza. Nothing remarkable about that but I thought I'd have a quick look at their website. It was worth a little digging as a picture of extremism quickly emerges. Their home page announces that they are sending delegates on the Viva Palestina convoy. This group raised money for Hamas.

Another page is entitled "Stop Wars" and encourages people to take strike action and boycott various companies. A list is provided neatly splitting companies into two groups - those with links to Israel who should be shunned and those without. Although I'm not entirely convinced by their methods since Starbucks is to be boycotted because:

"Although Starbucks has gone to great length stating it does not support Israel. It is still on boycott lists as there is no evidence that it is not supporting Israel."

On their "Stop Wars" page they explain why they should not give money to charity:

Our charities are being blocked because banks are closing down the charity accounts or the Charity Commission are freezing accounts. This happened in 2008 and 2009 with Interpal and Viva Palestina respectively.

Interpal being another charity that has links to Hamas.

There is also considerable craziness from one of the organisation's founders. Saeeda Naz is one of the workers for the organisation. Her name and number appear on the posters for this latest event and the MBU website containts a scan of an article about how she raised £600 for Viva Palestina (ie for Hamas). She also has her own website and on it she has a page of press releases. On that page she kindly informs us that 9/11, 7/7, the Bali bombing, the Mumbai attacks and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team were all the work of the Americans and Israelis.

Far from being a normal Muslim organisation raising money for those suffering the effects of war and occupation, this is an organisation run by extremists with a history of raising money for Hamas and apparently intent on doing so again. I don't need to point out that Hamas is a terrorist organisation and deemed so by UK law making it illegal to raise money for them.

Fake Osman Warning?

One of the founders of the English Defence League is one Paul Ray. He runs a blog called Lionheart and in July he wrote a post entitled "An act of war! An official threat against my life". In it he claimed that he had received an Osman Warning. He posted a photo of the warning on his site. Recently this was picked up and spread around the web including the Jawa Report.

However, it seems to me that his Osman Warning is a possible fake. The photo of the letter he supposedly received conspicuously lacks any letter head from any organisation. It lacks anything that could not have been written by Ray himself on any computer. But what really makes me wonder is the fact that Ray has signed it but yet still seems to have it. Generally, when a document needs to be signed it is so that someone else has a record of the person having received it. They would therefore need to keep the signed copy. Indeed, this policy document [pdf] from the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary makes this plain with regard to Osman Warnings:

(Insert name) will be informed that he is not under arrest and is there voluntarily. The contents of the attached letter will be read to (Insert name), you will then hand him/her this letter and ask him/her to sign it as proof he/she has been made aware of the threat. Once signed you will retain the document.

So, did Paul Ray fake his warning in order to cause trouble? And have other sites been conned?

Blogging Against Extremism

It's been sometime since I last posted but I feel the need to start again. Originally I started blogging to provide a record of the various Islamist activities in the UK. I don't know if what I did made any difference but I felt I was doing something. In the time since last year I have not found another site or blog dedicated to this job.

But things have changed recently. For some time now we've had the far-left supporting Islamist groups and extremist Islamic groups are unfortunately quite plentiful. However, we now have the spectre of extremist far-right groups. With the rise of the EDL and the Stop the Islamification of Europe group etc there is bound to be an increase in extremism. The EDL and co will provide fuel for the Islamists and vice versa. The danger is that these two extremes will grow at the cost of the middle ground.

So I'm back blogging against extremism on both sides. There will be a slight change in the style as, to save time, many posts may consist of a link to an article and some small comment. Others will hopefully be longer "investigations" of sorts. Either way, I hope that this blog will be useful to people who want to know what the extremists in our country are up to, be they Islamist or far-right racists.