From Open Values to Burqa Bans: Have Europeans Lost the Habit of Tolerance (2011)
Speakers: Nazneen Khan-Østrem; Brendan O'Neill; Hans Rustad; Merryl Wyn Davies | Chair: Martyn Perks

WALES ONLINE: Muslim convert Merryl Wyn Davies calls for better understanding on 9/11 anniversary: On the 10th anniversary of 9/11 Merryl Wyn Davies, Muslim convert and author of Why Do People Hate America?, tells Abbie Wightwick that we haven’t learned enough from the massacre ¶ On the 10th anniversary of 9/11 Merryl Wyn Davies, Muslim convert and author of Why Do People Hate America?, tells Abbie Wightwick that we haven’t learned enough from the massacre ¶ AS a Muslim convert for 30 years Merryl Wyn Davies is sick of having conversations about headscarves. » | Friday, September 09, 2013

WIKI: Merryl Wyn Davies »

WIKI: Nazneen Khan-Østrem »

WIKI: Hans Rustad »

WIKI: Brendan O'Neill »

Firms Should Make Workplaces ‘Gay Friendly’
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A raft of new schemes will be aimed at promoting equality for homosexuals, such as recruiting more openly gay candidates to become MPs and making workplaces “gay-friendly”.

The Coalition's Equailty Strategy said many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB&T) people still faced discrimination and even violence.

“Attitudes are changing,” the strategy said. “But the sad reality remains that too many people are victims of discrimination and hate crime in the UK today.”

Ministers are in talks with campaigners and faith leaders over plans to allow same-sex couples to register their civil partnerships in churches, and other places of worship. >>> Tim Ross, Social Affairs Editor | Thursday, December 02, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain embraces 'positive action' to abolish workplace discrimination: Employers will be able to reject male job applicants in favour of women who are no better qualified under new laws to promote equality at work. >>> Christopher Hope and Tim Ross | Thursday, December 02, 2010

Why Can't Barack Obama Tell The World About American Tolerance?
Barack Hussein Obama. Photo: The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH – EXTRACTS: The controversy over the 'Ground Zero mosque' has portrayed the United States as a land of bigots. Toby Harnden wonders why the US President has helped fuel this myth.


Obama's ill-judged intervention, and the shrill outrage of his allies in the intelligentsia, has damaged America's standing in the world by fuelling anti-American stereotypes.

…


Many Americans are incensed by the way that legitimate protest and questioning of Obama's policies is routinely branded as racist or ignorant. They are tired of being told what to think and when to think it.

During the 2008 campaign, for instance, you were a bigot if you mentioned Obama's middle name or his Muslim background. Yet once he was elected, he went to Ankara and Cairo to proclaim that his full name was "Barack Hussein Obama".

Ahmed Sharif, a victim of real anti-Muslim bigotry, stated that the attack on him was an aberration and that America is a land of tolerance and opportunity. What a shame that Obama, despite his much-vaunted gift with words, appears unable to speak about such things with similar eloquence. Read the whole article >>> Toby Harnden's American Way | Saturday, August 28, 2010

We Won't Turn into Iran
YNET NEWS: Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar vows to protect freedom in wake of gay center attack

Until this murder case isn’t [sic] solved and the killer’s identity is discovered, we’ll continue to ask: What prompts a human being to massacre teenagers, children really? What was the motive for this demonic act?

At the site of the attack in the heart of Tel Aviv, a two-minute walk from my house, I mostly saw consternation and shock in the eyes of the crowd and passersby. Eyes were teary and hearts cried. As a Tel Avivian, and as a person who had only experienced magical moments on Nachmani Street, where the crime took place, I felt a sour sense of shame rising within me.

What’s happening to Israeli society that leads us from one horrific display to another? What can prompt a person to indiscriminately kill boys and girls who arrived at a site meant to grant them support and security?

We need to be cautious before police conclude the investigation. However, one way or another, waiting for the case to be solved cannot be a pretext for evading a moral obligation. For Israeli society, this is an opportunity to clearly and unequivocally define its commitment to freedom and tolerance. For public officials and leaders, this is the time to pledge that we will protect Israel’s character and future as a free society. Because wherever a person is attacked or humiliated because of his lifestyle, choices, tendencies, or indecision, it is not only the freedom and dignity of that person that are being undermined. >>> Gideon Sa’ar* | Tuesday, August 04, 2009

*Gideon Sa’ar is Israel’s education minister

YNET NEWS – OPINION: End the Silence

The whole of Israeli society must speak up in wake of gay center massacre

“If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.” That was the political legacy of Harvey Milk, the first politician to come out of the closet in the United States and a member of the San Francisco city council; the movie about his life, which ended in murder as he predicted, was one of the most important films in recent times.

