SHIV MALIK

I've rarely read anything like this in The Guardian about Hamza

...A few years after 9/11, Hamza believed Bin Laden was tactically wrong to have attacked America, and that he should have given himself up to the international community to stop the Taliban from being overthrown...

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REVISIT

The internet was down for a bit, it comes back on and the whole world is revisiting my story.

WikiLeaks: Guantánamo Bay terrorists radicalised in London to attack Western targets
Islamist extremism: so did we cure the problem? (Andrew Gilligan, interesting article)
Why does Britain have an Islamist problem while America doesn't? Answer: the welfare state (Stupid question, stupid answer, as America has been revealing its own small scale Islamist problem and the very different methods they use to try and contain it)
'35 terrorists incarcerate at Guantanamo sent to fight West'
'Al-Qaeda assassin worked for MI6', secret cables claim

WikiLeaks: how Britain 'became a haven for migrant extremists’

'Guantanamo prisoners held ties to BBC'
London Mosques Train Muslims for Terrorism

US feared London mosque was extremist 'haven': WikiLeaks

US tipped off about al-Qaida cell that did not exist

How political correctness encouraged British-made Islamism (very funny)

Nothing new or surprising really. Hamza was recruiting people to train for Jihad in Afghanistan. The Americans picked up a lot of international Jihadis there. Nothing connecting Hamza with attacks on the west yet, but I suppose once people are out there they must be introduced to the theory. Hajj always said Hamza was against attacks on the west, and the Police have never picked him up yet.

Everyone I met in Finsbury said they just wanted a fight back for Islamic law in Muslim countries. This is consistent with what he has said in his defence and even on the sometimes chilling tapes which have since become famous. In his defence Mohammed Hamid referred to a debate going on at Finsbury as to whether attacks on the west were justified.

Its still impossible to tell what has really been happening as regards to Hamza, especially when the US wikileaks also contains stories like this

Wikileaks: 255 Guantanamo Bay detainees incriminated on claims of eight inmates

This is what I was picking up in 2003. Hamza said this all the time in front of very impressionable young Muslims and it never ever got to TV. Everyone will draw their own conclusions based on what they think already. The story for me is something from the past until Atilla wants to speak I suppose. Meanwhile the banned Islam4UK have metamorphosed into Muslims Against Crusades and are warning everyone about an imminent Al Qaeda inspired attack tomorro..



UPDATE: I thought this was quite funny from the Pakistan Observer who reckon the intelligence community run the lot.

THE NORMAL PEOPLE IN COURT

Once Atilla and the crew had been seen off from Finsbury I never went back or was ever really curious about the new trustees. Some company approached me about using my footage in conjunction with a proposal they were doing about filming the new posse. I forget what happened. Well obviously it didn't happen but I don't know why not.

Anyway it was very interesting to see them all up close in Episode 3 of the BBC's excellent series See You in Court. I didn't really develop any more opinion about them from watching this than I did on the street when I saw them, but you can't watch this series without developing really strong opinion about lawyers. Trial watching over the years I have never got a good feeling from either prosecution or defence. The system feels alarming in all sorts of ways.

I do remember the Newsnight piece about these Policy exchange people though. I am glad this doco gave the mosque the publicity of seeing those worms wriggle out of the situation by legallese rather than standing up in court even though it cost them so much money.

Anyway as a blast from the past- here is my film from the first Friday the new trustees took over. I only ever really revisit these films myself to clean the youtube numbskulls comment-turds up.

MY BROTHER THE ISLAMIST

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b010758h/My_Brother_the_Islamist/

Do check out this doco as it is great. Just the sort of thing I wanted to make all those years ago. Because the guy is the film makers brother he is allowed to tell a realistic story about the good and the worrying things about his brother rather than one wrapped up in a load of crap. Good on him.

More about the experience here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12900460
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NOT PWOTESTING

Was tempted to wander down but also tempted to watch how rolling news would present on BBC. I am sure Charlie Brooker is preparing a summary now. Yeah, still jadded by protest really. I think UK Uncut are doing quite well. If they can keep on the same happy non-violent tip this mass arrest should eventually work in their favour.

The statistics speak for themselves. UK Uncut arrests for non violence: 138. Arrests outside: 10. Shows exactly what the priorities for Policing are. To be fair Paul Mason made this point on Newsnight.

I got defriended on facebuk (which I still don't know why I am on) by someone because I said I couldn't see the point of smashing stuff which was covered by insurance. Hilarious no? Insurance. A pretty simple concept. The guy was actually calling random smashing "economic damage". That is ridiculous no? I mean 9/11 was economic damage. People's insurance premiums went up and that was what- 15 guys? none of whom even wore masks or carried flags. Yes. Economic damage. Peoples insurance premiums went up. A bit. What fucking economic damage does random smashing do? Right next to fuck all.

