Islamophobia is a threat to democracy

Muslims and thier allies respond

Those poor misunderstood Muslims

 GAURDIAN NEWS… We are concerned by the rise of Islamophobia, the negative coverage of Muslims in the media, the violent street mobilisations of extreme rightwing organisations like the English Defence League, and the rising electoral support for the British National party (The battle for Barking, Weekend, 13 March). Following Channel 4’s recent inflammatory documentary, Britain’s Islamic Republic, which saw concentrated attacks on the East London Mosque, the English Defence League marched through central London with placards including the demand “Close the East London Mosque now”.

The East End of London is not new to having its communities attacked by fascists and the media. The 1930s saw the Battle of Cable Street when Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts attempted to march into the Jewish community in the area. We cannot allow this terrible history to repeat itself. Further, the documentary, and articles since, have attacked the participation in politics by the Muslim community. We cannot stand by and watch this continue without remark or action.

In the runup to the general election, all parts of the population should be actively encouraged to exercise their votes. That is democracy. We welcome the work of organisations who work to this end. We call for solidarity and support for those organisations that work to encourage political participation from all sections of society, including Muslims, and condemn those who seek to undermine it.

Ken Livingstone

Bonnie Greer

Dr Abdul Bari Secretary general, Muslim Council of Britain

Brendan Barber General secretary, TUC

Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC

Dr. Edie Friedman Executive director, Jewish Council for Racial Equality

Diane Abbott MP

Neil Jameson Executive director, London Citizens

Jagtar Singh Sikh Secretariat

Tony Woodley Joint general secretary, Unite the Union

Bruce Kent

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC

Professor Eric Hobsbawm

Louise Christian Christian Khan solicitors

Billy Hayes General secretary, Communication Workers Union

Rabbi Lee Wax

Anas Altikriti Spokesperson, British Muslim Initiative

Caroline Lucas MEP

Professor Avi Shlaim

Lord Nazir Ahmed

Kate Hudson Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Andrew Stunell MP

Ismail Patel Co-ordinator, YouElect

Claude Moraes MEP

Rev. Alan Green Chair, Tower Hamlets Interfaith forum

George Galloway MP

Musleh Faradhi Central president, Islamic Forum Europe

Jean Lambert MEP

Salma Yaqoob Leader, Respect party

Jenny Jones AM

Steve Hart Regional secretary, Unite London Region

Andrew Murray Chair, Stop the War

Bell Ribeiro-Addy NUS black students officer

Sabby Dhalu Joint secretary, Unite Against Fascism

4 Replies to “Islamophobia is a threat to democracy”

  1. Had Hitler, like mahound, laid any claims to prophethood, we’d see all those same monkeys signing letters describing “naziphobia/national-socialism-phobia” as a threat to democracy.

    Not that this means that Lard Nazir Ahmed doesn’t greatly admire the führer and doesn’t have his own copy of Hitler’s quran, possibly in his own native Urdu.

  2. Given that no Islamic state has any kind of real democracy, its quite amusing to see the headline ‘Islamophobia a threat to it’ as clearly Muslims are ‘Democrophobic’ en extremis.