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Wednesday 26 September 2012

Bradford’s Muslims to protest on Friday


A fortnight after Bradford’s Centenary Square hosted a protest against drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere in Muslim majority countries, another will be held this Friday, this time against the video ‘Innocence of Muslims’. Quite why Muslims will be gathering in Bradford to voice their strong distaste for a video produced in the USA by a shadowy figure overseeing a cast, who were apparently unaware of the ‘plot’, or indeed the subject matter of the film in which they acted, is baffling. What are they protesting against? Why in Bradford? Why in England? What, after all, has anyone here to do with the video in question? The answer to the latter of course is this: nothing. What can such a protest achieve? Likewise, nothing, other than to clearly demonstrate that each and every individual participating in this forthcoming protest holds values utterly incompatible with a free and open society; in other words, they are protesting against the values that we hold dear. 

The Telegraph and Argus today reports that the turnout is expected to number in the thousands, and that it has gained the backing of the Bradford Council for Mosques, with its General Secretary Zulfi Karim being quoted by the paper as follows:
“During the protest we will be letting the American ambassador know of the feeling of Muslims around the world and here in Bradford and to show that we are one voice.
“A lot of people out there are very unhappy and feel we need to come together to talk and protest about this film that insults our faith.
“We will also be calling for the lobbying of government and embassies to support us in our demand for respect for our faith.” Mr Karim said the idea of the protest had been put to the vote at an emergency meeting called on Monday night by the Council For Mosques.
“It was the community’s call,” he said.
What clearer message could there be, given that it comes from the man who speaks on behalf of Bradford’s 86 mosques, that the majority of practising Muslims in the city do not believe in freedom of speech and expression, and instead wish to impose penalties on those who are seen to criticise or to slight their ‘religion’? By making such an overt and heavily politicised statement upon a peripheral matter – an appallingly made video that most of us would never have bothered to watch, if it were not for the irrationally violent reaction that it elicited – those who protest will reveal themselves to be innately undeserving of trust from their non-Muslim neighbours. It also seems rather telling that members of Zulfi Karim's "community" are moved to protest by this film, yet not by the crimes of the Muslim paedophile street groomers of Rochdale, Bradford, Rotherham, Keighley and elsewhere. Why is it the case that this predominantly Pakistani Muslim phenomenon does not cause such upset and disquiet? A bad video in itself harms no one; the systematic targeting, sexual abuse and pimping of underage English girls on the other hand, is quite a different matter.

Whereas The Telegraph and Argus has been keen to highlight the costs associated with previous demonstrations by the EDL in the Bradford area, for some reason, it makes no reference to the additional expense that will be engendered by this pointless and provocative protest against freedom of expression. Irrespective of the content of the film, or the agenda that its maker may have possessed, the video therefore deserves to be watched as a matter of principle, simply to assert that we will not submit to the backward and irrational demand for the global application of a Muslim blasphemy law. With such caveats in place, feel free to ‘enjoy’ the video below.

16 comments:

  1. I suggest everyone watches Geert Wilders film Fitna:

    http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DkIKCgRlwQUA

    This video has been available since 2008 and explains, in detail, the hate filled ideology that is islam.

    Strangely, the video can no longer be viewed on youtube without first signing in, this never used to be case 2 weeks ago - why the change? (I think we all know why, don't you?).

    Paul

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    1. Thanks for the link Paul. I haven't watched Fitna for quite some time, but it is an excellent short film. All credit to Geert Wilders for having written it.

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  2. The reason why they are choosing to 'protest' is because they have fuck all else to do and if they dont then the Saudis' wont send them any more money to repair their Terrorist Indoctrination Centres....sorry Mosques...

    The Wilders video is the one i use in my Fitna training....

    Laurie -

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    1. Fitna is very good Laurie, whereas this new video is dreadfully made. I think that I would struggle to watch the full-length version of the extract provided above.

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  3. I live in Bradford and have several friends and workmates that are Muslims. They are very nice people and generally a pleasure to know...but....boy do they become different people if you insult anything to do with their religion. I mean, almost like maniacs. I've seen a real nice mild mannered guy pin someone up against the wall over a light hearted joke about Islam.