And what the fuck was Theresa May going on about? Banning hooligans? Banning masks? The cops already have laws to cover this. Ridiculous woman.

The message from Saturday? If you do non-violent direct action you will be arrested, if you violently run round with masks smashing stuff, you will probably get away with it. Another reason I would go nowhere near black block. How many of them behind those masks are cops?

Amusing blog trying to distance Labour "movement" from UKUncut
Someone in the Labour party who still backs UKUncut
Brendan O'Neill's bullshit
Inspector Gadgets "We'll show you what happens when we don't kettle" perspective
Pwotest, but not on Saturday

Update: There has been a lot of talk about unclear alternatives on the march for the alternative, so I thought I would post this excellent video from Al Jazeera where Max Keiser wipes the floor with the experts he is up against who don't even refute anything he is saying.And what he is saying is let the banks and bad banking practices fail, nationalize them as utilities which lend at 2% and give all the non bankers a wage hike to stimulate the economy. No one needs to smash anything. Surely even the Tea party can get behind that no? If we need to campaign for anything, I think a good focus would be for the general public to understand the banking system in clear terms, and the king of the castle on that isssue is Max Keiser.

Another update: If you take it all a bit more seriously than Max, Inside Job is amazing. Online here.
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Munir Zamir

How I fell into the clutches of radical cleric Abu Hamza

...He then showed the teenagers a picture of radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza.

"Look who I ended up with," he said.

"We had a fantastic relationship. It was a match made in heaven – his anger, my lack of self-esteem.

"He wanted me to die on the battlefield."

But he said people often did not understand the meaning of Jihad, which has become associated with suicide bombers but refers to the struggle Muslims face to make themselves better people.

Mr Zamir said: "Jihad is getting to school on time, Jihad is helping your mother with the shopping, Jihad is being the best person you can be."

And he urged the teenagers to read books and talk to family members to find out more about the religion.

He said: "I did not go looking for the answers, they came looking for me."

A former British National Party member, who has turned his back on the group, also spoke to the youngsters at the conference at police headquarters in Ripley.

The event, the first of its kind, was organised by Derbyshire Constabulary's community engagement team which was set up in 2008 to prevent extremism...

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Hamza's slant on events

Jailed Cleric calls for Libyan revolution

What do you think? Sounds like he isn't calling for Islamic revolution either, but speaking as another Egyptian no?

More Hamza..

I'm reading this the same as everyone else:

Radical cleric European human rights claim rejected


and

SCOTLAND YARD PROBES ABU HAMZA HATE BROADCAST

Apparently Mr Hamza got a message out through Hani al-Sibai. This was one of the guys who turned up in the public gallery at Hamza's trial. I had no idea who he was till I saw him on TV much later.

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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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COME ON EGYPT

Not been bloggin of late, been engrossed in making music. Al Jazeera is on in the background rooting for Egypt. Its been quite amazing how Al J is really coming into its own through this and twice as amusing that the whole of the US is suddenly watching it.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/158183/washingtons-sudden-embrace-al-jazeera-wont-erase-past-us-crimes-against-network

Not in the tea leaf reading business so no predictions.

Also in the news, it seems from Wikileaks that the US govt started in Finsbury where I left off

AMEMBASSY LONDONTO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6191INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITYRUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN PRIORITY 0479RHEFHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

Nothing new or particularly secret really, they should sort their filing system out though.

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ITS COLD

EGYPT

These stories usually turn out to be bullshit....

Sky sources reveal that jailed radical cleric Abu Hamza has been involved in a 'violent' incident with prison officers at a high security jail. Hamza was allegedly left "bloodied and bruised" after the altercation...

...Family members said the Egyptian-born cleric told them he was assaulted by up to 10 prison officers during the incident. However sources have told Sky there was no violence involved, but that Hamza had to be restrained by officers...

...Hamza's family claim he's suffered repeated racial abuse by both inmates and staff and has requested to be placed in solitary confinement.

last I heard he has always been in solitary in a "prison within a prison" as Musa described it.

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QUILLIAM SHRINKING

Demos blog

...reducing government funding makes some sense in respect of the review of the Prevent strand of counter-terrorism. With less money to go around, Prevent needs to be more focused on public safety – working primarily to target individuals who have adopted al-Qaeda ideology but have not acted on it. The Quilliam Foundation finds it difficult to access these people, and even more difficult when receiving government money...


