Friday, March 23, 2007

Why do some feel Britain has become a police state?


Why do some feel Britain has become a police state?

By Taji Mustafa

A climate of fear

A telling, yet unremarkable exchange occurred on the BBC’s 10 o'clock news after the arrests of 9 men in Birmingham in early February. The BBC reporter, Rajesh Mirchandani said that some Muslim students had told him they would no longer discuss politics in case they are branded as terrorist suspects and arrested. Their dilemma highlights the differing perceptions of “the state”; in modern day Britain.

In the 70s, 80s and 90s, long before 9/11, 7/7 or any other such event, Muslims in Britain identified with and supported the struggles of fellow Muslims in the Muslim world; in a manner not dissimilar to how many in Britain have supported struggles in South Africa and South and Central America over decades. India’s occupation of Kashmir, the Palestinian and Chechen suffering and resistance, were subject of heartfelt prayers in mosques, dinner table conversations and charitable collections for innocent victims. To many other Britons, Kashmir and Chechnya were distant issues which got the occasional mention on the news. However with Bush and Blair’s declaration of their “war on terror”;, support for the legitimate resistance movements has been criminalised and some have been arrested under new anti-terror laws, not for targeting civilians, but for supporting those fighting occupation in their lands, just as Britain did in the Falklands; resistance which the vast majority of Muslims; and many non Muslims - continue to see as legitimate. Without question, these legal changes not only fail Ken Livingstone’s famous “Mandela test”, but they do so in a way that disproportionately affects the Muslim community.

Many in this community have either been stopped and searched in the street, stopped and questioned at airports or have been arrested - or else personally know someone who has experienced something similar. Ask a black person if they have been stopped and searched and they are far more likely to say yes than a white person. Ask someone if they have been questioned about their personal beliefs on social, political and religious issues at an airport, and most people will wonder what you are talking about, except people from the Muslim community for whom it is an increasingly regular occurrence.

The shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes led many Muslims to not unreasonably conclude that a shoot to kill policy has been applied to people who look Muslim. Muslims are also acutely aware of the detention of people who are designated as “foreign suspects” and detained without charge for up to 3 years, based on secret evidence which was not disclosed to them and which they were unable to challenge, forcing some to decide to take the risk of going back to countries like Algeria which practice torture, rather than face indeterminate house arrests (control orders) in the UK.

Since the introduction of stop and search profiling, which Hazel Blears famously told the Muslim community to be prepared to accept, and the adoption of 28 day detention without charge, peoples’ lives have been ruined by these arrests. Some detained for a mere two days have lost their jobs and reputations. It appears people are no longer innocent until proven guilty - rather we now have trial by a presumption of guilt and trial by media. The term “terrorist suspect”; has all the emphasis on “terrorist”; and none of the cautions of “suspect” Against the backdrop of creeping state authoritarianism for all of society and anti-terror policies that disproportionately target one community, is there any wonder that some feel that Britain is becoming a police state for Muslims”; Adding to the sense of alienation, many Muslims feel that some in society are relentlessly demanding that they solve “the problem”;; as if the whole Muslim community is responsible for the July 7 bombings. Rarely a day goes by without someone telling the British public that some Islamic value or practice threatens the very life of the nation.

For many, the proposed introduction of ID cards, 28 day detention without charge and the proliferation of CCTV cameras has led to talk of growing authoritarianism in Britain. The arrest of John Catt, an 80-year-old peace campaigner, for wearing a t-shirt with anti-Blair and Bush slogans and the arrest of 84-year-old Walter Wolfgang at the Labour party conference under anti-terror laws, led a national newspaper to craft the headline: Blair’s Britain 2005, where peaceful protest can be costly. Keith Shilson, a Student Union leader at Middlesex University, was frog marched off campus for daring to organise a public meeting for people to question Hizb ut-Tahrir, after Tony Blair had only proposed banning the group. Such was the effect of Blair’s statement, that the “policing” of thoughts did not even require a change of law in this McCarthyite atmosphere.

New laws against “glorification” were criticised not just by the usual “liberals”; but by many eminent personalities in the House of Lords who accused the government of using them to create an atmosphere that silences legitimate voices of dissent and which would have led to Nelson Mandela being branded a “terrorist”. The war on terror has led to the erosion of basic principles which were believed to prevent society descending a slippery slope. These were the basic principles that Western nations used to preach, and more recently tried to enforce by military means, to the world. At one time, these were presumed to be principles worth fighting for, but now these principles have become casualties of war.

