NAMP is a body that represents Muslim police officers

The National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP)’s submission to the House of Commons’ Communities and Local Government Committee gives a dangerously misleading account of the threat of white extremist violence.

NAMP told the committee that it believed that the threat from far-Right groups was greater than Islamist terrorists. It said that the Government’s policies to tackle Islamic extremism is failing and contributing to the ”promotion of Islamophobia.” In light of the recent attempted suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was a student at UCL in London, where intelligence sources believe he was encouraged to become an extremist through the university’s Islamic Society, NAMP believes, according to the Daily Mail’s report, that the Government is “wrong to blame Islam as the main ‘driver’ of terrorist activity.”

NAMP’s submission to the Commons CLG committee comes after the recent reassessment of how we approach terrorism and airport security. Both the US and UK governments have both said that they may consider profiling people as a means to making flights more safe for passengers. This could mean young Muslim men are more likely to be singled out.  

Nothing British believes that NAMP’s statement to the committee is not correct. Furthermore, it has also misinterpreted the government’s policies on Islamic extremism on UK university campuses (for more on Islamic extremism in UK universities please see the Centre for Social Cohesion’s thorough report here).

1. Far-right extremism is a greater threat to UK security

The rise of UK white nationalist extremism is undoubtedly a concern, but it has not yet converted itself into terrorism and violence. There have of course been isolated incidents like Terence Gavan and Neil Lewington in the last year, but they have been acting as ”lone wolfs” and not part of some major organised command structure. According to Europol’s most recent report into terrorism, the total number of those arrested for far-Right related terrorism across the EU in 2008 was zero. Compared to 187 for Islamist related terror arrests in the same year.

Anti-Muslim groups like the EDL, which have gained a high media profile through its controversial marches, have not yet manifested themselves into full blown terrorist organisations. Whilst distasteful, organisations like Blood and Honour, the violent neo-Nazi organisation with links to the terror group Combat-18, are too disorganised and fractured to pose any serious security threat at present – this view is shared by Scotland Yard according to Nothing British’s recent meetings with Police.

“These groups are obnxious and one day they could be dangerous, but as things stand there is no evidence that we are on the brink of a white supremecist uprising,” said James Bethell, Director of Nothing British.

2. Hatred towards Muslims has grown because of government anti-terrorism policy

Hate crime against Muslims in recent years has actually fallen.

According to the government’s most recent stats on hate crime towards Muslims, from April 2007 to March 2008, the Metropolitan Police registered 106 anti-Muslim incidents and 89 crimes. Although this figure is still too high (crimes against Jews are far higher please see the CST’s report here), it is still a dramatic decrease and is following an overall trend in declining faith hate crimes over the past three years (1,103 crimes in 2005/2006; 823 crimes in 2006/2007 and 521 crimes in 2007/2008).

However, NB believes that the government’s integration policy has failed both Muslims and non-Muslims through the pursuit of multi-culturalism, which has created fractured identities. We believe that by adopting a more patriotic integration policy that sought to unite people through a common identity social cohesion would improve relationships between Britain’s Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

3. The government is wrong to blame Islam for extremism

This is simply wrong. Ever since the London bombings on 7/7 the government has deliberately, and rightly, sought to distinguish between Islam (the religion) and Islamism (violent political ideology).

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Gavan is serving eleven years for terrorism

Terence Gavan, formerly an active member of the BNP, has been sentenced to eleven years behind bars after he admitted making nail and ball bearing bombs at his West Yorkshire home. (The BBC report).

“Lone wolf” bombers are often linked to neo-fascist organisations like to BNP and Combat 18, though these organisations tend to deny or downplay these links. This case is different. Searchlight has been monitoring this case for some time and they claim that Gavan not only was a BNP member, he also held gold membership with the membership number 130757.

Simon Darby, deputy chairman of the BNP and Stoke Central parliamentary candidate, gave a bizarre analysis to the Daily Telegraph:

“If people are going to build up large arsenals then they will get stiff sentences. It’s the inevitable consequence of enforced multiculturalism. You are going to get more and more incidents like this. It sounds like this was a lucky escape.”

2009 saw an increase in the number of neo-fascist violence and attempted terrorist attacks. Several had a connection to the BNP, though mostly quite tenuous. Neil Lewington was an example of this. Although Lewington was a member of C-18, he was not a member of the BNP. Gavan, however, is the real deal and a member of the BNP.

Darby’s words to the Telegraph suggest the BNP believe that Gavan’s crime was to stockpile weapons to kill ethnic minorities. He also says that unless the Establishment wakes up to the effects of multiculturalism, more violence could happen.

Notice, however, how Darby believes that Gavan should not claim personal responsibility for his own actions. In the neo-racist mindset of the BNP, Gavan is a “victim” of multiculturalism and forced integration. The hypocrisy of this is that if Gavan was a Muslim, Darby and Griffin would call him a traitor. Darby should condemn white nationalist terrorism in same terms he would if it was a Jihadi.  

There are many problems with multiculturalism but those who are concerned about our society should take their frustration out at the ballot box or through debate and not through terror and violence.

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