Monday 10 June 2013

Don't let the extremists divide us! (with update)

Ever since the burning of Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses back in 1989 there has been a noticeable growth in Islamist extremism. We have had terrorist attacks in London and more recently the brutal murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich. Whilst the majority of Muslims are not involved or supportive of the Islamist current, there remain a substantial number of theologically inspired militant Islamists to present a threat to our society.

At the same time there was a rise of the far-right British National Party which at its peak led to the election of around 50 BNP local councillors and their leader Nick Griffin to the European Parliament with his then deputy Andrew Brons. Thanks to the hard work of organisations like Hope not Hate and the magazine Searchlight, the far right were pushed back, losing nearly all their councillors and hopefully when the European elections take place their MEPs as well.

The BNP has to a large extent been replaced by the English Defence League as a repository for hard-right opinion, but even they were in clear decline until the Woolwich murder. Since then they have experienced a surge of support and they were linked to the recent attack on a Muslim community centre as the letter EDL appeared on the building. They deny this, but this act has been one of a growing series of attacks on the Muslim community in this country.

Then of course the Jihadists are still at work. Today has seen the imprisonment of six men inspired by Islamist extremism who had set out to attack the EDL, only failing to cause loss of life injury by turning up late.

The Islamists like the boneheads of the far right seek to act out their evil fantasies by starting civil strife on our streets regardless of the consequences to ordinary people.

The Hope Not Hate organisation has issued the following statement:
HOPE not hate are shocked and dismayed about reports of a firebomb targeting a Muslim centre in North London. There can be no excuse for violence and political extremism. This attack, at the Al-Rahma Islamic Centre, was seemingly designed to incite fear and anger on the streets of London. Whoever is ultimately shown to be behind this attack, it's clear the EDL and other extremist groups are fostering a climate of hate that allows outrages such as this to be perpetrated.
The people behind this attack are as hate-filled as the Woolwich killers. The people who inspired this attack are little different from those who inspired the Woolwich killers. This is the politics of hate.
We need to stand by the Muslim community to show our solidarity with the belief that an injury to one is an injury to all. We must ensure that this tragic event does not create a cycle of extremism and retribution. HOPE not hate will continue to campaign against all forms of extremism and stands with the mainstream who have so strongly declared in recent days that "We are the Many".
Hope not Hate can be found here: http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/

Searchlight is at: http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/

Islamists war on children

Two disturbing news stories from today's press:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10111687/15-year-old-boy-executed-for-blasphemy-by-Syria-jihadists.html

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/taliban-fighters-behead-two-young-1944591

No religion can justify these acts, yet there are those who do. See this from Harry's Place:

http://hurryupharry.org/2013/06/10/haitham-al-haddad-guest-speaker-at-city-university-islamic-society-event/

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