With some calling for 90 day detention without charge and America’s use of torture “lite”, many wonder where this will end, and no one should feel surprised that both the Archbishop of York, who escaped Idi Amin’s Uganda, and an innocent man whose life and reputation have been shaken by a wrongful arrest in Birmingham, use the words “police state”.

A benign state

When the Birmingham man Abu Bakr said Britain is a 'police state for Muslims', some strongly disagreed with his characterisation. They argued that there is due process. After all, the courts freed Abu Bakr against police wishes and he was able to speak to the media about his experience afterwards. They argued that the threat society faces is from Muslims, hence inevitably some innocent Muslims will be arrested.

It is worth repeating that they are not from a community where many (young and old) now expect to be taken aside at airports and questioned by Special Branch, at the end of which they ask you to work for them. They are not from a community where we all know someone who has been arrested under anti-terror laws, stopped and searched on the streets or repeatedly detained at airports. They are not from a community which is disproportionately targeted primarily because of its opposition to the policies of the government against their co-religionists abroad. They are not in a community where people are now afraid to voice their support for legitimate resistance struggles of their fellow Muslims because the government has branded that “terrorism”.

A police state?


In short, different sections of British society now have quite different experiences of security in Britain. In Egypt, some sections of society do not ever experience the oppressive nature of the state. Similarly, many in Idi Amin’s Uganda, or South Africa under apartheid never tasted the true nature of the state. In Britain, the fact that this increasingly affects a minority and not the majority should be of concern because what starts small inevitably grows.

In Egypt, some, including British tourists - do not feel it is a police state because they are uncritical of the government and hence don’t get touched by the state’s repressive measures. However, bloggers, guests who criticise the regime on satellite TV stations and the masses who bear the brunt of arrests and torture - are clear that Egypt is a police state.

At the height of the lurid reporting after the Birmingham arrest, with mounting public anxiety, John Reid suddenly resurrected plans for 90 day detention having said two months earlier that he did not see a case for it. What we are seeing is the deliberate politicisation of 'terror' - so that politicians can talk tough for political gain and new draconian measures can be forced through. Some of the speeches by police chiefs, the head of MI5, the questions asked about beliefs by the police and the briefings from the security services all betray the politicisation of these services.

Conclusion

Some will see the rehearsal of these arguments as more whinging. Some will see the criticisms of the security services as irresponsible and ignoring a real threat. Some see the case as an exaggeration. Whatever people think, it would be prudent to listen to this “whinging” objectively if anybody really cared about security. Ignoring the arguments because they do not match your experience does not in any way remove the validity of the sentiments of many that, in this current climate, Britain does feel more like a police state for many of its citizens.

Taji Mustafa

Media Representative, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Transforming Islam’s Holiest Site

Transforming Islam’s Holiest Site,

NY Times: The Price of Progress: Transforming Islam’s Holiest Site
Western Intervention
Thursday, 15 March 2007
The New York Times
By HASSAN M. FATTAH



MECCA, Saudi Arabia - Five times a day across the globe devout Muslims face this city in prayer, focused on a site where they believe Abraham built a temple to God. The spot is also the place Muslims are expected to visit at least once in their lives.


Now as they make the pilgrimage clothed in simple white cotton wraps, they will see something other than the stark black cube known as the Kaaba, which is literally the center of the Muslim world. They will also see Starbucks. And Cartier and Tiffany. And H&M and Topshop.



The Abraj al Bait Mall - one of the largest in Saudi Arabia, outfitted with flat-panel monitors with advertisements and announcements, neon lights, an amusement park ride, fast-food restaurants and a lingerie shop - has been built directly across from Islam's holiest site.



Not everyone considers this progress.



"Mecca is becoming like Las Vegas, and that is a disaster," said Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, a Saudi opposition research organization. "It will have a disastrous effect on Muslims because going to Mecca will have no feeling. There is no charm anymore. All you see is glass and cement."



The mall, which opened a week before the annual pilgrimage, called the hajj, in December, is the first phase in a $13 billion construction boom in Mecca that promises to change how this city, forbidden to everyone but Muslims, looks and feels.



The Abraj al Bait housing and hotel complex, a 1.5-million-square-yard development that will include a towering hotel, has begun to redraw the skyline of this ancient religious city.



