Grã-Bretanha: Islão "in", Cristianismo "out"

A Christian worker in Britain has filed a lawsuit after losing her job when she exposed a campaign of systematic harassment by fundamentalist Muslims.
In a landmark legal case, Nohad Halawi, a former employee at London's Heathrow Airport, is suing her former employer for unfair dismissal, claiming that Christian staff members, including her, were discriminated against because of their religious beliefs.
Halawi's case is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), an organization that provides legal support for Christians in the United Kingdom. CLC says the case raises important legal issues, and also questions over whether Muslims and Christians are treated differently by employers.
Halawi, who immigrated to Britain from Lebanon in 1977, told the London Telegraph "that she was told that she would go to Hell for her religion, that Jews were responsible for the September 11th terror attacks, and that a friend was reduced to tears having been bullied for wearing a cross."
Halawi worked at the airport for 13 years as a saleswoman at World Duty Free, where she sold perfumes. Halawi was dismissed in July, following complaints by five Muslims that she was being "anti-Islamic."
Halawi says her problems with the Muslims began after she defended a Christian friend who worked with her at the same store, and who was being harassed by the Muslims for wearing a necklace with a cross. [...].

Ver notícia no Hudson Institute

Cerca de 8.000 raparigas de nacionalidade britânica são obrigas anualmente a casar contra a sua vontade

When 13-year-old Sameem Ali was offered a reward for doing household chores — a holiday with her extended family on the other side of the world — she was overjoyed. Still a child, Sameem imagined sandcastles and a beach to play on. The reality was very different. When she travelled from her family home in Moss Side, an inner-city suburb of Greater Manchester, she found herself in a small Pakistani village with no electricity and no running water. It was then that her mother told her she was there to marry a man twice her age whom she had seen only once at a family get-together in Pakistan. [...]

Ver notícia no Daily Mail

Londres, um modelo de mistura urbana fragilizado pela crise

Quelles sont les causes des émeutes urbaines qui ont déferlé sur Londres depuis le 6 août ? La pauvreté, la marginalisation sociale, l'absence d'autorité parentale, la haine de la police ou le pur vandalisme expliquent, pêle-mêle, cette flambée de violence qui a envahi le petit écran à grand renfort de chromos.

Mais, contrairement aux idées reçues, les pires saccages n'ont pas eu lieu dans les arrondissements les plus pauvres où rôdent les damnés du quart-monde. Tottenham, Hackney, Clapham, Croydon ou Enfield, théâtres des plus graves violences, sont des quartiers types de la mixité sociale qui est la norme dans la capitale. Ce mélange traditionnel entre riches et pauvres fonctionne sans trop d'accrocs en période d'essor économique.

En revanche, comme l'attestent les actes de délinquance, cette cohabitation peut facilement se fracturer en période de crise économique, de coupes draconiennes dans les dépenses publiques, en particulier dans les budgets sociaux, et d'envolée du chômage des jeunes pas ou peu qualifiés. [...]


Ver notícia no Le Monde

Noite de violência, vandalismo e pilhagens em Londres, no bairro de Tottenham

There were scenes of chaos in the early hours of Sunday morning as sustained looting spread from Tottenham to other nearby areas of Haringey.
By midnight police managed to secure a 200-metre stretch of the Tottenham High Road, scene of some of the worst rioting on Saturday night.
But as fire engines entered the street, and began putting out blazing cars and buildings, the rioters spread north and west through back-streets. To the north, at Tottenham Hale, Aldi supermarket was ransacked and set on fire. So too was a nearby carpet shop, causing a huge blaze.
Looters turned up with cars and shopping trolleys to carry away stolen goods. Nearby, large groups of youths congregated in the surrounding streets with sticks, bottles and hammers. [...]

Ver notícia no Guardian

Falhanço do multiculturalismo, ascensão do terrorismo

Six years ago yesterday, on July 7, 2005, Islamist suicide bombers attacked London's transit system. They blew up three subway trains and a bus, killing 52 people and leaving a nation groping for answers.

Whereas 911 was the work of a foreign terrorist group, 7/7 was the work of British citizens. The question that haunts London is why four men born and brought up in Britain were gripped by such fanatic zeal for a murderous, mediaeval dogma.

