Oppose the Hysteria and Disinformation Aimed at the Muslim Community

Workers' Daily Internet Edition: Article Index :

Rowan Williams attacked for raising questions in the society:
Oppose the Hysteria and Disinformation Aimed at the Muslim Community

            The Archbishop was commenting on the question of parts of sharia financial and family law, with a view to seriously discussing the issues and specifically combating the disinformation promoted by the powers-that-be. In the course of his lecture at the Royal Courts of Justice, he touched on how different communities relate to something other than the British legal system. For example, Muslims have a religious opposition to charging interest. On this, Dr Ali Former, Chairman of Liverpool Islamic Institute, said: “There are parts of Sharia family law and financial law which it would be good to have accommodated within the British legal system…….I think it would be a great step forward if this could happen and I don’t think the Archbishop was talking about anything more than that.”

            Amongst the hysterical headlines and comments of the establishment, there were even calls for the Archbishop’s resignation.   Subsequently, a false debate was created, by which the issue on which people were invited to take sides was the adoption of a completely different law system for Muslims, which was not what the Archbishop raised. MPs started shouting “barbaric” and again the question of women was introduced, completely distorting both Dr Williams’ remarks and the substantive issue of sharia. This is all part of the policy of fear, to immediately conjure up these images in association with the Muslim community. 

            This media hysteria promotes the idea that to raise an issue in this society, especially one that involves defending the Muslim community, is to come under a huge offensive from the monopoly-run media, and that you will be demonised by raising questions surrounding rights for Muslim people who are in the minority. As soon as the issue of Muslim religious rights and their right to their beliefs was raised, the news corporations immediately raised the false debate, adopted a policy of disinformation, and echoed the line of Gordon Brown that the Muslim community are a threat to “British values”, and “our way of life”, that other cultures and ideas have to be “tolerated” if not managed.

            This is the fascistic nature of government policy and is policy that needs to be resisted and opposed by the working class and their allies. There are questions that must be posed: Who benefits from the divide and rule ethos? And how do the working class become a force to overthrow those who have usurped power by force and stop this road to fascism?

            This government’s and the monopoly media’s whole policy of fear is to counteract the fact that the Muslim community are part of the polity, and the disinformation is aimed at undermining the unity of the working class and people, who have continued and will continue to take a stand in defence of the rights of all.

            WDIE calls on the working class to oppose the media hysteria and disinformation, and to seek to understand and participate in discussing the issues with a cool head. The whole polity must unite to take a bold step in defence of the rights of all.