Energumen
2006-02-18 13:20:10 UTC
http://www.outrage.org.uk/
Sacranie forced out by protests
Muslim leader pulls out of anti-BNP conference
By OutRage! News Service
Sir Iqbal Sacranie has been pressured to withdraw from addressing a
trade union-sponsored "Unite Against Fascism" conference in London
after protests against his "BNP-style homophobia" from
left-wingers, trade unionists and gay rights campaigners.
Sacranie was to have been a keynote speaker. His views on homosexuality
were widely condemned as echoing the anti-gay hatred of the BNP.
Mayor Ken Livingstone, the South East Region of the TUC and five
leading trade unions are sponsoring the anti-BNP conference at TUC
headquarters today (Saturday 18 February).
"This climbdown is a victory for humanitarian values over homophobic
prejudice. We want Muslim leaders like Sacranie to be part of the
anti-BNP alliance, but only if they respect the human rights of gay
people and other minorities," said Peter Tatchell of the gay human
rights group, OutRage!, which helped coordinate the protests against
Sacranie being invited to speak.
The conference organisers claim Sacranie withdrew because he had
another engagement. But this is disputed by Peter Tatchell of
OutRage"!:
"Three days ago the conference organisers were adamant that Sir Iqbal
would be a speaker. After being deluged with protests they are now
saying he is no longer available. This is not a credible explanation.
We believe the organisers realised they could not secure the acceptance
of a homophobe at an anti-fascist conference, so they dumped him.
"Sacranie's attitude to gay people is similar to the homophobia of
the BNP. He should have never been invited in the first place.
"Unite Against Fascism ought to be giving a platform to liberal,
progressive Muslims, not right-wing homophobes like Sacranie," said
Mr Tatchell.
Fellow OutRage activist and gay Muslim, Ramzi Islam, added:
"Sir Iqbal is leader of the anti-gay Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).
As well as actively campaigning to maintain homophobic laws like
Section 28, he last month publicly denounced lesbians and gay men on
BBC Radio, saying they were immoral, harmful and spread disease.
"Resorting to inflammatory language barely distinguishable from the
homophobic tirades of the neo-Nazi BNP, the MCB website demonises
same-sex relationships as 'offensive', 'immoral' and
'repugnant'.
"The UAF would not invite as a speaker someone who said that black
people are immoral, harmful and spread disease, or who vilified Jewish
people as offensive, immoral and repugnant. Why, then, did they offer a
platform to a bigot who says these things about gays and lesbians?"
queried Mr Isalam.
"By originally agreeing to host Sir Iqbal, the UAF was siding with a
homophobe against gay Muslims and the wider gay community. The
invitation to Sacranie was a sad betrayal of non-homophobic Muslims.
"Sir Iqbal's homophobic views, and the MCB's opposition to gay
equality, echo the prejudice and discrimination of the BNP.
"Unite Against Fascism would not collude with racists or
anti-Semites. It should not collude with homophobes either," added Mr
Isalam.
Saturday's Unite Against Fascism conference is sponsored by the South
East Region of the TUC, Unison, Amicus, PCS, CWU, NATFHE and the
National Assembly Against Racism.
In a letter of protest sent to the Unite Against Fascism conference
organisers, OutRage! wrote:
"We want a broad alliance against the BNP. We support an alliance
with the Muslim community. But we do not believe it appropriate for an
anti-fascist movement to build alliances with homophobic hate-mongerers
like Sir Iqbal and the MCB. We urge an alliance with liberal and left
Muslims.
"We urge you to withdraw your invitation to Sir Iqbal and the MCB,
and instead invite a progressive Muslim speaker, such as Ziauddin
Sardar, Sheikh Dr Muhammad Yusuf or Munira Mirza.
"The MCB is not a liberal, progressive organisation. It represents
only conservative, reactionary opinion. It is not a suitable partner
organisation for the movement against fascism.
"On every gay human rights issue, the MCB has actively campaigned in
favour of discrimination. It opposed an equal age of consent, legal
rights for same-sex couples and the outlawing of homophobic
discrimination in the workplace. The MCB also backed the retention of
Section 28 and a ban on gay couples fostering or adopting children.
"One of the reasons the MCB refuses to participate in Holocaust
Memorial Day is because it objects to the ceremony including a
commemoration of what it dismisses as 'the so-called gay genocide.'
The MCB appears to regard the murder of gay people in Nazi death camps
as unworthy of remembrance.
"This year's Festival of Muslim Cultures is being funded by the
Home Office and the British Council. Its aim is to showcase the
diversity and richness of Muslim communities. The MCB has succeeded in
demanding that the festival excludes lesbian and gay Muslims," said
OutRage!'s letter to the UAF.
