PROUD AND PREJUDICED

Proud and Prejudiced on Channel 4OD looks like it was really fun to film and covers a whole lot of stuff around Luton, including the Breivik "connection" and the EDLs visit to Tower Hamlets. Good access to Sayful Islam as well who is notoriously difficult to speak to with a camera running.

Here is Sayful talking about Elephants

And here he is slapping Tommy Robinson in the face.

BOOKMARKS

I just use this blog to bookmark stuff these days, maybe I will film something again soon.

Here you go in The Telegraph-

Muslim prisoners issue rallying call from behind bars

which apparently refers to the site Muslimprisoners.com

I wonder how much the news agenda has moved on from Islamic Extremism. I was pleased to see Stacey Dooley's look into her home town of Luton on the BBC. Take a look and see what you think.

My Hometown Fanatics

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Camerons Muscular Plan

...Speaking to a security conference in the German city of Munich, Mr Cameron said that the threat of terrorism must be confronted not only though intelligence and surveillance, but by taking on the ideology of Islamist extremism at home.

"Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism," the Prime Minister said.

While a "passively tolerant" society allowed its citizens to do what they like, so long as they do not break the law, a genuinely liberal country "believes in certain values and actively promotes them," Mr Cameron said.

"Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Democracy. The rule of law. Equal rights, regardless of race, sex or sexuality. It says to its citizens: This is what defines us as a society. To belong here is to believe these things.

"Each of us in our own countries must be unambiguous and hard-nosed about this defence of our liberty."

The Prime Minister stressed that right-wing extremists and Christian fundamentalist preachers of hate must also be condemned.

He also insisted that a clear distinction must be made between the religion of Islam and the political ideology of Islamist extremism...

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Have a read of this..

The path into terrorism in the name of Islam is often described as a process of radicalisation. But to be radical is not necessarily to be violent. Violent radicals are clearly enemies of liberal democracies, but non-violent radicals might sometimes be powerful allies.



This report is a summary of two years of research examining the difference between violent and non-violent radicals in Europe and Canada. It represents a step towards a more nuanced understanding of behaviour across radicalised individuals, the appeal of the al-Qaeda narrative, and the role of governments and communities in responding.

will have a read and get back to you..
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Tell it like it is...

Really Sobering Dispatches doco. Tells you what it is like living in a place where there is a terrorist attack every four days or so. This doco follows the Police and the surviving victims and their relatives.

Also- I have never seen it before, but the third series of The Family is excellent. A real lesson for me in documentary story telling.
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FREE

Terrorists freed from jail to walk the streets: a list
At least 46 convicted terrorists "pose a risk" to the public on the streets, Government documents have disclosed. (Telegraph)

and in The National here:
At least 20 Islamist extremists who may pose a risk to the public have completed their sentences in UK prisons and been released. Another 26 will be eligible for parole in two years.

A classified ministry of justice document revealed yesterday by The Daily Telegraph shows that tight controls are now in place restricting where militants on parole can work and what mosques they can visit. Some have also been banned from using computers and all are forbidden to associate with known criminals.

"There is now a small but significant number of terrorists being held in custody or managed on licence," the document says.

"This instruction ensures that processes to manage offenders who pose a risk of harm to the public, or whose cases pose complex management issues, are effectively configured to meet the challenges of managing terrorist offenders."...

also:
...A legal team led by Birmingham solicitor Phil Shiner claims to have evidence of systematic abuse of detainees. It includes the cases of 59 Iraqi civilians who say they were hooded by British troops. Eleven claim to have been subjected to electric shocks, 122 claim that ear muffs were used for sound deprivation, 131 say they experienced sight deprivation through the use of blackened goggles, 52 say they were deprived of sleep, 39 allege they experienced enforced nakedness, and 18 claim that they were forced to watch pornographic DVDs.

In addition, a number of cases have emerged in which British troops allegedly killed Iraqi civilians. The case of Baha Mousa is one of the few that ever reached court. One soldier was jailed for a year after pleading guilty to inhumane treatment of Baha Mousa, but six other soldiers were acquitted. Most cases have never reached court...

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Down by the Riverside

Ishmahil asked me to do the Q and A with Mousah Brown and himself at Riverside Studios so I thought I'd try my newly fixed bike for a night ride. Right. Crawling down the Kings Rd it completely cut out in the middle of the road. The traffic was moving so slowly I didn't bother anyone so once I got it started again I left it running for a bit with the lights off to charge the battery.

I tried a few roads to find The Riverside and ended up having to wheel the bike down a cycle lane. Anyway this is dangerously turning into a bike blog isn't it. My bike blog thankfully has a home of its own now so I'll shut up.

I watched the film for the third time now with a mixture of nerves about answering questions afterwards and nerves about trying to get my bike home. Stomping to the front with my bike boots I was glad Mousah and Ishmahil were there. After the first few questions I thought I was going to get away without saying anything, but someone who later turned out to work for the Islam channel asked me if the guys at Finsbury thought I was a spy.

