Thursday 29 October 2015

Not All Hate Crimes are Created Equal

Another blast from the past.

2011 this time and two stories which appeared within a month of each other.

The first one in March concerns Emdadur Choudhury, a self proclaimed Islamic fundamentalist on benefits who decided to protest at a remembrance day parade with his fellow jihadists in East London. In front of past and present British soldiers and their families they chanted "British soldiers burn in hell" and burned poppies Choudhury was fined £50 plus a £15 victim surcharge.

The second story was about former soldier Andrew Ryan of Carlisle, who was understandably annoyed by poppy burning. So annoyed in fact that he went to a library, took a copy of the Quran and set fire to it outside the Old Town Hall in Carlisle city centre. Ryan was jailed for 70 days.

What the hell is wrong with England? How on earth can a man be sent to prison for burning a book in the street, while a self declared enemy of everything Britain stands for can disrupt a remembrance parade in such a foul way and be given a fine that is less than you would get for a parking offence?

There are two possible explanations. The first is that the British establishment is cowering in fear of these Islamic extremists. They are desperate to be seen to be tough on Islamophobia, and equally desperate not to be seen to come down too hard on Islamists. The second explanation is that they secretly agree with Choudhury, they want to promote fundamentalist Islam. They give a derisory fine which he will probably never pay anyway as they have to be seen to be doing something, yet they come down hard on any resistance to it.


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