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Issue 268, Friday 26 August 2011 - 26 Ramadan 1432 Norway atrocities ‘a wake-up call’ that far right extremists are a huge threat The horrific bombing and massacres in Norway should be heeded as wake-up call for the growing threat for more than a decade posed by far-right extremists and other groups in Western countries. The West has been in denial of the danger they pose to our societies despite mounting evidence. The atrocities committed by Anders Behring Breivik must also lead to fundamental changes in counter terrorism strategies in the UK to tackle the threat which The Muslim News has long campaigned for. This paper has documented cases of the right wing terrorist threats in the UK. The reporting of the media and responses of the Western political leaders and terrorist experts to the first reports of terrorist attacks in Norway blaming al-Qa’ida, “Islamists” and Muslims for the atrocities needs to be looked at seriously. The media was caught off guard and had to change their reporting on this issue. The newspapers rushed to re-write their first edition editorial as soon as it became clear the perpetrator was a white Christian fundamentalist. What was quite eye opening was that the media initially used the word “terrorism” and “terrorist” but when it was realised the terrorist was a practising Christian, these words disappeared and were replaced by “massacre,” “killing” and focused on his state of mind, maybe he was mentally instable to have committed such a heinous crime. Blaming Muslims of the Norway terrorism is reminiscent of the Oklahoma bombing in the US when Muslims were blamed for the 168 people killed, including 19 children under the age of 6. The bomber was a right wing Christian. No one has asked the question always asked of terrorists of Muslim origin: how can a person kill his own fellow citizen. Breivik was influenced in his anti Islamic anti Muslim thinking by far right groups and individuals as he claimed in his manifesto “2008 – A European Declaration of Independence.” Far right groups such as the English Defence League (EDL) and Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France were at pains to distance themselves from Breivik by condemning the massacres, even though he cited them many times in his manifesto. He talks about a Muslim takeover of Europe and the Islamisation of Europe. He quotes extensively from academics, journalists and far right individuals like Bernard Lewis, Melanie Phillips, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Mark Steyn, groups like EDL, and many others. In June in the British Government’s revised counter terrorism Contest strategy gave a low priority to far right extremism. As with Government, the Coalition’s Prevent counter terrorism strategy is focussing mainly on the Muslim community. 2010 figures from Europol shows that out of 253 terror plots only 4 involved Muslims. in the US, 1980-2005 FBI report shows that only 6% of terrorist attacks were perpetrated by “Islamic extremists”. The rest were non-Muslims. As we have always argued we have to look at the far right threats who have been involved in over a dozen terrorist plots in the UK (even though the police have refused to acknowledged them as such until very recently), many if not most of them targeted at Muslims. The Government will have to revise its new Contest/Prevent strategies to counter such threats. In addition, the media and politicians need to stop looking at Muslims through the prism of extremism and terrorism. Related Article: Over 70 people massacred by a self-proclaimed Christian Bias media coverage of the Norway terror attack…blaming the Muslims Anti Islam EDL under scrutiny in the light of Norway massacre Europe’s far right influence mainstream Islamophobia discourse |