A member of the Swiss political party that pushed for the minaret ban is a convert to Islam:
Streich has left the SVP, made his conversion to Islam public, and has denounced the SVP’s anti-Muslim campaign as a witch hunt.
Latest Updates: right-wing RSS
-
thabet
-
thabet
-
aziz
Charles Johnson says:
“The kinds of hate mail and the kinds of attacks I am getting from the right wing are way beyond anything I got when I was criticizing the left or even radical Islam.”
The rightwing nutjobs do have the numerical advantage, so that’s not surprising.
btw, the LA Times piece on Johnson was overall positive, but the NYT piece was more critical. Johnson has posted a couple of responses to the NYT piece. He was also profiled in Vanity Fair.
UPDATE – my post at COB on Charles Johnson’s jihad.
-
johnpi
It appears that ‘political correctness’, ie, the effort on the part of well-intentioned Americans to be fair and just and not ascribe collective guilt, is as much a target as Muslims.
-
johnpi
Australian lawmaker calls for debate on Muslim immigration.
Sydney – Member of Parliament Kevin Andrews on Thursday called for a national debate on whether Muslim immigration to Australia should be curbed. Andrews, immigration minister in the conservative government defeated two years ago, said Muslims were the first migrant group not to assimilate and to congregate in certain suburbs of big cities.
“To have a concentration of one ethnic or one particular group that remains in an enclave for a long period of time is not good,” Andrews told local radio. “You should be able to talk about it … it’s ridiculous if you can’t talk about any subject.”
Andrews was commenting on a column in The Australian newspaper arguing that large numbers of Muslim migrants posed a security risk because some would be drawn to terrorism.
Andrews’ call for debate was immediately stomped on by Greens leader Bob Brown.
“We are seeing a far-right, pretty disgusting point of view,” he said.
-
plimfix
All bets are on for Ed West to win this year’s Stupid Right Wing Git of Britain Award, after this hilariously idiotic quote c/o Ed’s latest offering on the Torygraph website: “[Geert] Wilders is not “far-Right” by any reasonable standard – he is a classical liberal who thinks immigration has gone way too far and that religious fundamentalism is a threat to liberal democracy.” In fact, Mr West was already ahead just on the title: “An Ed Husain v Geert Wilders debate would be great for democracy.” Yes, that’s the Muslim who thinks most Muslims are evil vs the nutter who thinks all Muslim are evil. Satire has never been so easy.
-
thabet
[Insert your own witty remark]:
Richard Bartholomew has some more, including a comment from Adrian Morgan, complaining that
[t]his “guilt by association” tactic, made by people who were not at the event, is insidious.
Remember that next time you read a rant from one of these fools.
Richard Bartholomew has some more on Robert Spencer, Douglas Murray and the EDL, a group which even the government concedes represents a return to ‘1930s-style fascism on the streets of Britain’.
-
thabet
The Taliban find a champion in the mayor of Doncaster:
Peter Davies, who has made it his personal mission to rid Doncaster of political correctness, said that under the Taliban, Afghanistan had an “ordered system of family life”.
By contrast he said social policies which disregarded the importance of the traditional family had “created mayhem” in Britain.
Peter Davies is a member of English Democrats, a right-wing party committed to federalism and a devolved English parliament. (Interesting idea, appalling execution.)
-
plimfix
Fabulous story buzzing around twitter and UK media blogs, and one which relates to an aforementioned competition (of sorts) for the title of Britain’s biggest stupid right-wing git. Well, it looks like Richard Little
brainjohn is back in the front-running, thanks to this hilarious gaff. -
thabet
Christopher Caldwell’s new book continues to generate more reviews and responses: one from Bruce Lawrence; another from The Economist; a review of a review at Mondoweiss; and a review of the entire debate in the US and Europe at Religion Dispatches.
-
thabet
-
thabet
Dick Cheney, warmonger:
Dick Cheney, fearmonger:
Dick Cheney, torturemonger:
-
thabet
I wonder how Mad Mel feels about her co-blogger Clive Davis putting up a picture of two worshippers in a mosque in Beirut. No doubt, it is more evidence that the last remaining citadel of Western Civilisation (The Spectator) is also being infiltrated by The Global Jihad.
