the danger of a backlash

from the superb website:

 http://www.cis.org



Muslim groups decry attacks
By Larry Witham
The Washington Times, September 12, 2001
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20010912-71647269.htm

Ten major U.S. Muslim organizations issued statements yesterday condemning 
the sneak air attacks against the Pentagon and New York's twin World Trade 
Center towers that injured and killed perhaps thousands of Americans.

"There is no cause that justifies this type of immoral and inhumane act," 
said officials of the American Muslim Council (AMC). They called for "swift 
apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators."

Leaders of the American Muslim Political Coordinating Council said the 
attacks were "vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism."

"No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts," they said.

"This is not 10 or 20 years ago, when Americans were surprised by the 
Iranian revolution," said Sayyid M. Syeed, secretary-general of the Islamic 
Society of North America. "People are very familiar with their Muslim 
neighbors."

He said Muslims were immediately blamed for the bombing of the Oklahoma 
City federal building, when the culprit was actually Timothy McVeigh. "This 
is not turning out to be like 1995, because the press has matured," he said.

Yet such gigantic acts of terrorism as those in New York and Washington 
can't help but revive images or stereotypes from the past, said John 
Esposito, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at 
Georgetown University.

"Things have gotten better for American Muslims, but this will have an 
unfortunate fallout," he said. "They are in a tough spot."

The nation's 5 million Muslims are mostly immigrants or children of 
immigrants. Consequently, they frequently are associated with political 
turmoil or struggles for human rights abroad, Mr. Syeed said. "As 
Americans, we support the rights of our people, but it does not mean we 
endorse" one political solution or another.

Muslim leaders also said they repeatedly condemn terrorism and often 
distance themselves specifically from the more extreme political groups -- 
though not all the time.

Members of the AMC have endorsed Hamas, a political wing of the Palestinian 
Liberation Organization. They protested the criminal proceedings against 
the Egyptian cleric, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahma, when he was given a life 
sentence for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Mr. Esposito said that if Muslims now distance themselves from any 
particular radical group, they will make Islam look complicit when nobody 
yet knows who masterminded the terrorism.

"That would be premature and play into the idea" of Muslim guilt, he said.

If a terrorist who espouses Islam is identified, he said, "I expect major 
Muslim leaders will jump out front" to condemn that group.

Mr. Esposito said Americans must distinguish "legitimate resistance" 
movements that involve Muslims abroad from terrorist organizations.

The AMC, meanwhile, said yesterday it "supports all efforts of the 
investigation in order to track down the people responsible."

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Florida's Islamic centers heighten security, worry of backlash
By Vickie Chachere
The Associated Press, September 12, 2001

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- For years, the Islamic community here has struggled to 
separate itself from alleged ties to terrorists and build a reputation as 
peace-loving neighbors.
...
In Tampa, it is a particularly tense situation because the founders of the 
school, Sami Al-Arian and Mazen Al-Najjar, have been linked to terrorists 
through an Islamic studies center they once ran at the University of South 
Florida.



The men have never been charged with a crime. Al-Najjar, though, spent more 
than three years in the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service on secret evidence that a judge decided last year was insufficient 
to hold him.

INS attorneys have said that the terrorists involved in the 1993 attack on 
the World Trade Center were among those connected to the Tampa group.
...
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/091201/D7EFGJG80.html

+++

Muslims on Defensive
By David Gibson and Kimberly Brown
Newark Star-Ledger, September 12, 2001
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/page1/ledger/145f786.html



U.S. attacks prompts call for asylum seekers crackdown
By Chris Moncrieff
Press Association (U.K.), September 12, 2001

Home Secretary David Blunkett was today urged to mount a crackdown on 
asylum seekers amid new fears that terrorists might be slipping into 
Britain under the guise of refugees.

Michael Fabricant, Conservative MP for Lichfield, who is pressing the 
course on Mr Blunkett, said: "Some may say, in the wake of the atrocities 
in New York and Washington, that this is shutting the gate after the horse 
has bolted, but new measures urgently need to be put in place - better late 
than never." He said it could not be ruled out that terrorists had already 
got into the UK from Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran and were among the thousands 
who had "disappeared into the community and slipped into anonymity" after 
absconding from bed and breakfast accommodation provided by the Immigration 
Service.

