FMS-Blog : The Wildly Whimsical, Mostly Musical WebLog
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Voice of Bradford Muslims
I came across a great blog today: Bradford Muslim - Notes on Life in a Multicultural City. Flicking through the articles by the various contributors to this blog gives me a real sense of optimism about the direction that the internet is taking our society - one where there is a true level of openness and respect for all viewpoints. I found it interesting to read the opinions of representatives of a group that often gets very bad press in the mainstream media, and reassuring to see that the ideas presented there are balanced and considered.
This is not to say that I agree blindly with every word written: I think in a recent blog entitled A Little Mistake, the writer, Atif Imtiaz, is overly critical of the language used by Kirsty Wark in a Newsnight discussion with Tariq Ramadan and Ann Cryer. This is how he described the televised event:
There is some truth in the statement that subtle use of language can carry with it an array of implicit notions, some of which are geared toward prejudice. But, I think we also have to be careful about not getting too precious over the exact wording a person like Wark chooses to use when talking generally about British society - this is a liberal woman who I'm sure did not intend to imply that British born citizens of Muslim and/or Asian origin should consider themselves guests in their own country. Britain is a host society in as much as that we have an immigration policy that encourages those from other countries, societies and cultures to join us, initially as guests to our nation and then as fully active citizens of the UK. Demands for the likes of Wark to apologise for using such a phrase seems to me somewhat misguided - if you're going to accuse someone of racism then at least find decent grounds upon which to do so...
So, Atif, I'd suggest that if you want to target people who hold truly damaging and racist views then you'd be better off looking to the likes of the BNP than to the extremely intelligent, articulate and liberal contributors to productions by organisations such as the BBC and The Guardian newspaper. Chasing after the latter is not productive and does the anti-fascism movement no good whatsoever, especially in places like our hometown of Bradford. But, hey - I like the blog so keep up the good work! :)
This is not to say that I agree blindly with every word written: I think in a recent blog entitled A Little Mistake, the writer, Atif Imtiaz, is overly critical of the language used by Kirsty Wark in a Newsnight discussion with Tariq Ramadan and Ann Cryer. This is how he described the televised event:
The little mistake was Kirsty's reference to British society as a 'host society' while discussing people like me, second generation British Muslims... Her immediate response should have been an apology... This little mistake highlighted the problem is its prejudicial core.
There is some truth in the statement that subtle use of language can carry with it an array of implicit notions, some of which are geared toward prejudice. But, I think we also have to be careful about not getting too precious over the exact wording a person like Wark chooses to use when talking generally about British society - this is a liberal woman who I'm sure did not intend to imply that British born citizens of Muslim and/or Asian origin should consider themselves guests in their own country. Britain is a host society in as much as that we have an immigration policy that encourages those from other countries, societies and cultures to join us, initially as guests to our nation and then as fully active citizens of the UK. Demands for the likes of Wark to apologise for using such a phrase seems to me somewhat misguided - if you're going to accuse someone of racism then at least find decent grounds upon which to do so...
So, Atif, I'd suggest that if you want to target people who hold truly damaging and racist views then you'd be better off looking to the likes of the BNP than to the extremely intelligent, articulate and liberal contributors to productions by organisations such as the BBC and The Guardian newspaper. Chasing after the latter is not productive and does the anti-fascism movement no good whatsoever, especially in places like our hometown of Bradford. But, hey - I like the blog so keep up the good work! :)