-
thabet
So, the brain cell behind The Movement To Prevent The Islamificationalisationalism Of The West visited one the outposts of The Global Jihad and didn’t like what he saw.
Good. I hope Londonistan seemed scared him so much he never comes back. Perhaps he can take his friend in the Resistance back to the US with him too? I hear Fox News may need a replacement soon…
Unsurprisingly, the comments are full of people masturbating to the thought of widespread anti-Muslim violence in Europe. I suppose it combines their dim view of Europeans with their hatred of Muslims.
-
thabet
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has denounced a new book on Muhammad Ali Jinnah by Jaswant Singh, a senior party figure:
Jaswant Singh’s book, Jinnah-India, Partition, Independence says that Mr Jinnah has been “demonised in India”.
The book also holds former PM Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress party responsible for the partition of India.
Mr Jinnah is a controversial figure in India and considered the architect of the partition.
The BBC’s India correspondent says that Jinnah is ‘admired’ by a number of senior BJP figures, but only cites one other name, LK Advani (who praised Jinnah on a trip to Pakistan; in my opinion that’s hardly controversial).
Conrad, what’s your view?
-
johnpi
Over at the Pajamas Media, an article titled, “A moderate Muslim revolution” with the good news that Islamic extremists are on the run everywhere from their co-religionists.
As one might expect from an American right-wing website, no article about Muslims or Islam is complete without an obligatory shot at CAIR:
The United States is seeing moderate Muslim organizations rise up to compete with Muslim Brotherhood fronts like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has seen a dramatic decrease in support from the Muslim American community. The American Islamic Forum for Democracy, American Islamic Congress, Free Muslims Coalition, Islamic Supreme Council of America, and various groups and individuals dedicated to supporting democracy and human rights in overseas Islamic lands are becoming a force to be reckoned with for extremists. Even without the foreign funding enjoyed by more prominent Muslim organizations, these groups are making tremendous inroads.
The American Islamic Forum for Democracy is primarily a one-man show based around M Zuhdi Jasser the deeply compromised Muslim neoconservative who was the star of “Third Jihad,” both of which (Jasser and the movie) have been discussed previously on Talk Islam.
The other three groups have never appeared in posts or comments here at Talk Islam, so here’s a bit more about them:
-
johnpi
For the modern GOP, it’s a return to the “white voter strategy.”
With Republican party leaders so constrained by ideological blinders that none of their positions is likely to produce gains among non-white minorities, especially Hispanics, the GOP is finding it has no real alternative but to revert to a “white voter” strategy.
-
thabet
Everything about this is a disgrace: the police; the reporting; the comments.
(Via Muslimah Media Watch.)
-
johnpi
300 weapons and 80 bombs: UK media and authorities collude to stifle story about right-wing extremist threat to mosques and Muslims.
In a story that is shrouded in secrecy Counter Terrorism Units (CTU) across the UK have questioned 32 people and carried out property searches at 36 addresses leading to one of the largest seizures of arsenal since the IRA in the 1990’s.
The investigation revealed 300 weapons and 80 bombs, increasing the threat of extreme right attacks on Mosques and Muslim communities. With the exception of two arrests made in May, Leed’s CTU has categorically refused to reveal to The Muslim News further information on the raids and charges brought against the individuals which resulted in 14 arrests.
….Head of Scotland Yard’s Violent Crime Directorate, Commander Shaun Sawyer, speaking at a meeting arranged by the Muslim Safety Forum, spoke of the threats emerging from the far right: “I fear that they will have a spectacular… they will carry out an attack that will lead to a loss of life or injury to a community somewhere. They’re not choosy about which community.”
Muslim Safety Forum Trustee, Shamiul Joarder, told The Muslim News that the reluctance to report on the threat posed by far-right extremism was part of “a concentrated effort by the mainstream media to ensure terms such as terrorist and the fear that results from this are reserved only for Muslims. We welcome Commander Sawyer’s attention towards the rise of the far right but we must ensure that the police now deal with all far right activity robustly otherwise the community will rightly observe double standards are being applied again.”
This is not the first time that actions related to terrorism, defined as violent acts against civilians to achieve a ideological aim, carried out by individuals outside of the Muslim community have been dealt with far less severity from our police forces, courts and mainstream media.
