Trevor Phillips (ECHR) Suspended from the Labour Party

Asked about his assertion that British Muslims were “becoming a nation within a nation” being adopted by far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson, Mr Phillips replied: “As my grandmother says, just because the devil picks up a tune doesn’t mean it is a bad tune.”
It's not only unacceptable it's actually inaccurate Muslims are as diverse in their religious views as Christians. Can you imagine if we used extremist Christians who don't believe in evolution as the standard Christian belief? There would be a huge outcry.

The fact the ' Grooming gangs ' have been found to be from a certain cultural group / religion and saying so is not the domain of Tommy Robinson nor Trevor Phillips it is a ' fact' this is the case.

It is not Trevor Phillips following the words or beliefs of Tommy Robinson it is a case of Trevor Phillips accepting that just because Tommy Robinson said the facts about the Grooming Gangs does NOT make it a lie.

Hells bells there was an Independent Inquiry that states the same, following the warped opinion Trevor Phillips was agreeing with Tommy Robinson therefore Trevor Phillips is some sort of Tommy Robinson follower is so out of order it becomes a ridiculous conspiracy theory.

If the criteria is based on agreement over the facts then Dame Louise Casey, Professor Alex Jay will be aligned with Tommy Robinson too which is ridiculous but the principal applies.

Sarah Champion is still a Labour MP

I don't suppose either Dame Louise Casey or Professor Alex Jay referred to muslims as "a nation within a nation" did they POGS? If they did then they are substantially wrong and just as it would be wrong to assume that all Catholics are involved in the abuse of young boys because some priests are,, it is wrong to assume all Muslims are involved in the abuse and grooming of young women. Yes there was a cultural element but for most Muslims such behaviour is absolutely abhorrent. But it seems it's OK to accuse some people of things because of the religion they practice. Arguably Catholicism has been responsible for as much abuse as Islam. Philips has been Islamaphobic, it's sad but it's true.

He isn’t wrong though. In places like Bradford there is a small nation within a nation and it’s ludicrous to say otherwise. There are areas of mainly Pakistani/ Bangladeshi immigrants and their descendants that happen to be muslim but follow their culture as if still living in their country of origin. Follow their own law and customs even if these customs go against the values and law of the UK. Some of these people never interact with anyone outside of their own community. It’s not Islamaphobia to point this out, in fact it’s nothing to do with Islam.

How can we know that "arguably Catholicism has been responsible for as much abuse as Islam." We have little research on that issue.

The extent of abuse within the Catholic Church has become widely recognised as the power of the Church in many communities has diminished. It was the case that children/adults were too scared to speak and if they did, they would rarely be believed or their allegations taken seriously. The recent tv programme on Bishop Peter Ball confirms we're have a long way to go before victims and survivors can be sure the institution won't close ranks against them.

The Church is losing its power to some degree because of the amount of publicity of abuse and also as White British society becomes more secular. That isn't so with the Mosques or the Muslim faith.

But Muslims are not 'a nation within a nation' they are as diverse as anyone else, just like Catholics.
Trevor Philips agreeing with what "Tommy Robinson" said just gives a green light to racists to carry on with 'othering' people who are not exactly the same as they are.
Perhaps the suspension will give Trevor Philips an opportunity to think about what he said and how it has been heard by ordinary Muslims.

POGS
I absolutely agree with your OP. Trevor Phillips is a fine man, and he speaks the truth. Some people don’t like that.

maddyone if it is the truth please can you explain to me why there are Muslims who don't believe in Sharia law and some who do? Islam is a religious faith it isn't some sort of united organisation.
Iam64 I believe much the same was said about the Jewish communities in many cities in the 1930s.

I read Trevor said it 4 years ago, last year he said he couldn’t vote for the Labour Party at the election because of anti semetism

Alastair Campbell said last year he voted for the Libs .

Alastair thrown out immediately, Trevor suspended when
there are demands for an enquiry in the Tory Party.

