Rochdale Facebook Campaign against Govt ICE project for Mosques

In light of the launch of the ICE (Islamic citizenship and Education) Curriculum, Majeds Blog has organised a Facebook campaign against this project. The ICE Curriculum is going to be launched on Friday 9th October in Rochdale.

This Facebook campaign wishes to mobilise Muslims in Rochdale specifically against such projects which have been crafted out and endorsed by the Government. This Project will be launched in Central West Minister Hall on the 24th October which highlights a clear governement connection to the this allegedly “independent” campaign.

The ICE curriculum has recieved £360,000 funding to promote Islamic classes licensed by the British Government which in itself speaks for the credentials of what type of Islam the Government wants. Hazel Blears, Communities Secretary until she resigned on June 3, said the project aims “to ensure young people are equipped with the skills they need to stand up to violent extremists”

Government’s New Islam and Citizenship Education (ICE) Curriculum for Mosques and Madrassah’s- Too cold for the Muslim Community

 By Majed Iqbal- In the last few years there has been an intense effort by the government in taking direct hands on approach in the affairs of the Muslim community in the name of tackling ‘radicalisation’ and combating ‘extremism’.

For some, this has been a welcoming gesture, seeing the Government playing a ‘positive’ role in understanding the issues of the Muslim community. For the majority, this has been viewed as intervention and a concentrated effort to make Muslims swallow ideas with a carrot and stick approach.

No other faith group in the country has been subject to so much scrutiny as the Muslim community has with project after project being designed to tackle all possible sectors and groupings of Muslims.

Muslim women groups like the Muslim women’s assertiveness course, Youth groups, National Mosque Groups like MINAB, ‘Extremism’ tool kits for schools and Colleges for Muslim pupils, New Government endorsed curriculum’s for Mosques in the North West titled ‘Nasiha’ and local councils given thousands of pounds to give to groups to promote key ideas which the government is interested in imparting to local Muslim residents- the list can continue with numerous more examples.

Rochdale Council refuses to disclose PVE funded groups

By Majed Iqbal- A new report issued by the Tax payer’s alliance has singled out Rochdale Council, after it refused to disclose key information on how the Prevention for Violent Extremism (PVE) money had been distributed in Rochdale.

The Tax payer’s alliance, an independent body who research where tax payers money is being spent by the government, rubbished the Government “Prevent” strategy which was designed to tackle ‘radicalisation’ as part of efforts in its counter terrorism strategy. The Government promised £45 million to local authorities over three years as PVE grants, allocated to those Councils with Muslim populations of more than 5 per cent.

The new report by the Taxpayers’ Alliance used the Freedom of Information requests to compile the data, listing all the organisations that had received PVE (Prevention of Violent Extremism) funding in the last two years by their local councils.

ASIAN NEWS ARTICLE- MP declares Muslim segregated weddings as signs of ‘Intolerance’

Published on the Asian News Website

By Majed Iqbal- A government minister last week joined the list of Politicians in raising, once again, allegations that Muslims lead ‘segregated’ lives.

Following a similar line of discussion to his colleague, Jack Straw who raised similar comments on women in Blackburn attending his surgery with Niqaabs and dubbed it as a sign of segregation, Jim Fitzpatrick, the minister for food, farming and environment, stormed out of a constituent’s wedding at the London Muslim Centre after being told that male and female guests were to be segregated and that he could not sit with his wife.

Fitzpatrick said it was “strange” he could not sit with his GP wife Sheila at the ceremony on Sunday. “We’ve been attending [Muslim] weddings together for years but only recently has this strict line been taken. We left so as not to cause offence,” he said.

But the newly weds at the wedding ceremony did take offence after the minister contacted his local newspaper straight after the walkout to tell them he was “disappointed” by what had happened. “We are trying to build social cohesion in a community but this is not the way forward,” he said.

Dutch MP’s Anti- Quran Film: Is this the road to Integration?

Published on LookAsia and Asian News

By Majed Iqbal- It was on September 30, 2005, when the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten’s, published cartoons depicting the Prophet of Islam in an attempt to “test the level of tolerance of Muslims” living in Danish Society.

Two years on from the international furor created by these publications, a sequel with an even more loaded message to this issue is about to re-kindle another international situation.

Dutch lawmaker, MP Geert Wilders, who last summer called for the Quran to be banned in the Netherlands has now made a movie, entitled “Fitna”, to support his contention that the Koran inspires “intolerance, murder and terror.”

Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party had long threatened to release a film exhibiting, in his words, “the violent and fascist elements of the Muslim faith”.

Holland- Serious about Cohesion?

  Published on the Asian News Letters Section

By Maqsood Ahmed-  Fitna, a film directed by a Dutch Parliamentarian, Geert Wilders, and to be released shortly has openly called for the Quran to be banned and likens the Quran to Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf. All this is done in the name of “freedom of expression”.

At a time when the propaganda on Islam is on the rise, and Muslim community is being coerced to assimilate into the dominant culture, it is imperative we look deeply at the issue of community cohesion. This term “community cohesion” seeks to gel the community together on a set of “common values”.

Surely community cohesion must mean all cultures are respected for their values for greater harmony in our community. Yet, in the name of “freedom” Islam is mocked and insulted and Muslims are expected to buy into this “universal idea”.