John Ware complains about the focus placed upon his Panorama documentary of 2005 in the recent report commissioned by London Mayor Ken Livingstone about Muslims and the media.
Islamophobia Watch take issue with his criticism of the experts who compiled the report. Certainly, they are more eminent than the "leading Muslims" he based his documentary on.
I want to highlight his opening assertion though:
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) claims to be "the most reasonable and most representative spokesperson for the British Muslim community". Unlike most religious organisations, it is also explicitly political. The MCB has opinions on everything, from school uniforms to the NHS; from the recall of Parliament to the extradition to the US of Babar Ahmad. And it is not shy about lobbying for them.
This is patently not true. Every major faith group he would wish to name take positions on the issues of the day. They will raise all sorts of matters that they see as important. Many of them will also employ full-time lobbyists for this task, something incidentally that the MCB currently do not do.
These other faith groups are admittedly often criticised for the stances that they adopt. This is on the basis of what they say, rather than the fact of their engagement in public affairs itself. In a democracy, this is exactly how it should be. If Ware is arguing for the secularisation of Muslims, then let him say so clearly. But he has yet to demonstrate any concern regarding any other faith group.
The double-standard goes further. Notably, Ware will promote the likes of the neocon Sufi Muslim Council when they air opinions - because they are his kinds of opinions. Ware uses the term "political Islam" when making his case, but this as artificial a construct as if he had used "political Christianity". He will have the charge of Islamophobia levelled against him when his thesis is so inexplicable. Gordon Brown can quote from the Bible during his conference speech, but I can imagine the consternation if a Muslim had done the same. This attempt to silence Muslims, including their largest umbrella body, should not be allowed to wash.
Perhaps political Islam and political Christianity should get together and form one political party. Then at least we'd know where all the politically religious eejits were at any one time. Save a lot of fuss and bother.
Posted by: aineliva | 20 November 2007 at 07:06 AM