[Content note: Sexual Abuse; experience of sexually abused is outlined]
I write this because Novara Wire, the BuzzFeed of the Left, seems to have fallen for the reprehensible “Betrayed by PC Cowards” argument. Craig McVegas wrote “Police were scared of being labelled racist because they are racist” which is both nonsensical and untrue. There are many considerations to reflect on from Rotherham as I’ll touch on but the Police are scared of being labelled racist is emphatically not one of them.
In the four weeks since the Professor Alexis Jay’s report into Rotherham, it has unfurled complicity and cover-up by those who had the power to intervene and duty to care. The harrowing testimony and detailed evidence of state failure is beyond doubt. The righteous anger of victims, survivors and their families generated a swathe of resignations and calls for more, most recently heeded by the now-former South Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright.
Amidst this justified anger, politicians across the spectrum have responded by manipulating the facts of this horrendous case to serve their own terrible ends. Tabloids started this old tune with a drum-beat that lamented the “1400 victims of the PC Brigade”, then disgraced former Labour MP for Rotherham Denis MacShane, added his own rhythm when he declared that being “a true Guardian reader, and liberal leftie” perhaps inhibited him from looking too deeply into the issue. On 2nd September, the malicious melody was then perfected by the Home Secretary. In parliament, Theresa May deployed the term “institutionalised political correctness” to partially explain the lack of action by authorities in Rotherham. An invented phrase not found in Professor Jay’s report. Thus in a parliamentary statement, the Macpherson report was turned on its head. The myth poses that endemic police racism has given way to a police force stultified by the fear of encroaching cultural sensitivity. It’s stunning absurdity is only matched by the level of credence given to it.
Equally mythical is the idea that Asian men targeted exclusively white girls as the report documents that untold numbers of Pakistani girls were also victimised outside school gates [report section 11.14]. However the repeated dirge of “The State is too sensitive to Muslims” has been played so consistently that unexpected sections of society have found themselves tapping along to it.
Recently street fascists and mainstream politicians have built this grotesque charade under the guise of “protecting our girls”.  Their desire to capitalise on thousands of abused children becomes more putrid when they use it as a weapon to beat back popular anti-racist struggle. White superiority culture is well served when Labour columnists trot out “The poor girls of Rotherham were victims of institutional anti-racism”. While these machinations are somewhat predictable, I’m troubled to find even sections of the radical Left swallowing it. Anyone who falls for the line: “The Police were afraid being labelled racist” has no clue or experience of how the police actually operate.
When reading Professor Jay’s report you will not find any tales of police officers facing obstruction to save these poor white girls from supposedly politically correct bureaucrats. On the contrary, Social Care officers were unequivocal that ethnic considerations did not influence their decision making [11.8]. The report shows South Yorkshire Police deciding to arrest parents who tried to remove their children from the abusers’ houses, along with various incidents of police arresting children for being drunk and disorderly, while taking no action against the perpetrators [5.9]. There was a South Yorkshire Police CID officer who dismissed statutory rape of a 12 year old as “consent” [5.21]. According to a Rotherham whistle-blower who worked for safeguarding agencies in the early 2000s:
“the attitude of the Police at that time seemed to be that they were all ‘undesirables’ and the young women were not worthy of police protection” [8.2]
A disturbing detail has suffocated in the hot air of denouncing phantom PC zealots. Jay’s report cites evidence that suggest some sexual predators possibly had access and support from staff within South Yorkshire Police:
In 2001, a young girl who had been repeatedly raped had tried to escape her perpetrators but was terrified of reprisals. They had allegedly put all the windows in at the parental home and broken both of her brother’s legs ‘to send a message’. At that point, the child agreed to make a complaint to the Police. The researcher took her to the police station office where she would be interviewed in advance in order to familiarise her with the place and the officer who would be conducting the interview. Whilst there, the girl received a text from the main perpetrator. He had with him her 11-year old sister. He said repeatedly to her ‘your choice…’. The girl did not proceed with the complaint. She disengaged from the pilot and project and is quoted by the researcher as saying ‘you can’t protect me’. This incident raised questions about how the perpetrator knew where the young woman was and what she was doing. [10.11]
