The Global Peace and Unity event and Harry’s Place

Continuing the quest to eradicate any and all attempts by Muslim bodies to celebrate Islam and Islamic teachings in full and glorious multicolour, Harry’s Place has a feature on the Global Peace and Unity event (GPU) that is to be held at the ExCel Centre in London on 25 – 26th October 2008.

Analogous to the attacks launched against the IslamExpo exhibition in London in July 2008 and stories in the Sunday Times and Scotland on Sunday newspapers last week concerning proposals to organise a similar event in Scotland, David Toube on Harry’s Place posted a comment maligning the intent and content of the event and its organizers.

Salma Yaqoob, Birmingham City Councillor and speaker at next weekend’s event, has written a letter in response to allegations made by David Toube on the GPU.

‘The real intention behind the attacks on it [GPU] by the rabidly pro-Israeli Harry’s Place website is to further restrict freedom of speech for the British Muslim community’, she wrote.

‘Any Muslim gathering which discusses the disastrous impact of Western foreign policy now finds itself accused of promoting ‘grievance politics’, and a ‘victim mentality’.’

‘The kind of politics motivating these attacks on the GPU and IslamExpo events is highly dangerous. If, inside the Muslim community, the public space to even discuss concerns and distress over foreign policy gets squeezed, a dangerous vacuum is created. This can be filled by the real extremists who will claim to share our genuine concerns about the injustice at the heart of British foreign policy, but promote only violent solutions and reject peaceful and democratic routes as pointless’.

You can read Salma’s letter and join the discussion here.