I thought Mousah answered some of the audience's worries about radical Islam really well and I also got to hear a lot more about Ishmahil's past which I would like to ask him more about. Afterwards I hung around with the guy from the Islam channel and his wife and a few of the Rice and Peas crew. It was the first time I have spoken to a woman wearing a veil. Quite a strange experience as I had just watched a film which covered the topic.

My motorised pessimism was extinguished as my bike came to life with a roar, but it soon turned into a splutter as I headed down through Putney and got totally lost. It seemed to sort itself when I realised where I was again around Brixton. I thought it was quite a successful night and I got home without having to ring the breakdown service. Anyway I am off armed with DVD to see what Hajj and the guys think of the film- and if he is annoyed about appearing in it!

UPDATE:

Well Hajj, who is going on to Hajj (to Mecca) in a few weeks liked it, the others thought that if Muslims are going to speak on film they should only talk referring to Koran and Sunnah and that they shouldn't give their opinions. I ended up in quite a long debate, the same debate as usual. We all agree about problems with the financial system and those few controlling it, and about the gross injustices in the world but there is no way we are going to unite as a majority and do something about it, which is why I have fairly much given up film making or any sort of optimism.

I'm glad Hajj liked the film anyway. That meant a lot to me. The only thing he critisized was one of the girls in the film coming out with the stuff about evil Jihadi recruiters convincing wayward and ignorant Muslims to become suicide bombers. I must admit I thought that was a bit weird too as none of the 7/7 guys fitted this description. They seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

Hajj himself was indirectly accused of "brainwashing kids" by some MI-5 guys who visited a friend of his at his work place recently. They gave the guy the message to pass on as an aside as they were leaving. He is a bit worried about going on Hajj as he has been warned there are thieves who prey on the visitors but he is confident Allah has already written down what is going to happen to him.

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PROPA TERR-R

Wow. There are actually some good statistics in this rather alarming article.

...More than 230 people were jailed in the UK over terror plots in the first decade of this century. But of those, just 105 remain in prison...

According to the think tank Jihadist's are working alone and want to bomb large sports events.

There is even more detail in The Independent:

...Britain faces a "new wave" of home-grown terrorist attacks led by up to 800 Muslim ex-prisoners who have been radicalised by jihadists while serving their sentences, a think-tank has warned...

shit..up to eight hundred? Fuck!

...The Ministry of Justice said it did not agree that radicalisation was widespread within the prison system. A spokesman said: "We run a dedicated expert unit to tackle the risk posed by those offenders with violent extremist views and those who may attempt to improperly influence others."...

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I READ IT IN THE SUN

Terror Rant on Extremist Site

A CONVICTED British Muslim terrorist is urging fanatics to train with guns for a holy war in a rant on an internet site.MPs demanded the extremist website - which also features sermons by hate clerics Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada - be shut down. Evil Shah Jalal Hussain is heard slamming "fake jihadis" who do not prepare properly for holy war...

Doesn't mention the site, but it turns out to be Salafimedia.com and here is the terr-r rant. See what you think. I have only listened to part 1 but I can hear a hell of a lot about a covenant of security. He takes the piss out of people who don't believe a covenant of security applies here. Maybe that is just me. I often think a bit different to people who write in The Sun.

UPDATE: Shah Jalal Hussain has responded here
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THE POINT IS..

west point anti jihadi humour

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MORE MAD MUSLIMS

More mad Muslim stuff if anyone is still interested-

About The Quilliam Foundation putting out some kind of document labelling Muslim groups they don't like



this about an anti-terror training camp (no paintballing)

some bad bwoy journalism from Iraq,

some Al-Qaeda stuff from Afghanistan,

Oh and some anti disestablishmetarianist Islam from The Guardian.

I got no comment about any of this, I just got back from France so I'll probably be pissed for the next two weeks.

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REMOTE CATCH UP

I may return to the subject, but as yet no new news from me, just a coupla links-

One of Hamza's son has gone down for violent disorder commited at the Israeli Embassy protest

also Rangzieb Ahmed is being granted leave to appeal and is being represented by the same barrister as Mohammed Hamid.

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Some weird French stuff..

...France has created an intermingled culture, which is being forged on a daily basis between the native Gaul and the immigrant Arab and Berber. It revolves around two French obsessions: the bed and the dinner table. Your average young Muslim girl is interested in living and having children with a French gouer, a North-African colloquial term meaning “infidel”—i.e., non-Muslim. (Gouer is itself a corruption of the classical Arabic kuffar, used in immigrant slang to designate a French native. They are also known as fromage, or “cheese”—ironically the same synecdoche that was used in the neocon-coined “cheese-eating surrender monkeys.”) These women would loathe the very idea of an arranged marriage to a fellah (peasant) cousin from the far away bled (North Africa) with his unrefined manners and pedestrian French...

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TALES OF CASTRO

This is a bit of a "Story behind the song"

THE FOG OF WAR

Castro was in the bathroom, hiding from his wife and doing a line of heroin. I was on the phone to Nippon TV.

“Do you speak English?”

“Hai,” said a female voice.

