On Saturday I shall be speaking at a conference in Edinburgh on the changing face of racism, and how Islamophobia is now not only mainstream but actively promoted by government.
Donald Trump’s remarks have brought appropriate condemnation, but the Henry Jackson Society got there first. In February 2006 Douglas Murray, Associate Director of the Henry Jackson Society, stated :
“It is late in the day, but Europe still has time to turn around the demographic time-bomb which will soon see a number of our largest cities fall to Muslim majorities. It has to. All immigration into Europe from Muslim countries must stop. In the case of a further genocide such as that in the Balkans, sanctuary would be given on a strictly temporary basis. This should also be enacted retrospectively… Conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board: Europe must look like a less attractive proposition.”
Douglas Murray also came out with a straight defence of the use of torture by Western intelligence agencies.
Yet the politicians who pretend to be outraged by Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from the US, line up to support the man who declares “All immigration into Europe from Muslim countries must stop.” Not only Jim Murphy, but a role call of top Blairites sits on the Political Council of the Henry Jackson Society – Margaret Beckett, Hazel Blears, Ben Bradshaw, Chris Bryant, Gisela Stuart etc. All of course enthusiasts for bombing Syria. It astonishes me that the Labour Party is now complaining about “infiltration” by groups on the left when a large number of very senior figures can belong to an organisation which is avowedly neo-conservative, is linked to the US and European far right and is funded by the CIA.
The Henry Jackson Society is the go-to organisation for broadcasters looking for comment on Islamic affairs. I was both pleased and surprised to see the Henry Jackson Society named two days ago in a Guardian article on the mainstreaming of Islamophobia. Pleased because the maximum exposure is necessary to make people understand what people are getting when they see “independent” HJS staff interviewed on the BBC and Sky, and surprised because the Blairite controlled and US marketed Guardian doesn’t usually run this kind of stuff anymore.
I tucked it in to the back of my mind until I came to write this article. Guess what? The Guardian Editors have now excised all mention of the Henry Jackson Society from the article on the mainstreaming of Islamophobia. Interesting that, isn’t it?
The Henry Jackson Society seconds staff to the Quilliam Foundation. This extraordinary organisation is a career vehicle for “reformed jihadists” to milk huge salaries and luxury lifestyles from government money, in return for fronting an organisation run by the security services. Quilliam specialises in denouncement of Muslim organisations and talking up the Jihadi threat, offering “expert advice” on the government’s anti-free speech strategy. At the same time, it seeks to maximise the income of its directors. One interesting collaboration to make money was its collaboration with the current head of Pergida UK, and former head of the English Defence League, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Alias Tommy Robinson).
Quilliam have received millions from the taxpayer for their dubious “work”. But their application for Home Office funding to split with Yaxley-Lennon remains an episode beyond belief. Several of Quilliam’s staff are “lent” by the CIA-funded Henry Jackson Society.
Do come along to the meeting on Saturday. Methodist Church, 25 Nicolson Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9BX.
There in spirit.
The Labour Party always had a list of proscribed organisations, membership of which was incompatible with party membership. It is difficult to understand how the Jackson ‘society’ is not proscribed for its aims are clearly contradictory of those of Labour. It is also the agent of a foreign power and regards the national interests of the USA (more war, always) as paramount.
No Labour selection committee should endorse a candidate who belongs to this swamp of treachery.
Thanks Craig, I have been one of the lone voices that has been trying to bring to attention the mainstreaming of hatred against Muslims as you have so eloquently stated.
This is the stuff of Germany 1938 on steroids!
Douglas Murray is one of the most odious individuals to grace a television screen.
I read a tweet yesterday which seems to sum it up: “Seeing people who spout “respectable” Islamophobia acting shocked at Donald Trump is a bit sickening. You’re directly contributing to this.”
Here is the original paragraph from the Guardian article on the 5th December:
(courtesy of https://archive.org/web/web.php – a.k.a. “WayBackMachine”)
“Among the UK organisations cited in the report for driving organised hatred against Muslims are the Infidels, an anti-multicultural group with increasing Nazi leanings; the South East Alliance, a non-sectarian group linked to the National Front; and the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based thinktank accused of “making anti-Muslim sentiment seem mainstream”.”
Re: Momentum furore. Will Progress et al be issuing similar rules for their meetings?
