And with one leap, he was free.

Oh, Jim, how could you treat me this way. (Lou Reed, Berlin)

I never expected the last post to be welcomed with a pat on the back, but a kick in the nadgers is going too far. (received stupidity, says Jim Baxter, of my last piece) But as if by magic, I read today of an exemplar of the kind of thing I was getting at, albeit crudely, I admit.

In February, a Labour Minister, yes you read that right, a Labour Minister complained that his local party was being infiltrated by a fanatical Muslim organisation whose sole aim was to gain the balance of power in one of the London Boroughs. How they did this is a paradigm of the way our democracy can be used to destroy itself.

Andrew Gilligan wrote:

The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) — which believes in jihad and sharia law, and wants to turn Britain and Europe into an Islamic state — has placed sympathisers in elected office and claims, correctly, to be able to achieve “mass mobilisation” of voters.

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Jim Fitzpatrick, the Environment Minister, said the IFE had become, in effect, a secret party within Labour and other political parties.

 

“They are acting almost as an entryist organisation, placing people within the political parties, recruiting members to those political parties, trying to get individuals selected and elected so they can exercise political influence and power, whether it’s at local government level or national level,” he said.
“They are completely at odds with Labour’s programme, with our support for secularism.”

Of course there is nothing wrong with the above, is there? Trying to get people elected is not a crime. But clearly, Jim Fitzpatrick was concerned. He likened the threat by the attempts of the Militant Tendency to infiltrate Labour in the 80s. You have to make your own mind up about the true aims of the IFE, but it is fair to say that if they have their way, we would see the lives of women, gays, Christians, Jews,etc., and non-Muslims become those of second class citizens at best and at worst...well at worst.. just don't go there. By the way, Jim, name me a Muslim country that enjoys the freedoms and protection of minorities that we give to British citizens. Name one. And yet, democracy is always open to subversion, since it is self-evidently open to all.


Well, the subject of this affair, one Abjol Miah, complained to the PCC that he was been wrongly associated with the IFE in Gilligan's piece. Today, Andrew Gilligan was exonerated, fully and uneqivocally.

And finally, I shall allow Abjol Miah to have his say, and you, Jim, can decide if you want to live in his version of Great Britain. I don't.

It is Miah's dream to see his faith extended; to see the Palestinian flag floating above Tower Hamlets HQ; to twin the borough with the West Bank town of Jenin. 'I think Muslims have the perfect role, a massive role, in shaping the moral fabric of politics,' he says. 'People in the western world have a great misunderstanding of an Islamic system. What is it? It's a system where people feel comfortable to live, they're able to worship freely ... We're the biggest political threat. Not just to the current administration - but to the whole system at the moment.'

Thank you Abjol. And thank you Jim for your comment (last post). I disagree with you both.