In one of her tweets Jameson signs off with:

“I’m sorry you follow an ideology that promotes child rape, female genital mutilation, butchering non-believers and polygamy.”

Some people who follow or connect with such individuals may have a tendency to believe what they say due to their celebrity stature. Jameson is a classic example of someone who believes in ‘us versus them’. Sadly, she conflates ‘them’ with all Muslims and not with cults like ISIS who have also murdered tens of thousands of Muslims in their wake.

Why do you shift the spotlight? There aren't angry mobs of Jews raping women in Germany… NOOOO it's muslims! Wake the hell up! https://t.co/n3QAyGeRMg

— Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) January 4, 2017

That is completely wrong! Islam teaches that war with the Jews will bring on the end of times… which is what they want. https://t.co/dFumJa12Tb

— Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) January 4, 2017

Want to learn the shifty ways of Islamic taqiyya? Watch this https://t.co/08nRm7bpHw

— Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) January 4, 2017

I'm sorry you follow an ideology that promotes child rape, female genital mutilation, butchering non believers and polygamy #kbye https://t.co/2eStBj8yRZ

— Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) January 4, 2017

Killed in turkey…. such a shame pic.twitter.com/roM1fuPaU8

— Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) January 3, 2017

The post Former Porn Star Jenna Jameson’s Rants on Muslims and Islam appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Prosecutors said that in postings on social media, Choudary and his close associate Mizanur Rahman, 33, had sought to validate the “caliphate” declared by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and said Muslims had a duty to obey or provide support to him.

In one hour-long speech, Choudary set out the requirements for a legitimate caliphate under Islam and why he believed the Islamic State met those criteria.

Time and time again in bomb plots in the UK, individuals who had come into the sphere of influence of Choudhary and groups that he helped set up, such as Al-Muhajiroun, were convicted of attempts to harm, maim or kill. In some cases, young men who had come into contact with Choudhary, were involved in brutal killings in the UK and in other countries.

Yet, there is also another story – that of media sources and editors whose natural reaction on stories about extremism, radicalisation or even on Islam, was to approach Choudhary, as the ‘go to’ person. This not only elevated him in the eyes of some sympathisers, it lionised him in the minds of sympathisers who were overseas who saw him as some form of Muhajideen (or holy warrior), ‘sitting in the land of the disbeliever and standing firm.’ What it did for community relations, was simply to toxify perceptions of wider  British Muslim communities many of whom called for his arrest and conviction many years ago.

For some of these media sources, Choudhary was the gift that kept giving. He would raise viewer numbers, be the villain that they wanted him to be and highlight an extremist midst in the heart of our country. Choudhary knew this and played to the media sources knowing that any publicity was ‘good’ publicity for him. These sick and symbiotic relationships simply grew and grew to the point that Choudhary was on TV screens in the UK on virtually a weekly basis. From New York to Tokyo, Choudhary’s face was beamed to millions of viewers and what they saw was a Muslim who was extreme in his views.

Choudhary may well be looking at a ten year jail sentence in the coming weeks. Yet, there are more actors to this sorry saga than just Choudhary. His sympathisers and supporters, media platforms that held onto his every word to ensure higher viewing figures and those that gave Choudhary succour and support, all had a role to play. They had a role to play in creating this monster and in giving his toxic views a realism that may well have influenced others. Only time will tell on that score.

Commenting on the conviction, the Founder of Tell MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal stated;

“Anjem Choudhary was repeatedly the go to person for mainstream press sources. They knew this man craved the press and limelight and he sought to talk to vulnerable young men through those very same press sources and many willingly and obligingly gave him media platforms in a their ratings war. He served their purposes of raising the numbers of viewers and he received a platform for his horrendous and twisted abuse of Islam. It became a symbiotic relationship and some of these press sources should also hang their heads in shame after the verdict.

“Choudhary was made a household name by some of these media sources and he damaged the view of British Muslims by his extremist views. Today, he rightly has been convicted by a jury of his peers. Yet, editors of some of these media sources will be heading to pubs and drinking venues as if they played no part in the creation of Choudhary. However you slice and dice this, Choudhary, his supporters and sympathisers were given oxygen by some sections of the media. On that score, the public deserve an apology by some of these media editors.”

The post For Years Press Sources Made Anjem Choudhary the ‘Go To’ Person To Raise Viewer Numbers appeared first on TELL MAMA.

At this time, we must keep things in context and the reaction against British Muslims continues to be monitored by us and whilst reports have come in, many of them have involved threats and general abuse. The most violent case to date has been a serious assault to a couple who run a takeaway in Fife as they were set upon by a mob of 15 people. We must also ensure that we do not downplay this incident and no doubt, we look forward to arrests on this case by Police Scotland.

Yet, the reaction by members of the British public to anti-Muslim bigotry has been heartwarming. There are some groups who campaign against Islamophobia and who do not reflect the fact that many non-Muslims regularly stand up against anti-Muslim prejudice and do so out of a conviction that prejudice must be addressed and countered.

For example, we received a report by a member of the public who stated that he had, “witnessed some behaviour that I consider to be threats and abuse directed towards people based on the assumption that they were Muslim.”

The perpetrator boarded the train close to the Welsh border and was verbally aggressive and abusive to two Kuwaiti men, (aged 20-25), whom he mis-identified as Saudi nationals. The perpetrator stated threats of physical violence which he directed against these men and drew this into a general tirade about ‘what happened last night,’ (meaning the attacks in Paris). The abusive man identified himself as Columbian.