@Pan
8 Dec, 2015 – 2:13 pm
Interesting, and as HJS were apparently not mentioned in the Hope Not Hate report, the subject of this article, the reference to them was rightly edited out on this occasion.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/05/far-right-muslim-cultural-civil-war
Maybe Mark Townsend can do a separate more incisive report on the HJS.
Mochyn
I suspect it is not that simple. Perhaps Townsend saw a draft of the report from which HJS were also removed? Interestingly I can’t find this report online, including not on the Hope over Hate website.
Craig (and perhaps others)
Just a couple of points at this juncture.
1/. I do not know how the Henry Jackson Society functions in that I don’t know if the papers published by individual members represent the policies of the Society as such (what I mean is one often sees articles in journals and so on which state something like “the views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and do not engage – in the French sense of “engager” – the journal).
Would you happen to know the answer to this?
2/. On sending back refugees once the crisis has ended and is judged unlikely to re-occur: is that idea really so reprehensible (bearing in mind, of course, the individual circumstances to which the people concerned would return?
I could imagine that UN (say) refugee policy would not necessarily disapprove of the concept per se; it would seem a logical collolary of what I do believe to be UN policy on where refugees should be received and kept, ie, in the nearest safe country to the one from which they are fleeing.
I may if course be mistaken in writing this, in which case you are welcome to correct me.
@Craig
8 Dec, 2015 – 2:48 pm
I did find this:
http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/blog/hope-not-hate-seminar-on-the-counter-jihad-movement/
Habbabkuk 2:55 pm
Presumably, in a reasonable world, most refugees would want to return home after a war, provided they could make a decent life. And the receiving country would accommodate those who wanted to stay.
But if, as with the UK, your policy is to prioritise unaccompanied children, for example, then it’s a bit different. What do you do with an 18-year-old who has spent all their school years in the host country and is completely acclimatised to the point they are citizens of the host country in all ways but passport? You keep them, right? But that’s not what happens now. The UK sends them back, still alone, to what now feels like a foreign country. Is it any wonder they travel to Calais to try get back in again?
It’s not the principle; it’s the practice.
This is the kind of thing “Hope Not Hate” are up against…
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/129295/scandalous-lies-hope-not-hate-bruce-bawer
To be expected, but Glenn Greenwald has a very good article building on this same theme.
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/08/donald-trumps-ban-muslims-proposal-is-wildly-dangerous-but-not-far-outside-the-u-s-mainstream/
I think this is where the report is SUPPOSED to be:
http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/counter-jihad/
but all I get is:
“Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access /counter-jihad/ on this server.”
Craig; “I shall be speaking at a conference in Edinburgh on the changing face of racism, and how Islamophobia is now not only mainstream but actively promoted by government.”
As the Host of a Blog that allows blantant Islamophobic comments under the pretext of Free Speech, (and comes down hard an the slightest possibility of any comment being considered anti-Semitic), let’s hope that there’s not too many Blog readers in the audience.
As the Host of a Blog that allows blatant Islamophobic comments under the pretext of Free Speech, (and comes down hard an the slightest possibility of any comment being considered anti-Semitic), let’s hope that there’s not too many Blog readers in the audience.
That’s fair comment.
Neoconservatives Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, Charles Horner, Douglas Feith, and Ben Wattenberg all started their careers as aides on Henry Jackson’s congressional staff.
Here’s the change on the Guardian article.
Version 0
Anti-Muslim prejudice ‘is moving to the mainstream’
2015-12-05 12:45:32 UTC
Version 1
Anti-Muslim prejudice ‘is moving to the mainstream’
2015-12-06 19:05:20 UTC (1 day later)
http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/1059762/diff/0/1
~~~
Why do I want to thump Trump in the face with his ugly mouth?
I heard the other day that he is so stupid, he is worth less now than he was when he inherited his father’s fortune in spite of his nonsensical hotels, towers, jets and golf course. Black mark on the latter to Alex Salmond for allowing that abomination on the Aberdeen coast.
http://www.trumpgolfscotland.com/
Grandfather Friedrich Trump, Drumpf
Father Fred Christ Trump
Donald John Trump has produced the following children with his three wives
Donald Trump, Jr. the oldest aged 38
Ivanka Trump
Eric Trump
Tiffany Trump
Barron William Trump the youngest aged 9
Trump was also pursuing Carla Bruni and Princess Diana!
Incorrigible. Insatiable. A monster. A dangerous hate preacher. The danger is that Shillary will appear moderate and electable.
No words for what lies behind the 2.55pm comment masked as questions.
