A week ago our town of was rocked by 20 or so radical Muslims protesting against the local army regiment's homecoming parade. I reported on it here: Reporting Luton: strengthening the stereotype? and here: Praying and working for the peace of this city (1)
It was of course more dramatic than that: a brass band and soldiers, 4000 or so people in the crowd, our 20 "anti-war" protesters, and what amounted to a counter-demonstration by at one point about 150 young whites.
Several days have gone by and still the national and regional news seems every day to carry the images of those 20 radicals. Maybe the turn of a week will make a difference? Sometimes it has seemed as the media are just trying to keep the story alive to sell papers. There is nothing like a terror story to feed peoples appetite for the latest news.
Hate cleric leads jihad cash appeal was in the Sunday Times yesterday. It records how "Anjem Choudary, a self-styled sharia judge and former leader of the banned group Al-Muhajiroun .." has been recorded "... telling his followers to stop spending their money on their families and divert it to Muslim soldiers waging jihad, or holy war." All week long we have had revelations that they are a part of Al-Muhajiroun, or what is now
Ahle Sunnah al Jamah, and various reporters quoting from their interviews with Choudary, Sayful Islam (from the streets of Bury Park itself) and others. But was it new news? Sadly no.
Friday saw the cameras out in Bury Park as Muslims attended for Jumma Prayer. Protest in Luton appeared on the BBC Regional website, and a short piece from ouside the Jamia Masjid on Bury Park Road with local young Muslims condemning the protests and expressing total frustration with the former Al-Muhajiroun group. Did they want them banned - no, they would just change their name again. This piece was part of a longer item on the regional programme of the Politics Show on Sunday.
And last night on BBC Lookeast, and tonight we had coverage of a large and peaceful gathering of Muslims in Bury Park on Sunday. ( about 12 minutes into the programme). So encouraging. But where was the national reporting of something that is good news? Good news from Luton? Impossible, ignore it.
There was a good reflective piece in the Guardian on Thursday: Passions on parade . In the week that saw Northern Ireland competing with Luton for the top spot in the news it was an interesting contrast. For years the British army was such symbol of oppression that it never paraded; yet with the peace developing well, last November the Royal Irish regiment back from Afghanistan marched through the streets of Belfast to be greeted by tens of thousands. And that in a city that saw its peace challenged last week. Yet it was a challenge that was turned on its head by the site of thousands gathering to stand together for peace, and the sight of former enemies attending the funerals. Contrast Luton:
Sobering contrasts indeed.
I do still want to ask when anyone is going to pay some attention to the way the emotions of the crowd were stirred up on Tuesday? What does this mean for future race relations and religious dialogue in Luton? It was encouraging finally this evening to find someone coming close; just across the county boundary in St Albans Martin Buhagiar in the St Albans Review has been looking at the story and comenting perceptively: Soldiering on to stop extremists
The protest achieved the desired effect as far as the placard-waving fanatics were concerned – it has dominated the headlines for a number of days.
The fact that a number of white, British men – who took offence and attempted to confront them – were arrested is just the cherry on the cake. Enter the BNP. Up and down the country the far right party’s cronies will be telling those who perhaps feel let down by the Government, society, whoever that this is the future. I can imagine the next BNP leaflet: “They protest, we respond and we are arrested”. And so on.
The only winners are groups like al-Muhajiroun – which has not, as some claim, disbanded – and the BNP. Both will use such events in their next recruitment campaigns.
Thank goodness for a perceptive local paper. The article continues:
Those who approached the demonstraters and began chanting “In-ger-land” gave them exactly what they wanted. Snarled faces yelling football songs, looking every inch the terrace football thug. Such scenes will be shown to young, impressionable Muslims and they will be asked: “Do you believe you fit in with that crowd?” Lo and behold, another young man with extreme beliefs is born.
Perceptively in conclusion:
Those offended need to realise that they want you to keep the hate inside, bottled up like them. They would love nothing more than seeing a British man or woman deciding to vote for the BNP in protest at what some perceive as Labour’s all too liberal laws. .... The same mosque elders who applauded our soldiers on their return will play their part and we need to play ours. Feel pity instead of hatred and sympathy instead of despair. .... Now we need to make sure that their voices are not heard by young men who will feel even more cut off from society if offended Britons turn to the BNP.
There is a lot of work to do, especially with the media playing the Islamophobia card or responding and reacting to it.
My prayer is that at least the Christian community will get it. But I am not so sure about that either.
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