February 09, 2006

More Islamic commentary on the Hamza trial on Arcis.co.uk

and some very unislamic commentary too...

Abu Hamza: imprisoned for talking rubbish


...It was politicians and journalists who transformed this north London-based radical into a terrible threat to life and liberty as we know it. For the past few years his mug has been plastered on the front pages of the papers under headlines such as 'EVIL HAMZA' and 'Hook is a threat to Britain'. In early 2004, then home secretary David Blunkett took the unusual step of declaring that Hamza was 'unfit' to be a British citizen. The Home Office became obsessed by Hamza; one former minister told Scotland on Sunday that, 'I would go to meetings where Hamza was almost the only thing discussed, [even if he] wasn't on the agenda' (5). Hamza was eventually arrested in a highly publicised dawn raid (details of which were leaked to the Sun the day before it was due to take place), and the government set out its case against him.

It was these political machinations, rather than his own capabilities, that made Hamza into public enemy no.1 - and which no doubt helped him to appear as the brave warrior he claimed to be in the eyes of his supporters. The transformation of a nobody in north London into an evil threat to the fabric of society revealed far more about British society's own sense of insecurity than it did about Hamza's powers or prowess. That everyone from the Home Office to various leader writers could be rattled by the anti-Western and anti-British rants of 'Captain Hook' suggested that many in Britain have a flimsy sense indeed about what they stand for and why.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Hamza's trial was a showtrial; worse, that it was a showtrial of a straw man. Having turned him into a panto villain, the authorities then made a spectacle of throwing him off the stage while sections of the media whooped and cheered along. It doesn't say much for British society that it can only feel good about itself by trying and imprisoning a one-eyed whacko like Hamza.


This is actually THE BEST Hamza article I have read in three years. Obviously knowing his friends I don't agree with some of the sentiment towards him but what this guy reckons the whole situation says about Britain is right on the money. If Europe is "Islamised" it would be because these people are morally and culturally destitute. If it was Islamised it wouldn't be them that would suffer either- it would be me.

No comments: