Society
Battle is joined for the right to pray
Published 26 July 2007
The simple erection of a mosque in these anti-Islamic times triggers passions so long concealed beneath the surface
Plans for the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic sect to build Europe's largest mosque on a derelict site in Newham have attracted coverage recently. A petition on the Downing Street website protests that the project should not go ahead. One Jill Barnham is responsible for its launch. "We, the Christian population of this great country, England, would like the proposed plan to build a mega-mosque in east London scrapped," she rants. "This will cause terrible violence and suffering and more money should go into the NHS." Barnham's petition is adorned with more than a quarter of a million signatures.
All manner of accusations have crowded the website. The activists behind these tit-bits of disinformation allege, wrongfully, that substantial government funds are involved; that the mosque will house more than 40,000 pilgrims; and that the mosque and the conference hall are tied to the 2012 Olympic Games. Racial abuse litters the website. One signatory goes by the sobriquet, "kill all niggers".
The battle is joined. There are no ground rules. Blood and hellfire characterise the threats being issued by the authors of the petition.
In the late days of winter earlier this year, the Wolverhampton Express & Star commissioned me to visit Dudley in the Black Country to research and write an article about failed attempts by local Muslims to build a mosque on derelict land at the entrance to the town. Dudley Council's planning committee had rejected the plan by an overwhelming majority.
Here is a quote from the article . . . "and now, Dudley Council's decision is to limit the right to pray, or so it seems, for thousands of Muslims in the local community. Much else is threatened as a consequence of this. A central mosque is in the advanced stage of development in London. It promises to be a huge and imposing structure. Activists from the UK Independence Party, fired by the victory in Dudley, have already issued threats of similar opposition in the capital city."
We need not speculate about which organisations are behind these threats against the right to pray and to build institutions to that end. When the time comes for the decision to grant permission for the mosque to be debated, UKIP and a ragbag of BNP activists and freelance racists will converge on Newham to place the town hall under siege, as they did in Dudley.
Christians in Dudley plumbed the depths of skullduggery in a vile attempt to accumulate signatories for their petitions. A handful of churchgoers at one of the local Anglican churches defied the vicar and circulated a blank petition against the building of the mosque. This was done at a church service on a Sunday morning.
Out of a magician's hat, they produced 600 signatures from a congregation of 25. And there is much similarity between Dudley and east London. Both were once thriving industrial areas. Both harboured a long history of racism. Both areas are now derelict. The old East End and the old Dudley are dead, and nothing new has taken their places. The simple erection of a mosque in these anti-Islamic times triggers passions so long concealed beneath the surface.
UKIP, its cohorts in the BNP, and their mates on the far right intend to place this issue at the heart of the mayoral elections, pitching whites against ethnic groups. Disaster looms.
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