Old hat, old hate

Lefthandpalm is bemused to learn of an expose, courtesy of the BBC's Panorama documentary program, of secretive pseudo-schools operating in Britain, where, according to the Daily Mail,

Children in Britain are being taught brutal Sharia law punishments, including how to hack off a criminal’s hand or foot.

So-called ‘weekend schools’ for Muslim pupils as young as six also teach that the penalty for gay sex is execution and that ‘Zionists’ are plotting to take over the world for the Jews.

One set textbook challenges youngsters to list the ‘reprehensible’ qualities of Jews.

Another for six-year-olds asks them to answer what happens to someone who dies who is not a believer in Islam. The answer being looked for is ‘hellfire’. (1)

This is old shit, reheated. The very first 'proper' post on Lefthandpalm, back in 2007, concerned a controversy around the King Fahad academy and allegations of 'dodgy textbooks,' a claim lodged by one Colin Cook, who was a disgruntled ex-staff member (2). That was drummed up by the Mail as well, and Newsnight rather cravenly got on board.

As I recall pointing out back then, I have used textbooks which asked students to list 'reprehensible' qualities of Jews. The text book in question was a social studies tome, and the exercise in question required students to identify the libels heaped on Jews over the centuries. It wasn't asking them to endorse these sentiments, just be aware of them. Without context, we can't be sure these 'Sharia' text books (bet you they are the same ones as the King Fahad academy used) are doing anything more untoward than that.

Now, that doesn't mean this is precisely the same, but nothing in the coverage I've seen suggests that it is anything more than the same preposterous crap. Children are not being taught to chop hands of thieves, kill gays and the like. They are just being taught about how Islam is practiced in Saudi Arabia. It doesn't necessarily follow that they are being encouraged to do these things, any more than children being taught about slavery are being taught to own slaves, or students learning about the Auschwitz gas chambers are being taught to kill Jews.

(In fairness the Mail does make this distinction, albeit in such a way as to give the impression that Something Really Terrible is happening.)

(And further fairness, it's quite likely that the students at these pseudo-schools are getting told that the Wahhabist interpretation of Islam is the only true way and this is how things should be done; but that's subtly different from telling them to do it.)

There's an underlying issue here, about whether we want children being taught about the reprehensible practices of Wahhabi Islam. Here, we have to be careful. A crack down on this will effectively mean granting the government the power to investigate and approve/disapprove almost any aspect of parenting. They'll be able to snoop on any interaction between individuals where 'values' may be transmitted.

It's the old liberal dilemma - to protect the liberties we all value, we have to extend that same protection to people we might not particularly like. As long as they all play with in the rules - and some of these pseudo-schools may be treading a very fine line - then we don't want to throw away all the nice protections we enjoy to satisfy some visceral desire to be Doing Something.

I don't like what is happening in these schools, but unless it can be clearly shown they've actually broken the law, then we have to accept that parents have the right to teach their children values and ideas we might not like. It would be unwise to grant the state the degree of power it would need to be able to intervene in such matters. Other states have taken it upon themselves to interfere in the private lives of their citizens and eradicate religious tendencies they dislike. They have not been good and happy places.

If we want to get rid of crap authoritarian lawmongering, which blighted the New Labour experiment, we have to accept it is going to license some things we might not personally like very much.

1 - "Sharia lessons for pupils aged six: BBC uncovers 'weekend schools' that teach pupils how to hack off thieves' hands," by James Slack. Published by The Daily Mial, 24th of November, 2010. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1331789/Sharia-lessons-pupils-aged-BBC-uncovers-weekend-schools.html)
2 - As described previously on lefthandpalm; http://lefthandpalm.blogspot.com/2007/02/king-fahad-academy-teaches-hate.html

More sub-wonkish UK polling ruminations

Another clutch of polls wich continue to show the major UK parties effectively tied (1).

24 Nov 40 40 9 Tie
23 Nov 42 40 10 Con +2
22 Nov 41 38 11 Con +3

Its simplistic to say that this is down to unpopular cuts. The Tories share is still consistently around 40% which is a touch higher than they achieved at the election. Any collapse in support for the Tories due to unpopular policy is still to come. The difference is a transfer of about 10% of the vote from the Lib Dems to Labour - probably, the Social Democrat faction signalling their disgust with the coalition.

If Labour can retain that portion of the Lib Dem vote, or at least a decent share of it, and there is a 4-5% wane in Tory support as the cuts bite, then 2015 will be a not an other 1997, but another 1789.