    So in short, I wish they would grow up and learn to deal with a bit of criticism, otherwise I dread to think what will happen. Actually, I know what will happen I'm just pretending it won't for now.

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    1. Yes, they do get very tetchy if you touch upon the question of religion. It seems that Islam is prone to encourage its followers to externalise anger, whereas Christianity stresses its internalisation in the form of 'guilt'. The basic psychologies attendant upon the two belief systems appear, in some respects, to be quite different. Is Islam capable of reform so that its followers can take criticism and refrain from adopting a bullying and belligerent attitude towards the rest of us? I doubt it, for such attitudes appear to be central to the tenets of Islam.

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  4. as if the musturds are going to, or ever have, shown tolerance of others.
    inbread, paranoid special cases one and all.

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    1. Well, I wouldn't perhaps go that far Bilbo, but there are certainly a number amongst them who exhibit the characteristics you mention.

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  5. It's always a Friday isn't it ?
    One wonders how they can amass thousands of sullen and angry offended, on a week day when the rest of us are at work.

    NE Bloke.

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    1. Yes, many of them do seem to like their Fridays off. I wouldn't mind a three-day weekend either.

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  6. The religion of 'tolerance and peace' is oft-spouted......until you say the slightest thing that can be misconstrued - i'll be far more fucking tolerant when i can visit a church in Saudi Arabia.....

    Laurie -

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    1. A church in Saudi Arabia? I think that we are more likely to see humans on Mars in our lifetimes than such a thing, and the latter does not seem probable.

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  7. Ok if the movie was made in US Muslims are gathering to protest against it in UK as its Offended the Muslims same as when Iraq wouldnt play nice with all the petrol it had US went to war so England followed - why did England go to war - because America said jump and England went for it- what has come from the war more deaths of innocent soldiers and innocent Muslims
    Then when people retaliate you call it terrorism :(
    ANd in response to u hard working people on a Friday who do u think is working whe you are out drinking your face off on Friday nights and need the week end to recover
    I have a lot of non Muslim friends who know and respect the true meaning of islam same as I know and respect their religions
    I bet if u carried out a survey on English and American Christians / Catholics - the muslims would know More about the religion the the English and Americans
    You people making these comments make me laugh
    Thanx for reading losers feel free to continue thinking crappy thought in ur head full of crap

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    1. You are clearly an idiot....Whether or not we agree with the war the coalition did not deliberately target innocent civilians, Muslim terrorists deliberately target civilians!

      Only a small minority of people get off your face as you put it on a Friday night. LOOK at the statistics for child grooming, unemployment, non payment of car tax/insurance, playing the race card etc... ALL far far worse in Muslim dominated areas of our cities, try and clamp down on it and were being racist!!!!

      Get Muslim countries to respect other religions, not destroy bibles etc..., to allow building of churches etc..., allow Muslims to convert to other religions if they wish without murdering or jailing them.

      Muslims can be a bunch of hypocrites who don't integrate into wider society (want Sharia law etc...jokers) and who want their cake and eat it....leave the western countries and go and live in your 'homeland' if you don't like western values....easy!

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    2. @ Anonymous Number 1 (comment posted Friday 28 September): Do you ever get the feeling that you might be happier living in a different country? As for the nonsense you spout about war, you will find only opposition to such wars on this blog, and given that you live here and thus presumably have voting rights, the government that took us to war in Afghanistan and Iraq was your government as well as mine, so do you advocate Muslim terrorist attacks upon yourself and your family? You cannot have it both ways, claiming to belong here with all its attendant political, legal and economic rights, whilst identifying the rest of us as "the enemy" who can be "legitimately" murdered by Islamist terrorists. I suggest that you return to your ancestral homeland and leave us in peace, for we ordinary English people certainly do not wish to interfere in Pakistan or whichever other majority Muslim ancestral homeland your family hails from.

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    3. @ Anonymous Number 2 (comment posted Saturday 29 September): All good points; I agree with every one of them.

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