TERRORISM, DOUBLE STANDARDS & THE EDL
TERRORISM, DOUBLE STANDARDS & THE EDL
Unedited version of column in Scottish Sun on Sunday 21st July 2013
You may be shocked to learn that over the last 4 weeks a bombing campaign appears to taken place in England but there was ‘no cause for alarm’.
In Walsall a nail bomb was found and exploded by bomb disposal squad with the police denying at first that it was an ‘act of terror’, a week later in Tipton the wrong timing meant only seven people were in a building when a bomb exploded strewing nails, debris across the adjacent car park and shattering windows.
If detonated an hour later several hundred would have been parking their cars and walking into the building and on Thursday another nail bomb was found in Wolverhampton.
These acts of terror within 8 miles of each other were not held to be worthy of a front page or lead item on TV news with the usual continuous coverage and analysis.
After Lee Rigby’s murder our PM spoke to the nation and called a meeting of COBRA within three hours of the murder, yet this time he failed to utter one word of solidarity for those under attack, nor did millions take to Social Media in revulsion at the nail bombers.
You may be asking why? The focus of the attacks this time was the Muslim community peacefully praying at their mosques when they would have been packed with men, women and children.
Terrorist bombs of course do not distinguish between nationalities, race or creed.
On 7/7, suicide bombers killed 52 people in the home-made bombs on 3 London tubes and a No. 30 double decker bus. 10% of those murdered were Muslims.
One of the dead was Atique a 24 year old Afghan who ironically had fled the Taleban only to die on the Piccadilly line;
Another Ihab a French Tunisian student was in London for the summer;
Behnaz was a wife and mother from Iran who worked at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital;
Gamze a 24 year old Turkish student was on her gap year learning English;
20 year old Shahara a bank cashier was described by her family as ‘an Eastender, a Londoner and British, but above all a true Muslim and proud to be so’.
But the way society acts one would think that Muslims are immune from terror attacks.
At the opening of 7/7 inquest it was said the bombs-
“detonated amongst the innocent, indiscriminately killing and maiming passengers. They had no regard to whether the victim was Christian, Muslim, a follower of any of our other great faiths or an adherent to none. They were just travelling on the London transport system.”
So why was it not important to our PM and media when bombers want to unleash acts of merciless savagery on the Muslim community?
Meanwhile members of the EDL have cynically exploited Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder to spread their vile filth through social media, demanding modern day street pogroms, celebrating each act of terror, arson and vandalism of mosques.
Next Saturday the English Defence League with a Scottish label will be in Glasgow hoping to march through multi-cultural Pollokshields.
If they come then they should be arrested, there can be no freedom to practise violence and hatred on our streets.
Many of us however will be out in the heart of Pollokshields celebrating its unity and multiculturalism with the local community. You are welcome to join us with your family and friends.
As for our Prime Minister and the millions that chose to ignore the nail bombs they could all learn a great deal from the Imam of Tipton Mosque who said-
‘We are one community that remains united in defiance of extremism wherever it may come from;
United in our belief that this is a country that values freedom of speech and religious co-existence.
To the wider community we say this: let’s continue to go about our lives not intimidated by fear or violence, not provoked by senseless acts of extremism or terrorism designed to undermine our harmony and cohesion.’
These words represent for me what this country should be about.
(Since this column was written before the 21st July, one of the men detained in connection with the Mosque bombings has been arrested in connection with the murder of grandfather 75 year old Mohammed Saleem, killed in Birmingham in April- of course this news will not make front page headlines nor first item on news channels.)
Trayvon Martin
So young black 17 year old Trayvon Martin unarmed was shot because he was walked ‘too slow’ and looked ‘suspicious’. George Zimmerman his killer walked free from a Florida court.
The verdict was an indictment of America’s ‘stand your ground law’ which allowed ‘vigilante’ Zimmerman to follow and shoot dead a young boy in self-defence who had only gone out to buy skittles for his young brother.
The ‘Gun Crazies’ may well celebrate their fundamental right to bear arms but the most fundamental of human rights- the Right to Life was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and took the life of Trayvon Martin.
