It's been long many weeks, perhaps months, since I last blogged here. Not that I lost interest, nor is it because I have little to write neither is it that I wish no more to write. In fact, never more than the last few months have I felt more willing and urge to write, to blog and share thoughts. Unfortunately though, life had many twists, many surprises and many "known unknowns" and "unknown unknowns" which necessarily kept me busy to the extent that despite increasing sense of urge I seldom had time to surf these pages, to populate them.
But as the year 2010 draws to an end, I could not but resist the temptation to write here. So I look back at some events/incidents/experiences which will have profound impact in defining me.
I enlist some key events and will seek to write something about each one of them though not necessarily today:
July 16, 2010 finally started working in the field of Law
July 21, 2010 - left Birmingham to settle for now in London
August (can't remember precise date: I knows its a shame) appeared for the first time as advocate (well rather as legal rep)
October 3, 2010 - made chair of the Membership Committee of the MCB
November (can't remember exact date but I think 12) - first TV appearance for MCB
November 16, 2010 - key note address at a conference in the Commons on Prevent
November 30, 2010 - call to the bar by the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn
December 11, 2010 - Key note address at an Islamophobia Conference
December 21, 2010 - First meeting of the membership committee under my chairmanship
Some of the above of course would sound trivial to some of you, but each one of these has important and profound meaning to me for reasons which will become apparent to you all soon. But now, sadly, I am called and must leave the net. S many be a little later, may be tomorrow or next week I will begin to write about each one aforementioned.
Showing posts with label Islamophobia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islamophobia. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Ban on Burka
UKIP becomes the first political party in the UK to call for a total ban on Burka. They argue that Burka has no place in the British tradition and is not compatible with British values. Furthermore, they also shows the audacity to say Burka has no basis in Islam.
UKIP calling for a total ban on Burka is not surprising at all. This is not the first time that they have expressed their 'Muslim hatred' openly and I am sure that this will not be the last. What does surprise, however, is their confidence in such strategy to win them more votes in modern Britain, in particular the appeal of such policies within the working class British people.
For me personally, the call by UKIP to ban Burka should ring alarms in the mind of all reasonable people of this Island. For this shows how weak our major political parties has been in addressing the hate elements of our society. Larger, mainstream parties has allowed cheap but successful political propaganda to overtake principle of equality, justice, freedom of speech and belief. The failure of the mainstream has made it fashionable in modern Britain to be hateful of others openly. Instead of creating a climate where xenophobes, racist and fascists will feel uncomfortable and shaky in expressing their hateful views, certain of our political class allowed these hatemongers to flourish. Even organizations like BBC has given fascist movements like BNP a kind of legitimacy which earned them credible standing in the views of many.
The big question, of course, is not the failure of our political parties. It seems that the lies, half-truths and more importantly hatred of Muslims are likely to grow. This is because the mindless thugs of the likes of UKIP, BNP and others who are the true affront to our British values of democracy and freedom are ever more confident in their political activism. The ideological bankruptcy of the larger political parties allowed these tiny ugly spots of our society to gain popularity. We therefore need a strategy to deal with it in a manner so that we can engage the wider population of our country. We need to engage in meaningful and intellectually rich debates.
There are organizations like the MCB who are working very hard to ensure Muslim voices are being heard. They are working to challenge the hallow and prejudicial views of these new Nazis. But their work needs to be complemented by others at organizational and individual levels. There needs to be a serious rethinking of our strategies too. Only when we will have a more coherent, better thought set of strategies to engage the masses effectively, we may hope to defeat these xenophobes.
UKIP calling for a total ban on Burka is not surprising at all. This is not the first time that they have expressed their 'Muslim hatred' openly and I am sure that this will not be the last. What does surprise, however, is their confidence in such strategy to win them more votes in modern Britain, in particular the appeal of such policies within the working class British people.
For me personally, the call by UKIP to ban Burka should ring alarms in the mind of all reasonable people of this Island. For this shows how weak our major political parties has been in addressing the hate elements of our society. Larger, mainstream parties has allowed cheap but successful political propaganda to overtake principle of equality, justice, freedom of speech and belief. The failure of the mainstream has made it fashionable in modern Britain to be hateful of others openly. Instead of creating a climate where xenophobes, racist and fascists will feel uncomfortable and shaky in expressing their hateful views, certain of our political class allowed these hatemongers to flourish. Even organizations like BBC has given fascist movements like BNP a kind of legitimacy which earned them credible standing in the views of many.
The big question, of course, is not the failure of our political parties. It seems that the lies, half-truths and more importantly hatred of Muslims are likely to grow. This is because the mindless thugs of the likes of UKIP, BNP and others who are the true affront to our British values of democracy and freedom are ever more confident in their political activism. The ideological bankruptcy of the larger political parties allowed these tiny ugly spots of our society to gain popularity. We therefore need a strategy to deal with it in a manner so that we can engage the wider population of our country. We need to engage in meaningful and intellectually rich debates.
There are organizations like the MCB who are working very hard to ensure Muslim voices are being heard. They are working to challenge the hallow and prejudicial views of these new Nazis. But their work needs to be complemented by others at organizational and individual levels. There needs to be a serious rethinking of our strategies too. Only when we will have a more coherent, better thought set of strategies to engage the masses effectively, we may hope to defeat these xenophobes.
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