Neither is this historical, The Guardian reports that the government’s own police watchdog Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) had concluded in a recent report that South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officers in its public protection unit took “a great deal deal of time trying to disprove” victims’ allegations. Another HMIC report from 2013 noted that staff within SYP believe that
“the emphasis from senior and middle local managers was still more focused on dealing with offences such as burglary and vehicle crime, rather than child sexual exploitation” (page 5)
There was no actual evidence that the Police was stopped from taking action due to fear of being portrayed as racist, despite this perception being widely held by young people [11.6] failed by local authorities. Rather there is ample evidence of institutional misogyny and classism in South Yorkshire Police. While resignations and personal statements of regret are necessary, they do not address this pernicious culture. Victims are failed further when Government ministers and their shadow counterparts are busy using this shameful episode to scapegoat entire cultural groups. The government’s role has not been to resolve structural discrimination but to recuperate state and police legitimacy. These lies empower bigots, smear the anti-racist struggle and cover up the inadequacies and crimes of state authorities. We should be fighting this not embracing it.
5 Comments
We live in a country where women are over-sexualised and sold as ‘products’ for capitalist gains. A woman’s beauty is splashed around everywhere, andshe is only judged by that. Islam tells a woman to cover up so that she is not abused as Western women are.
Islam is the fastest growing faith in Britain. Hundreds and thousands of Brits are reverting to Islam. By the middle of this century, over half of Brits would be Muslims.
New research has shown more women convert to Islam than men – in fact, they account for 60 per cent of conversions. They believed that they should be a force for good by building bridges between the Muslim and Non Muslim communities in order to understand Islam better.
Examples of women who have left high powered jobs in the city, educated women who mostly found out about Islam independently via books, the internet or discussion with Muslims; seem to be the picture that is portrayed in this study. This clearly demonstrates a clear pattern of converts who while non Muslim rethought their lives and actively sought to reject secular values,for a belief system offering spiritual and worldly guidance in order to regulate life in a meaningful and fulfilling way. The rejection of materialism and decadence seem to be some of the catalysts in making that
change.
One of the most high-profile examples is Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth, who recently announced she had adopted the faith after a trip to Iran. The conversion of Lauren Booth will have a positive impact, despite claims that it is just attention-seeking. It will encourage people to convert, unless they idolise her, but I think that it will educate people and make them more interested in learning about Muslims. It’s all about having a look at the Quran with an open mind, without presumptions and assumptions…Then would the reader understand what the beautiful religion is all about….
Increasing numbers of young, university-educated women in their twenties and thirties are converting to Islam. Well – educated white women are more likely to convert to Islam than other groups. Through wearing modest clothing, all the way to a head scarf, it’s no longer about how you look, It’s getting free from this idea that you are defined by your dress size.†At the London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, women account for roughly two thirds of the “New Muslims†who make their official declarations of faith – and most of them are under the age of 30.
The question is why are so-called liberated women choosing Islam. Such women are part of an intriguing trend. They seek spirituality, a higher meaning, and tend to be deep thinkers.
While 9/11 has led to a western military and ideological onslaught on Islam, 9/11 has also been the catalyst for increasing numbers, born and bred in the west, to question and reject western values and convert to Islam.
It is also of no surprise that no matter what policies or narrative is pushed by governments, writers, thinkers or elements of the media to try and reason away such conversions as ‘fringe’, ‘coercion’ or ‘blind following,’ this trend will continue in a world that seeks to understand the extent to
which Capitalist liberal values have failed man in every sense and left a void which can only be filled by the truth!
“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him – the wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Saviour of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today.” [G.B. Shaw, THE GENUINE ISLAM, Vol.
