Tolerating the intolerant

Two articles from England in the wake of 7/7:

1. Why should we tolerate these Islamofascists who hate us all? by Julie Burchill

At the root of my friend Michael Collins’s quite brilliant book The Likes of Us: A Biography of the White Working Class, and the recent TV show on the obliteration of the same, one truth hit home with agonising ease. And that was his righteous anger not with immigrants — as many seat-sniffing, mosque-bothering critics have accused him — but with the ruling and chattering classes who dared to criticise the working-class attitude towards them.

From the word go, the white working class have been portrayed as the fat white fly in the joyous rainbow ointment of cultural diversity, SPOILING EVERYTHING FOR EVERYBODY ELSE, set up against noble, chaste, hard-working immigrants as the undeserving or deserving poor.

Of course, it is all very well to spend your days lecturing others to “celebrate diversity” when you go home each night to Hampstead. But surely the faces of the people who were killed last week told their own story — if this is such an unwelcoming, racist place to live, why do all races continue to flock here, as they do to evil, imperialist America?

We are told to celebrate the diversity of life, but the diversity of death has a totally unforced, unbossed, unmanaged poignancy, a million miles away from English toddlers being forced to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid when they are still trying to get their heads around the Easter Bunny. The capital city gave much to immigrants — freedom — as they themselves gave much to it, and now they have given their lives for that city and that freedom.

Still, there was something a little creepy about the way in which certain people went on about the diversity of the dead. For one thing, it showed a willingness to believe the best of the bombers: that if only they had known that they had murdered delegates of all creeds and colours, they wouldn’t have done it.

Bullshit. This sort of Islamofascist hates multiculturalism. Just you try building a church in Saudi Arabia! They won’t even let our troops out there celebrate St Valentine’s Day. And as for any idea of the races being equal . . . it is the Muslim world that keeps slavery alive, and Muslim governments, as in Sudan, that see nothing whatsoever wrong with ethnic cleansing. Recently a Muslim columnist wrote sorrowfully of how in her culture a Muslim girl marrying a black man was the greatest shame that could fall upon a family. So much for equality under Islam.

There was also the implication from some quarters that if all the dead had been white Christians, the tragedy and abomination would have been somehow less. This seemed particularly inappropriate at a time when we were celebrating this country’s wartime suffering and resilience. We were white then — but did we bleed less because of it?

In an effort to fight racism, certain people like to pretend that there was no fun, no culture, no nobility here before multiculturalism — but there was. And to follow that weird logic, you’d also have to say that the Third World also had none of the above before the white man went there and interfered. And before you know it, you’re making all sorts of mad claims.

What we have learnt recently is that diversity is not just to be celebrated mindlessly, but also navigated and negotiated. We, the host community, have accepted multiculturalism; the issue now is whether hardline — and I stress hardline — Muslims can do the same.

To my eyes at least, “live and let live” seems to be a concept they have a problem with; until they can grasp it, as the Sikhs and Hindus have (who have at least as strong and rich a culture, but feel no need to burn books, form parliaments, set up separatist schools and kill their fellow Britons to demonstrate this), the jury is still out on whether hardline Muslims can truly live happily in non-Muslim countries. And, after all, they have 56 — count ’em! — of their own to go to if they don’t like it. They are spoilt for choice.

Or will they not be happy until every last country in the world is composed of veiled women, bearded men and dead infidels, of all creeds and colours?

2. One in four Muslims sympathises with motives of terrorists by Anthony King

The group portrait of British Muslims painted by YouGov's survey for The Daily Telegraph is at once reassuring and disturbing, in some ways even alarming. The vast majority of British Muslims condemn the London bombings but a substantial minority are clearly alienated from modern British society and some are prepared to justify terrorist acts. The divisions within the Muslim community go deep. Muslims are divided over the morality of the London bombings, over the extent of their loyalty to this country and over how Muslims should respond to recent events. Most Muslims are evidently moderate and law-abiding but by no means all are.