The specifics of the abuse focused on abuses of human rights in Saudi, (specifically, ‘raping pregnant women’), with reflections on Saudi masculinity and the masculinity of Muslims in comparison with the masculinity of South American men. The threats and abuse carried on for an hour and other passengers intervened and protected the Kuwaitis as the perpetrator walked around them. Some of these passengers even tried to draw the perpetrator away from the two Kuwaitis, showing the spirit and courage of members of the public.

Eventually, the perpetrator was arrested as the train reached its final destination. Members of the public also gave statements to the police to ensure that the evidence was relayed to law enforcement.

What this incident shows, is how public action can protect the victims and reduce the chances of a serious assault taking place. The British public have once again, made us proud.

The post The British Public Stand For What is Right appeared first on TELL MAMA.

David Cameron believes ISIS threatens UK security and that requires military intervention abroad. In contrast, the former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, believes the threat is exaggerated, and this ‘Muslim on Muslim’ violence does not warrant the ‘oxygen of publicity.’

But somewhere in the between, we stumble upon the more reactionary elements of our society, and Carole Malone’s recent article exemplifies this trend. It should also be noted that it is not the first time Malone has courted controversy as this piece in Pink News shows.

Malone’s first mistake is to claim, “Our weasely police chiefs allowed extremist sympathisers to get away with hoisting the IS flag on a London housing estate.”

A police investigation did take place and found no evidence of criminality. Nor was it a flag of ISIS. Sister Christina Frost had earlier convinced youths on the estate to take down the flag as, “They had no idea of the implications of the black flag being taken over by Isis fighting in Iraq.”

Tower Hamlets council welcomed the removal of the flag. But question marks over the unacceptable anti-Semitic abuse of a journalist remain.

The pro-ISIS, (in all but name), pamphlets handed out in Oxford Street are a cause for concern, but fresh publicity may lend credence to a group, linked to the notorious attention seeking Al Muhajiroun, who have scant public support. Nonetheless, if Malone had cared to write an informed piece and had contacted the MET, or Greater Manchester police or South Wales Police force for example, she would have heard how Muslim parents have been the ones to approach the police in order to stop their children going to Syria to fight.  In other words, Muslim engagement with the police has been one of the drivers behind how the police have been able to build a picture of those young people out in Syria or those wanting to go to Syria.

Radicalisation & Collective Guilt

Radicalisation remains a serious issue as 500 British Muslims reportedly fight under the ISIS banner, which represents less than one per cent of British Muslims, but remains an unacceptable amount.

Malone goes further and shifts emphasis towards the wider Muslim communities in Britain:

“Who cares if we upset the Muslim community, who have been shamefully silent about what’s happening in Iraq and here?

I keep hearing all decent Muslims hate the IS – so why aren’t they saying so?

Why aren’t they out on the streets condemning its murderous actions? Why haven’t they publicly called for an end to the genocide by Sunni Muslim militants in Iraq?”

What Malone fails to grasp is that even a cursory Google check on organisations that work with Muslims shows public statements against ISIS, (now called the Islamic State). Take for example, the Muslim Council of Britain, which is not the only voice for Muslims in the UK, though it carries with it a network of conservative mosques. This is their public statement on ISIS on the front page of their site.  Or take the Muslim Association of Britain, sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood, and which put out a press release condemning ISIS or take the Shia focussed Al-Khoie Foundation which on its front page speaks of solidarity with the minorities and Christians of Iraq. It seems that Ms Malone clearly, is not speaking from an informed position and one which panders to the caustic stereotype that Muslims do not speak out. Well Ms Malone, here is also a statement from our parent organisation, Faith Matters.

What Malone’s piece does is therefore to suggest a form of collective guilt for all Muslims in the UK, as though they are responsible for the actions of groups like ISIS or Boko Haram for that matter. It is precisely this form of collective guilt which some have tried to hoist on British Jews after the Gaza crisis, as though they are responsible for the actions of Netanyahu and his right-wing government in Israel and which Jewish communities in the UK have rightly highlighted as being antisemitic in nature. In other words, holding all British Jews to account for the actions of Israel is antisemitic because it targets and labels the whole community by virtue of who they are and this is precisely what Malone does towards Muslim communities. Collective blame and guilt, so reminiscent of medieval thinking, is sadly alive and well in the Daily Mirror piece.

Impacts of ISIS

What is also missing from Malone’s thinking is that many British Muslims are having worried discussions about these groups round the dinner table, at events and within mosques.They are concerned, not only for their relatives in Iraq or in the region, they are also worried about relations with minority groups and the lives of their fellow Syrians and Iraqis from minority groups. Furthermore, one of the first actions that ISIS undertook in Iraq was to murder hundreds of Shia Muslim civilians and fighters and bury them en masse, with pictures of the murders tweeted by grinning ISIS fighters, some barely old enough to even hold more than a wispy beard! Also, more recently, many Muslims (and others) recently used Twitter to mock ISIS with the hashtag #ISISMovies.

Malone then laments how British Muslims are more likely to protest the conflict in Gaza rather than Syria and Iraq. Yet, she fails to grasp the protests that have been held by Kurdish Muslims against ISIS and equates a 60 year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza with the occupation of Syria and Iraq which spans a few years. Clearly, the long festering sore of an independent Palestinian state has affected generation after generation looking for some form of social justice.

Nonetheless, demonstrations should be welcome since they allow the public to voice their concerns publicly and openly and within the rule of law and Malone’s populist rhetoric about why Muslims only care about Gaza is just plain wrong.

The post Carol Malone is Right About Tackling Extremism, Wrong to Blame Muslims as a Whole, by Steve Rose appeared first on TELL MAMA.