1 - As per UK Polling Report, viewed on 27th of Novemeber, 2010. (http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/)

Pike River II

Some further thoughts, not really about the Pike River Tragedy itself - for what really needs to be said about that?

I noticed a couple of things about the men who fronted for the media, eith in their professional capactiy - Peter Whittall, Gary Knowles, Tony Kokshoorn - or the various local men that the media talked to about the tragedy as it developed. The first thing I noticed was that they were almost without exception, men. And, when pressed to speak, they did so with remarkable fluency, thought, courage and emotion. The stereotype of the rugged Southern bloke, laconic to the point of inarticulacy, emotionally stunted to the point of autism, is an injustice to the men of Greymouth.

If it seems that the workeng men of the South and the Tasman coast are like that, it is only in contrast to the vapid emotional incontinence of more urban climes, where babble takes the place of having nothing to say, and cheap emotional display disguises our unfamiliarity with true feeling.

The men of Greymouth demonstrated they could speak calmly in the face of tragedy; could be emotional without being over-wrought; could describe their feelings and their fear perfectly adequately, but could keep them controlled because this wasn't the time and place; could show courage, dignity and leadership; and could confront a crisis calmly and, under immense pressure, make the right calls.

It's with reference to this last that I raise my second point, which is what I consider the very poor performance by the media in the face of this. While the men dealing with this disaster were calm, rational and reticent, the media was juvenile and emotionally manipulative.

This went beyond the obvious faults: the pointless demonstrations of mining equipment by Jack Tame on One News - what was the purpose of that, forty eight or seventy two hours after the initial blast?; the slick graphics that the TV news stations deployed to make their coverage look slick and sensational; or the dreadful, trite quality of some of the coverage, which saw one TV reporter referring to the miners as the "Prisoners of the mountain," for Heaven's sake.

The media, I feel, were attempting to manufacture a narrative around this tragedy, especially as the days passed, when reporters interviewed the family members of the missing miners.

Giving these greiving people air time was distasteful and manipulative. They should have been left alone. We don't need to be told that the families are incredibly distraught, and to have their misery paraded for our own vicarious emotional fix.

Even more of a concern was how the media gave scope to family members to criticize the rescue effort. By encouraging them to verbalize their dissatisfaction and their urge to get down into the mine, in spite of the official ban, they may have prompted some to make more of these plans than a desperate longing. Given what happened yesterday afternoon, this could have had terrible consequences; it would certainly have wasted time and diverted resources being directed towards the rescue.

It also encouraged the people to wonder if the rescue effort was on the wrong track, putting more pressure on the shoulders of men who were already contending with far more than could reasonably be asked of them.

Even on the morning of the second blast, family members were being interviewed and airtime being given to their criticism of the rescue effort, and their desire to simply get into the mine, without authorisation if necessary. That the families of the missing felt that way is no surprsie. Who wouldn't? But that the media gave them air time to express what should have been kept private, and acted to undermine and pressurize the men co-ordinating the rescue effort, was simply irresponsible, cynical and disgraceful.

The media should be ashamed of itself, and study the tremendous example of Peter Whittall, Gary Knowles, Tony Kokshoorn and the many others who showed how to confront a disaster properly, like men do.

British polling

The record of the last ten days polling by various companies have given Labour a lead of between 1-5% in FIVE polls (1). Two are tied and only one shows a Tory lead of 2%.

DATE/CON/LAB/LIB DEM
21 Nov 36 38 14 Lab +2
19 Nov 37 38 13 Lab +1
19 Nov 40 38 11 Con +2
18 Nov 40 40 11 Tie
17 Nov 40 40 11 Tie
16 Nov 37 42 10 Lab +5
15 Nov 40 42 10 Lab +2
12 Nov 39 41 10 Lab +2

The UK Polling Report poll of polls puts Labour ahead by 2%, and predicts an outright Labour Majority of 10 seats.

Crikey, it took Labour 10 years, 2 wars, a recession and Gordon Brown to squander their populairty. The Tories have managed it just six months.

An endorsement of the superior efficiency of the freemarket ideology?

1 - As per UK Polling Report, viewed on 22nd of Novemeber, 2010. (http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/)

Tough on crime, tough on those who deal with crime

Britain will see a reduction in police numbers by 6000, according to an analysis of the effect of the cuts.

