The Rt. Hon., David Cameron,
Leader of the Opposition,
Houses of Parliament,
London SW1A OAA.
Dear Mr Cameron,
Re: Your “Crusade”.
It is truly frightening to see a potential Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, take up issues of enormity, to which many have devoted lifetimes and reduce them to trivia and even to the rhetoric of dangerous extremism.
First you decided to play the environment card. This is not a plaything. “When debating a policy, always consider the seventh generation”, is an Iroquois Indian saying. (These are American Indians, not Iraqis, in case of any misapprehension.) If the political fecklessness with the planet continues, we may not even have a third generation.
Yet you indulge in a photo opportunity, cycling to work in a dinky little helmet, playing “green” - with your limousine following. Excuses about needing paper work, dispatch boxes delivered, are less than pathetic. Others manage with panards, rear or front containers - indeed many bring home a week's shopping on them.
Then you fly to various countries to discuss environmental policies. Material which could have been found with little effort by a minion, on the Internet -or even by yourself.
By voting for the Iraq invasion, you contributed not alone to wholesale slaughter, an illegal war, sending eighteen year olds to fight eighteen year olds (and younger) - a war on children - but to the most grievous environmental devastation the planet has known, since the 1991 Gulf war. The use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons, the dust from which, remains radioactive and chemically toxic, for four and a half BILLION years.
I wonder if you thought of Iraq's infants, breathing in this poisoned legacy, as you cradled your new baby in your arms, in another photo-opportunity. No amount of pretend cycling will erase DU's horror.
Now, incredibly, you have decided to go on a “crusade” (you said it) on behalf of Muslim women. This, after having joined George W. Bush's “crusade”, to annihilate them and their families. Pretend cycling, is stupid, but harmless. The word “crusade” has not diminished in horror for the Islamic world, for a thousand years.
Adding insult to injury, to a proud community, battered from all sides, you stand in Handsworth, Birmingham, comparing Islamic “extremists”, to the fascist British National Party, who warn of the “Islamification of Britain”. Frankly, it was you who sounded like the BNP, who also avowed to take advantage “.. of the Islamaphobia whipped up by the media”, after London's 7th July bombings.
Breathtakingly and patronisingly, you list the five barriers to community cohesion, as: extremism, multiculturism, uncontrolled immigration, poverty and poor standard of education, according to the Independent. This to an ethnic minority audience, thus clearly addressed to these “untermenschen”. Are you aware how many Muslims now remark sadly that: “We are the new Jews”?
Muslim women in Britain, you say, do not enjoy the rights and opportunities such as work and education, which are available to Muslim men. Has your office provided you with the number of Muslim women academics, doctors, teachers, architects, artists etc. in this country? Further, anyone unfortunate enough to have been unable to avoid hearing the horrors of “Big Brother” on news clips etc. will know, with crushing, blushing embarrassment, that British politicians of any hue are hardly in a position to lecture others on educational or cultural standards.
Might I suggest, before you subject the country to further skin crawling, ridicule and humiliation, you travel next across the Islamic world (and stay where you meet real people, not where the only national you meet is the person who hands you your mail on a silver salver in the British Embassy.) You might also learn that Islam is not a homogenous mass, any more than is Christianity.
But the two religions - as all - have one thing in common: humility, rather than arrogance. “The meek shall inherit the earth”, remember?
With respect: way to go, Sir.
Yours sincerely,
Felicity Arbuthnot
Felicity Arbuthnot is a journalist and activist who has visited the Arab and Muslim world on numerous occasions. She has written and broadcast on Iraq, her coverage of which was nominated for several awards. She was also senior researcher for John Pilger's award-winning documentary
"Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq". http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partID=4
and author, with Nikki van der Gaag, of “Baghdad” in the “Great Cities” series, for World Almanac Books (2006.)
http://www.amazon.com/Baghdad-Great-Cities-World-Nikki/dp/0836850491/sr=1-5/qid=1171018142/ref=sr_1_5/105-9176229-7042804?ie=UTF8&s=books
Please also see:
Live Dialogue: Felicity Arbuthnot
Police “Anti-Terror” Raids & Islamophobia in UK
http://www.islamonline.net/livedialogue/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=q6xcm9
Leader of the Opposition,
Houses of Parliament,
London SW1A OAA.