If the murder of the two young people at the gay center was indeed motivated by their sexual orientation, this is the gravest hate crime ever carried out in Israel based on this motive. Yet we must keep in mind that this was not the first case. In the 2005 Jerusalem Pride Parade, Yishai Shlisel stabbed three participants. The latest incident ended on a graver note. >>> Eyal Gross* | Monday, August 03, 2009

*Prof. Eyal Gross, a law lecturer at Tel Aviv University, formerly served as a volunteer legal advisor for the LGBT Association in Israel

Canada's Tolerance Misplaced
CALGARY HERALD: Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is getting flak from the usual suspects, but he deserves praise instead.

Recently, Kenney pointed out that while at a meeting in Toronto, members of Canada's Pakistani community called on him to make Punjabi one of Canada's official languages. It makes me angry that such an idea would enter the minds of my fellow and former countrymen, let alone express them to a Minister of the Crown.

A few months ago, I was dismayed to learn that Erik Millett, the principal of Belleisle School in Springfield, N. B., limited playing our national anthem because the families of a couple of his students objected to it.

As a social scientist, I oppose this kind of political correctness, lack of assimilation of new immigrants to mainstream Canada, hyphenated-Canadian identity, and the lack of patriotism in our great nation.

Increasingly, Canadians feel restricted in doing things the Canadian way lest we offend minorities. We cannot even say Merry Christmas without fear of causing offence. It is amazing that 77 per cent of the Canadian majority are scared of offending 23 per cent of minorities. We have become so timid that the majority cannot assert its own freedom of expression. We cannot publicly question certain foreign social customs, traditions and values that do not fit into the Canadian ethos of equality. Rather than encouraging new immigrants to adjust to Canada, we tolerate peculiar ways of doing things. We do not remind them that they are in Canada, not in their original homelands.

In a multicultural society, it is the responsibility of minorities to adjust to the majority. It does not mean that minorities have to totally amalgamate with the majority. They can practise some of their cultural traditions within their homes -- their backstage behaviour. However, when outside of their homes, their front stage behaviour should resemble mainstream Canadian behaviour. Whoever comes to Canada must learn the limits of our system. We do not kill our daughters or other female members of our families who refuse to wear hijab, niqab or burka which are not mandated by the Qur'an anyway. We do not kill our daughters if they date the "wrong" men. A 17-year-old Sikh girl should not have been killed in British Columbia by her father because she was caught dating a Caucasian man. >>> By Mahfooz Kanwar*, for the Calgary Herald, © Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald | Monday, March 30, 3009

* Mahfooz Kanwar, PHD, Is A Sociologist And An Instructor Emeritus At Mount Royal College.

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback/Broché – Canada) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback/Relié – Canada) >>>

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Is Europe too Tolerant of Radical Islam?

Tolerating Intolerance
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: THE involvement of Britons among the terrorists responsible for the murders of more than 150 people in Mumbai last week signals another milestone in the march of multiculturalism and the failure of Western and democratised nations to deal with Islamists.

In the mosques of London, leaders like Anjem Choudary, right-hand man to the hate-filled cleric Omar Bakri, were praising the killers, saying any Britons or Americans among the dead were targeted legitimately because they should not have gone to India.

"Muslims are being killed in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan every day through acts of atrocity against them.

But the media only report events like Mumbai,'' he told The Daily Mail as Indian police revealed that at least two terrorists they had captured were British-born Pakistanis.

In the UK, as in many European nations and in Australia, governments have permitted Muslim migrants to create their own enclaves and ghettos and preach their own interpretations of their religion, unhindered by the cultures of their host nations and often in contempt of the laws of the society of their host country.

Aided by the powerful civil rights lobbies and squadrons of lawyers, Islamists are waging a successful war to prevent further assimilation of Muslims into Western society, forcing women to wear traditional Islamic garb to emphasise their separateness, urging the introduction of Islamic sharia law into local courts.

From the shores of Somalia to the cells of Guantanamo, the West is in confused retreat, its politicians too concerned about appearing to be in breach of international civil rights covenants than they are about the safety of their citizens.

India, with its 150-million strong Muslim population - the largest outside Indonesia - is no different.

Though the vast majority of its Muslims are peaceable and law abiding, it has not been able to develop a coherent policy to deal with the terrorists, despite continuing attacks in which more than 4000 people have been murdered in the past four years.

Lying between two backward, Islamic-loving nations, Pakistan and Bangladesh, India is a forward-looking country with a vibrant economy that is seeking to take advantage of its assets, its large English-speaking population, its legacy of British laws.

The Indian Islamic community is isolated within the greater population, its members attuned to the cults of victimhood and hate which spew from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, across the Gulf from Mumbai.

Fearful, perhaps, of an Islamic uprising supported by the jihadist groups allowed shelter by Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Indian government has moved to appease, rather than challenge, Islamist supporters. >>> By Piers Akerman | November 30, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Australia) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Australia) >>>

When “Tolerance” Trumps Freedom
DENVER POST: Canada has a lot to answer for: Rush, Celine Dion, Barenaked Ladies, Tom Green and Howie Mandel, to name a few. But its latest transgression is serious.