1, No. 81936.]
I don’t believe in the right to dictate to different people what to do and what not to do simply because of their culture. What is the problem with a demand for Islamic schools exactly?The key word is demand, just as under common law, it is the law of the people. It comes from an acceptance of humanity. People should be free to choose how they educate their own children. So if there was a demand for Muslim schools from Muslim or non-Muslim parents then we should also allow that. I think freedom of religion should also be available to people should they want it. People
don’t come here to be British, they come here for a variety of reasons . France is a fraud in the manner it claims its secularity. It is not secular nor is the state separate from the religion of its parliamentarians.
I don’t buy the argument that Muslim schools brainwash innocent children and force them to think in a certain way when they should be “free” to choose their own way….it’s as if state schools don’t do the same! All childhood education is a form of moulding and culturing of intellect and behaviour…..in a state school they’ll be brought up to beleive in whatever the govt has set as the official curriculum….most likely they’ll grow up believing in liberal capitalism as the only way to make money, they’ll have very little knowledge of the crimes committed by Europe in the slave trade
and during the colonial period, they’ll have very little understanding of the contributions of other cultures, they’ll be forcefed govt-approved ethics etc etc….sounds like brainwashing to me!
All the venom against Islam, it’s pathetic. What about the kids who have parents that teach them no values at all, who take no interest in their child’s moral development or worse still, leave their children to be brought up by the media, X factor and a consumerist society?
And for those that say the children shouldn’t be indoctrinated with anything, like it or not, whenever you bring a child up you will indoctrinate your own beliefs into the child. Atheist’s will undoubtedly
have children who predominantly grow up to be Atheist, Jews will have children who will identify themselves as Jews as adults etc. If you refer to choice, every Muslim in this country has the choice to renounce their faith if they choose to when they grow up so there is no compulsion.
Parent’s have every right to reject state education if they feel that education is better served in an environment where morality is also discussed alongside traditional subjects.
After all, we have an education system in which it is acceptable to be laying in a pool of your own vomit one night and then graduate with flying colours the next day….
You have to accept that for some parents education should not just be about grades, but also the moral and spiritual development of their children as well.
Muslim schools have been around for 30+ years. The first Muslim school was set up by me in London in 1981 and now there are over 188 schools and only18 are state funded. Have they had a negative effect on British society? Far from it. Quite the opposite, in fact. Muslims convicted of any kind of illegal activity, let alone terrorism, tend to have been educated in mainstream, non-faith schools, colleges and universities. There are people who want to enforce their own ideology on people of faith. Having worked with and for Muslim schools for almost 30 years, I know of no Muslim who wants every school to be a faith school; our opponents, however, in the name
of liberalism and freedom, want all schools to be non-religious. Some liberalism; some freedom that is!
Ofsted evidence of Islamic Schools indicated that the pupils outperformed their peers at state schools. Ofsted report (some years ago) did find that Christian Evangelical schools did turn out the most intolerant out of all faith schools, it also found that the Jewish schools pupils were the least
intolerant. A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF MUSLIM SCHOOLS are doing well. Fact is
comprehensive schools are badly run, lacking in discipline, under-achieving academically and tolerates such lax behaviour that drug-use and teen pregnancy is considered normal. Would you want to send your kids to be educated in that kind of enviroment? So why beat up muslims parents who want to ‘OPT’ out?
Problems of high percentage of teenage pregnancy, drugs and alcoholism and setting the right level of sex education have been quite a burden to this country. While no solutions have been found yet, in fact the solution is already there in religious teaching.
So, setting up well organised and proper faith schools, particularly Islamic school gives the solution of the above problem. I think our government should support this direction more rather than wasting a lot of time finding other solutions that will not solve the problems.
