[A-List] Scotland: racist propaganda victory

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Targeted for her dress
VICKY COLLINS
The Herald, 11 February 2003

SHE was a Muslim woman in a head-scarf - an easy target for the youths
walking on the other side of the road.

"You're a terrorist - al Qaeda."

Mohammed Asif and his friends, a husband and wife, were merely walking and
chatting. It took nothing more than the mode of dress to provoke the shouts
from passers-by.

He claims it is an insult that asylum seekers, and Asian immigrants in
general, are hearing almost every day now. It therefore came as little
surprise to him that a survey of attitudes in Glasgow has shown a marked
increase in racism, including a fear of living next door to asylum seekers,
or even people of a different colour.

Mr Asif, a spokesman for asylum seekers in Sighthill, said: "The majority of
people are sympathetic towards us, but there are some who are afraid of
living near us because they hear about the anti-terrorist raids and they
think asylum seekers are dangerous."

Elinor Kelly, an expert in immigration at the University of Glasgow, said:
"The world situation surrounding immigration now is very dangerous. The
situation is impacting on Scotland in a way it has never done before and we
have got some hard thinking to do to determine how best to handle this."