The holy month of Ramadan may have prevented all good Muslims from literally choking on their cornflakes at it, but Monday’s news that Ruth Kelly was meeting local authority leaders to urge them to detect and root out Islamic radicals in their areas has certainly raised eyebrows.
It’s important to point out that with its high degree of internal diversity there is no singular ‘British Muslim community’. By the same token it is facile and erroneous to claim that the New Labour government has systematically attacked all things Islamic since 1997, as some do. State-funded faith schools, the repeal of the detested primary purpose rule and the law against incitement to religious hatred are nothing if not Muslim-friendly policies. Other general improvements and increased spending in public services have benefited people of all faiths and none: Yet there is a real danger that worthy acts at home are cancelled out by government action abroad in Muslim eyes.
Foreign policy alone cannot explain the emergence of British-born suburban suicide bombers, but it is an undeniable contributory factor. There is a sense that civil liberties are being trampled all over under the flimsy pretext of the war against terror while other genuine socio-economic concerns are overshadowed.
Taken in conjunction with the fact that Muslims frequently feature disproportionately in multiple indexes of deprivation, surely Monday’s pronouncements and ministerial comments of recent weeks on the vexed veil question only add fuel to the fire of those who almost revel in a pervasive victim culture, forever asserting that it is open season on Muslims. Out of context, religious quotations are further ingredients in this heady (obviously halal) cocktail.
We have always comforted ourselves with the claim that the UK has generally had a comparably good record on race relations – unlike say France where Jean Marie Le Pen was runner-up in the last presidential election. However recent events have been a rude awakening. In the next door borough to where the main 2012 Olympics site is, the BNP are the main council opposition party, peddling the politics of hatred and division. Extremism is not just a Muslim thing.
It has recently become fashionable to diss the notion of multiculturalism yet this doctrine contained much that was positive. Cultural distinctiveness is an enormously enriching feature of this country but creating unevenness and exclusionary practices is plain wrong. Community cohesion needs to establish itself as more than just an exercise in new labels for the same old jars and stress cohesion within as well as between communities: the veil to my mind conversely creates divisions amongst Muslim women.
Crucially there is a silent moderate Muslim majority out there who balk at constant associations of us with terrorism, extremism and deprivation. We’re not the class of professional organised Muslims who speak fluently about Palestine and Iraq without knowing the price of a cup of tea in Brick Lane. We are not the vociferous sorts who barrack John Reid and John Humphries. We are Muslims but not exclusively so. I’m second generation Bengali. My parents came halfway round the world to build a better tomorrow for their future family not to construct an Islamic sharia state in the UK. Diversity brings complexity requiring sensitivity. My fear is that this week’s wide-ranging announcements – including even the direction for lecturers to undertake surveillance of their students and dob them in if necessary in a cones-hotline style manner – could be counterproductive.
Tony Blair
You must remember that to give Iraqi people democracy is the right thing to do but what form of democracy they are getting is beyond anyone doing but by the people themselves including the insurgents, current elected government, tribal and modern people who are the heart of the problems not lives of our troops to gamble nor winning our next elections will be impossible if you continued to allow U.N troops stay on any day longer. Also it affected your position in E.U. negotiating table or summit adversely too.
It was the right thing to do to be there to expose work of evils. But, there is a time for everything under the sun, a time to war and a time to peace or negotiation and time to sleep and time to work but also the right thing NOW immediately to pull-out for the sake of the Labour Party, the country-lives of our troops and for your own sake. God is angry with you for listening to the Iraqi government to stay on.
If you pull out now, there will be fighting for a little as a result of Iraqi people fighting among themselves for Political positions but ultimately it is the people’s war, they want to decide who should be the holders of those Political powers apart from those already elected, may be. They want to use weapons to decide not giving those elected once, perhaps. But whatever form it is not for you to speculate because of narrow-mindedness, listening and agreeing with the Iraqi government alone not the cries of the people and GOD. It is not our troops lives to sacrifice when your neighbours are fighting and sinning due to IGNORANE and STUPIDITY. No wonder it took you so long to get peace in Ireland when your troops presence are in Iraq, are you not considered ignorant and hypocritical?
I can guarantee you after the troops come out, let them fight a weak war against the insurgents, democracy will still continue even after more fighting without our help, we all act on speculation what would happen after foreigners are OUT, until you change direction NOW change heart and mindset now you will be fighting forever in vain in Iraq. Muslims mindsets are very different from what you think. Labelling them terrorists or insurgents get you very wrong in your analysis about Iraq and the war, OUT NOW. All Iraqi are flesh and blood, fighting for survivals, let them do it themselves and shape their future instead of you and Labour Party being blamed and lives and reputation sacrificed.
Please listen to me for the sake of our next local election, general election, your fame and the Party, please let go and do not control the direction of the structure and the people behind the Constitution of democracy, let it be chosen and shaped by their own forms of fighting and negotiating. Our jobs in Iraq are finished.
This was exactly what happened when British pull-out of Malaya, there was blood bath and curfew etc, many none-Muslims or Muslims died, all for political power, seats in Parliament British government created or left behind for us, Malaya, the people, insurgents including, but only they themselves could decide and terminate the war by peaceful means so the None-Muslims compromised and gave up fighting for Parliament by force and let the Muslims take over 100% of the seats. PEACE is always more important and PEACE is a powerful weapon so is giving and loving-kindness to the terrorists, insurgents and the people. Our presence does not denote or represent PEACE.
Iraqi People, Iraqi government and insurgents decide their form of democracy, we gave our resources to expose the wrongs of oppressive regime and give them a form of democracy. It is time to leave as they themselves shape the form of democracy with their limited understanding and knowledge of varying processes of democracy whilst in fighting mode. Not our business any more, not our future or our hearts and minds. UNDERSTAND???
LEAVE NOW, you have to be selfish and cruel in order to be kind, in this instance, for the sake of Labour Party winning the elections, coming up.
Please stop listening to Iraqi government to protect their seats, you are being used, convince Bush, that Malaya had exactly the same position, people fighting for seats in Parliament when the British pull-put of colonialism or imperialism, be wise by learning from past experiences of public sins. Wisdom is always right to help you out of trouble.
Please, I beg you to listen to me, since 2005 before and after our General Election I have asked you to pull out for right or selfish reason irrespective, but you refused to listen to me. You must change side now, take the position of peace in order to allow peace in Iraq lead the way not UN, not the current Iraqi government and not you and Bush but all of you are outsiders, not seeing the cries, hearts and minds of people but your own conclusions to decide the future of Iraq with military might is wrong.
Whether you are defending the political system or the people or defending the speculative future war of terrors, our presence in there is wrong NOW NOW although I agree with the troops there in the beginning to give Iraqi a taste of Democracy.
Please GET OUT NOW.
GOD is offended by war, because there are so many ways to fight differences of opinion, using continual war and fighting is VERY WRONG and narrow-mindedly EVIL because of your stubbornness, narrow-mindedness and unable and unwilling to see the hearts of insurgents wanting the seats of Parliament and economic power or perhaps fighting for their own survival too, although we call them illegal fighters.
Mee kuen
the title ??? nothing on it about a veil….