In certain parts of Europe, "hate speech" already is a criminal act. When the late journalist and author Oriana Fallaci wrote books critical of Islam in 2002, she was sued in France. Later, Swiss and Italian judges ordered her to stand trial for "defaming Islam."

In France, Brigitte Bardot — the former film starlet turned animal rights activist — has been convicted five times of "inciting racial hatred." In one instance, her crime was writing a letter to French officials, objecting to the ritual slaughter of sheep by Muslims.

Sheep to the slaughter, sadly, is a perfect analogy for European states that allow Muslim activist groups — which rarely object to the near-complete lack of freedom of expression in the Islamic world — to dictate what is and isn't tolerable speech.

But Canada? When “Tolerance” Trumps Freedom >>> By David Harsanyl | June 17, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US)

Harvard Study Says “Haj Promotes Tolerance”: Fact or Dhimmitude?
ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH — A study of Hajis by Harvard Kennedy School in the US has found that the Haj promotes tolerance among pilgrims and does not lead to an increase in negative attitudes toward the West.

The study — entitled “Estimating the Impact of the Haj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering” — said that the annual pilgrimage develops a tolerant attitude among Hajis toward other religions and cultures.

Researchers, David Clingingsmith, Asim Ijaz Khwaja and Michael Kremer, based their findings, which were published last month, on data collected from a 2006 survey of more than 1,600 Pakistani pilgrims.

“Evidence suggests that the Haj increases tolerance, which seems to apply not just within the Islamic world but also beyond it,” they reported, adding, that increased unity does not lead to antipathy toward non-Muslims.

They also found that the Haj plays a significant role in the survival of Islam as a unified world religion. “Over time, religions with far-flung adherents tend to evolve separate strands which may eventually break away into different religions. Our analysis suggests that the Haj reduces dissent and splits in Islam by moving Hajis toward a common set of practices, making them more tolerant of differences among Muslims,” they said.

Pilgrims selected for the survey were also more likely to state that various Pakistani ethnic and sectarian groups are equal and that it is possible for such groups to live in harmony.

Major findings include that the Haj reduces support for political Islam, reduces superstitious beliefs and encourages Muslims to adopt a more favorable attitude toward women, including greater acceptance of women education and employment. “For example, they (Hajis) are six percentage points more likely to think women are spiritually better than men, an increase of over 50 percent. They also express greater concern about women’s quality of life in Pakistan relative to other countries and about crimes against women in Pakistan,” the report stated. Haj Promotes Tolerance, Confirms Harvard Study >>> By P K Abdul Ghafour | May 6, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Ian Buruma’s Viewpoint: A War on Tolerance
HAARETZ: AMSTERDAM - When "tolerance" becomes a term of abuse in a place like the Netherlands, you know that something has gone seriously wrong. The Dutch always took pride in being the most tolerant people on earth. In less feverish times than these, no one could possibly have taken exception to Queen Beatrix's speech last Christmas, when she pleaded for tolerance and "respect for minorities." But Geert Wilders, leader of the right-wing, anti-Muslim Party of Freedom, was so disgusted by the Dutch queen's "multicultural rubbish" that he wanted her to be stripped of her constitutional role in the government.

Wilders, a popular rabble-rouser whose party occupies nine seats in the Dutch parliament, compares the Koran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf," wants to stop Muslims from moving to the Netherlands and thunders that those who are already in the country should tear up half the Koran if they wish to stay. Tolerance toward Islam is cowardly appeasement in his eyes. He thinks that Europe is in peril of being "Islamized." "There will soon be more mosques than churches," he says, if true Europeans don't have the guts to stand up and save Western civilization.

Notwithstanding his call to ban the Koran, Wilders and his admirers claim to believe in unfettered free speech as a Western birthright. Beatrix stated that the right to free speech does not automatically mean the right to offend. Wilders disagrees. No criticism of Islam, however offensive, should ever be hampered by political correctness. Wilders uses every opportunity to test Muslims' (often very limited) tolerance. His latest provocation is a short film denouncing Islam, which is yet to be screened but has already caused panic all around. Remarkably for a Dutch politician - and a minor one, at that - news of Wilders' antics has reached the world press. Dutch embassies are bracing themselves for violent demonstrations, and the government is considering special security measures.

Some commentators suggest that Wilders, born and raised as a Catholic in a provincial Dutch town, is, like his Muslim enemies, a true believer, driven by the goal of keeping Europe "Judeo-Christian." Perhaps, but this is probably a red herring. His war on Islam is also, and perhaps even mainly, a war on the cultural and political elites, the Dutch intellectual establishment, the Eurocrats of Brussels and the liberal-minded queen. A War on Tolerance >>> By Ian Buruma

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)