YouGov sought to gauge the character of the Muslim community's response to the events of July 7.
88% of British Muslims clearly have no intention of trying to justify the bus and Tube murders. However, 6% insist that the bombings were, on the contrary, fully justified. This may seem a small proportion but in absolute numbers it amounts to about 100,000 individuals who, if not prepared to carry out terrorist acts, are ready to support those who do. Moreover, the proportion of YouGov's respondents who, while not condoning the London attacks, have some sympathy with the feelings and motives of those who carried them out is considerably larger - 24%. A substantial majority, 56%, say that, whether or not they sympathise with the bombers, they can at least understand why some people might want to behave in this way.

YouGov also asked whether or not its Muslim respondents agreed or disagreed with Tony Blair's description of the ideas and ideology of the London bombers as "perverted and poisonous". Again, while a large majority, 58%, agree with him, a substantial minority, 26%, are reluctant to be so dismissive.

The responses indicate that Muslim men are more likely than Muslim women to be alienated from the mainstream and that the young are more likely to be similarly alienated than the old. The sheer scale of Muslim alienation from British society that the survey reveals is remarkable. Although a large majority of British Muslims are more than content to make their home in this country, a significant minority are not. For example, YouGov asked respondents how loyal they feel towards Britain. The great majority say they feel "very loyal" (46%) or "fairly loyal" (33%) but nearly one British Muslim in five, 18%, feels little loyalty towards this country or none at all. Well over 100,000 British Muslims feel no loyalty whatsoever towards this country.

The proportion of men who say they feel no loyalty to Britain is more than three times the proportion of women saying the same.

YouGov asked respondents how they feel about Western society and how, if at all, they feel Muslims should adapt to it. A majority, 56%, believe "Western society may not be perfect but Muslims should live with it and not seek to bring it to an end." However, nearly a third of British Muslims, 32%, are far more censorious, believing that "Western society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to bring it to an end." Among those who hold this view, almost all go on to say that Muslims should only seek to bring about change by non-violent means but 1%, about 16,000 individuals, declare themselves willing, possibly even eager, to embrace violence. Yet again, far more men than women and far more young people than their elders evince this kind of hostility towards the world around them. In addition, tens of thousands of Muslims view the whole of Britain's political establishment with suspicion. More than half of those interviewed, 52%, believe "British political leaders don't mean it when they talk about equality. They regard the lives of white British people as more valuable than the lives of British Muslims." Almost as many, 50%, reckon the main party leaders are not being sincere when they say they respect Islam and want to co-operate with Britain's Muslim communities. Despite Tony Blair's well-publicised efforts to reach out to Muslims, fewer than half of those interviewed, 42%, approve of the way he has handled Britain's response to the July 7 events. Many British Muslims are probably reluctant to give Mr Blair credit for anything at all following his complicity with America, as they see it, in launching the invasion of Iraq. Just more than half, 52%, are impressed by the performance since the bombings of Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Great Britain. Some Muslims' discontent with Britain clearly extends to discontent with the existing moderate and pro-British Muslim leadership.

YouGov asked its Muslim respondents whether or not they thought anyone charged and taken to court in connection with the July 7 attacks would receive a fair trial. Only 37% said yes. The rest reckon he or she would not or were doubtful that they would. Despite these widespread doubts, a large majority of Britain's Muslims clearly believe the time has come when Muslims must shoulder their share of the responsibility for preventing and punishing terrorist crimes such as those in London. Roughly a third of Muslims reckon they should assume "a great deal" of the responsibility and another third reckon they should assume at least "some" of it. Even more impressive in some ways is the fact that large numbers now say they are prepared to put their mouth where their feelings are. Almost three quarters of British Mulsims, 73%, say they would inform the police if they believed that someone they knew or knew of might be planning a terrorist attack. Nearly half, 47%, say they would also go to the police if they believed an imam or other religious person was trying to radicalise young Muslims by preaching hatred against the West. Not only that but 70% of Muslims reckon they have a duty to go to the police if they "see something in the community that makes them feel suspicious". Taken as a whole, the findings of YouGov's survey suggest that, although large numbers of British Muslims dislike British society and in some cases may be tempted to attack it, the great majority are loyal and law-abiding and are unlikely to provide the radicals with moral support, let alone safe havens.

I WONDER WHAT A POLL of American Muslims would reveal? And should we take one now, or wait till, for example, after NYC's subway gets bombed?