Dear Mr Cameron,
Re: Your “Crusade”.
It is truly frightening to see a potential Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, take up issues of enormity, to which many have devoted lifetimes and reduce them to trivia and even to the rhetoric of dangerous extremism.
First you decided to play the environment card. This is not a plaything. “When debating a policy, always consider the seventh generation”, is an Iroquois Indian saying. (These are American Indians, not Iraqis, in case of any misapprehension.) If the political fecklessness with the planet continues, we may not even have a third generation.
Yet you indulge in a photo opportunity, cycling to work in a dinky little helmet, playing “green” - with your limousine following. Excuses about needing paper work, dispatch boxes delivered, are less than pathetic. Others manage with panards, rear or front containers - indeed many bring home a week's shopping on them.
Then you fly to various countries to discuss environmental policies. Material which could have been found with little effort by a minion, on the Internet -or even by yourself.
By voting for the Iraq invasion, you contributed not alone to wholesale slaughter, an illegal war, sending eighteen year olds to fight eighteen year olds (and younger) - a war on children - but to the most grievous environmental devastation the planet has known, since the 1991 Gulf war. The use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons, the dust from which, remains radioactive and chemically toxic, for four and a half BILLION years.
I wonder if you thought of Iraq's infants, breathing in this poisoned legacy, as you cradled your new baby in your arms, in another photo-opportunity. No amount of pretend cycling will erase DU's horror.
Now, incredibly, you have decided to go on a “crusade” (you said it) on behalf of Muslim women. This, after having joined George W. Bush's “crusade”, to annihilate them and their families. Pretend cycling, is stupid, but harmless. The word “crusade” has not diminished in horror for the Islamic world, for a thousand years.
Adding insult to injury, to a proud community, battered from all sides, you stand in Handsworth, Birmingham, comparing Islamic “extremists”, to the fascist British National Party, who warn of the “Islamification of Britain”. Frankly, it was you who sounded like the BNP, who also avowed to take advantage “.. of the Islamaphobia whipped up by the media”, after London's 7th July bombings.
Breathtakingly and patronisingly, you list the five barriers to community cohesion, as: extremism, multiculturism, uncontrolled immigration, poverty and poor standard of education, according to the Independent. This to an ethnic minority audience, thus clearly addressed to these “untermenschen”. Are you aware how many Muslims now remark sadly that: “We are the new Jews”?
Muslim women in Britain, you say, do not enjoy the rights and opportunities such as work and education, which are available to Muslim men. Has your office provided you with the number of Muslim women academics, doctors, teachers, architects, artists etc. in this country? Further, anyone unfortunate enough to have been unable to avoid hearing the horrors of “Big Brother” on news clips etc. will know, with crushing, blushing embarrassment, that British politicians of any hue are hardly in a position to lecture others on educational or cultural standards.
Might I suggest, before you subject the country to further skin crawling, ridicule and humiliation, you travel next across the Islamic world (and stay where you meet real people, not where the only national you meet is the person who hands you your mail on a silver salver in the British Embassy.) You might also learn that Islam is not a homogenous mass, any more than is Christianity.
But the two religions - as all - have one thing in common: humility, rather than arrogance. “The meek shall inherit the earth”, remember?
With respect: way to go, Sir.
Yours sincerely,
Felicity Arbuthnot
Felicity Arbuthnot is a journalist and activist who has visited the Arab and Muslim world on numerous occasions. She has written and broadcast on Iraq, her coverage of which was nominated for several awards. She was also senior researcher for John Pilger's award-winning documentary
"Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq". http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partID=4
and author, with Nikki van der Gaag, of “Baghdad” in the “Great Cities” series, for World Almanac Books (2006.)
http://www.amazon.com/Baghdad-Great-Cities-World-Nikki/dp/0836850491/sr=1-5/qid=1171018142/ref=sr_1_5/105-9176229-7042804?ie=UTF8&s=books
Please also see:
Live Dialogue: Felicity Arbuthnot
Police “Anti-Terror” Raids & Islamophobia in UK
http://www.islamonline.net/livedialogue/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=q6xcm9