The Left vs. the Islamists

As is well known by now, the Left and the Islamists have formed a working alliance. David Horowitz looked into this at length in his book Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left and I have devoted a number of articles and weblog entries to the topic ("Why the Left Loves Osama [and Saddam]," "Left ♥ CAIR, MPAC, et al.," and "The Leftist-Islamist Alliance in Pictures"). There is another side though – tensions between the two sides over their many differences, especially concerning sexuality. This weblog entry will take up some of the more interesting of those differences, and their expression, in reverse chronological order.

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"A Dutch Fissure in the Leftist-Islamist Alliance": My blog on another case of this phenomenon. (December 29, 2008)

"Red Sun Setting, Blue Tide Rising": Muslim Public Affairs Council - United Kingdom, the more radical version of the American MPAC, has come out with a stinging statement against the British Labour party, and stated its new affection for the Tories.

Decades of loyal Muslim support to Labour was repaid by one of the most Islamophobic governments this country has ever had. … MPs who are Zionists and routinely denigrate their Muslim constituents like Mike Gapes of Ilford and Dennis MacShane of Rotherham have had loyal and unquestioning support from their Muslim constituents. …

The Muslims were a loyal voting block, that didnt ask for much except the odd friendly word on Kashmir and a picture taken in a restaurant. For Labour to allow Tony Blair to flush that down the toilet and lose a generation of the Muslim electorate by invading Iraq and supporting Israels brutal invasion of Lebanon was breathtakingly stupid. I'm sure some Labour wonk must have said before the Iraq war "The Muslims will forget this invasion of Iraq by this time next year." How wrong they were, and like a cancerous growth each day, the Muslim community grow further and further away from their traditional party and day by day the more astute political parties who want to gain influence with those disenchanted voters change policies to reach out to them. …

Now for the surprise, while Labour has squandered its loyal Muslim voting base, the Tories have performed a massive turnaround. While Tony Blair angered Muslim opinion by expediting weapons to Israel and the Liberal Democrats sat on their hands, William Hague, the shadow Foreign Minister criticised Israels disproportionate force during the summer invasion of Lebanon and now David Camerons masterful distancing himself from the Neo-Con rhetoric. He has rejected a clash of civilisations and accepts the role of the United Nations. While he makes political capital from a divided Labour leadership and myopic foreign policy, the Muslim community has started to take notice.These public statements in themselves do not mean that the Tories are the good guys, but it does mean they are no longer the bad guys. The Tories will be the next Government whether at the next general election or the one after. The more progressive and politically astute Muslims must be part of that transition. The Tories are reaching out to us and we must reach out to them.

(September 12, 2006)

"PM to question Choudhary over 'stoning' comments": New Zealand Labour MP Ashraf Choudhary refused in a television interview on TV3's 60 Minutes on July 4 to condemn the stoning to death of homosexuals and people who had extra-marital affairs. He was asked, in a program examining radical Islam in New Zealand, "Are you saying the Koran is wrong to recommend that gays in certain circumstances be stoned to death?" He replied: "No, no. Certainly what the Koran says is correct." Then he partially qualified this statement. "In those societies, not here in New Zealand."

Prime Minister Helen Clark, head of the Labour Party, told the New Zealand Press Association she wanted to know more, and then spoke disparagingly of the Koran.

I will try to clarify it. Clearly Ashraf is a devout Muslim and he will have his own views. But for the record let me spell out the Labour Party does not support capital punishment. It does not support flogging. It does not support stoning. We have very strong views about that. I don't care whether it's in any religious tract, it's not something that's acceptable to me.

Conservation Minister Chris Carter and Christchurch Central MP Tim Barnett, both openly gay, also said they would ask Choudhary about his comments. (July 5, 2005)

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