Not “mainstream” at all

Let’s take a little hop back in time, back to February 2006, when the BBC reported on a rally against cartoons about Mohammed.

About 5,000 UK mainstream Muslims joined a protest in London’s Trafalgar Square against controversial cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

Oh dear god, they were so clueless. Or deceptive. That “protest” was not “mainstream” – the BBC was ridiculous to call it that, and also insulting to Muslims as a group.

Protesters waved banners calling for unity against Islamophobia.

The event aimed to explain the views of moderate Muslims towards cartoons published in a Danish newspaper which led to worldwide protests.

Organisers also said it wanted to dissociate the mainstream Muslim community from a “minority of extremists”.

And the BBC nodded solemnly and believed every word.

No. People who take to the streets because a newspaper in another country published some anodyne cartoons are not “the mainstream community” and they’re not “moderate.”

Coach-loads of demonstrators arrived at the rally called United Against Incitement and Islamophobia, which got off to a peaceful start at about 1340 GMT on Saturday.

Police said the total turnout was about 5,000, a figure endorsed by a spokesman from the Muslim Council of Britain.

Among them was Hanifa Brka, a 29-year-old student from Birmingham, who said: “This is the heart of our faith – we believe it is wrong to talk badly about the prophet.”

That’s not a moderate view. It’s not moderate to say that all people have to obey the strictures of one’s own religion.

But the reason I saw this news item and the reason I’m sharing it is this part:

A series of speakers gathered to support the Muslim community, including MP Jeremy Corbyn.

In his speech, which was met with cheers from the crowd, he said: “The only way our community can survive is by showing mutual respect to each other.

“We demand that people show respect for each other’s community, each other’s faith and each other’s religion.”

It’s not mutual respect to demand that people shut up about religion.

The event was organised by the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Association of Britain, with the backing of a number of Christian groups, peace organisations and the Mayor of London.

Two Islamist groups, the second a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

That’s Corbyn.

Bad news.

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