The British authorities have expended much effort in seeking to understand how the 7/7 terrorists acquired their perverted ideas and became "radicalised". In the wake of the attacks, much ink was spilled over the role of extremist preachers and radical mosques. More recently, the focus has shifted to universities as recruitment centres for terrorists.

But this obsession with radicalisation misses the point. The real question is why so many young men - who by all accounts are intelligent, articulate and integrated - come to find this violent, reactionary ideology so attractive. To answer it, we need to look not at extremist preachers or university lecturers but also at public policy and, in particular, the failed policy of multiculturalism. [...]


Ver artigo de Kenan Malik no Today online

Polícia 'cobriu' campanha violenta para tornar a área de Londres 'Islâmica'

Victims say that officers in the borough of Tower Hamlets have ignored or downplayed outbreaks of hate crime, and suppressed evidence implicating Muslims in them, because they fear being accused of racism.

The claims come as four Tower Hamlets Muslims were jailed for at least 19 years for attacking a local white teacher who gave religious studies lessons to Muslim girls.

The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered more than a dozen other cases in Tower Hamlets where both Muslims and non-Muslims have been threatened or beaten for behaviour deemed to breach fundamentalist “Islamic norms.”

One victim, Mohammed Monzur Rahman, said he was left partially blind and with a dislocated shoulder after being attacked by a mob in Cannon Street Road, Shadwell, for smoking during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan last year. [...]

Ver notícia no Telegraph

‘Os britânicos precisam de ser ver como uma única nação‘ diz Ministra da Segurança britânica

It is not enough for Muslims to “rub along” without breaking the law, they must be persuaded that their long-term future lies in Britain, the Security Minister has said.
Baroness Neville-Jones told the Daily Telegraph that that at the same time the government need to persuade the majority of the population that the UK is a single nation.
The minister said there needed to be a new approach in which people did not simply “rub along together and as long as people obey the law that’s quite sufficient.”
“I think it’s a common experience now that we know less about each other than we used to and I think there’s a very strong feeling that we need to understand each other and we need to be working together as a nation,” Lady Neville-Jones added.
“[We are] trying to convince minorities in this country that they actually do have a long term future here and that it’s their country as much as anybody else’s,” she said in an interview.
It is also important to “convince the majority population we are a single nation,” she added

Ver notícia no Telegraph

O multiculturalismo em retirada

At long last a European politician, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, lifted the curtain on the pernicious dimensions of multiculturalism. After several decades of home grown terrorism and an acceptance of separation by Muslim groups in the United Kingdom, the prime minister said, “enough.”

A new course will be charted that moves from accommodation to integration. There may be a risk of xenophobia with the Cameron approach, but it is a worthwhile trade-off if terrorist impulses are thwarted.

Mr. Cameron called his strategy “muscular liberalism,” to wit: confronting extremist Islamic thought and challenging those efforts that attempt to undermine Western values. For example, the prime minister made special mention of zero tolerance for the subjugation of women, a practice permitted because of Islamic separation and application of sharia.

The notion that different groups within a society should be encouraged to pursue their own cultural paths is a formulation based on religious tolerance. But as George Santayana, among others, noted the first duty of the tolerant man is to exercise intolerance for intolerance. In other words, a proverbial line in the sand must be drawn when religious groups use societal tolerance to promote intolerance. 

Ver artigo em Family Security Matters

Número de muçulmanos no Reino Unido vai duplicar para 5, 5 milhões em 20 anos

The Muslim population in the UK will almost double to 5.5million within 20 years, it has been claimed. Immigration and high birth rates will mean nearly one in ten Britons will be Muslim by 2030, according to a worldwide study about the spread of Islam. And the forecasts mean Britain will have more Muslims than Kuwait.
From 1990 to 2010 the number of followers of the Islamic faith around the world increased at an average rate of 2.2 per cent annually. Last year there were 1.57billion around the world. 
The British increase in the Muslim population from the current 2.8million will be mainly driven by immigration, according to figures prepared by a Washington think tank. Projections by the respected Pew Research Centre said the 40 years between 1990 and 2030 will see a fivefold rise in Britain.
In 1990 there were 1.1million Muslims in Britain, representing two per cent of the population.
By last year that figure had risen to 2.8million, or four per cent. By 2030 the number will hit 5.5million - eight per cent of an estimated 68million population, Pew researchers said. [...]