-
thabet
Johann Hari writes a polemic against Andrew Roberts, the “extremely right-wing” historian and champion of the British Empire.
-
johnpi
Sarah Palin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have a surprising amount in common.
Above all, both are populists who claim to represent the little people against wily and unscrupulous elites, and against pampered upper-middle-class yuppies pretending to be the voice of democracy. Together, they tell us something about dangerous competing populisms in an age of globalization.
Juan Cole’s insights after delineating the similarities:
Right-wing populism, rooted in the religion, culture and aspirations of the lower middle class, is often caricatured as insane by its critics. That judgment is unfair. But it is true that such movements often encourage a political style of exhibitionism, disregard for the facts as understood by the mainstream media, and exaltation of the values of people who feel themselves marginalized by the political system. Not all forms of protest, however, are healthy, even if the protesters have legitimate grievances. Right-wing populism is centered on a theory of media conspiracy, a “my country right or wrong” chauvinism, a fascination with an armed citizenry, an intolerance of dissent and a willingness to declare political opponents mere terrorists. It is cavalier in its disregard of elementary facts and arrogant about the self-evident rightness of its religious and political doctrines. It therefore holds dangers both for the country in which it grows up and for the international community.
Palin is polling well at the moment against other Republican front-runners such as Mitt Romney, and so, astonishingly, is a plausible future president. At least Iranians only got Ahmadinejad because of rigged elections, and they had the decency to mount massive protests against the result.
-
thabet
-
johnpi
Unique among immigrant-bashing nativist movements, writes Sara at Orcinus, the Minutemen militias seem to let women take leadership roles. Since movement members racism is often only exceeded by their sexism, “There’s a good argument to be made that authoritarianism is, at its core, a fetishization of all things “masculine,” which means it generally can’t exist without the reflexive subjugation of all things feminine.”
So it’s unusual that you can find three women in right-wing leadership roles: Laine Lawless, Shawna Forde, and Brandi Baron.
The Seattle Weekly has a new article on Ford, who has apparently had a difficult life: foster care, shoplifting, prostitution arrests, repeated marriages and name changes. Ford, who told her followers that she saw brown-skinned immigrants as filthy, lowly lawbreakers, was recently charged for the double murder of a Mexican man and his 9-year-old daughter.
Sara writes:
It would not surprise any of us, I think, to find out that Brandi Baron and Laine Lawless had similarly troubled biographies — as do almost all of the men who commit acts of far-right extremist violence.
When feminism promised to give us all the same opportunities men had, I’m pretty sure this is not what the movement’s foremothers had in mind.
I guess this means we’ve finally arrived. It doesn’t feel much like victory, though.
Laine Lawless is the former high priestess of Sisterhood of the Moon, a lesbian pagan organization, and got into trouble in 2006 for sending a letter to a neo-Nazi leader asking if some of his “warriors” would be willing to engage in a terror campaign that would include beatings, stealing non-white peoples’ paychecks and “Discouraging Spanish-speaking children from going to school. Be creative.”
And here’s video of Brandi Baron demanding to ‘Kill any man, woman or child who comes across the border illegally.’
-
johnpi
More shamelessness in Israel. Max Blumenthal has produced a sequel to “Feelin’ the Hate in Jerusalem.” This one is called, “Feelin’ the Hate in in Tel Aviv.”
That evening, Jesse and I took our camera to central Tel Aviv, where thousands were taking part in the annual all-night festival known as White Night. Some revelers took an intermission from the partying to express to us their hatred for the Iranian people. And a group of teenagers launched into a virtually unprompted diatribe against Barack Obama, referring to him as a Nazi, a Muslim, and a “Cushi,” which is Hebrew slang for “nigger.” When questioned about the source of his opinions, one teenager proudly declared himself a “gezan,” or a racist.
-
johnpi
Why the “New Atheists” are right-wing on foreign policy.
The Israeli and American right join Dawkins in stressing religious motivation in the Middle East, and there’s a reason for that. The people there whose political grievances are most conspicuously caught up with religion are Muslims. If the problem is that Muslims are possessed by this irrational, quasi-autonomous force known as religion, then there’s no point in trying to reason with them, or to look at any facts on the ground that might drive their discontent. And there are facts on the ground in the West Bank that the Israeli and American right don’t want to talk about. They’re called settlements.
