Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

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Reuters
(1 hour ago) Today
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi – Reuters (File Photo)
LONDON: Prejudice against Muslims has “passed the dinner-table test” and become socially acceptable in Britain, the Conservative Party’s chairwoman will say on Thursday.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the Pakistan-born minister without portfolio, will say in a speech at the University of Leicester that dividing Muslims into “moderate” and “extremist” fuels intolerance, according to prepared remarks published in the Daily Telegraph.

“It’s not a big leap of imagination to predict where the talk of ‘moderate’ Muslims leads; in the factory, where they’ve just hired a Muslim worker, the boss says to his employees: ‘Not to worry, he’s only fairly Muslim,’” the first Muslim woman in a British cabinet will say.

“In the school, the kids say: ‘The family next door are Muslim but they’re not too bad’.
“And in the road, as a woman walks past wearing a burka, the passers-by think: ‘That woman’s either oppressed or is making a political statement.’”

There are 2.9 million Muslims in Britain, almost 5 per cent of the population, according to an estimate last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Britain has regularly been a focus of militant plots. In the worst attack in the country, suicide bombers killed 52 people on the London transport network in July 2005.
“Those who commit criminal acts of terrorism in our country need to be dealt with not just by the full force of the law,”
Warsi was due to say.

“They also should face social rejection and alienation across society and their acts must not be used as an opportunity to tar all Muslims.”
Warsi’s comments follow those made by Prime Minister David Cameron in his New Year message when he said Britain still faced a serious threat from international terrorism.

“We must ask ourselves as a country how we are allowing the radicalisation and poisoning of the minds of some young British Muslims who then contemplate and sometimes carry out acts of sickening barbarity,” Cameron said.

wow thank God it’s not like that in the States…yet..especially the part about what the boss says to his employees about a new muslim hire, couldn’t he be fired for saying such discriminatory stuff like that? i can’t imagine my boss saying that about a fellow employee.

http://www.dawn.com/2011/01/20/anti-muslim-bias-now-the-social-norm-british-minister.html

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

I think that bit is indeed a bit off the rocket... If that guy was a boss of a small firm he might get away with it but anything bigger than a cornershop type jobby will be corporate suicide. :)

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

^ do you live in the UK? the way the article is written it's mostly her predictions on what to expect. i really don't see the point of that, laws do exist to protect minorities, it would never be legal for anybody to just pass such loaded comments and think it would be ok

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

I sure do... for now anyway... Plan to leave as soon as I have the funds but if I have to stay longer then only as long as my parents and siblings order me to do so... I kind of commited myself to a hard choice.

Living in the Uk is same as anywhere else I just be myself. :)

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

the UK is not nearly close to as bad as the US is when it comes to anti-Muslim bias. And a powerful minister like Warsi raising the issue would be so very welcome in the US at this moment.

see:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0111/Why_Muslims_have_so_little_clout.html

and

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47756.html

As for the ‘moderate muslim’ bit, I’ve had that conversation with an employer six years ago in the states.

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

There are good people and bad people everywhere. There are haters and super nice human beings all around us, in UK, US, Pakistan, everywhere. Just read comments on the news of earthquake in Pakistan and realize that there are all kinds of people, from those who really care and those who would want to ‘carpet bomb’ Pakistan:

http://world-news.newsvine.com/_news/2011/01/18/5871780-magnitude-74-quake-hits-pakistan-#comments

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

I have little time for anything baroness warsi has to say as she is one of the biggest biggots in the conservative party .

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

^why do u think that?

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

yea i agree she is nothing short of a traitor....when david cameron visited india the anti-Pakistan speech he gave their was the brain child of barnoness warsi

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

During her failed dewsbury election campaign she targeted the pak community promising to address issues with promoting homophobia and the scrapping of section 28 in schools, whilst in the white community she was sending out leaflets promising to tackle homophobia and religious extremism. The Woman is a hypocrite and a bigot who will talk about anything for her own political gain.
And ultimately she is now a member of the house of lords sitting in her ivory tower professing to know what the masses of this Country talk about over the dinner table.

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

Being a Laour member I am not a supporter of Warsi but do you have proof of this or just heresay. She has said good things and her stand against brainless extremists in UK has to be lauded.

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

yes ofcourse this was in news all over and columnists were writing that this is the women who received a heroes welcome back in Pakistan coupled with protocol and here she is making david cameron say anti-Pakistan stuff just to sell few trainer jets to india.....and also this is the reason Pakistan isnt allowing david cameron a visit which he is longing

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

You might well be right but I have not read this anywhere, also she has visited Pakistan after Cameron's visit to India. I would have thought that she would have got a rough ride if she was involved in that anti Pakistan statements made by Cameron.

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

Well she is the chairperson of her tanga party the "kerta dherta"so it would be impossible that cameron gave that speech without her endorsment and its all about collective responsibility when it comes to affairs of cabinet....all i know is Cameron wont visit Pakistan anytime soon cause of the mess he made in hindustan.

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Re: Anti-Muslim bias now the social norm: British minister

^ Yes but that does not implicate Warsi.