The religious hatred law will end up hurting Asians instead of protecting us
4th July, 2005
by Sunny Hundal
Editor
Picture this scenario. A new play opens in London that centres around taboo issues relating to religion. For argument's sake, a rape in a Sikh Gurdwara.
Protests follow, 'community leaders' demand it be shut down and some threaten legal action. Six months ago, when the Behzti play controversy blew up, those threats of legal action amounted to hot air.
However if the government's bill to outlaw religious hatred passes through its third reading next week, those empty threats would suddenly become very real.
In essence Labour aims to reward the MCB (Muslim Council of Britain) with a piece of legislation in return for the Muslim vote during the election.
The public debate has seen the MCB and Labour on one hand pulling out the BNP card and insisting that they only want to close a loophole in the law. Jews and Sikhs are currently protected by race legislation because they are classed as a homogenous racial group. They want something to cover Muslims, Hindus and Christians.
On the other side is Rowan Atkinson and other libertarians complaining that the law will impede their ability to tell jokes or have debate about an aspect of life that people choose to adopt rather than born with (like skin colour).
No doubt that Islamophobia is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with, to ensure community cohesion at least. There is also no argument over the BNP's disgusting practice of trying to demonise all Muslims and immigrants.
The problem is that so far only a few voices, primarily from the Southall Black Sisters, have pointed out the obvious. This law will only marginally affect comedians or the BNP. It is much more likely to affect voices within our own community that refuse to tow politically correct stances.
Suppose it is passed. If the Behzti controversy were to happen tomorrow then the legal eagles could launch a series of lawsuits that would keep the producers in court for months, even years. Who will have the stomach to fund even a slightly controversial play or a book in the future then?
The government claims it is unlikely there will be many prosecutions under the new law. Clearly they don't know the Asian community well. Because it is not clearly defined and will have to be clarified as it is exercised, given it has to tread a fine line between freedom of speech and inciting hatred, the danger is not immediately obvious.
The religious hatred law should worry not just those of us in the media industry but also others. Writer and activist Rahila Gupta recently pointed out that it will have an impact on women and "weaken" their position.
"When minorities ditch race for religion as a marker of their identity, the pressures on women increase a hundredfold. A 'cultural' practice is difficult enough to challenge but one which has been given the dubious honour of being ratified by a holy book, open as that may be to interpretation, is even harder to resist," she said.
This is a serious issue, one that our own community seems not to have debated at all or realised the implications of.
Most of the airwaves and column inches are filled with MCB representatives tirelessly repeating that the law will give us a multicultural utopia where hatred will be legislated out.
In practice we do not need an expansive and fudged piece of legislation that will hit hardest the very community it is designed to protect.
A much better alternative is to extend or amend the race legislation to cover Muslims, Hindus and Christians. For no practical reason, and against the wishes of practically everyone, the government wants to bring in something entirely new.
Labour's myopia results partly from its habit of allying closely with Asian religious organisations that it seems to believe represent the views of most of the Asian community and will deliver the ethnic vote.
Once the true implications become clear however, it will not only have lost that support, but possibly caused plenty of damage to our voices.
There is still time - we need to organise ourselves and raise our voice against this bill.
What do you think? Email us your opinions or use the link below to add your thoughts.
Further reading:
A steamroller to crack a nut
Too high a price to pay
We want the same as Jews and Sikhs
It will still be OK to ridicule religion
Index on Censorship magazine
Editor
Picture this scenario. A new play opens in London that centres around taboo issues relating to religion. For argument's sake, a rape in a Sikh Gurdwara.Protests follow, 'community leaders' demand it be shut down and some threaten legal action. Six months ago, when the Behzti play controversy blew up, those threats of legal action amounted to hot air.
However if the government's bill to outlaw religious hatred passes through its third reading next week, those empty threats would suddenly become very real.
In essence Labour aims to reward the MCB (Muslim Council of Britain) with a piece of legislation in return for the Muslim vote during the election.
The public debate has seen the MCB and Labour on one hand pulling out the BNP card and insisting that they only want to close a loophole in the law. Jews and Sikhs are currently protected by race legislation because they are classed as a homogenous racial group. They want something to cover Muslims, Hindus and Christians.
On the other side is Rowan Atkinson and other libertarians complaining that the law will impede their ability to tell jokes or have debate about an aspect of life that people choose to adopt rather than born with (like skin colour).
No doubt that Islamophobia is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with, to ensure community cohesion at least. There is also no argument over the BNP's disgusting practice of trying to demonise all Muslims and immigrants.
The problem is that so far only a few voices, primarily from the Southall Black Sisters, have pointed out the obvious. This law will only marginally affect comedians or the BNP. It is much more likely to affect voices within our own community that refuse to tow politically correct stances.
Suppose it is passed. If the Behzti controversy were to happen tomorrow then the legal eagles could launch a series of lawsuits that would keep the producers in court for months, even years. Who will have the stomach to fund even a slightly controversial play or a book in the future then?
The government claims it is unlikely there will be many prosecutions under the new law. Clearly they don't know the Asian community well. Because it is not clearly defined and will have to be clarified as it is exercised, given it has to tread a fine line between freedom of speech and inciting hatred, the danger is not immediately obvious.
The religious hatred law should worry not just those of us in the media industry but also others. Writer and activist Rahila Gupta recently pointed out that it will have an impact on women and "weaken" their position.
"When minorities ditch race for religion as a marker of their identity, the pressures on women increase a hundredfold. A 'cultural' practice is difficult enough to challenge but one which has been given the dubious honour of being ratified by a holy book, open as that may be to interpretation, is even harder to resist," she said.
This is a serious issue, one that our own community seems not to have debated at all or realised the implications of.
Most of the airwaves and column inches are filled with MCB representatives tirelessly repeating that the law will give us a multicultural utopia where hatred will be legislated out.
In practice we do not need an expansive and fudged piece of legislation that will hit hardest the very community it is designed to protect.
A much better alternative is to extend or amend the race legislation to cover Muslims, Hindus and Christians. For no practical reason, and against the wishes of practically everyone, the government wants to bring in something entirely new.
Labour's myopia results partly from its habit of allying closely with Asian religious organisations that it seems to believe represent the views of most of the Asian community and will deliver the ethnic vote.
Once the true implications become clear however, it will not only have lost that support, but possibly caused plenty of damage to our voices.
There is still time - we need to organise ourselves and raise our voice against this bill.
What do you think? Email us your opinions or use the link below to add your thoughts.
Further reading:
