Islam4UK ban steals headlines

The group is squeezing out Muslim mainstream from the media

The banning of Islam4UK has, once again, thrown up various questions about the nature of the democracy we live in and the bounds of tolerance we are expected to exercise.

Should people be afforded the right to freedom of speech regardless of how abhorrent their words are? What does banning a radical group who want to practise mainstream acts of protestation achieve? Will it compel members to see the error of their ways and moderate their points of view or does it antagonise them still further?

Was Islam4UK banned because they sympathise with terrorism or because they planned a highly publicised, albeit hugely distasteful, protest?

Of course I completely believe that organisations that aim to promote violence, separation and hatred in the name of any religion have no place in modern Britain. If the reason for banning a group lies genuinely in the fear that they are inciting terrorism, it is a legitimate one.

Earlier this week, Gordon Brown condemned Islam4UK's planned march as ‘disgusting.' For me, it is equally disgusting when misleading representations of Islam and the minority extremist Muslim groups in the UK gain significance because of the attention they receive in the media.

I can only hope that the same column inches that Islam4UK hijacked can, in the future, be used to expose the work of the decent Islamic groups that represent the true values of the vast majority of British Muslims.

Essentially the bulk of Islamic groups in this country, who are nonviolent and peaceful, are more deserving of the attention that Islam4UK is currently enjoying from both the media and our politicians.

Tulip Siddiq is BAME officer for Young Labour

13 Jan 2010 14:53

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Comments

• Posted by Shammari Khan on 13 January 2010, 9:44:15 PM If there was even a semblance of coverage of progressive Muslim groups and their work, the overblown negative coverage of one extremist groups work as "disgusting" would have more credibility. Let this be a lesson on the impact of selective media coverage and what it hopes to achieve or propagate. Keep up the good work.
• Posted by Barry Kaye on 14 January 2010, 12:07:54 AM Radical Islamist groups are eating at our multi-cultural society by sowing fear and dissention, and causing division. I fully support then banning of radical groups, particularly Islamist student groups at universities who are alienating other religious groups particularly Jews. Uni Chancellors must stand up fpr all students, no matter their religion or background andn grasp th nettle