Mr Fabricant: "If the Government is going to tighten up security in the 
wake of the events of the last 24 hours, it must either stop further asylum 
seekers entering Britain or provide secure accommodation so that none of 
them can disappear before their bona fides have been verified beyond the 
shadow of a doubt.

"I am calling on Mr Blunkett, as a matter of the utmost urgency, to say how 
he plans to close this loophole, which at present gives the United Kingdom 
the reputation not only of being a soft touch for asylum seekers but also 
an easy port of entry for potential terrorists.

"I hope that the atrocities in the US may serve to shake the Home Office 
out of its complacency over the way it is dealing with those who seek to 
enter the UK unlawfully," Mr Fabricant added.


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Looser UK controls 'attract refugees'
By Jon Henley
The Guardian (U.K.), September 12, 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,550402,00.html

PARIS -- The French interior minister, Daniel Vaillant, is expected to 
press France's key point that it is not the Sangatte Red Cross centre that 
attracts refugees, but British laws on immigration and asylum.

Aides said Mr Vaillant would point out that the differences between British 
and continental legislation and practice made Britain "a particularly 
attractive destination for all candidates for immigration".

Paris considers that despite recent moves by London to make Britain less of 
a "soft touch" for asylum seekers, refugees believe - with some 
justification - that conditions in the UK are better, and that it will be 
much easier for them to find a home and job there.

Unlike most of continental Europe, Britain has no national identity card 
system. Asylum seekers can apply for work permits, no law deters British 
companies from employing illegal immigrants, the black economy in the UK is 
four times larger than in France, and well organised immigrant networks 
exist to help newcomers.

Mr Vaillant will ask Mr Blunkett to consider concrete ways in which 
Britain's treatment of refugees could be brought in line with the rest of 
Europe.

He will stress the fact that of 40,000 immigrants who have passed through 
the Sangatte centre, only 120 have asked for asylum in France.

France, like Britain, wants talks at a European level, given that the EU's 
Amsterdam treaty called for asylum and immigration to be community wide 
matters governed by a common policy.

It would also like readmission agreements with refugees' countries of 
origin negotiated at EU level.

Mr Vaillant is expected to reject British criticism of French laxity or 
inactivity over Sangatte, noting that professional people smugglers have 
been given heavy prison sentences and that the French police presence at 
the tunnel entrance has been boosted.

In the shorter term, Mr Vaillant is expected to repeat his request for a 
number of British police and immigration officials to be permanently 
stationed at the Coquelles terminal to help with security checks.

He is likely to oppose the closure of the Sangatte centre, arguing that as 
long as refugees continue to flock to France's channel coast they must be 
housed and fed there as a matter of humanitarian concern.

But he is believed to favour the opening of several smaller centres further 
inland to absorb the overspill from Sangatte, as proposed earlier this 
month by the social affairs minister, Elisabeth Guigou.


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Some Bradford Muslims 'act like colonists'
By Martin Wainwright
The Guardian (U.K.), September 12, 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,550404,00.html

A devastating appendix to Lord Ouseley's report on race relations in 
Bradford, which accuses some Muslims of "behaving like colonists" and 
welcoming Islamic ghettoes, is to be published after more than two months 
under wraps.

Councillors in the city complained angrily yesterday that they had been 
kept in ignorance of the dossier, written by their own former senior race 
relations adviser, who also charges the authority with an "ostrich 
approach" to increasing segregation over 20 years.

Lord Ouseley, former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, 
confirmed that the 10-page survey by Graham Mahony, and a number of other 
appendices commissioned from experts, had originally been intended for 
publication. Bradford's Conservative council leader, Margaret Eaton, blamed 
copyright and intellectual property law for the delay.

Mr Mahony pulls few punches, particularly in criticising successive council 
leaderships - Labour, Conservative and hung - for refusing to criticise 
ethnic minority leaders, even when their actions were not in Bradford's 
overall interests. He castigates the council for failing to "reach the 
stage where it can say to any member of the black or Asian community: 
'Sorry, I think you are wrong' or 'It is your responsibility to do
something'."

