I AM deeply ashamed by the protesters who greeted the British soldiers who recently returned from Iraq with placards calling them "butchers of Basra", "cowards, killers, extremists", "baby killers", "Anglian soldiers go to hell" and other such insults. The protest took place in the British town of Luton, home to 20,000 Muslims and also to an army battalion. The Royal Anglian Regiment was parading through the streets and flag-waving locals were out in full force to welcome them back to Britain. There was, however, one small band of 20 Muslims who decided to organize what they termed an anti-war protest. They shouted abuse at the soldiers and paraded offensive placards. It all escalated and generated great publicity for this band of thugs that is exactly what they wanted.
British soldiers in Basra are not butchers or murderers but simply soldiers on a tour of duty. They are the unlucky executors of a misguided and ultimately catastrophic political decision. By contrast terrorists who blow up bombs in crowded civilian areas and kill innocent people simply going about their daily business are butchers and murderers and it is pure hypocrisy for extremist groups to have the gall to stand in a street in Britain and call British soldiers by such names.
The right to protest is an important achievement of Western societies. It is a true sign of tolerance and modern civilization when a society can let people express views of dissent or even anger but there is a point where a line has to be drawn. Violence and violent language is unacceptable. Nor is xenophobia. And as for extremist Muslim groups using the rights and freedoms of a country like Britain to call for a form of state where such protests could not take place and where by their own definition anyone voicing dissent or disagreement would be branded an infidel, is not just outrageous but obscene.
Moreover this is not an anti-war protest. Soldiers do not take the decision to go to war. Unlike the politicians who take the decision to send armed forces to a conflict, soldiers risk their lives every day, for better or for worse, for their country. They deserve respect and should not be taken to task for a decision they did not make. When they come home from a conflict where they have lost colleagues and faced the injury or death, they should be allowed to parade in peace in their hometown and be welcomed by crowds of well wishers. They should certainly not be greeted with abuse or accused of being murderers and baby killers.
An anti-war protest is one where people March peacefully to demonstrate - and the key term is demonstrate - their opposition to a political decision to start or continue with a war. Twenty men in beards and women in burqas shouting abuse and holding up offensive placards are not protesting but provoking. More important, they are once again hijacking the Muslim agenda. Though invariably press reports and politicians will point out that these people are not representative of Muslims as a whole - and the statistics alone speak for themselves, 20 people out of a community of 20,000 is clearly a minority - the images of people in extreme forms of Muslim dress shouting out extreme and offensive slogans sticks and soon forms a core part of views of Muslims, like it or not.
Of course, it does not help that much of the popular British press obliges them and helps their agenda along by splashing pictures of a handful of protesters across the front pages of their papers thus giving them exponentially more prominence than their actions and their limited numbers would naturally call for. Nor does it help that the many of the Muslims we see on television to speak "our" point of view fall either into the angry zealots who give us a bad name category or are platitude bearers with little credibility.
Is there a shortage of eloquent and convincing Muslim voices? It seems we are only good at anger or at least that Muslims expressing anger is an image that many elements of the press find irresistible or quite simply that there is a confluence of agendas between the extremists who wish to pursue a campaign of hate and the more right-wing political movements who wish to see Muslims categorized as intolerant and hateful. Whatever the reasons, the extremists are winning the propaganda war. They are adept at manipulating the media and know how to generate stories that will keep them in the news. This week's events in Luton prove just how adept they have become at attention-seeking provocation.
The rest of us who have been dubbed the silent majority quite understandably would rather quietly get on with our lives and leave politics to the politicians. The danger is that Muslims will increasingly become defined in the public arena not by the values of our religion but by the strength and visibility of those who speak in anger.