Ver notícia no Daily Mail

David Cameron proíbe ministra muçulmana de ir a conferência islâmica

O primeiro ministro britânico, David Cameron , proibiu a única ministra muçulmana do seu Governo de assistir a uma conferência islâmica que decorre hoje em Londres, noticia o jornal "The Guardian ".

A ministra sem pasta Sayeeda Warsi , de origem paquistanesa, recebeu instruções de David Cameron para não participar no "Evento para a Paz e União Globais", que os organizadores classificam como a maior reunião multicultural celebrada na Europa.

De acordo com a organização, o objetivo da conferência é melhorar as relações entre as diversas comunidades, mas os críticos sublinham que alguns dos oradores previstos já justificaram publicamente os atentados suicidas e pronunciaram-se a favor da Al Qaida, da homofobia e do terrorismo. [...]

Ver notícia no Expresso

Os limites do multi-culturalismo

I would like to teach some of my neighbours some manners. I would like, for example, to say to the man who drove the wrong way up a one-way street on Sunday night, while chatting away on his mobile phone, and to the man who nearly backed into me yesterday, while also chatting on his mobile phone, and to the man who drove into my friend's van last week, while also chatting on his mobile phone, that while they clearly enjoy the art of conversation, it's one that doesn't combine brilliantly with driving.

And I would like to say to the man who drove the wrong way into the car park at Morrisons, and then hooted me, and who parked in a mother and baby slot when he was on his own, and the car park was practically empty, that it seemed a rather aggressive thing to do, and also rather lazy, and I would like to say to the man from whom I bought some paper cups, and who handled my money as if it had been dipped in anthrax, that it wouldn't kill him to say "please" or "thank you", and I would like to say to the fishmonger who asked my (black) friend whether he really wanted to buy some fish from his shop, that you should probably assume that if someone is asking for fish in your shop, then the answer is in the affirmative. [...]

ver artigo no Independent

Reino Unido: escolas devem modificar calendário de exames e cancelar aulas de natação durante o ramadão

Council bosses issued a document to all primary and secondary schools on how to avoid offending Muslim pupils who may still be fasting when the new term starts in September.

The tips from Stoke-on-Trent City council include distributing free school meals as packed lunches to take home and cancelling social events when Muslim parents might not be able to attend.

During Ramadan, it is compulsory for all males and females who have reached puberty to fast from dawn until sunset every day. Some younger children also choose to fast for all or part of the month.

The council says some pupils will get up before dawn to have their breakfast and, as a result, sleeping patterns could be interrupted. Schools are also advised to heighten staff awareness about factors affecting pupils during Ramadan. [...]

Ver notícia no Telegraph

Estudo evidencia que a maioria do terrorismo no Reino Unido tem origem doméstica

The Centre for Social Cohesion has compiled profiles of 124 individuals convicted of Islamic terrorism offences since 1999.
It found that 69 per cent of offences were perpetrated by individuals holding British nationality.
Robin Simcox, co-author of the report, said their aim was to “focus the government’s counter-terrorism efforts.”
“There are clear trends emerging with those involving themselves in terrorist activity in the UK,” he added. “It is crucial that this is recognised and then acted upon by the relevant authorities.”
His comments follow private remarks by Assistant Commissioner John Yates, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, that the country faces “eye-watering cuts” in counter-terrorism funding that could hand an advantage to Al-Qaeda.
Douglas Murray, Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: “The report proves how great a threat violent Islamism poses to the world – and the fact that Britain is at the centre of this global struggle.” [...]

Ver notícia no Telegraph

Líder de uma comunidade muçulmana britânica inventa estória de rapto pelo BNP

The 36 year-old falsely claimed he was abducted at knifepoint by racist thugs from the far-right wing political party after being subjected to hate mail and an arson attack, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

He had told police he had feared for his life when he was kidnapped in broad daylight from his home in Loughton, Essex on August 24 last year and bundled into a car, it was claimed.

Ramjanally then claimed he was driven to nearby Epping Forest where he was threatened and warned to stop holding prayer sessions he had organised.

