Well, I found the story disturbing , to say the least - but here in Britian, although we have been up against racism for a long time and have got legislation in place, there is still a lot of bigotry floating about in the system. people do not talk about 'wogs' and ' niggers' on the radio, or even at the office - getting called on it is a real risk, but it does happen when some guy on a bus or wherever is among strangers, that a lot of racism and bigotry comes out. So, I know it's still here.
I work in the Underground rail network - Londoners call it 'the tube'. Now, the deal is , the place is well unionised, and it pays well. You don't get in by being black or female, you get in by passing the tests. Even so , London Transport has always pitched directly to people they want, so we have a fair number of ethnic minorities representing our multicultural city.
When the bombs went off on 7/7, there were Muslims among the injured and even among the dead. A lot of Muslims turned up for work next day and drove the buses and trains, and stood on the gates at the stations, knowing that we were all sitting targets for the next fanatic with a bomb in his bag.
But before the bombings happened, I knew guys who lived in North London who were telling me that Abu Hamza, a notorious jihadist agitator , had come to the Finsbury Park Mosque and tried to stir up trouble there.
The moderate leadership of the mosque had gone to the Police and appealed for help, as hamza was using an imported gang of toughs to intimidate and drive out people who opposed him. the police decided that this was something for the local community to sort out itself - the way they used to look at domestic violence.
Hamza took over, and moderates, like the people I work with , went elsewhere. then the bombs went off and the local police woke up and smelled coffee, going down to Finsbury Park Mosque to close all the stable doors they could find.
Anecdotal, I know, but a friend at work tells me that the Imams who work for the jihadists as recruiters get their best leads from prisons. there are many young men in Britain who are jobless and turn to crime as a career.
The rogue Imams, visiting them in prison , are easily able to appeal to their sense of alienation and incite them to become 'Islamic Warriors', and fight against the system that they feel has let them down and not given them the jobs that they think they deserved.
It has to be said that in the immediate aftermath of the bombings, the Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, did the right thing and flagged up the Muslims who were killed and injured in the blasts, as well as the Muslim transport workers who kept the system running against appalling appalling difficulties in the aftermath.
Much as I dislike the Sun, I have to say that on this occasion, they behaved with a serious degree of responsibility.
no subject
I work in the Underground rail network - Londoners call it 'the tube'. Now, the deal is , the place is well unionised, and it pays well. You don't get in by being black or female, you get in by passing the tests. Even so , London Transport has always pitched directly to people they want, so we have a fair number of ethnic minorities representing our multicultural city.
When the bombs went off on 7/7, there were Muslims among the injured and even among the dead. A lot of Muslims turned up for work next day and drove the buses and trains, and stood on the gates at the stations, knowing that we were all sitting targets for the next fanatic with a bomb in his bag.
But before the bombings happened, I knew guys who lived in North London who were telling me that Abu Hamza, a notorious jihadist agitator , had come to the Finsbury Park Mosque and tried to stir up trouble there.
The moderate leadership of the mosque had gone to the Police and appealed for help, as hamza was using an imported gang of toughs to intimidate and drive out people who opposed him. the police decided that this was something for the local community to sort out itself - the way they used to look at domestic violence.
Hamza took over, and moderates, like the people I work with , went elsewhere. then the bombs went off and the local police woke up and smelled coffee, going down to Finsbury Park Mosque to close all the stable doors they could find.
Anecdotal, I know, but a friend at work tells me that the Imams who work for the jihadists as recruiters get their best leads from prisons. there are many young men in Britain who are jobless and turn to crime as a career.
The rogue Imams, visiting them in prison , are easily able to appeal to their sense of alienation and incite them to become 'Islamic Warriors', and fight against the system that they feel has let them down and not given them the jobs that they think they deserved.
It has to be said that in the immediate aftermath of the bombings, the Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, did the right thing and flagged up the Muslims who were killed and injured in the blasts, as well as the Muslim transport workers who kept the system running against appalling appalling difficulties in the aftermath.
Much as I dislike the Sun, I have to say that on this occasion, they behaved with a serious degree of responsibility.