Re Mary’s comment above.
Click “next version” to see version 2 where all reference to the Henry Jackson Society has been removed.
Henry Jackson, a senator from the State of Washington, was known as the “Senator from Boeing” for his consistent support for military contracts for the Boeing aircraft-manufacturing firm, located in the State of Washington. In 1963, 80% of Boeing’s business was military.
try playing Nina Simone’s ‘Mississippi goddamn’ at the end, its a stark reminder that racism is an old tale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVQjGGJVSXc
Thanks for the update on the Quilliam Foundation. One of its hacks, Emman, or Emma, el-Badawy, doubles up working for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s anti-Islam division. I hadn’t known of the Henry Jackson connection when I recorded this:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/02/an-apology/comment-page-6/#comment-566538
Trouble is, this is exactly the kind of reaction that Daesh wants. It’s the same game that Israel plays by making Jewish communities abroad paranoid on the subject of antisemitism, and hence sentimental about Israel. All too easy for Muslims to feel persecuted when loud shouty ghiaours dominate the media. And who will save them (they have a social policy too!) but Daesh? Trump must be one of the best recruiters Daesh has right now.
Interview with Corbyn on today’s Democracy Now!
Sixer
Thank you for that. I shall reply as follows, while awaiting a possible reply from Craig (and others):
1/. “Presumably, in a reasonable world, most refugees would want to return home after a war, provided they could make a decent life. And the receiving country would accommodate those who wanted to stay.”
I agree with both propositions – which are however based on the assumption that that the refugees in question are genuine refugees and not economic migrants. If there is a considerable proportion of economic migrants then most of this category would presumably not be willing to return home even if political/security allowed. You will note that I’m talking about refugees in general and not to any particular conflict and/or nationality
2 “But if, as with the UK, your policy is to prioritise unaccompanied children, for example, then it’s a bit different. What do you do with an 18-year-old who has spent all their school years in the host country and is completely acclimatised to the point they are citizens of the host country in all ways but passport? You keep them, right? But that’s not what happens now. The UK sends them back, still alone, to what now feels like a foreign country. Is it any wonder they travel to Calais to try get back in again?”
Obviously the example you give of the 18 year old who has spent most of his life in the UK is fair enough and they should be allowed to remain. But I do feel you’re making your argument by using a set of circumstances which does not correspond to the reality represented by the great mass of refugees (and not even by most of the refugees at Calais).
Actually, I shouldn’t have said “you are making your argument” because I’m not entirely sure what more general argument you’re making; the vast majority of refugees do not fall into the small category you’ve presented.
If you’re trying to say that the longer a refugee has been away from his home country and settled elsewhere the more reason there is to allow him to stay even though he could return safely, then I wouldn’t necessarily take issue with you.
++++++++++++++++++++
@Pan
8 Dec, 2015 – 3:10 pm
The Guardian article is very weird.
Check out the date of the Frontpage Mag article, 19th April 2012, discussing the Hope Not Hate report published on 15 April 2012.
Curiously, the article references a Guardian report by Mark Townsend.
The Quilliam Hope Not Hate seminar was held on 5th February 2013.
http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/blog/hope-not-hate-seminar-on-the-counter-jihad-movement/
The Guardian just re-cycling old news articles? Surely not!?
I haven’t bothered to look up Senator Jackson on Wikipedia, but did he not make a name for himself above all as a leading exponent of opposing Soviet persecution of the SU’s Jewish population through US govt action of various kinds?
If that recollection is correct, I can see why some one here would prefer to lay emphasis on other less noble aspects of his activity.
Thus there should be objections to repatriation of Palestinian refugees currently resident in various refugee camps across the Mid East, back to their homes and lands in former Palestine, and it would be good start setting the correct tone and precedence!
Very disturbing report in today’s Washington Post:
If this is true, it does raise the question of where the money came from. An indication of support from a foreign terror group?
I don’t know about Murray ‘gracing’ anything. All I know he is always on BBC TV. Annoying.
Also on Question Time last week was Maajid Nawaz.
03/12/2015
Question Time
David Dimbleby presents topical debate from Birmingham. On the panel are Conservative education secretary Nicky Morgan MP, Labour’s shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott MP, the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas MP, co-founder of the Quilliam anti-extremism think tank Maajid Nawaz, and former director of the Centre for Policy Studies Jill Kirby.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06rfr0b
Caroline Lucas has resigned from STWC. Unfortunate.