Parents should be the ones to make the individual choice of what programs their kids should attend, not the government. Imposing the teaching of all religions or none at all would go against the liberty principle of your tolerant society. Parents have a right to educate their children where they see fit, and instill values which they feel will bring them as good and responsible individuals. These parents are sending thier kids to Muslim schools as they believe it is the best thing for their children and have lost faith in the what is being offered by the government.Muslim parents
want their children educated in a disciplined environment. Is that so unreasonable? People who seek religious schools just want some element of discipline and a focus on learning..
Sure, religious parents including Muslims, may also prefer a school ethos that is actively against porn, drugs and mini-micro-disappearing skirts.
May I congratulate Muslims on their founding of new schools and taking a full part in the life on this country. They simply are joining the Anglicans, Catholics, Jews, Methodists et al in having their own schools.
In a nation of immigrants that never assimilated into the Native American way of life, but imposed their culture onto the the native people and then exterminated most of them when they refused to bow down to ‘superior’ European culture.
Cambridge and many of the great western and eastern universities began as a theological colleges – part of the christian and muslim mission is to encourage learning including humanities and science. That is why the humanists and scientists did not need to start separate schools, they are a
product of religious ethos (of encouraging learning)
The Muslim community has been passing through a phase of fourth Crusades. The battleground is the field of education, where the young generation will be educated properly with the Holly Quran in one hand and Sciences in other hand to serve humanity. A true Muslim is a citizen of the world, which has become a small global village. We are going to prepare our youth to achieve that objective in the long run. A true Muslim believes in Prophet Moses and the Prophet Jesus and without them one cannot be a Muslim. My suggestion is that in all state, independent and Christian based school special attention should be given to the teaching of Comparative Religion and Islam should be taught by qualified Muslim Teachers to make the children aware the closeness
of Islam to Christianity and Judaism which will help them to think about Islam, as “A Pragmatic and Modern Way of Life,†during their life time. Those state schools where Muslim children are in majority may be opted out as Muslim Academies.
Bilingual Muslim children need to learn and be well versed in Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. The problem is that they learn English in the streets and in the playgrounds. British schooling does not teach English to
migrant children. The teachers let them speak the same accent in the classroom. They have no courage to stop them or correct them. This is one of the main reasons why one third of children have difficulties with reading when they leave primary schools. Majority of such children are bilingual Muslims. They often speak “street” with its own grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. In other European countries and in the sub-continent argot and slang are not allowed into the classrooms. In Britain primary school teachers do not feel that it’s role to interfere with self-expression in any shape or form. They encourage children to read poems and stories written in
ethnic dialects.
Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. It will help them to developm self-confidence and self-esteem.
IA
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
I understand why you focus on the police, who are hard to paint as liberals, but what about this? The first person to speak of the grooming gangs prosecuted twice, the first MP to do so slandered as a racist, the first TV programme shelved due to fears it would help the far right and the first report writer on Rotherham sent on diversity training. And don’t forget Jay’s comment that staff were confused what they could say or do without being called racist by managers. Thacker was a PC feminist like the other social workers who covered this up. Enough with the denial! Wake up and smell the coffee!
Hi Giles,
What you present doesn’t negate anything I’ve said. There was an element of silencing by established powers, there can be no doubt. However some of those who spoke out were placing the issue on racist terms, like Jack Straw. Many Asian girls were also abused but did not speak out due to stigma in their own community. When you say the first person to speak of the grooming gangs was prosecuted twice. Do you mean Nick Griffin?
They abused their own women. That does not negate the fact that people were afraid to speak out for fear of being ‘racist.’ I do not know about this Jack Straw. Maybe he is a reprehensible racist, but I’d listen to legitimate concerns even if they were put in racist terms. Funny how liberals are the first to criticize tone arguments and the last to put that into practice.
I’m an American. I used to respect Britain, but now I’m disgusted. If I were British, I’d never vote Labour because of this.
Where is the evidence that officials were afraid to speak out for fear of being racist? I don’t think voting Labour would solve anything at all. By the way I am not a liberal.