[A-List] UK state: Boykin vs. Galloway

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

Silence speaks volumes

The British government's failure to condemn a high-ranking American's
anti-Islamic outburst is a disgrace

Anas Altikriti
Monday October 27, 2003
The Guardian

In a world that has skewed the terms "terrorism" and "terrorist" so that
they imply Islam and Muslims respectively, the cheapest shot around is to
accuse a Muslim adversary of being a terrorist and to sanctify one's
aggression by declaring it a "war on terror".

Britain did it when we assisted the US in attacking Afghanistan and Iraq,
Israel does it on a daily basis when killing Palestinian civilians, Russia
continuously does it in Chechnya, India is at it in Kashmir. Even Abdalla
Yones, the Kurdish father who recently killed his daughter in north London,
accused Muslim terrorists of committing the crime.

But even more abhorrent are those who attack the fundamental belief and
faith of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims. So when British officials remained
silent following the recent attack on Islam by a senior US defence official,
the Muslim community in Britain took note.

Earlier this month, investigative reporters from the Los Angeles Times and
NBC television published a number of ferocious comments made by
Lieutenant-General William (Gerry) Boykin, the newly promoted
under-secretary of defence for intelligence. Boykin has publicly declared
that Muslims followed a god that was no more than an "idol"; he has said
that whenever he came across a Muslim or read about Islam, he was further
moved to believe that "his god" was bigger and greater than any god Muslims
adhered to; and he believes that, in order "to defeat our spiritual enemy",
Christians must fight it "in the name of Jesus".

Muslims everywhere were stunned. Had such an attack been against any other
religious or ethnic group, there would have been an uproar. Indeed, we
witnessed just such a reaction when Malaysia's prime minister, Mahathir
Mohamad, spoke of a world governed by the Jewish people and called on
Muslims to use brain as well as brawn in order to assume their rights
throughout the world. Everyone was understandably up in arms, and the
British government demanded that the Malaysian ambassador issue a retraction
of words that "incited racial and religious hatred". Even Muslims came out
and spoke of Islam's obligation upon its followers to deal fairly and justly
with all people, and even more so with followers of world religions, such as
Judaism and Christianity.

Why then did Boykin's remarks fail to stir any official reaction outside the
US (and only lukewarm rebuttals inside)? Perhaps because such Islamophobic
remarks are increasingly common and widely regarded as acceptable.

When Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, stated his conviction that
Islam was inferior to western civilisation a few months ago, little happened
in terms of an official reaction. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Franklin
Graham, among other prominent American men of the cloth, have attacked Islam
as an "evil religion" and accused its followers of being "grossly
misguided".

Surely in a world preoccupied by the "war on terror" - which targets Muslim
countries, organisations and individuals - such remarks must be seen as a
blatant incitement of racial and religious hatred, and a disgraceful offence
to Muslims around the world. Some - the British government among them - may
choose to disregard such "small matters", but they do so at their peril.
Boykin has caused untold harm to any attempt to convince the Arab and Muslim
worlds that the west, and particularly the US, approaches them with
sincerity or goodwill. His remarks also fuel already strong feelings that
"war on terror" is merely code for war on Islam.

Attempts to belittle the importance of such comments will undermine the
efforts by the mainstream moderate Muslims around the world, and
particularly in the west, to bring a sense of sanity to a world in the grip
of war and unprecedented terror. They will confirm the US and its supporters
as arch-enemies of Islam and thus endanger American and allied interests,
personnel and installations around the world.

Boykin has already caused tremendous damage, but more carnage will follow if
we choose to be selective about what we get angry about and what we
disregard. Muslims in Britain will have noted the reaction to this incident.
In a year which has seen relations between the generally Labour-voting
Muslims and Tony Blair's government deteriorate, culminating in a shift of
votes which contributed towards the recent Liberal Democrat win in Brent
East, this was a golden opportunity for Downing Street to put things right.
Unfortunately, it was an opportunity wasted.

Labour's decision to expel George Galloway, a figure who has been
instrumental in promoting forgotten issues that are of great concern to
Muslims and a champion of the British anti-war movement, was another blow to
these relations. The government must realise that its failure to swiftly
condemn an attack on the very essence of Islam effectively condones it.

· Anas Altikriti is director of media and public relations for the Muslim
Association of Britain