And so too with discontent throughout the Muslim world: If religion is the wellspring of radicalism, why bother paying attention to any issues in the actual material world?
-
johnpi
Jewish American congressman to marry Muslim American woman raised in Saudi Arabia.
Point-of-view journalism – The way an Israeli right-wing newspaper reports it:
Brooklyn, New York Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner will marry outside the Jewish religion to Huma Abedin, a Muslim woman who is considered one of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aides, the New York Daily News reported.
The intermarriage rate in the United States is estimated to be approximately 50 percent and has been one of the strongest forces that has diluted Jewish identity and support of a strong Israel.
“Judea and Samaria” is settler speak for the occupied territories:
Rep. Weiner is considered a “defender of Israel” and is a supporter of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) but has not recently taken a strong stand in favor of a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria.
More about ‘that woman’:
-
thabet
Stupid versus stupid: I am watching right-wing hack and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fan Yvonne Ridley debate neoconservative fanatic Douglas Murray on BBC News. They are discussing the murder of Marwa el-Sherbin.
I can’t think of two people better placed to give an opinion on killing of Muslims, given their support for acts of violence which have killed countless Muslims.
-
johnpi
Cliff Kincaid, the editor of Accuracy in Media, a right-wing advocacy group that “attack[s] journalists that write about and seem sympathetic to leftist and even centrist movements” has mounted a vigorous defense of the recent Honduran military coup as “a successful effort by Honduran patriots to preserve their constitutional system of government from an international alliance of communists and socialists backed by Iran.”
Yes, Iran.
Interestingly, Kincaid makes exactly the same criticisms of Obama that American right-wingers made of John F Kennedy’s policies toward African nationalist movements in the early 1960s, who accused Kennedy of siding with the “Marxists” (hardliners preferred the colonialist governments). Kennedy and his advisers saw themselves as siding with the future leaders of Africa.
AIM has taken the template of justification for military takeovers throughout the developing world and substituted Iran in the place once held by the Soviet Union. Given AIM’s history and the people it employs, this is no surprise:
-
johnpi
One reason Muslims need their own civil rights organizations is that traditional civil rights groups often ignore anti-Muslim, anti-South Asian and anti-Arab attacks in their reports, thereby obscuring the real extent of the problem.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a prominent civil rights and anti-hate organization, has produced a report, “Terror from the Right: 75 plots, conspiracies and racist rampages since Oklahoma City.” Of the 75 listed only one involved attacks on Muslims (St. Petersberg, FL, 2002). It’s not credible that in the eight years since September 11th and the Islamophobic swell of fear and hatred it prompted, that only one attack could have made the cut. Here’s how SPLC describes its list:
What follows is a detailed listing of major terrorist plots and racist rampages that have emerged from the American radical right in the years since Oklahoma City. These have included plans to bomb government buildings, banks, refineries, utilities, clinics, synagogues, mosques, memorials and bridges; to assassinate police officers, judges, politicians, civil rights figures and others; to rob banks, armored cars and other criminals; and to amass illegal machine guns, missiles, explosives and biological and chemical weapons. Each of these plots aimed to make changes in America through the use of political violence. Most contemplated the deaths of large numbers of people — in one case, as many as 30,000, or 10 times the number murdered on Sept. 11, 2001.
Neither the recent suspicious death of an imam in Southern California nor the assault on a Muslim woman in Seattle are mentioned anywhere on the site.
Below the jump, a list of eight acts of violence perpetrated against Muslims (or people mistaken as Muslims) since September 11th, 2001, that prompted federal prosecution as reported by the US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, only one of which appears on the SPLC list:
-
johnpi
“Die for God. Die for the right reasons and its OK.”
Chris Hedges has produced a half-hour documentary on angry white Americans who are armed and ready for another ‘revolutionary war,’ many of them military veterans. Though this is clearly a right-wing movement (anti-tax, anti-immigration, anti-Obama) they make some very leftist criticisms of the economy and the ‘military-industrial complex’ – as well as offering up some very sympathetic thoughts and even affinities for the insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Throughout the documentary, the radio voice of conspiracy that captures the documentary subjects’ concerns is Alex Jones, recently referenced on Talk Islam here and here.