Sacranie forced out by protests
Muslim leader pulls out of anti-BNP conference
By OutRage! News Service
Sir Iqbal Sacranie has been pressured to withdraw from addressing a
trade union-sponsored "Unite Against Fascism" conference in London
after protests against his "BNP-style homophobia" from
left-wingers, trade unionists and gay rights campaigners.
Sacranie was to have been a keynote speaker. His views on homosexuality
were widely condemned as echoing the anti-gay hatred of the BNP.
Mayor Ken Livingstone, the South East Region of the TUC and five
leading trade unions are sponsoring the anti-BNP conference at TUC
headquarters today (Saturday 18 February).
"This climbdown is a victory for humanitarian values over homophobic
prejudice. We want Muslim leaders like Sacranie to be part of the
anti-BNP alliance, but only if they respect the human rights of gay
people and other minorities," said Peter Tatchell of the gay human
rights group, OutRage!, which helped coordinate the protests against
Sacranie being invited to speak.
The conference organisers claim Sacranie withdrew because he had
another engagement. But this is disputed by Peter Tatchell of
OutRage"!:
"Three days ago the conference organisers were adamant that Sir Iqbal
would be a speaker. After being deluged with protests they are now
saying he is no longer available. This is not a credible explanation.
We believe the organisers realised they could not secure the acceptance
of a homophobe at an anti-fascist conference, so they dumped him.
"Sacranie's attitude to gay people is similar to the homophobia of
the BNP. He should have never been invited in the first place.
"Unite Against Fascism ought to be giving a platform to liberal,
progressive Muslims, not right-wing homophobes like Sacranie," said
Mr Tatchell.
Fellow OutRage activist and gay Muslim, Ramzi Islam, added:
"Sir Iqbal is leader of the anti-gay Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).
As well as actively campaigning to maintain homophobic laws like
Section 28, he last month publicly denounced lesbians and gay men on
BBC Radio, saying they were immoral, harmful and spread disease.
"Resorting to inflammatory language barely distinguishable from the
homophobic tirades of the neo-Nazi BNP, the MCB website demonises
same-sex relationships as 'offensive', 'immoral' and
'repugnant'.
"The UAF would not invite as a speaker someone who said that black
people are immoral, harmful and spread disease, or who vilified Jewish
people as offensive, immoral and repugnant. Why, then, did they offer a
platform to a bigot who says these things about gays and lesbians?"
queried Mr Isalam.
"By originally agreeing to host Sir Iqbal, the UAF was siding with a
homophobe against gay Muslims and the wider gay community. The
invitation to Sacranie was a sad betrayal of non-homophobic Muslims.
"Sir Iqbal's homophobic views, and the MCB's opposition to gay
equality, echo the prejudice and discrimination of the BNP.
"Unite Against Fascism would not collude with racists or
anti-Semites. It should not collude with homophobes either," added Mr
Isalam.
Saturday's Unite Against Fascism conference is sponsored by the South
East Region of the TUC, Unison, Amicus, PCS, CWU, NATFHE and the
National Assembly Against Racism.
In a letter of protest sent to the Unite Against Fascism conference
organisers, OutRage! wrote:
"We want a broad alliance against the BNP. We support an alliance
with the Muslim community. But we do not believe it appropriate for an
anti-fascist movement to build alliances with homophobic hate-mongerers
like Sir Iqbal and the MCB. We urge an alliance with liberal and left
Muslims.
"We urge you to withdraw your invitation to Sir Iqbal and the MCB,
and instead invite a progressive Muslim speaker, such as Ziauddin
Sardar, Sheikh Dr Muhammad Yusuf or Munira Mirza.
"The MCB is not a liberal, progressive organisation. It represents
only conservative, reactionary opinion. It is not a suitable partner
organisation for the movement against fascism.
"On every gay human rights issue, the MCB has actively campaigned in
favour of discrimination. It opposed an equal age of consent, legal
rights for same-sex couples and the outlawing of homophobic
discrimination in the workplace. The MCB also backed the retention of
Section 28 and a ban on gay couples fostering or adopting children.
"One of the reasons the MCB refuses to participate in Holocaust
Memorial Day is because it objects to the ceremony including a
commemoration of what it dismisses as 'the so-called gay genocide.'
The MCB appears to regard the murder of gay people in Nazi death camps
as unworthy of remembrance.
"This year's Festival of Muslim Cultures is being funded by the
Home Office and the British Council. Its aim is to showcase the
diversity and richness of Muslim communities. The MCB has succeeded in
demanding that the festival excludes lesbian and gay Muslims," said
OutRage!'s letter to the UAF.