The report goes on to charge some Muslim elders with welcoming 
self-segregation and turning a blind eye to criminal activities by a 
minority of their community's youth, out of concern to preserve Islam and 
their traditional way of life. "This simply reflects their priorities - the 
commitment to Islam, the prohibition on drink, and the arranged marriage 
are more important. There is a parental fear that if they exert pressure in 
other areas, they will lose their sons' commitment in those three vital
areas."

The appendix adds: "Immigrants ... can and often do maintain key elements 
of their culture for generations, but in many other ways they accept the 
dominant, host culture.

"Colonists do not. They come into a country to displace the existing 
culture and establish their own. From colonist to immigrant is the dominant 
pattern historically. However, this process seems to have been thrown into 
reverse in Bradford."

The report says that many Muslims, including traders and business owners, 
are op posed to the "colonist" approach, and points to them and similar 
moderates as a source of hope.

Bradford council's all-party executive agreed yesterday to press for 
publication of Mr Mahony's report by Bradford Vision, the public-private 
regeneration partnership which commissioned Lord Ouseley to examine the 
city's race relations.


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Japan tightens immigration checks following attacks in U.S.
Kyodo News Service, September 12, 2001

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Justice Ministry on Wednesday ordered a tightening of 
immigration checks at airports across Japan following Tuesday's terrorist 
attacks in the United States, ministry officials said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, the top government spokesman, said 
Wednesday the government is considering increasing the budget and personnel 
for immigration checks in the budget for fiscal 2002 starting next April.

Security was also tightened for domestic and international cargoes that 
arrived at Japanese airports Wednesday, causing delays in delivery.

Japanese airline companies are waiting 24 hours before loading cargoes 
delivered to airports for security reasons, Kintetsu World Express Inc.
said.


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Terror attack could stoke xenophobia in Australia
By Michael Christie
Reuters, September 12, 2001

SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Refugee advocates in Australia fear the bloody terror 
attacks in the United States may inflame anti-illegal immigrant sentiment 
that is already riding high as Canberra cracks down on boat people.

The country's right-wing "shock jocks" on talkback radio were flooded on 
Wednesday with calls saying the destruction in New York and Washington 
proved Australia had to close its doors to Muslim asylum seekers because 
they could be "terrorists."

"We anticipate bad results out of this terrorist attack," said Peter Boyle 
of the left-wing Democratic Socialist Party.

"It will make it easier for (Prime Minister John) Howard to push bad 
feelings about refugees."

Three passenger jets were hijacked in the United States on Tuesday and 
slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the 
Pentagon in Washington, killing thousands in the worst attack on America 
since Pearl Harbor.

The 110-storey towers crumbled in a massive cloud of rubble and dust and 
another hijacked plane came down near Pittsburgh.

While no group has claimed responsibility, the finger of blame has begun to 
shift towards an intractable U.S. foe, Osama bin Laden, an exiled Saudi 
sheltered by Afghanistan's Taliban.

Beating on refugees

Refugee defenders said those suspicions could fuel an anti-Islamic 
undercurrent in Australia that has been stoked by a government crackdown 
against mainly Muslim boat people.

Faced with an election by year's end, Prime Minister John Howard at the end 
of August refused to accept 433 mainly Afghan asylum seekers rescued at sea 
by the Norwegian freighter Tampa.

Since then, the navy has prevented another three boats laden with illegal 
immigrants from reaching Australian shores.

While it has been condemned abroad, the hard stance has won overwhelming 
public support at home.

Australia's small Muslim community was also alarmed about the consequences 
of the terror in New York and the U.S. capital.

"Irresponsible speculation and premature apportioning of blame will only 
damage community relations," warned the president of the Islamic Council of 
Victoria, Yasser Soliman.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock called on Australians not to jump to 
"rash judgments."

Activists planning a mass protest when Australia hosts a summit next month 
of 50 leaders of the Commonwealth, a grouping of mainly former British 
colonies, came under pressure following Tuesday's bloodshed to cancel their 
demonstration.

But they said the possibility that anti-Islamic feelings could rise as a 
result made it imperative to take to the streets.

"People are determined to go ahead with the protests. I think it's 
important that we stand up against scape-goating," said Alison Stewart of 
the Stop CHOGM Alliance.


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