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Issue 210, Friday 27 October 2006 - 4 Shawwal 1427

Muslims as new Holocaust fodder?

It is ironic that the Muslim Council of Britain’s non-attendance at Holocaust Day Memorials (because it feels that it is not inclusive as other genocides are not given any recognition by the British establishment) should be added to the list drawn up by ministers of British Muslims’ failings as citizens. It came just as insightful critics of this Government and faith-based commentators were drawing parallels between how the Muslims are being stigmatised and demonised now is horribly reminiscent of the way in which the Jews were in Germany in the prequel to the Holocaust. Clearly no heed was taken of the warning in last month’s The Muslim News editorial that it had become ‘open season’ for all to attack Islam and Muslims. Instead, the venom has spread even wider and deeper, with equally politically desperate Labour and the Conservatives seemingly outbidding each other in the stakes to win the latent racist “middle England” white support and distract it from the real causes of their loss of jobs, health and educational services and crime; Government over-spend in the disastrous misadventure of Iraq and the general ‘war on terror’. In September, the Pope and some Christian leaders headed the onslaught on Islam and Muslims and this month, it was the turn of politicians aided and abetted by an all-too-willing media. Even before the ink was dried on our last editorial, Home Secretary, John Reid, urged Muslim parents to spy on their children as potential terrorists. Not to be outdone, he was quickly followed by House of Commons Leader, Jack Straw, calling for Muslim women to remove the niqab (face veil): firstly he said in his presence, then he said he would prefer them not to wear the veil in the streets. Straw accused them of being an obstacle to integration and of making him uncomfortable. Prime Minister, Tony Blair, joining in the bandwagon, warned that the veil was a “mark of separation and that’s why it makes other people from outside the community feel uncomfortable.” In his speech as Party Leader at Conservative’s Annual Conference in Bournemouth, David Cameron went as far as vowing to break up what he called “ghettos” in British cities. Of course, Cameron didn’t say whether the hundreds of Asian families in “ghettos” like perhaps Bradford or Slough would be welcome in the white “ghettos” of genteel Harrogate or Ascot. Instead, he voiced “worries” that communities are allowed to grow up in Britain with “parallel lives” with people from different backgrounds never meeting, talking or visiting each others’ homes. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, added to the paranoia claiming Muslim women who wear the veil risked creating a system of “voluntary apartheid.” Davis also accused the Muslim community of being “excessively sensitive to criticism” and “unwilling to engage in substantive debate.” Whipping up paranoia against Islam appeared to be the theme and it was eagerly joined by the fourth estate: the media, many sections of which left no stone unturned to create a paranoia which led to actual attacks on Muslims. Muslims are left under siege, stigmatised, criminalised, isolated, marginalised, looked with suspicion as fifth columnists, considered as ‘the other’ and blamed for the failure of the Government’s foreign and domestic policies. And the onslaught didn’t stop there. It was further advanced by Communities Secretary, Ruth Kelly, pledging to make a “fundamental” shift in its ties with Muslim organisations, by offering to fund only those committed to supporting Government policies in fighting extremism and upholding “non-negotiable values.” Stop the War and the Muslim Association of Britain, which have achieved a multiple success in engaging and integrating Muslims and non-Muslims in common purpose upholding the best traditions of British activism can look forward to Government support. I am sure they are beside themselves in anticipation. However, the most insidious remarks came at Blair’s monthly press conference on October 17, in clearly setting the tone of an ‘us and them.’ The Prime Minister questioned the “relationship between our society and how the Muslim community integrates with our society.” In this he was confirming the worst fears about the direction of the so called war on terrorism. He said, “There is a second issue, which is about Islam itself and how Islam comes to terms with and is comfortable with the modern world.” It was now the time to get the “balance right between integration and multiculturalism” and altering the “distinctive identity” of Muslims. Blair said that the really difficult questions “all come back to the same basic issue: the relationship of integration of Muslims in western societies and communities.” Ultimately, he suggested, “the answer to this will be found, and that is the debate within Islam about Islam and its future and its relationship with the modern world.” The battle lines have been drawn. First human rights were thrown out of the window by targeting all Muslims as terror suspects. Then there has been the curtailing of the freedom of speech and right to demonstrate by invoking new laws and proposals to spy on Islamic and Muslim groups, including at universities. It would appear that the other democratic principle of tolerance is to be prised away in Britain. Should we now expect that the next step will be a new British version of The House Un-American Activities Committee during McCarthyism that blacklists all Muslims. The most dangerous path clearly spelt out by the Prime Minister is that the real intent is the sinister attempt somehow to change Islam and its basic tenets. The Government’s offer of a genuine “dialogue and open debate” has proved to be nothing more than a façade as it has not shown the slightest inclination to listen, but rather, it is clear it wants brow-beat the Muslim community and force its own agenda upon it. Another approach and policy failure can be added then to the many that have gone before…

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