There is a rally to be held in London this coming Saturday, organised by the so-called One Law for All campaign, against “Shari’ah courts” (i.e. voluntary Shari’ah councils which arbitrate in some family and property disputes in the UK). The leading lights in this campaign seem to be members of the Worker-Communist Party of Iran, among them Maryam Namazie. You can read the itinerary on this Harry’s Place post, which also includes a clip from an interview with Namazie on “Secular TV”, run by Fariborz Pooya, another of that clique. Namazie is commonly presented in the media as a secular liberal feminist, including on one occasion by Nick Cohen, who should surely have known her real position.
The meeting is to start in Trafalgar Square at 3:30pm GMT this coming Saturday (7th March). They are to proceed to Red Lion Square, the location of Conway Hall, starting from 4:30pm. There is to be a public meeting in the hall from 6pm, with live music (whether in the hall or the square I’m not sure) from 5:30pm.
We should make some effort to counter the demonstration, in particular. This is an anti-Islam demonstration, organised by Communists who pretend to be secular liberals, using “secularism” and “equality” as a cover for their militant atheism and hatred for religion, and particularly Islam, generally. As part of their Iranian manifesto, their party advocates the writing of Persian in Latin rather than Arabic script, and a ban on “children” (this includes younger teenagers) from learning or participating in religion.
While obviously we should behave ourselves and not disrupt the Conway Hall meeting (Conway Hall is pretty small anyway), if their demonstration in support of the Danish cartoons is anything to go by, Muslims will easily be able to make their presence in Trafalgar Square felt, and let everyone know that Muslims can speak up for themselves and don’t need this bunch of Muslim-hating Communists with their deluded or dishonest “liberal” dupes telling us what’s good for us.
Possibly Related Posts:
- WCPI @ Trafalgar Square: it was tiny after all
- Showing their concern
- Woolas: “appease the far right!”
- Communists for freedom at Conway Hall
- Another weekend, another rally
” Muslims can speak up for themselves and don’t need this bunch of Muslim-hating Communists with their deluded or dishonest “liberal” dupes telling us what’s good for us.”
Muslims are pretty enthusiastic about telling everyone else what’s good for them and- when they can- making them do it, so the temptation to talk about sauces and geese is strong. This campaign is not for the imposition of the repellent and intolerant beliefs of the Worker-Communist Party but against the imposition of other repellent and intolerant beliefs. Whether the campaign is necessary is another matter: similar informal arbitration panels already exist- for orthodox jews, for example- and are subject to British law and their rulings can be overturned or appealed against if they are unjust or people disagree with them. In short, whether or not they call what they decide shariah they can only make decisions acceptable to British law anyway.
What’s the best way to counter this? Wouldn’t holding a counter-demo at the same time and location lead to clashes? I don’t trust most demonstrators on either side to keep cool heads.
But where are the Muslims outcry when the likes of Choudary goes on a march against everything western? People will make the argument that if its ok for one to march against a certain cause then its fine for another todo the same.
This is what is causing major tensions in this country.
I have always opposed Chaudhary and his (and his chums’) rantings on this blog and many Muslims have spoken out against them. We don’t have Muslim anti-Muhajiroun marches because they are not spending our tax money on wars. They have actually been known to ruin Muslim protests by turning up and shouting offensive and irrelevant slogans.
Fair enough IJ, but as you can appreciate if people such as myself are not there first hand to actualy see it, we rely on what unfortunately the Daily Mail tells us.
whos chaudhary?
1st comment: There is no such thing as “British law”. Here in Scotland we have a completely separate legal system.
Chaudhary is Anjem Chaudhary, one of the leaders of the former al-Muhajiroun group, who now crops up as the leader of one of its spin-offs after another. They often get media time because they are loud-mouths, so they can make a good story out of them. Here is my account of one interview he did on BBC Radio 2 a couple of years back.
Minkey45: the first thing you have to know about the Daily Mail is that you can’t trust what they print. They are notorious for distorting the facts in their stories. Have a read of Nick Davies’ Flat Earth News which has a whole chapter on their racism and grudge stories, as well as the Five Chinese Crackers blog which takes apart their distortions of statistics.
“1st comment: There is no such thing as “British law”. Here in Scotland we have a completely separate legal system.” Not “completely separate”; in civil law the House of Lords is the court of last appeal in both systems and the two systems derive from very similar precedent-based common law theories and since 1707 most laws for both judicial systems have been passed by the same legislature and adapted to the particularites of each system. Compared with most European systems of law, derived from the Code Napoleon, or the various attempts to establish a shariah or other codes of law, then “British law” is a perfectly accurate term to use for both systems and the Irish legal systems too. In fact, the two systems are so similar that a Scots judge, Lord MacKay, could become Lord Chancellor- head of the English judiciary- with no difficulty at all.
Immigrant Iranian Communist Feminists trying to tell Muslims born and raised in England how to live!
Forget them, let’s not waste our time with them. They have no significance here in the UK, they hardly get a mention in the popular press. My message to all Muslims in London, don’t waste your weekend!
Iranian and other homeless third world Communists have for several years pretended to be something they are not to gain refuge in the West. While they opposed the war in Iraq(and brought themselves in the limelight) they’ve been in bed with neocon propagandists ever since. It pays well. The best way to counter them is to call them what they truly are : Communists and political prostitutes for hire.
Romans use to send their soldiers dressed in native clothing when they wanted to turn peaceful demos into violent ones so the Roman army could have an excuse to attack and kill the demonstrators.
These people like Hizbu-Tahrir and Al-Mujahiroun are nothing but servants of people hostile to Muslims in the UK.
“Romans use to send their soldiers dressed in native clothing when they wanted to turn peaceful demos into violent ones so the Roman army could have an excuse to attack and kill the demonstrators.”
Examples?
LeedsLad,
Hizb ut-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun are probably bona fide Islamist radicals, but given that they currently have the support of only a tiny minority of British Muslims, they have an interest in fomenting Islamophobia in Britain in order to drive British Muslims into their arms.
Read Doug Muder’s 2004 article Terrorist Strategy 101.
One best example is what happened during Isa’s time where the soldiers of Pilate not only mingled with them, but shot them in the back by simply stoning them all as they pretended to be throwing stones at Roman soldiers in the distance. Other demonstrators were simply targeted amongst the crowd and quietly rid of in the ensuing malaise.
The fact is that these people should not be allowed to exist in the first place, because their doctrine is that “Islam” is not here in the UK. Hence they ship people over to these remote countries so they could go through the process of madness. They are nothing but people traffickers.
Source for first pargraph? I rather doubt that Roman soldiers behaved as you describe. The Romans were famous for their ruthlessness and never felt any need to provoke their subjects into giving them excuses for attacking demonstrators against their rule. What are you trying to say in your second paragraph? Who are you talking about as “these people”?