No Sharia here, then?

On 31st October 2009, thousands of Muslims from up and down the country plan to converge in the heart of Central London in a spectacular procession to make their demands for the overthrow of the British establishment clear.

At the time of writing, that message, which was posted on 4 March 2009, is still on the website of Islamist nutjobs, al-Muhajiroun. But a few days ago they added another message, in the form of a press release, saying that it had

become apparent that certain right-wing/anti-Islamic organisations had become intent on preventing the march from going ahead, using threats of physical violence, including bomb and death threats to any member of the Muslim community who happened to attend the march.

In light of this, organisers of the March4Shariah campaign, after careful consultation, have decided to relocate the march in favour of securing the safety of the hundreds of Muslims who may have attended the march to voice their support for the Deen of Haq (Truth).

islamistslutonWell, I’ll be blowed! The Islamist warriors who, earlier this year, had bravely stood protected by police officers on a Luton pavement and screamed abuse at the 2nd batallion of the Royal Anglian regiment’s homecoming parade, chicken out after a few anonymous hotheads threaten them? I mean, hello! What did they expect? That they could march through London slagging off the country that has given them the freedom to do so and that nobody would mind?

I wonder if they thought we wouldn’t notice that the proposed “thousands” who “planned to converge” on London had, nearly eight months later, shrunk to “hundreds” who “may have attended” if only those nasty men hadn’t been all horrid and started threatening people. Not that I would ever, of course, condone the threatening of any sort of violence against anyone. Indeed, normally I wouldn’t hesitate to condemn such behaviour. But in this instance the condemnation sort of sticks in my throat and I can’t quite bring myself to voice it, for some reason. I don’t even know if these threats actually took place and, if they did, whether they were the real reason the march was cancelled. Who cares?

On Saturday, I was delighted to join Muslims, ex-Muslims and others in a protest against al-Muhajiroun.

The occasion was even more enjoyable knowing that the “spectacular procession” the Islamists had boasted of had been, let’s say, re-invented as a secret rally somewhere away from the public eye. Did it take place at all? I’ve no idea. To be strictly truthful, I admit I was a tiny bit disappointed not to get any photos of the nutjobs in their fancy dress costumes.

In order to comprehend just how batshit insane these people are, I recommend watching a bit of the video of the press conference that accompanies the latest press release and learn how only Allah can legislate and any Muslims in parliament or the House of Lords are not considered “true believers” because they have taken the role of legislator on themselves. The nutjobs also share some of their vision of how the UK will look under Sharia.

stringfellowsundershariaThe pic is of Stringfellows nightclub with a police notice across it saying ‘closed’. The pink advertising board in front of it says, “Women’s college coming soon.”

Got it? Strip clubs and nightclubs (the same thing, as far as they are concerned) will be closed because they are disgusting places where women are exploited. UK under Sharia will be a an official ‘no fun’ zone and women will be educated separately.

It’s easy to snigger but it’s not their lunatic vision for the UK that matters rather than the fact that Sharia Law is creeping in and affecting the lives of people in this country and not in a good way, whatever the nutjobs might claim. At the launch of the One Law for All campaign at the House of Lords back in December last year, we heard disturbing stories from a Muslim woman about women in her community in the North of England appealing to religious tribunals over forced marriages and domestic violence only to be told to stay with their husbands and, believing that the Sharia court had the final say on the matter, that’s what they did. It doesn’t matter what rights women may have in reality if they don’t have the freedom — and in some cases the language — to access them.

The self-styled anti-fascists of the ultra left, by the way, don’t seem to have a clue about this. A typical view is expressed on this forum:

The threat of sharia is a bogey man to whip up people on the far right to support racist policies…The BNP and scummy little tory rags like the Sun, the mail, the telegraph make up stories about Muslims to help the right wing grow and to divide the working class.

On facebook, a page appeared advertising a Protest against March4Sharia and the EDL! It including a long diatribe explaining that the involvement of BNP members in the English Defence League (EDL) “reveals their true agenda; they are racists. Wherever such forces find room to organise, they pose an immediate physical threat to ethnic minorities, asylum seekers and others.” They also include a more reasonable point about how the dangers of the Islamists are exaggerated by the press and by the far right but, viewed as a whole, the piece gives the impression that these people neither know nor care that much about Sharia in Britain. The point that you don’t have to be a radical islamist to take advantage of Sharia law and that it’s enough just being a violent husband in a close-knit Muslim community anywhere in Britain, is lost on them. What the loony left seem to want is any excuse to go out and confront people they perceive to be right-wing racists or fascists. Whether such people are indeed racists or not, doesn’t seem to concern them in the slightest.

But the most disgusting thing about them was their disdain for the protest I joined myself because, according to them, the Muslims (and friends) for Secular Democracy,

in addition to failing to mention the English Defence League, essentially waves the Union Jack and endorses the British legal, political and social status quo. We do not believe that bourgeois liberalism can effectively challenge the growth of either Islamism or fascism, both of which feed off the social decay and despair of British society today.

I don’t know what became of the planned protest from the loony Trots because they never showed up. Perhaps they couldn’t get permission. They weren’t missed.

The 40 or so supporters of the EDL who did turn up to oppose Al-Muhajiroun seemed amiable enough. I eavesdropped on an interview with one of them in which he gave the standard EDL message that they are not racist, they welcome anyone of any race or creed who opposes Islamic extremists. It would appear the EDL have a tiny number of black and Asian supporters and on their website forum I’ve seen people they would describe as “moderate Muslims” warmly welcomed and encouraged to join. The accusations by anti-fascist groups that the EDL are a nazi organisation with links to the BNP are beginning to sound tired and a bit desperate.edlleeds

The EDL who emerged earlier this year out of spontaneous protests in response to the Al-Muhajiroun demo in Luton, is not (as yet) a membership organisation. It doesn’t have a constitution or policies as such. It is just a loose association of working class and overwhelmingly male “supporters” and, having been observing them pretty closely for a couple of months now, I surmise that they include some people who are BNP sympathisers and many who are not. The BNP have publicly disdained them and threatened their members with disciplinary action if they attend EDL events.

The EDL focus is not on race but on Islamic extremism and the threat to British cultural heritage and way of life, which they seem to think is a lot greater than it is — thanks, no doubt to people like the Archbishop of Canterbury. The (self-appointed, it seems) EDL leaders are making every effort to package the group as a multiracial one and appeals for people to behave nicely are circulated before every demo, a number of which have taken place so far in several of Britain’s cities. (Behaving nicely in EDL terms means not shouting abuse at innocent spectators in hijab, or making seig heil salutes. It doesn’t preclude them shouting E-E-EDL and sounding like a bunch of lobotomised apes).

As I said in an earlier post, the most objectionable thing about the EDL is not their politics but their puerile nationalism. Frankly, most of them don’t have the brains to be political thinkers and that lack of cerebral power is something they have in common with both the BNP and the UAF, as far as I’m concerned. Sometimes it’s hard to tell which group’s supporters are the biggest overdosers on stupid pills.

In stark contrast, witness the wit and intelligence of the British Muslims for secular democracy as evidenced by this short promotional video for Saturday’s protest:

Finally, here’s a reminder:

Saturday 21 November 2009
Time: 1200-1400
Venue: North Carriage Drive, Hyde Park, London (Closest underground: Marble Arch)

“Show your opposition to Sharia Law and all religious based tribuanls….Demand one secular law and universal rights.” More here.

Related posts by skepticat:

EDL, UAF…WTF?

Loony Islamists mistake Humanist centre for Mosque

No Sharia: One Law for All!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITq7rLG64Lc&hl=en&fs=1&]

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