2014年9月22日 星期一

When men-only streets are okay in London

反向證明伊斯蘭恐懼症存在於英國的例子

Imagine in one of London’s central districts, a Muslim group representing a significant section of the local community puts up notices before a street event telling women to confine themselves to one side of the road only. The posters, in Arabic and English, state: “Women should please walk along this side of the road only.”

How much coverage in the UK media do you think this would receive? Would we see articles about Muslims trying to bring sharia law to the streets of London? Would commentators fall over themselves to decry Islam as a religion of extremism and intolerance? Would our media and politicians call on Muslim leaders to denounce such primitive practices?

From long experience, we all know the answer.

So how to explain the near-silence about exactly this happening last week in the London district of Hackney, except that religious Jews rather than Muslims were the party responsible. The Shomrim organisation put up the signs in preparation for the Torah procession in Stamford Hill. The posters were removed after local residents complained.

2014年9月12日 星期五

Moeen Ali Interview: 'I Am A Muslim, Yes, But I Am Also Very English'

專訪英國板球明星Moeen Ali

Moeen Ali的大鬍子或是之前參加比賽穿戴聲援巴勒斯坦的手環(Free Palestine),遭到英國右派報紙的批判。右派質疑他太過宗教,不應該在公領域中過於強調。

另外他也談到對伊斯蘭、英國認同與中東局勢的看法。

I do let people touch it."
Moeen Ali is not just referring to but stroking – what else? – his glorious beard. The England cricketer grabbed the headlines over the summer, on both the front and the back pages, for his dazzling performances against India and Sri Lanka - and, also, for his striking visage.
England fans have dubbed him 'The Beard That's Feared', a slogan that has inspired both T-shirts and Twitter hashtags. Newspapers such as the Mail and the Independent have compared Ali to the bearded, Victorian-era cricket legend WG Grace.

"Let’s be honest, it’s hard to take the eyes off that long, lustrous beard," noted a recent profile of Ali in the Sunday Times. Writing in the Independent, columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown referred to the cricketer’s "Taliban beard".