Blatant racism at Harry's Place

Those nasty bigots at Harry's Place have demonstrated another sordid quality of their daily hate-filled outpourings: blatant racism.

It begins with the title itself, which includes the phrase

'A Pair of White Muslim Extremists...'.

The article is about a two converts to Islam, who do seem to have been involved in an unpleasant campaign against an Imam - there's no defending that.

But what has their colour got to do with it? Nothing, they could just have well been black converts or Asian converts. The article continues:

... two indigenous English converts to Islam, who like to see themselves as white Muslim examples of Malcolm X’s “field Negroes” because these two brave white men “don’t take shit from the Man”, don’t you know.

then

The second of our nasty, befuddled white English converts

and in a quote from a comment included by the offensive Lucy Lips above the line

I remember listening to a white convert to Islam ... But in the name of religion, you can spout a lot of vicious hate, especially if you are a white convert who will scream ‘Islamophobia’ if you so much as call them out for their bigotry.

Hardly a surprise that it is a cross post from the outstandingly bad Effendi of The Spittoon.

True colours shining through.

Tower Hamlets politics run from Bangladesh?

The heading for this post would hardly set the world on fire, everyone and his dog has known this for years. Bangladeshis in Tower Hamlets have been broadly aligned to the two largest political parties in Bangladesh - the Awami League and the BNP. A smaller number have links to Jamaat-e-Islami, which a few years ago formed a coalition with the BNP.

So, the politics of Tower Hamlets has been a proxy for the rather nasty politics of Bangladesh. Currently, the Awami League, which has a history of violent support, holds sway, as it has in LBTH. Not that I'm singling the Awami League out, all the Bangladeshi parties appear to have blood on their hands and are corrupt to the core - they make our MPs look parties seem almost angelic.

But I hear rumour of some rather shady deals between leading Awami League figures in Tower Hamlets and... Andrew 'Peace TV' Gilligan. My sources tell me that Gilligan has been holding secret meetings with Awami League activists since at least 2009. Gilligan's offer was this: I'll help you get your people back in charge in Tower Hamlets by smearing your opposition, you help me to stop Ken Livingstone make a return as Mayor of London. To achieve this, he returned to his old trick: tell the world that Ken is the 'friend' of 'nasty' Muslims. That seemed to work when he was at the ES.

The first stage in this was his collaboration with Awami League supporters to make his Dispatches programme. Most of the Bangladeshis included in the programme turn out to be core Awami League activists. There is, of course, a historical enmity between the Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami, so targeting the IFE and ELM makes perfect sense when seen in this context. None of this background is even hinted at in Dispatches, but several blogs have since taken pains to make an explicit connection.

The second stage was to ensure the Awami League faction in Tower Hamlets Labour Party regained its ascendency. In this, Gilligan's efforts failed spectacularly! When the people of Tower Hamlets voted by a significant margin in the referendum for an elected mayor, Gilligan pulled out all the stops to get Helal Abbas elected, the choice of the Awami League. He attacked Lutfur Rahman relentlessly by linking him to IFE and, therefore, JI. Gilligan failed to deliver, Abbas sank after a miserable defeat, and the Awami League felt Gilligan had left them short-changed.

But Gilligan's battle with Ken is far from over. I understand he's taking his political tie-up a giant leap further. His last blog entry spoke of a "secret mission" to "foreign parts". Well, I don't think he's joking; if my sources are right, he's engaged in a series of high-level, secret meetings with the Awami League - in Bangladesh!

I have nothing against Bangladeshis being interested in the politics of their country of origin, or even retaining their party affiliations. But using the politics of Tower Hamlets to fight their Bangladeshi battles is bang out of order, and the contemptible Gilligan's secret exploitation of this for his own vendetta against Ken is simply outrageous.

Do we have to let Gilligan back in, can't the Home Secretary recognise he's a preacher of hate and turn back at the airport?

UPDATE

As if to affirm the plans of anti-Muslim bigots to exploit bitter memories of a forty-year-old war, the vile 'Lucy Lips' from our favourite hate-blog, Harry's Place, couldn't help using this line to try and sideline the MCB:

The Muslim Council of Britain is a Jamaat-e-Islami controlled organisation, which favours the very opposite of liberal democracy. Jamaat-e-Islami members are implicated in serious war crimes committed against Bangladeshis in the War of Liberation.

 Gilligan likes Harry's Place, although they dismissed him as a Nazi propagandist.

Harry's Place: they're crazed, fascist bigots and extremists

I truly believe that the cowardly writers at the disgusting hate blog, Harry's Place, are a greater threat to British society than all the criminals and terrorists. This website laughingly tries to pretend that they are left-wing, when all the world can see they are an unprincipled right-wing infiltration into left-wing politics, with all the characteristics of the far right: warmongering, bigoted, intolerant, extreme and deeply opposed to the true liberal left.

They may have started out convincing some that they were a new spin on left-of-centre politics, and not everything they've said is wrong - for example, they memorably dismissed Andrew Gilligan as a Nazi propagandist - but it must have become clear to even the dimmest of bystanders that their vile rhetoric attracts support from the nastiest of right wingers. They proudly allow bigoted comments to remain unchallenged, only pausing to 'moderate' if a comment undermines the rubbish they gleefully produce.

Their latest outrage is in yet another rabid rant against the East London Mosque, which in the comments section one particularly nasty person ('Lamia') describes as a "shithole". No danger of the singularly disgusting bigot, 'Lucy Lips', moderating that comment on the most popular place of worship for thousands of ordinary Muslims in Tower Hamlets. For it is 'Lucy Lips' who contributes the most disgraceful slur by describing the wonderful Neil Jameson of Citizens UK as a "scumbag". Why? Because he defended the good work of the East London Mosque.

I'm pleased to see Andrew Boff pointed out to 'Lucy Lips' that Neil Jameson is: "a very good person who I’m betting has done more for humanity than all your collected diatribes". Too right! Andrew may come from the wrong side of the political spectrum, from my point of view, but he has always struck me as a decent person who puts integrity before political advancement - I only wish he wasn't a Tory! He's not afraid to stand up for the oppressed against the extreme bigots that have capitalised on the post 7/7 vilification of Muslims. And see how the Harry's Place regulars pour out their venom on him, just as they do on anyone who says the least positive thing about Muslims' leading institutions. Neil Jameson is an inspiring, dynamic person who works with all faith groups, grass-roots community organisations, trade unions and others to help people in our communities who need help the most. His work on the Living Wage is an achievement that has benefited thousands of Britain's poorest people.

Lucy Lips and her vile Harry's Place cohort of extremist bigots offer the world only hate; Neil Jameson and his associates offer hope.