ENGAGE Exclusive! Social Affairs Unit Removes Douglas Murray’s Feb 2006 Anti-Muslim Rant From Website

Douglas Murray is the Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion – an outfit funded by the right-wing think-tank, Civitas. The CfSC website explains its purpose as being to ‘help bring Britain’s ethnic and religious communities closer together while strengthening British traditions of openness, tolerance and democracy.’  If only that were true!

As has been pointed out elsewhere, Douglas Murray  – the author of a recent book called Neoconservatism: Why We Need it – never misses an opportunity to stir up anti-Muslim prejudice whenever he is interviewed on TV and radio, or in his writings. A shockingly notorious speech he delivered in Feb 2006 entitled ‘What Are We To Do With Islam?’, while working for the equally right-wing Social Affairs Unit has been heavily criticised for its Nazi-like overtones and its shameless intolerance towards Muslims.

But what’s this? After several writers recently drew attention to the Feb 2006 speech, it seems that all links to it have now been removed from the website of his previous employers at the Social Affairs Unit. No doubt it was also of huge embarrassment to Murray’s new employers at Civitas, who bankroll the Centre for Social Cohesion, as it revealed that the man they have tasked with bringing ‘religious communities closer together’ is actually a foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Muslim bigot.

Fortunately, we at ENGAGE – with the help of a wonderful utility called the Way Back Machine – have managed to retrieve Douglas Murray’s speech. It can be read in full here.  And below are some extracts:

“Why is it that time and again the liberal West is crumpling before the violence, intimidation and thuggery of Islam?”

“I promised to propose some of the solutions to this problem … All immigration into Europe from Muslim countries must stop.”
 
“Conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board: Europe must look like a less attractive proposition.”
 
“And of course it should go without saying that Muslims in Europe who for any reason take part in, plot, assist or condone violence against the west (not just the country they happen to have found sanctuary in, but any country in the west or western troops) must be forcibly deported back to their place of origin…Where a person was born in the west, they should be deported to the country of origin of their parent or grandparent.”
 
“Abroad we must continue our work at taking the war to the terrorists. We are winning that war, and we should extend that war.”

If you believe that the above statements by Douglas Murray are somewhat inconsistent with the stated goals of the Centre for Social Cohesion, which are to “help bring Britain’s ethnic and religious communities closer together while strengthening British traditions of openness, tolerance and democracy” – then drop Civitas – who fund the CfSC – a note at [email protected].