This marks something of a change of tune (to put it mildly) for the Tories, for whom waiiling about feral youth, police men spending more time on paper work, and the whole Hell in a Handcart routine is bread and butter stuff:

Police numbers are likely to fall by a minimum of 6,000 this year because almost every police force in England and Wales has put a freeze on new recruits, according to research published today by the shadow home secretary, Ed Balls.

He said the research showed that 6,000 officers leave the force each year or take early retirement, and would now not be replaced by new recruits.

Policing minister Nick Herbert responded by saying there was no link between police numbers and crime levels. In remarks that startled Labour, he said: "I don't think anyone – and no respected academic – would make a simple link between the increase in police officers and what has happened to crime. There is no such link." (1)

What happened to getting more bobbies on the beat and controlling our unruly youth?

Note that they aren't falling back on the standard defences of "Labour's figures are wrong" or "We'll reduce bureaucracy so police can spend more time policing."

Doubtless, these platitudes have been, and will be, recited by David Cameron and his cabinet cronies. Nick Herbert needs to get 'on message,' though I suspect he's a bit closer to reality than Cameron. Sound bites are fine in opposition when you're in opposition, or a gurning figurehead. I suspect the luckless Mr Herbert is less keen to make promises he can't keep.

Meanwhile, the Indie commemorates the 10th anniversary of the death of 10 year old Damilola Taylor, stabbed in London. It describes the difficulties faced by the youth so easily demonsied by the Tories:

At the age of seven, Francisco Augusto's life was turned upside down when his friend and football teammate Damilola Taylor was killed. His death was followed by Francisco's parents splitting up and another move to a new school. Together these events filled the little boy with rage he didn't understand and couldn't control. He was excluded from school aged 11 and arrested by police within a year.

But ...

He could well have been on a path similar to that of the boys who killed Damilola. But he caught the attention of a local youth worker, Roger Jalil, himself only 22 at the time. Through playing football together, Roger became Francisco's confidant as he tried to make sense of Damilola's death, his worsening relationship with his father, and all the anger he couldn't articulate.

Last year Francisco passed 11 GCSEs at grade A to C and hopes to study sociology at university. He hopes to set up his own youth projects and is being mentored by two businessmen after taking an entrepreneurial course with London Youth – all inspired and encouraged by his youth worker. The love and respect between Francisco, 17, and Roger, 27, is uplifting.

"Whenever I remember Damilola, I always see him smiling and playing football," says the teenager. "Even though he was older than me he saw I was having a hard time at school after coming here from Angola, so he took me under his wing and got me playing football. And that's how Roger got me involved, playing football, treating me like his little brother until I started opening up to him.

"If it wasn't for Roger, the Adventure Playground and London Youth, I wouldn't be here now. If people in high society really wanted to stop youth crime then they could, by making sure every young person who needs help has someone like Roger to help them. Every year on the anniversary of Damilola's death I take some time and think about how I can do better the next year, and make his memory last even longer." (2)

I wonder how many youth workers and projects like Adventure Playground and London Youth will be getting cut in the ideologically motivated War on Debt?

1 - "Police recruiting freeze likely to shrink force by 6,000 this year, says Ed Balls," by Patrick Wintour. Published in The Guardian, 21st of November, 2010. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/21/police-numbers-to-drop-by-6000)
2 - "Remembering Damilola: The killing goes on, but the fightback is under way," by Andrew Johnson and Nina Lakhani(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/remembering-damilola-the-killing-goes-on-but-the-fightback-is-under-way-2139882.html)

Pike River

Am I the only person finding the media coverage of the Pike River Mine disaster at best woefully inadequate, at worst pretty revolting?

Obviously, it's a terrible situation, and it needs to be reported, but the style of the coverage has been tabloid, prying into the private suffering and grief of the community. It's a sign of how relentlessly subjective the news media has become, when a disaster like this immediately becomes and excuse to present the rest of the population with images of grief and mental agony.

Several things have struck me as deeply off putting. Within hours of the initial explosion the NZ Herald had put up a (presumably old) NZPA story titled "NZ's worst mining accidents: Gas, explosions kill dozens," which seems a bit ghoulish and likely to cause confusion and distress - my initial reaction when I googled up the stroy was 'Fuck, they're all dead.' It took a few seconds for me to realise it was a catalogue of previous mining disasters. The shock and distress that someone more initmately connected with the missing miners would have experienced in those seconds can't really be imagined. It's a tasteless attempt to max out the drama and fill their ewebsite with 'relevant' content. never mind how tastless, stupid or repugnant.

