{"id":30176,"date":"2011-01-20T10:14:32","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T08:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=30176"},"modified":"2014-01-06T00:58:35","modified_gmt":"2014-01-05T22:58:35","slug":"tory-chief-baroness-warsi-attacks-bigotry-against-muslims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2011\/01\/20\/tory-chief-baroness-warsi-attacks-bigotry-against-muslims\/","title":{"rendered":"Tory chief Baroness Warsi attacks ‘bigotry’ against Muslims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prejudice against Muslims has become widespread and socially acceptable in Britain, the Conservative chairman will claim.<\/h2>\n
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Baroness Warsi will warn against trying to divide Muslims into 'moderates' and 'extremists' saying that it simply fosters intolerance Photo: IAN JONES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By\u00a0James Kirkup, Political Correspondent<\/p>\n

Islamophobia has \u201cpassed the dinner-table test\u201d and is seen by many as normal and uncontroversial, Baroness Warsi will say in a speech on Thursday.<\/strong><\/div>\n

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The minister without portfolio will also warn that describing Muslims as either \u201cmoderate\u201d or \u201cextremist\u201d fosters growing prejudice.<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Lady Warsi, the first Muslim woman to attend Cabinet, has pledged to use her position to wage an \u201congoing battle against bigotry\u201d.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Her comments are the most high-profile intervention in Britain\u2019s religious debate by any member of David Cameron\u2019s government.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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They also confirm the Coalition\u2019s determination to depart from its Labour predecessor\u2019s policy of keeping out of issues of faith.<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Lady Warsi will use a speech at the University of Leicester to attack what she sees as growing religious intolerance in the country, especially towards followers of Islam.<\/div>\n
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A recent study estimated there are now around 2.9 million Muslims in Britain, up from 1.6 million in 2001.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Some religious and social commentators have suggested that growth in numbers gives rise to legitimate concerns, asking whether strict adherence to the faith is compatible with the values of Western democracies.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Some Christian leaders have also said that Britain has become less tolerant of their faith during the same period.<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In response, Lady Warsi will blame \u201cthe patronising, superficial way faith is discussed in certain quarters, including the media\u201d. The peer will describe how prejudice against Muslims has grown along with their numbers, partly because of the way they are often portrayed.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The notion that all followers of Islam can be described either as \u201cmoderate\u201d or \u201cextremist\u201d can fuel misunderstanding and intolerance, she will say.<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a big leap of imagination to predict where the talk of ‘moderate\u2019 Muslims leads; in the factory, where they\u2019ve just hired a Muslim worker, the boss says to his employees: ‘Not to worry, he\u2019s only fairly Muslim\u2019.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIn the school, the kids say: ‘The family next door are Muslim but they\u2019re not too bad\u2019.<\/div>\n
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\u201cAnd in the road, as a woman walks past wearing a burka, the passers-by think: ‘That woman\u2019s either oppressed or is making a political statement\u2019.\u201d<\/div>\n
A decade of growth in the British Muslim population also saw the first al-Qaeda attacks on British soil and Lady Warsi will address the issue of terrorism and extremism.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Terrorist offences committed by a small number of Muslims must not be used to condemn all who follow the faith, she will insist.<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But she will also suggest that some Muslim communities must do more to make clear to extremists that their beliefs and actions are not acceptable.<\/div>\n
\u201cThose who commit criminal acts of terrorism in our country need to be dealt with not just by the full force of the law,\u201d she will say.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThey also should face social rejection and alienation across society and their acts must not be used as an opportunity to tar all Muslims.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Her call echoes Mr Cameron\u2019s New Year message, in which the Prime Minister asked why the country was \u201callowing\u201d the continuing radicalisation of young British Muslims.<\/div>\n
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Lady Warsi will also reveal that she raised the issue of Islamophobia with the Pope when he visited Britain last year, urging him to \u201ccreate a better understanding between Europe and its Muslim citizens.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Despite her warnings, she will recognise that Britain has a long history of tolerance and diversity.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
www.telegraph.co.uk<\/span>,\u00a019 Jan 2011<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prejudice against Muslims has become widespread and socially acceptable in Britain, the Conservative chairman will claim. By\u00a0James Kirkup, Political Correspondent Islamophobia has \u201cpassed the dinner-table test\u201d and is seen by many as normal and uncontroversial, Baroness Warsi will say in a speech on Thursday. The minister without portfolio will also warn that describing Muslims as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":30177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[4876,2541,1045,3344,4877],"class_list":["post-30176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk","tag-faith","tag-intolerance","tag-islamophobia","tag-prejudice","tag-religious-intolerance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}