Annie are you now setting time limits on things? Pity you didn't do that when discussing Corbyn. Double standards or what.
Alistair Campbell is a war criminal who should have been brought to trial along with Tony Blair never mind throwing him out of the LP.

As I said, some people don’t like the truth.

Why act immediately with Alastair and wait 4 years to act with
Trevor?

People had wanted Campbell out for years since the Iraq war it just gave them an opportunity (thank goodness)
If the complaint about Philips was made recently then it had to be acted on.

Many complaints about anti semetic members , nothing done.

Annie if I could be bothered I would post links to enquiries into anti-semitic complaints but I can't. I know that nothing will change your mind about perceived anti-semitism, so how about giving an opinion on Islamaphobia in any political party and trying to move on? In my opinion it is far more dangerous than the much-publicised anti-semitism.

Why?

I would just like to quote from an article in The Guardian by Baroness Warsi entitled 'Trevor Phillips doesn't understand racisim'

This article, written by a high profile Muslim woman, may answer the question of what Trevor Phillips has said that encourages people like 'Tommy Robinson'

The extract:
"In the past it appears that he has said that “Muslims are not like us”; he’s said that Muslims “see the world differently from the rest of us”; he suggested that British Muslims are “becoming a nation within a nation”; has said, “I thought Europe’s Muslims would gradually blend into the landscape. I should have known better,” which earned the approval of far-right leader Tommy Robinson."

Those statements that he has made are not "the truth" and they do encourage people to see Muslims as some sort of separate entirety, not people with as many different views and opinions as anyone else.

trisher I will say as you say - ‘I can’t be bothered’
You always use Islamophobia to halt opinions of anti semetism in the Labour Party.

How many Muslim tory MP’s have been bullied out of the Tory party, how many Jewish MP’s bullied out of the
Labour Party. How many Tory Muslim MP’s have needed a
police escort to get into a party conference? One did in the
Labour Party.

maddyone I find it more worrying because Islam has become essentially what Judaism became in the 1930s. The stories that were told about Jews then have similarities to the stories now being told about Muslims (and before anyone jumps in I know that there are Muslims committing real crimes). The main problem is that this seems to be perfectly acceptable to some people and attacks on Mosques are not regarded with the disgust they should be. As the economy shrinks and the Corona and Brexit effects bite, there could be thousands of people who feel desperate and will seek scapegoats. I very much fear that will be the Muslim community.

Attacks on mosques are unacceptable.
Attacks on synagogues are unacceptable.
Attacks on churches are unacceptable, these take place in Pakistan and Egypt mainly, not in the UK as far as I’m aware.
I think it would be truly ridiculous of anyone to blame Muslims for Coronavirus, why do you think they would?
The difference with what happened in the 1930s and today is that Jewish people were not committing acts of terrorism against the population, but today some Muslims have done. Notice I said some because it is extremely important to realise that the vast majority of Muslims are not engaged in terrorism and they are living perfectly normal lives.

If anything, at the moment we should be more concerned about racism towards the Chinese communities and Italian communities in Britain.

maddyone absolutely correct re racism towards Chinese (or indeed any East Asian looking people) and Italian communities. My son's uber driver on Monday said he wouldn't take Chinese fares because of the corona virus. My son asked if he (a South Asian man) had ever experienced someone avoiding sitting near him on public transport because of the fear of suicide bombers. The reply came yes he had experienced the empty seat syndrome, and he didn't like it. My son pointed out he was doing exactly the same.

Agreed, but bigotry towards Italian and south east Asian (Chinese) communities is temporary. The bigotry towards and stereotyping of Muslims is endemic in the national psyche.

Much of the issue that Trevor Phillips speaks about is not really a religious issue. It is a nationality and cultural issue. Muslims from Middle Eastern countries and others are very different to those from the Asian subcontinent of which most of the muslim community of the UK emanate. These communities have basically created their Asian muslim communities (with benefits) within some of the larger cities and this cannot be denied. A documentary a few years ago about the community divide in Bolton (I think), conclusively demonstrated this. So it is not religion but culture that is creating the divide, and Trevor Philips is probably the right person to have highlight this.