But he was caught out lying after detectives viewed CTTV footage from secret cameras installed to protect him after his previous claims that he was being targeted by racist opponents, prosecutors said.

The court heard that at the time of his alleged abduction he was actually “wandering around Homebase". [...]

Ver notícia no Telegraph

Prisioneiros convertem-se ao Islão para obter benefícios

Inmates are converting to Islam in order to gain perks and the protection of powerful Muslim gangs, the Chief Inspector of Prisons warns today.

Dame Anne Owers says that some convicted criminals are taking up the religion in jail to receive benefits only available to practising Muslims.

The number of Muslim prisoners has risen dramatically since the mid-1990s — from 2,513 in 1994, or 5 per cent of the population, to 9,795 in 2008, or 11 per cent. Staff at top-security prisons and youth jails have raised concerns about the intimidation of non-Muslims and possible forced conversions. [...]

Ver notícia no Times

Trabalhistas pretendem obrigar trabalhadores estrangeiros a falar inglês

All public sector workers will be expected to speak English and failing police chiefs will be easier to sack, under manifesto pledges to be announced by Gordon Brown today.

The Prime Minister hopes to convince voters that he understands their concerns and has the energy and ideas to drive through improvements to services in an era of sharp spending cuts.

Under the Labour proposals, residents could trigger takeovers of individual police divisions within a year, with chief constables facing the sack if they fail to meet minimum standards after three years, The Times has been told. [...]

Ver notícia no Times

Enfermeira proibida de usar crucifixo no local de trabalho pelo tribunal

The nurse at the centre of a growing storm over discrimination against Christians yesterday lost her fight to wear a crucifix at work. Shirley Chaplin, 54, was told by an employment tribunal that wearing the cross is not a 'mandatory requirement' of her faith.

She had been taken off hospital wards and moved to a desk job after refusing to remove the religious symbol. Yesterday the grandmother lost her religious discrimination case against the hospital trust that employed her. She described the result as 'a very bad day for Christianity'.

Seven bishops had supported her battle against the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, who said the inch-long crucifix and chain to which it was attached raised health and safety concerns. The Archbishop of Canterbury referred to 'wooden-headed bureaucratic silliness' when highlighting her battle in his Easter sermon.

Ver notícia no Daily Mail

Gordon Brown: ‘os imigrantes devem honrar os valores britânicos‘

Gordon Brown said immigrants who are unwilling to honour British values are not welcome yesterday, as he pledged to do more to meet the concerns of the “mainstream majority”.

Mr Brown said he agreed that it was unfair if newcomers took advantage of Britain’s freedoms without making a fair contribution in return. But his attempt to deal with strong voter concerns over immigration was undermined when he was criticised by a watchdog for exaggerating the fall in migrant numbers.

Sir Michael Scholar, the chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, said that the Prime Minister had used figures in his weekend podcast that were “not comparable” when he claimed that there had been a big fall in net inward migration — the number of people allowed into Britain minus those leaving. [...]

Ver notícia no Times

Bispos pedem o fiz da perseguição aos cristãos no Reino Unido

Six prominent bishops and Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, describe the "discrimination" against churchgoers as "unacceptable in a civilised society".

In a thinly-veiled attack on Labour, they claim that traditional beliefs on issues such as marriage are no longer being upheld and call on the major parties to address the issue in the run-up to the general election.

In a letter to The Sunday Telegraph, the bishops express their deep disquiet at the double standards of public sector employers, claiming that Christians are punished while followers of other faiths are treated far more sensitively. [...]

Ver notícia no Telegraph

Casal cristão em litígio com hóspede muçulmana diz-se forçado a vender hotel para pagar dívidas

The two Christian hoteliers cleared last year of insulting a Muslim guest are being forced to sell up because their business has collapsed.

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang are putting their nine-bedroom hotel up for auction in May because they can no longer pay the mortgage.

Despite donations sent to them by Christian supporters from around the world, they still have debts of well over £400,000.

They are also considering a civil action against the police who brought the prosecution.

Mrs Vogelenzang, 54, said last night it was 'devastating' that they could be left with nothing as the result of a case that should never have come to court. [...]

Ver notícia no Daily Mail