Muslims were already the target of widespread racist attacks -
the situation is now far worse. The British National Party singled
out Muslims in its recent election broadcast, while the home
secretary has demanded British Muslims accept the "British way" and
that English should be spoken in Asian homes. There has been a
dramatic rise in the stop and search of Asian men as "Muslim" has
become increasingly interchangeable with "terrorist" or
"fundamentalist" in some sections of society, including some in
uniform.
It should be a badge of honour to those of us on the left that a
group of people who face discrimination and victimisation should
look to organisations like Stop the War Coalition to help defend
them - and that the overwhelming majority of those so politicised do
not turn to fundamentalist groups but to socialists, trade unionists
and peace campaigners.
Unfortunately, however, those liberals who backed the war against
Iraq seem to regard any alliance with the Muslim community as a pact
with the devil. Charges of anti-semitism, support for terrorism,
homophobia and sexism abound, as in the attacks on Yusuf al-Qaradawi
and the Muslim Association of Britain in recent days. Those of us
who have long supported women's and gay liberation have now picked
up some unlikely supporters. Papers like the Sun, itself no stranger
to sexist and homophobic rants, have developed a belated concern for
the rights of Muslim women and gays.
For any socialist, the defence of sexual equality
and freedom must be unconditional. But we cannot, in the process,
join in the attacks on those very Muslims who are at the sharp end
of racist attacks and Islamophobia in Britain. We could start by not
treating Muslims as one reactionary, superstitious mass. Just
because women wear the hijab, for example, does not mean that they
are more oppressed than other women. Our experience in the anti-war
movement is the opposite. Young Muslim women, most of whom wear the
hijab, have played a central role in organising, speaking at
meetings, fundraising and debating policy. Many say they dress in
this way not out of deference but because they want to show pride in
their culture and religion.
Everyone should oppose homophobia and attacks on
women from whichever source. But such views are far from being held
by all Muslims, nor are they unique to Muslims. Fundamentalists of
most religions hold such views - but where is the uproar when
fundamentalist Baptist preachers from the US visit our shores?
It is also absurd to insinuate that homophobic
attacks or wife-beating are exclusively Muslim problems. They are
preponderantly found among the white majority in this country. Many
of the attitudes being condemned were themselves part of public
British culture until relatively recently. It has taken argument and
organisation to challenge those views, and that political engagement
needs to be continued.
For example, the Muslim Association has
increasingly put forward Muslim women speakers to represent it on
anti-war platforms as our campaign has developed. And, while its
support for the Palestinian people's struggle is unequivocal, it
clearly distinguishes between the Jewish people and the Israeli
state. Those who argue that Muslim groups such as the MAB are
fascist, or that al-Qaradawi's views on gays are worse than the
BNP's, are dangerously wide of the mark.
The BNP's heroes in Nazi Germany scapegoated gays,
trade unionists, Gypsies, socialists and, above all, Jews because
they wanted to destroy democratic and working-class organisations in
the interests of a German imperialist super-state. British Muslims,
however much we might disagree with some of the views that some
hold, are struggling to uphold their rights and culture in an
environment of pervasive racism - a racism used to uphold the
policies of the new imperialism. The comparison with Nazism is
abhorrent.
Of course, some Muslims - and non-Muslims - hold
views on some social issues that are more conservative than those of
the socialist and liberal left. But that should not be a barrier to
collaboration over common concerns. Would a campaign for gay rights,
for example, insist that all those who took part share the same view
of the war in Iraq? That would be a road to the fragmentation of any
progressive movement seeking to reach out beyond the traditional
left.
It would be a catastrophe for the left to bow to
the witch-hunt and turn its back on the Muslim community. We have
always defended ethnic minorities and immigrants coming to Britain.
When socialists and communists joined Jews in London's East End in
the 1930s to defeat fascism, they did so because they realised that
if we do not defend those under attack today, we would all be under
attack tomorrow.
