extremist

i saw this while out and about.




now i have to confess that i think the west is losing the plot over the question of islamic fundamentalism. in trying to be moderate and liberal (what used to be known as "playing the white man") we are in danger of ignoring that we are on the cusp of a battle of cultures and ideas. ironically it is our very ideals and beliefs, our freedoms and principles that may weaken us in the face of the, potential, oncoming battle. the reason i say this is because as we try to accommodate the requirements, for want of a better word, of the islamic fundamentalists it means we give up some of what we are.
(this is not to say that our own governments are not quick to remove our freedoms, and it is not to say that we are perfect.)

when jack straw raised the subject on veils on muslim women the reaction was out of all proportion to what has been asked. the question becomes not just an attack on the personal choices of the women, but an attack on all muslim women and all of islam. not only does jack straw have to be defended for asking the question, he must also be proved not to be a racist.
when there has been criticism of muhammad or the islamic faith the response has not been one of reason but one of bullying violence.
for some islamic fundamentalists the freedoms of the west allow them to go about their lives enjoying the fruits of the west while all the while crying out for sharia law to be part of the legal landscape of the west (true some aspects of it will appeal to the hang them and flog them tories, but….)

it is not a question of being against islamic fundamentalists it is more about being for the freedoms that we cherish. we can find it in ourselves to protest out governments trying to take those liberties away from us, yet we shy away from it when they are threatened by a group who will happily persecute gays, will subjugate women and curtail democracy.

the irony is never more apparent than on the whitechapel high street where the swp newspaper sellers embrace the islamic fundamentalists as their friends and allies in the war against capitalism, except one wants a workers participatory democracy the other wants a theocracy.