A Racist By Any Other Name

[shaved_ape]

To tie in with the anniversary of 9/11 racist groups (organising on Facebook) have called a protest outside the central Mosque in Harrow. Groups such as 'Stop Islamisation Of Europe,' 'The England Defence League' and 'Casuals United' (rent-a-thug football hooligans) are backing the protest. They claim not to be racist as 'Islam is a religion, not a

Comments

[shaved_ape]

In the abstract, religion is just an idea. (Im an athiest myself so its not an idea I personally subscribe to). For those that do subscribe it is more than just an idea. Im not talking about any inherent truth (or lack of it) in any religion, but one example would be as a form of cultural identity. This is especially true for immigrant peoples. Many people will identify themselves as being Jewish, Muslim or whatever as part of teir identity regarless of how little they subscribe to the idea itself. What is at stake here is peoples right to practice whatever religion they choose (or their right not to practice at all). Also, (this may be different where you live) in the UK "Muslim" has become the coded aceptible word for "Asain" or "Paki." In a liberal modern society it is easy to identify when someone is being racist when they use the old terms. When they substitute "Muslims" it is seen as more acceptable because they are ONLY attacking an idea, not a people. The fact is that in most cases the same people are the targets of the attacks but one phrase makes going on the attack acceptable, the other less so.

I dont argue that religious views are better than any other values - as I say Im an athiest - thats not a position I could hold. What I argued instead was that Fascism needs to be treated differently from any other ideology, (religious/political/otherwise) becuse fascism has discrimination/persecution/worse built in to its core beliefs - that is why iy exists. Whatever the faults and cricisms of religion (and there are many) they are not like fascism in that regard.

This demonstration isnt about whether one or any religion is a good thing, its about standing up to a group of people who would like to remove the rights of a particular section of society (or do worse than that).

[eracerhead]

I mostly agree with you. I cannot however stand up for religion because when it comes to dishing out persecution, religion is by far the king.

If they are using "muslim" as a pseudonym for race/culture then they are just using it as a cover for racism. However if they are responding to an actual threat of religious incursion into governance, then they have legitimate claims. Here in the US it is mostly the fundy christians who have a problem with muslims. Likely because they are seen as competition. They want to set up a theocracy here, but they don't want that theocracy to be muslim.

[shaved_ape]

Having just re-read what I wrote, apologies for all the typing errors! It was almost 3am my time when I wrote the last comment and I was a bit an auto-pilot. That may be why the language was a bit disjointed, I was typing as I thought with little regard for formal English!

Anyway... I totally agree. I would appose any "religious incursion into governance" be it Christian, Muslim, Mormon or scientologist. I support the right for every person to be free to worship whatever they want, but equally I am for the right NOT to worship.
The people I am demonstrating against are using the language of someone fighting religious incursion (more into their sense of 'English i.e. white culture' than governance) but there is no incursion taking place - its just a cover for their racism.
The fact that they have chosen the anniversary of 9/11 to stage their 'protest' is just another level of inflammatory nastiness.

As a minor point I think it is worth distinguishing between religion and the individuals who practice it. I agree that there are few comparable sources of persecution in the world than religion, Christianity and Islam being two of the worst offenders, but this is often different from an individual person who may have religious beliefs. Sure some religious individuals are responsible for pesecuting others, but most probably arent. All of that aside, Im not going to the demonstration to "stand up for" any religion - Im going to stand up for a minority group in my society who are coming under attack from racist bigots. The only reason why the religious aspect has been mentioned is because this is the battleground the racists have chosen for their attack. They could have chosen a gay bar to attack homosexuals, a Carribean cafe, a community centre or any number of other targets - I would still be there.