(The NZ Herald has changed the headline slightly since then, dropping the reference to deaths - but the headline in its original form has been preserved on other sites mirroring or linking to the story (1).)

Oh, and Prince William sends his sympathies. As if anyone gave a fuck. Though obviously, it must be a tabloid wet dream to link the currently very news worthy Prince William with this crisis. You can almost imagine a news editor licking his or her lips when they heard about that. Royalty and a disaster - it's Google Search news - two hot search terms coming together in a blissful union.

Conversely, in other ways the media has offended me by its pussyfooting around the likely fate of the miners. They have continually refered to the miners as 'trapped' and after the resuce efforts were aborted on Saturday night due to the persistance of gas levels in the mine, we were told that the 'trapped' miners 'faced a second night underground.' The implication being, throughout the media coverage, that the miners are alive - a possibility, but an increasingly remote one.

Obviously, the media are gearing their coverage for another Chilean miracle. But it isn't the media's job to be continually optimistic in the face of disaster, or to construct a narrative, just to report. The fact is that there has been a substantial explosion underground, and only 2 miners have made it out. It is likely the air in the mine is poisonous, and it is unlikely that anyone can have survived down there for 48 hours.

As I understand it, the self saver devices they have would only have provided them with half an hour or so's respite, yet TVNZ reporter Jack Tame treated us to a pathetic demonstration of how the kits work, broadcast 24 hours after the initial explosion. What other resources may be available to them, I do not know, but the media has certainly not enlightened me. Instead, there's have too much prying into the private grief and anguish of the community.

1 - "NZ's worst mining accidents: Gas, explosions kill dozens - New Zealand Herald." This provides a link back tot he Herlad story, with the new version of the title. It looks like the article was actually written some time before. It's originally a NZPA piece. (http://latestbusinessreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=433903:nzs-worst-mining-accidents-gas-explosions-kill-dozens-new-zealand-herald&catid=38:topstories&Itemid=1)

1 out of 285 ain't bad

So Ahmed Ghailani was found guilty on just one of the 285 terrorism related charges brought against him:

The first Guantanamo detainee tried in a US civilian court has been found guilty on just one out of 285 terror charges over the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa.

Tanzanian Ahmed Ghailani, 36, was found guilty of conspiracy to damage or destroy US property with explosives.

But he was cleared of many other counts including murder and murder conspiracy.

Ghailani faces a minimum of 20 years in prison. The verdict comes as the US weighs other civilian terror trials.

The BBC's Iain Mackenzie, in Washington, says the verdict in the Ghailani case will be seen as a huge blow to the Obama administration. (1)

The man aided the commission of a terrorist act, he has been tried and found guilty in a reputable court of law, using evidence that wasn't coerced by torture. Unfounded charges have been thrown out, as they should have been.

The American justice system has reasserted its primacy after years of the political-military complex ruling by decree. Some vague adherence to the Geneva conventions has been established. Obama has again shown he's retained some shreds of principle and decency. A massive load of dung has been dragged out of the Augean stables.

We don't have to behave abominably, we choose to. And to some extent, it justifies the hatred and contempt entertained for the West. Of course, its a shame that this anger it gets visited on us, rather than our leaders who deserve it. But - as Ward churchill pointed out, we're all responsible to a degree - we get to choose our leaders, and we know this shit is going on, we just don't care much until our faces get shoved in it.

We buy easy lies and propaganda because it makes it easier for us to live in an unjust world where we're the beneficiaries. Palestinian refugees subsisting in Gaza and the West Bank while Isreal slowly engorges itself? Stuff 'em, there's a war on Terror afoot, didn't you notice? Never mind that the Plaestinian issue is one of the rankest examples of injustice which leads to hatred. Israel is our ally, surrounded by hostile regimes, blah blah blah ...

Obama's supposed blundering on this issue shows at least a willingness to try to behave according to some standard of decency. Shame the bar was set so fucking low by the last administration that even this seems like progress.

Obama has been - as always - in a very difficult position where he's had to balance his principled instinct with a bit of realpolitik. Probably, he's done too much of the latter, which achieves little positive and only harms his reputation, but he's still making some progress in an incredibly difficult situation. It would be too easy to excoriate him - as some on the left are wont to - for not being pure and unsullied. But it's nice living in a vague and fluffy place where principles don't even have to meet reality.

1 - "Ghailani guilty of one charge for 1998 US embassy bombs," unattributed article. Published by the BBC, 18th of November, 2010. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11782346)