Sunny Hundal, writing in Asians in Media highlights a few valid points about the UK government’s attempt to buy off the Muslim community after making themselves incredibly unpopular over Iraq…

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.

She also goes on to quote writer and activist Rahila Gupta on the way in which this law will actually make life more difficult for many Muslim women…

“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.”

And she even points out that there is an alternative…

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

(via MediaWatchWatch)

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