Stay Selectively Quiet or Else

By John Thompson

Ramadan continues and has reached Day 17 with a modest total of 89 attacks in the name of Islam (yielding 343 deaths so far), against 1 religiously-inspired attack seemingly carried about by a Hindu who objected to a Muslim celebrating Ramadan by killing sacred cows. Likewise, the score that be laid against "Islamophobics" remains at 0.00.

The trend looks good: Lots of trash-talking as usual but the overall death rate seems lower than the annual average. Canadians still await news on the Bombay Bhel Restaurant bombing of May 25th, but Peel Regional Police are keeping their lips sealed until they know more. This is salutary, but the tight lips should end as the trial process commences.

However, the most explosive issue for all of us should be the continuing incarceration of the British activist Tommy Robinson for contempt of court. Robinson, who does have his rough edges, persisted in trying to bring details about the continuing Rotherham Gang Rape trials to the public.

For those unfamiliar with the story, a gang of "South Asian men" (i.e. Muslims from Pakistan) in Rotherham, Yorkshire, may have raped as many as 1,400 girls since the early 1990s. As we know from similar episodes in France, Germany, Sweden and elsewhere, the victims can include all young women (including Muslim girls), but the "grooming gangs" are especially pernicious in using coercion and shame on teenagers and children for the purposes of prostitution.

Pimps and rapists are unfortunately universal, but this scale in a small town is frightening. The difference is also its cultural and religious context -- as evinced by the ISIS slavery of Yezidi women, the kidnapping of Nigerian school girls, the "Sex Jihad" and any number of sex-obsessed opinions from sundry Salafist and Wahhabi clerics, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

In our cheerful Multicultural society, there is no room to discuss these little problems for all of us are happily (and voluntarily) rubbing along together, right? No, why nothing could be possibly be wrong and it is rude to bring up such issues. Having three or four of the brothers enacting their favorite porn scenes with a 13-year old girl who has been threatened with being burned alive is terrible . . . but wanting to publicly explore the possible religious or culture implications, we can't have that!

Think what one may about Tommy Robinson, but he is the single-most important champion of freedom of expression in a hitherto free society around today. So long as he remains behind bars, all of our freedoms are endangered.

We could talk about other things . . . or not. Why this very week, Toronto City Council was treated to an Iftar event (the fast breaking at sunset on Ramadan). All good multi-culti stuff:  Politicians posing for photos; food being offered to the homeless; a public celebration. However, the prayers for the evening (recited inside City Council Chambers) include references to Jews as "people who have earned the wrath of Allah", and Christians as "people who were led astray."

The intrepid Tarek Fatah might be willing to talk about that particular elephant in the room, yet it seems the assembled councillors smiled and nodded approvingly as they listened to a prayer that most of them couldn't understand.

City councillors and visitors who did speak Arabic appear to have restrained themselves from interrupting with the reminder: "takhatiy dhlk aljuz', al'akh , alyhwd walmasihiiyn hum jiranuna altayibun huna." ("Skip the next part, brother, Jews and Christians are our good neighbours here.")

This is a shame, because Toronto's mayor and Councillor de Baeremaeker had swiftly denounced the spray-painting vandalism at the Wali ul Asr School in Scarborough, earlier this week. Some pimple-face with a spray can had expressed some nasty opinions on the school's sign; and denunciation (and a city clean-up crew) had rushed to the scene.

Tory and Baeremaeker at least refrained from branding the episode as an example of Islamophobia -- after all, Wali ul Asr is a Shia school and the Picasso with a spray-can might have been a Sunni. Hopefully, we'll know if a trial ever comes up.

One hopes these two leaders of the community will be as swift and resolute when somebody -- inspired by openly recited prayers in our public spaces -- does the same thing to a Synagogue or a church.