When the project is completed in 2009, it will include the seventh tallest building in the world, its developers say, with a hospital, hotels and prayer halls. A public-announcement system pipes in prayers from the Grand Mosque across the way, and worshipers can join the masses simply by opening their draperies.



In nearby Jabal Omar, an entire mountain is being flattened to make way for a huge hotel and high-rise complex. And elsewhere, cranes dot the skyline with up to 130 new high-rise towers planned for the area.

"This is the end of Mecca," said Dr. Irfan Ahmed in London. He has formed the Islamic Heritage Foundation to try to preserve the Islamic history of Mecca, Medina, the second holiest city, and other important religious sites in Saudi Arabia. "Before, even in the days of the Ottomans, none of the buildings in Mecca towered higher than the Grand Mosque. Now these are much higher and more disrespectful."



Money is certainly one of the motivators in the building boom. Every year, up to four million people descend on this city during the pilgrimage, while a stream continues to flow through here during the year, spending an average $2,000 to $3,000 to stay, eat and shop.



Billboards along the way to Mecca remind investors of the potential earnings from owning an apartment here; some claim a 25 percent return on investment. Advertisements on Arab satellite television channels remind viewers that "you, too, can have the opportunity to enjoy this blessed view."



Muhammad al-Abboud, a real estate agent, recounts tales of Pakistani businessmen plunking down $15 million to buy several apartments at a time. Saudi princes own entire floors.



A three-bedroom apartment here runs about $3 million, Mr. Abboud said. One directly overlooking the Grand Mosque can reach $5 million.



Critics of the development complain that the result is gated communities where worshipers can separate themselves from the crowds, thereby violating the spirit of the hajj, where all stand equal before God.



"All of Mecca is a sanctuary," Mr. Abboud said. "So how could something like this not be snapped up?" But some groups say the building boom also has religious motives. They accuse the archconservative Salafi, who hold great sway in Saudi Arabia, of seeking to eliminate historic spots, fearing that these sites would become objects of worship themselves.



Dr. Ahmed of London has cataloged the destruction of more than 300 separate antiquity sites, including cemeteries and mosques. He says the house where the Prophet Muhammad lived was razed and today a dilapidated library, with its windows and doors shuttered, stands in its place.



"It is not respecting the Kaaba, not respecting the house of God or the environment of the sanctuary," Sami Angawi, a Saudi architect who wants to preserve Mecca's heritage, said of the development. "You are not supposed to even cut a tree in this city, so how could you blow up a mountain? The Islamic laws have been broken."



Progress has exacted a heavy price in Mecca. More pilgrims than ever can come here, thanks to billions spent on tunnels and infrastructure to accommodate them. But in exchange, the city's once famed night market, where pilgrims brought their wares to sell, is gone. The Meccan homes and buildings that filled the area near the mosque were demolished in the 1970s to enlarge the mosque. The neighborhoods and families who lived near the mosque and welcomed pilgrims have long since moved away.



Mecca has long been a commercial as well as a religious center, but increasingly global brands dominate here.



Mr. Angawi, the Saudi architect, has led a lonely campaign within the kingdom to bring attention to the destruction of the historic sites. Dr. Ahmed has worked to lobby Asian and Arab governments to press the Saudis to stop such demolitions. And Mr. Ahmed, in Washington, has built a database of the historic spots now destroyed. Many Muslims inside and outside Saudi Arabia have remained silent about the issues, they say, fearing the loss of financing from Saudi Arabia for religious institutions and projects.



Saudi officials say they have been painstakingly preserving the Islamic artifacts they find, and operate two small museums in Mecca. In all, they say, more than $19 billion has been spent on preserving the country's Muslim heritage. They dismiss their critics as cranks who have no following.



Developers and real estate agents, meanwhile, say the construction makes room for even more Muslims to take part in the hajj, and therefore serves the greater good.



That suggests that the changes are far from over.






"Mecca has never been changed like it has now," Mr. Angawi said. "What you see now is only 10 percent of what's to come. What is coming is much, much worse."

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Iraq: A New Way Forward

Chapter 1 - The Real Problem is Occupation
Chapter 2 - The Myth of the Shia Sunni Divide
Chapter 3 - Why Western states have lost the moral legitimacy to stay in the region
Chapter 4 - Iran and the Nuclear Myth
Chapter 5
- Why more troops won't solve the problem in Iraq

Chapter 6 - The West's poor track record in Nation Building
Chapter 7 - An Islamic Alternative - Separating Fact From Myth

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