UPDATE: new comment freshly laid by a curious "MUSA"

Im soooooo glad the quilliam foundation are almost finished. They was no good n the begining and no good at the end. InshaAllah nooooooooooooo one funds them.

could that be Musa Ahmet rejecting them for a second time? 3 part video of us discussing the launch of Quilliam here. And a press TV report from the launch. They since phoned Musa to see if he could be of any use but he decided against joining up with them. As I have said before, I have no opinion. There always seemed to be confusion about the point of Quilliam. Certainly nothing we saw at the launch seemed geared towards those at risk of turning to extremism. What is a "think tank" in terms of anti-extremism?

(update: Musa's comment is now missing for some reason)

Harry's Place has a perspective:

...In many important ways, Quilliam has won the battle. There is now a broader understanding of the work of Islamist political parties active in the United Kingdom...

There is? What for? And how much did that cost again?

More think tanking or thinking tank from Quilliam- How to Respond to Al-Qaeda ?

...In 2003, the Metropolitan Police evicted Abu Hamza and his followers from the mosque, installing individuals from the Muslim Association of Britain, an Islamist group with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, in their place...

err... oh forget it.
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XMAS IS EVIL!

Via Pickled Politics, check out Xmas is Evil here.

In the church I grew up in our pastor used to preach a lot of what Mr Choudhary et al are saying. The same sermon every year- That people had forgotten the real meaning of Christmas. They had taken the "Christ" out of Christmas and now use it as an excuse for, well a lot of the evils mentioned here.

It was only much later that I found out that it was actually Christians who stole the yuletide festivity for their own, and the real meaning of the whole thing was to have a big blow out on the shortest day of the year and hope that what you had left would last you till something grew out of the ground again!

I feel very lucky to be alive now, in the UK. I hope we all enjoy our good fortune over this festive period and find ways to share it beyond these borders in the New Year.
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Dead Inspiring

DEAD

Another ominous story, another trawl through forty hours of tapes? As usual this guy looks familiar.

Abdaly spent much of the past decade in Britain and appears to have been radicalised there..

I am glad I decided not to pursue journalism after all. I don't like any of this. Any news connected to this is not going to be good news.

Some of it is interesting news though. Remember Mahmoud Abu Rideh? Held up as an example of misused control orders? (Guardian also).. Said in one interview Bin Laden was a "decent man"? Allegedly killed in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Taliban.

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JODY

The debate about what has been happening to Jody McIntyre and this subsequent Ben Brown interview is very interesting. I must admit I am siding with Jody about the F.I.T. squad -not surprisingly but I am siding with this geezer in The Telegraph about the interview.

As a representative of the BBC the guy had to robustly interview Jody. It helps Jody. Put it this way- what would the right wing press be saying about the BBC if he didn't? For Jody to be able to answer questions like this on TV helps his case, should he choose to pursue one.

Obviously I have seen the enthusiasm of the F.I.T. squad before, its not been a secret here that they know who I am and ask silly questions because they think they are leaning on me for something which is DEFINITELY in their own heads. They also do this to people known to be violent. Jody says he believes in revolution. the F.I.T squad should ask him what he means by this. I am sure they will get all the information they need without pulling him out of his wheel chair and dragging him across the street. Or they could read his blog.

They aren't very good at distinguishing actual threats from those they or their bosses perceive are they. Leaning on someone with cerebral palsy like this they have no fucking excuse whatsoever. The anti terror squad asked questions politely and calmly. Mind you that is probably because I am a honky. The F.I.T squad are a bit thick and exceed their remit. They behave like demented paparazzi. Pushing it too far and being caught on camera should be good for them. I hope they learn something for once. Jody can answer, and the way he answers is a lesson to all of us. Tomlinson couldn't.

Personally I have seen a valiant attempt from the Beeb, in a BBC manner of course- to pursue issues of Police brutality and issues of disorder involved in these protests. Maybe I am getting old or something. I have noticed white bits in my beard.

I hope this generation achieve change, and aren't distracted by policemen with these attitudes like so many of my generation were.


Jody's version of events is here
Richard Littlejohn here

Some curiously extensive stuff from The Daily Mail. Including an image of just how frontline Jody was.

...More than 180 people have been arrested by police investigating rioting during the series of protests against rising student tuition fees, it emerged today.

Senior officers said the vast majority of the 182 suspects were aged between 17 and 25 and have never been involved in violence or criminal acts before...


also breakfast news


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I read it in The Sun (who owe me money)

JAILED terror fanatic Abu Hamza will today ask to be freed claiming he is "too sick" to remain behind bars.

The hook-handed rabble-rouser's lawyers will produce a doctor's report claiming his stumps have become infected while in jail.

Other medical problems include diabetes, high blood pressure and a skin condition...

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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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