Muslims must shop extremists

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Muslims must shop extremists

By JOHN REID
The Sun
September 19, 2006

EXTREMIST Muslims are calling for jihad, or holy war, after the Pope quoted an ancient text linking the Prophet Muhammad with “things evil and inhumane.”

As tensions rise, this week Home Secretary John Reid will appeal to Muslims to help root out potential terrorists from within their community. Here he writes for The Sun.

OUR world has changed enormously over the last 15 years. The dangers of religious extremism and ethnic tensions have replaced the East-West rivalries of the Cold War.

The media would have us believe that this is the case but in reality the same tensions exist as did 15 years ago. In fact it is not East – West rivalries it is more Capitalism and imperialism against those that stand in its way. Those that are against exploitation and those that stand against the agendas of the corporations and the damage that is taking place upon the environment. These are the continuing ‘rivalries’ not East – West.

The end of communism was a great victory for freedom and democracy but it created new challenges — including global terrorism.

The end of communism was a victory for imperialism and capitalism, I still don’t see freedom or democracy in many countries, yet these countries don’t have a communist ideology. May I also add that there was no end of communism; it was more an end to a certain form of communism in the Soviet Union, not the end of the communist ideology.

Tomorrow, one year on, we will remember the victims of terrorism at Sharm El- Sheikh, Kusadasi and Doha.

Who can forget what happened in New York on 9/11, or London, or Bali, or Madrid? Thousands of lives lost in the name of a war supposedly fought to advance Islam.

We seem to remember the events that took the lives of so many westerners but seem to forget the events concerning non western lives. Let’s add Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, and many other places in the world where people lost their lives and are still losing their lives. Many wars are waged by the West to supposedly free people from tyranny, yet we inflicted upon them unprecedented killing and oppression Replacing one form of injustice for another.

But this is not a war with Islam, this is a battle against extremism and intolerance. And it is vital that we all work together to defeat those twin evils. That’s why there must be no sectarian divide between Muslims and non-Muslims.

The main extremism and intolerance in this world right now is that of neo-conservatism and Zionism and I agree there should be no divide between Muslims and non-Muslims in defeating these twin evils which I have mentioned.

After all, the minority who abuse Islam in their pursuit of violence are not only attacking western values, they are attacking the values of their co-religionists.

Thank you ‘Imam’ Reid I’m sure Muslims will appreciate your concerns.

And mainstream Muslims and Christians share so many common values — devotion to family and society, to faith and good deeds. A belief in the right to life, equality, justice and opportunity.

Indeed the home secretary is correct it is a pity that American and British Foreign policy don’t reflect these common values. British Foreign policy does not have a belief in right to life, otherwise we would not use cluster bombs resulting in so many civilian deaths. We would not support Israel’s apartheid regime which is ruining the lives of the Palestinian people. Equality, there is so much equality in Iraq, occupying forces kill non combatants just as readily as they kill combatants, we even see equality towards women and children, so as not to make them feel left out we show ‘equality’ by killing them too. Justice and Opportunity, we have displayed this by siding with Israel, putting sanctions on the Palestinian people and their democratically elected government.

The terrorists don’t share these values. They are not true Muslims. They seek to achieve their aims through violence — they may use the rhetoric of Islamic teachings, but they behave in ways that contradict the very principles of the Islamic faith.

The people the home secretary calls terrorists do not share the same values as the American and British Governments hence they must be labeled terrorists. If terrorists seek to achieve there aims through violence what would you say about the ‘War on Terror’ the War on Iraq and Israel’s war on Lebanon?

They may claim that their war is a jihad but many of the victims of al-Qaeda have been Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria and Turkey.

The victims of the British War on Iraq and Afghanistan have also been Muslims, does this mean that the British Government and al-Qaeda are the same?

So this is not a battle between religions but a fundamental struggle between opposing values. That’s why the Muslim community must choose between accepting the propaganda of the terrorists and taking on would-be terrorists at every opportunity.

Again we have the mentality of you are either ‘with us o against us’. The Muslim community has a choice of accepting the propaganda of the ‘terrorists’ or accepting the propaganda of the home secretary.

It is because of the level of threat they face that I will start this week to brief the Muslim community, to give them the knowledge to defeat these extremists and ask for their help.

The knowledge to defeat the terrorists is simple, change foreign policy and you greatly reduce terrorism, that’s all the help you need.

This dovetails with the work of Ruth Kelly who, as part of her ongoing engagement with Muslim communities, will be hosting a meeting of Muslim women. Some may think it is better to accommodate extremists in the hopes of influencing them for the better, but as I know from the bitter experience of dealing with militants in the Labour Party, you cannot compromise with fanatical beliefs.

I wonder who he is referring to in the Labour Party? But is he actually likening people in the Labour Party to extremists and does he also believe because he has dealt with ‘militants’ in a political context, that this qualifies him to deal with the Muslim community?

As a father of two boys, I know how hard it is to raise children and know everything they are up to. It is especially difficult to intervene as they get older.

The Home secretary even finds it difficult to sell this crap to his own kids. The advice he wishes to give is, indoctrinate your children when they are young as the task is that much more difficult when they are older.

But there are times when we must confront them to protect them from harm. So I appeal to you to look for changes in your teenage sons — odd hours, dropping out of school or college, strange new friends. And if you are worried, talk to them before their hatred grows.

What the Home Secretary means is, look out for your children hanging around with peoples with beards and headscarves. If your children begin to question the government and its policies they are on the path to terrorism. Also if they start reading the independent or the Guardian these are tell tail signs of extremism.

I don’t want a suspicious society when we have done so well in breaking down differences. But the terrorists want to divide us. We must not let them.

Well with a mentality of ‘them’ and ‘us’ and the fact that the Home secretary seems to be the one that classifies who is a terrorist or a fanatic and who is not, along with his unwillingness to talk to people with dissenting views, if division is not his aim then what is?

The police and security services do a fantastic job protecting us from terrorism. But they cannot do so alone.

I agree, you need to change foreign policy, sorry to repeat myself but it really is that simple. Also why do I get the impression that the Home secretary wants British Muslims to spy and turn on their fellow British Muslims?

Terrorism can be defeated only when we all work together to defeat it. That’s why it is so important that Muslims join us in exiling extremism from our country — and from their communities.

Where exactly does the Home Secretary want to exile these ‘extremists’ to? Guantanamo Bay?


Conclusion
The Home Secretary fails to realise the root causes of terrorism in Britain, mainly foreign policy. Instead he shifts the focus on to the already victimised Muslim communities. If the Government is so keen to engage the Muslim community why has it not taken on the recommendations laid down by the Muslim committee that was set up to advise the Government. The government is in trouble, they have a leader that is clinging to power, they find themselves behind in the opinion polls and the 'War on Terror' is a disaster. What we are seeing is pure desperation and foolishness in shifting the responsibility of fighting terrorism onto the British Muslim community.

By Guevara Serapion