When I lived within a Muslim community – between 1984-1988 – whilst at college in Hereford, I had a number of very interesting, important and vital cultural experiences. At this time (until 1988) all further and higher education in the UK was entirely free at the point of use (paid for through taxation) – so that the country’s youth could travel anywhere to pursue their education at college or university. Furthermore, the British State paid all rent and extra expenses and provided each student with a non-means tested welfare payment. Life was good – like living in a Socialist State! Of course, the evil Tories (under Thatcher) brought this great British experiment in egalitarianism to a complete halt in 1988 – once more bringing back the privilege the middle and upper classes had enjoyed prior to 1948 – and condemning the working class to low paid employment, exploitation, misery and abject poverty.
Before this reality manifested – I met a motley collection of Muslims from Northern England – a place I had never visited. They were Pakistani, Indian, Sudanese, and Bangladeshi, etc. These people did not like – or get on with – the Hindu or Sikh students. For some reason, as I shared college accommodation near this group – I was accepted for no reason – even though I am White (sort of) and was certainly not a Muslim. These Muslim people fed me for free, never spoke to me about reverting, and never took me to the local mosque (wherever that was in Hereford – as I do not think there is an official mosque in the area). Furthermore, all had arranged marriages set with strangers they had never met from their ancestral countries. Most were men – with about one or two women. Whatever the case, all carried polaroid photographs of their “betrothed” – usually stood in a field waring long, white clothing (for a man) – and covered in head to foot (if a woman).
As a modern Westerner, I found this arrangement peculiar and odd. These marriages were arranged by their parents and no “love” in the Western sense was involved. Although one or two Muslims confided in me that they secretly possessed one or two modern thoughts – generally speaking – the strength of the community culture always won out. Now, most of the Muslim men possessed absolutely no cultural ability to casually mix-in with Western culture – and could not interact or form any coherent or meaningful relations – certainly not with the opposite sex. Indeed, the Islamic convention was that marrying-out of the prevailing Muslim culture was considered taboo and strictly forbidden. Muslim women were even more reserved – although I did form a relationship (platonic) with a Muslim woman at one point. As these people were reserved, and could not mix with the prevailing British culture, I never once witnessed Islamic men ever talk of finding children attractive – either White or Muslim. I never once saw any Muslim person be in a position that brought them into any contact with children – or youths – in any abusive sense.
What I did witness was that when together, these Muslim people spoke in their ethnic languages together – and often wrote in Persian, or Arabic script, etc. My point is that when acting within their ethnic groups free of any British influence – the English language was seldom used either verbally or in script – as this second language could not express the Islamic cultural viewpoints being discussed – learned just after birth. Why then, would a group of British Muslims, writing and discussing on a “private” Whatsapp group – use the “English” language when discussing issues very close to their heart and of vital importance to their community? Of course, official judicial statistics confirm that around 90% of all sexual crimes committed against children and youths in the UK are committed by “White” people – with about 72% being ethnic White British. The other 18% of White sex offenders are foreigners – often Ukrainian, Polish, Latvian, and Lithuanian, etc, with Bulgarians defrauding the benefit system.
Even if the 10% of non-White offenders were removed from the equation – it is clear that the UK possesses a very real epidemic of “White” inflicted child sexual offenses. Blaming a small element of a tiny ethnic minority in the UK is a typical fascist policy of race-hate – with many members of the far-right contributing to the White sex offenses the UK is suffering from. Scapegoating does not save a single innocent child from the horror of sexual abuse and trafficking. As Karl Marx says – question everything. Capitalism and fascism are the enemy of humanity. I say this as someone who does not personally believe that religion should be empowered by the State. Religion should be only a private matter with secularism and science being the norm for all children. Religion often empowers all kinds of suffering and enables destruction in the world – whilst continuously asserting humility and poverty. Away with it all. Channel 4 said nothing when the Tories and LibDems murdered over 120,000 disabled people between 2010-2016 (even referring to the UN investigation confirming the killing to be “leftist” propaganda), and has said nothing about Neo-Nazi Ukraine, whilst it continues to print fake stories about China, Cuba, and the DPRK, etc. Nothing Channel 4 says can be trusted. Away with that as well!
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 