That was what they all said. She was the third tier of secretary-receptionist and I had already been on the phone for twenty minutes. They all knew how to speak English, but then didn’t. “Well, ah… Could I speak to Mr Kurosawa, please? The international news editor?”

Some rapid-fire Japanese. Then: “Kurosawa-san? You like to speak to Mr Kurosawa-san?” The incredulity in her tone of voice conveyed the idea that Mr Kurosawa-san was an incredibly important man and one quite simply couldn’t call up like this out of the blue and expect to speak to him.

She put me through to a lady called Yui instead, and I started on the same story I had already told ABC, NBC, Sky, BBC, ABC (Australia), TVE, TV France, Doordarshan and God knows who else. Castro and I had been working the phone in shifts from his kitchen without stopping for 24 hours.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the overall military commander of the Talibn was killed yesterday. We have a video interview, the first one he gave specifically directed at a Western audience. It was recorded 24 hours before he died. Might you be interested?”

The Japanese bought it, too.

A week earlier, I had dropped in on Castro because he had called me up, asking for a favour. I was sick, sick, sick. I hadn’t taken any heroin for two months..

(to read more)
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JIHADIWATCH

Another great doco from Peter Taylors Generation Jihad series. Remember this? I wondered myself at the time. I never realised the ringleaders had enterd a guilty plea, nor the scope of their international contacts. I remember at the time I used to get loads of abuse in the comments sections of my youtube videos from hothead Muslim kids who happened to be from Toronto. These are all fascinating stories. I think they miss a more rounded explanation as to why these kids fall into terrorism but they are fascinating stories none the less.

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Iraq

Facing death, freed Iraq detainees may fight again (Reuters here)

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OSHO BOMB

I just caught up with news about the latest bombing of the German Bakery in Pune. I spent a bit of time in this place whilst I was looking into the Osho Ashram. To be honest, and I think I have said this before- I am surprised this sort of bombing against western tourists hasn't happened earlier. I was fully expecting a suicide bombing of the dancefloor in Goa years before the Mumbai attack.

If you just closed your eyes and sprayed an AK in a circle you'd hit x amount of Israelis in Goa, and probably kill off the sizeable amount of Israeli tourism to the area for years. Maybe they know that this would just make the Israeli government happy and they are reckoning a drug fucked, debauched Israeli is better than a fully functioning one.

"Abu Jindal" claims responsibility
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JIHAD

Finally read Omar Nasiris Inside The Global Jihad, which is probably the best book on the subject I have read in a while. An amazing and surprisingly amusing insight which I thought I'd better get round to reading, having heard about his impressions of Hamza and Qatada whist spying for the French and the British in London during the nineties. He manages to present the dichotomy of really enjoying training for jihad whilst secretly being a spy as a most natural thing.

"Omar" his last fake name of many, has a very clear definition of honourable jihad which he has held his whole life. In short, he believes in the Jihad of such people as Ahmad Shah Massoud. He is willing to work against Muslims he views as breaking these clear rules, whilst forming strong relationships with them at the same time.

Obviously I have read a bit around this subject but a few things still surprised me. For example I learnt that Al Qaeda (a name never heard by Omar whilst he was in the camps) were actually against the Taliban in principle because they thought their punishments were sadistic. Reading this book you feel for the young Chechens training in the camps in the nineties, and the parents who were trying to keep them out of the fight with the Russians.

All the usual questions are thrown up in this read. Has Bin Laden, in his global jihad directed against the "enemy far away" tarnished the ability of those who would fight a defensive war against invaders? Can the west accept no honourable jihad post 9/11? Does war and terror by its nature escalate beyond any honourable principles humans might try to subscribe to, culminating in events like Beslan? Is it possible to be an honourable jihadi or an honourable soldier for that matter?

"Omar" is probably the clearest authority I have read on this subject. He has formed his principles the hard way with no real help from anyone and his principles are compelling. Reading all this made me wonder whether peace in the "War on Terror" would be better pursued by ex soldiers and ex jihadis.

Omar articulates a really positive attitude as a Muslim in todays world. He knows better than most that the "War on Terr-r story" is not black and white. Neither Muslims who take to violence nor those who champion a military implementation of democracy should be judged on anything but the way they behave and Omar makes excuses for neither. An excellent, genuinely useful book, which I am sure would ecourage any Muslim contemplating a career as a spy to think twice!



Possibly related stuff I have been reading, may comment on later:-
Cage prisoners/Amnesty International trouble in The Sunday Times
and Mozzam Beggs response on Caged Prisoners here
Paula Newton on CNNs Security Files blog
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DAYLIGHT

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said today the Obama administration was reassessing the relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaida, but denied any change of strategy on Afghanistan had occurrred.

Clinton's comments came after reports that the president's security advisers were pressing him to shift the focus of the war from the Taliban in Afghanistan to al-Qaida in Pakistan. The Taliban issued a statement last week claiming they posed no international threat, in an apparent attempt to put daylight between themselves and al-Qaida...

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THE FUTURE

Taliban announces that it poses no international threat

Barack Obama 'sees role for Taliban in Afghanistan's future'

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