The Independent View: Wootton Bassett demonstrations: another Muslim point of view

It was the afternoon of 31st October 2009 when emerging from the Piccadilly Circus tube station I received a text message informing me that Anjem Chaudhary had given up his plans to march through central London under the banner of Islam4UK that day.

Not only was I pleasantly surprised but felt a deep sense of satisfaction at having, perhaps for the first time in the history of post-Rushdie-affair Britain, reclaimed the public sphere away from the pseudo-religious bigots. These people have consistently hijacked the name of Islam to gain political mileage and to sow the seeds of mistrust, hatred and division between Muslim and non-Muslim communities to maintain their hegemony over the emotionally blackmailed Muslim masses.

It had only been a couple of weeks prior to this day that my relatively young organisation, British Muslims for Secular Democracy, had decided to counter-demonstrate against the Islam4UK extremists, having become aware of their plans to march through Central London denouncing democracy and freedom of speech.

This gave them the opportunity to publicly regurgitate their rhetoric in favour of their so-called Sharia law, which they day-dream of implementing in Britain. A coalition of like-minded Muslims and non-Muslims – led by BMSD – came together to defend democracy, whilst recognising the right for Islam4UK to speak their mind, no matter how senseless it may sound, as guaranteed by the very system they so despise. Our promotion video attracted thousands of hits within days and baffled Islam4UK.

As a result, either fearing loss of face or having been taken completely by surprise at the positive response to our call for counter-demonstration, or perhaps a combination of both, Anjem decided to back out of the challenge British democrats posed to him, in the heart of London, right under the Statue of Eros, the Greek god, punisher of those who scorn love.

Today, BMSD is even more disgusted at Islam4UK’s choice of Wootton Bassett as the venue for their latest cheap publicity stunt. This is a town which is famous for honouring our fallen heroes, and whose streets are regularly lined by grieving families and friends, servicemen and women, who sombrely pay their respects to the repatriated soldiers’ coffins draped with the Union Flags.

Islam4UK’s ambition is to replace those coffins with “symbolic” ones, portraying the real innocent victims of war in Afghanistan – who, bearing in mind Anjem Chaudhary’s mindset and allegiance, happen to be the Taliban fighters involved in insurgency, suicide bombings and other atrocities against the defenseless people of Afghanistan.

It must be remembered in this context, that Al Muhajiroun published the infamous “Magnificent 19” leaflets and held a conference by this title in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks , the 19 being the number of hijackers, hailed as heroes by Anjem and his followers.

Islam4UK’s latest attempt at staying alive in the media by stooping to a new low is extremely distasteful, especially when it is clearly intended to hurt the sentiments of millions of British people, including British Muslims who consider these soldiers as heroes and admire their courage and determination in the face of adversity.

Irrespective of the difference of opinion about the reasons for going to war in Afghanistan, the British Muslim communities hold the British Army soldiers in high esteem and are extremely affectionate towards the servicemen. Furthermore, they most certainly do not wish to be portrayed in the media and by the wider public as those who somehow tacitly support groups like Islam4UK and their contempt for the servicemen and women and their families.

In order to offset such perceptions about the vast majority of British Muslims, and as a show of solidarity with the armed forces and also the patriotic people of the town, BMSD has once again activated the mechanisms to counter-demonstrate against Anjem Chaudhary’s plans to bring misery to Wootton Basset.

However, prior to that, BMSD is writing to Islam4UK requesting them to respect both the neutrality and military tradition of Wootton Bassett, and cancel or relocate their march to a more appropriate location. We hope that Anjem may finally see sense and give up their plans to deliberately offend as many British people as possible. He was forced to change his plans last year, and if he does decide to turn up, BMSD will be a part of the peaceful reception committee in Wootton Bassett to welcome him and his henchmen, armed with Union Flags and plenty of laughs at those who insult freedom.

Dr Shaaz Mahboob is the Vice Chair of British Muslims for Secular Democracy.
You can visit their website here.

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