Hats off to an important new report from The Quilliam Foundation (In Defence of British Muslims: A Response to BNP racist propaganda- Lucy James) which disects the BNP’s rhetoric against Moslems and the Moslem world.
The report analyses particularly well the BNP’s general attitude to Islam, for instance the way they conflate Islamism (the violent and political ideology) with the religion of Islam, how the BNP routinely sensationalizes “unacceptable practices within Islam” and how they propagate dangerous falsehoods about the Muslim community in Britain. And it rightly reminds us that the overwhleming majority of Moslems live peacefully alongside their fellow non-Muslim countrymen.
Lucy James’s bravely wrote in yesterday’s Guardian that simply dismissing the BNP’s ideology as racist or bigoted or resorting to violence isn’t working. “There needs to be a greater focus on intellectually undermining it through a systematic deconstruction of its arguments,” she says. We completely agree.
A couple of things are missing.
The report rightly reminds us that the total number of Moslems in Britain are often exagerated and the BNP’s scare-mongering about “national Islamification” are ridiculous. That said, the report overlooks the experience of people living in northern mill towns or the Thames estuary where high concentrations of Moslem immigrants have transformed communities in recent years. And it is no surprise that the BNP have made considerable in-roads amongst white working-class residents whose lives have changed as a result.
Secondly, the report rightly recognises that there is a wide-spread of opinion within the Moslem religion (as with any religion) and it helpfully reminds us of the tolerant and liberal attitudes that underpin mainstream Islam. However, its representation of modern Islam does not help explain where the inflamatory rhetoric and extremist ideology fits in, and why we have home-grown bombers, tasteless demonstrations against war veterans and the repression of Moslem women. What we need to explain is how to differentiate between our commendable mainstream Moslem neighbours and the bad eggs who cause all the trouble.
What’s next?
This useful rubuttal of the BNP’s anti-Moslem propaganda leaves the door open for a piece of work that provides answers to confused voters living in the streets of communities like Barking, Barnesley and Burnley. I’d like to see something a bit nitty-gritty that debunks the specific accusations made against Moslems (such as the grooming and drug-trading stories that Jane mentions) that could be used on the door-step in the next election.
Also read: The Centre for Social Cohesion’s helpful report on the BNP’s activities on the web.
