Tuesday 11 January 2011

The Words I Never Thought I’d Write…

…Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is absolutely correct:
The unrepentant British Pakistani gang leaders who violated young girls in Derby have been rightly reviled and given indefinite sentences. Their victims were almost all white. There it might have ended but for Jack Straw, who rekindled passions on all sides when he said that such Pakistani men thought these females were easy meat who deserved no respect or consideration ( I paraphrase). No solid evidence is provided by Straw to back these assertions. In fact, when he was Home Secretary he could have funded research on the matter, but failed to.
So, she's going to let him have it, right? With both barrels?
Still, even a man used to controversies must be nonplussed by the reaction to his comments. His words were thrown on to blazing pyres by fulminating leftie liberals, feminists, Muslims, Pakistanis, anti-racists and influential individuals who think of themselves as gravely responsible.
Hmmm, who do I know who fits into all those categories?
It was unacceptable, they said, to racialise or ethnicise a particular crime; some even declared that any discussion of cultural factors was dangerous and racist.
Sounds familiar....

No. Actually, it doesn't:
Being avowedly a leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim, part-Pakistani, and yes, a very responsible person, I should be in the circle with these objectors – particularly as I can't stand the Rt Hon MP for Blackburn, his devious, shady politicking and moral expediency. However, just as when he criticised the full veil, I cannot condemn his views.
*speechless*
I accept that on the basis of the evidence presented in court, this Derby gang was no different from that of the white grooming posse convicted in Cornwall in November.
But..?
But I still say we need to expose and discuss more openly the underpinning values of the Asian criminal rings in many of our cities. If we don't, the evil will grow. Fear of racism should no longer be the veil covering up hard truths. What the Derby gang did has planted and raised more racism – possibly even among good, benign people – than my words ever could.
Oh, my stars and garters!
The conversations can be heard every day around dining tables and on streets; they are embedded in thought and language. I once interviewed the mother of a man who had been convicted of repeatedly raping his young wife, who came from a rural village in Pakistan. The head of the nursery school the couple's child attended had helped the victim report what was happening. In Urdu, the mother hissed: "How lucky was she to get my son? The dirty, ungrateful bitch – went to a white woman to complain. They sleep with everybody. She just didn't know how to make him happy. We have thrown her out. She can go on the streets like those whites now."
Have you ever heard anything like this before? From a columnist in a progressive newspaper?

If I were Yaz, I wouldn't accept any cups of coffee from her fellow left-leaning journalists! That's in any are still even talking to her...
I have been writing about these culturally- sanctioned injustices for two decades, and have interviewed countless people. I will not melt the misdemeanours into generalities, and do not accept that ethnicity and sexual abuse cannot and should not ever be linked.
/applause
Shouting down Jack Straw, busying ourselves with warnings about feeding the BNP, are displacement activities that will do nothing to stop Asian groomers, who, from childhood have developed distorted ideas about themselves, society, females, vice and virtue.
The piece doesn't accept comments. Which is a shame, because this is probably the only one of hers I'd have ever recommended...

14 comments:

Woman on a Raft said...

It's also a pity because just for once the reactions would tell us more about the audience than about Yasmin.

I hope the editor reconsiders - I'd like to know if the readers would support her on this or not.

Ross said...

Something I heard from someone who was involved in the case in a professional nature*, is that when the police were investigating the gang there were a fair number of people from the Pakistani community who were willing to tell the police what was going on and that it was disgusting. However they refused to go on the record or agree to testify because they would be ostracised by their community.

* I've been aware of this story for months before it became public.

Hogdayafternoon said...

Thanks, JuliaM,for this post. A bold piece indeed.
A mere 8 years ago I was treated to such an insight into the evils of these `culturally- sanctioned injustices`. I was educated by an exceptionally talented outreach worker (rare as hen's teeth in that particular department), specialising in racial abuse amongst our minority ethnic `community`. My education was further enhanced when I went on to enjoy her support and guidance whilst working for Victim Support. Everything in this article was their in bucket loads. The odious man of Straw is show-boating about something he has known about for decades.

Lady Virginia Droit de Seigneur said...

All good comments above and yes WoaR is correct - the comments on this particular article would tell us more about the commenters than YA-B.

I find my self agreeing with JuliaM - I normally find Alibhai-Brown's views abhorrent as she seems to trawl around looking to take offence or "find" racism. In this instance I feel she has spoken out courageously and I suspect there are no comments because it wouldn't be the usual window lickers writing but something far more offensive.

The other thing I can't understand about these stories is that they never refer to the perpetrators as paedohiles despite the fact that many are in their late 20s and the victims in some instances pre-teen.

Anonymous said...

These muslim pedophile gangs are simply following the example set by their prophet Mohammed (Pox be upon him)Some have admitted they daren't prey on girls from their own community as they'd have their tiny balls cut off. So apparently their community is fine with the rape of kaffir chicks it seems.

Edwin Greenwood said...

It's very disconcerting, isn't it? Yaz does experience these very occasional blinding flashes of relative sanity. Not to worry, normal service will doubtless be resumed next week.

RAB said...

Cynical old bastard that I am, I find the lack of a comment thread very telling. It's as if the Indie couldn't stop her writing it, but they dont want the rest of us to comment on it or they might find their whole world view ruined.

Quiet_Man said...

Still struggling to mention the "M" word or the "I" word though aren't they.

dr cromarty said...

Given that it's hard to read an article in The Guardian about the Pope without the words 'Paedophile Priests' being found perhaps when Islam in the UK is written about they should preface everything with Paedophile Pakistanis if they are to be consistent.

Won't happen.

Captain Haddock said...

I'd trust anything said or written by Y-AB about as far as I could pee through a brick wall ..

My naturally suspicious nature makes me ask ..

What's the old crow after now ?

What's she up to ?

Who's she trying to impress ?

Mark said...

'Yaz does experience these very occasional blinding flashes of relative sanity'
Spot on Edwin- that is one of the reasons why the bilge she extrudes for 90% of the time is so galling. In that sense YAB is rather like an inside -out version of Melanie Phillips; a writer who is lucid & sane on the great majority of issues, but who usually gets unhinged whenever the Middle East is under discussion.

Mark said...

'The piece doesn't accept comments'

JuliaM- perhaps the Indy was scared of eliciting too much support for her stance by leaving the comments open ? Largely supportive comments on another bold piece on this issue were elicited here, on an avowedly 'anti racist' blog site-

http://hurryupharry.org/2011/01/11/asian-gangs-and-white-girls/#comments

JuliaM said...

"It's also a pity because just for once the reactions would tell us more about the audience than about Yasmin. "

Exactly!

It would also quash any future whines that the criticism she gets is because she's who she is, and not because of what she's saying.

"However they refused to go on the record or agree to testify because they would be ostracised by their community."

I wish I could say I was surprised at that..

"The odious man of Straw is show-boating about something he has known about for decades."

And he bears some of the responsibility for letting it drag on so long. Still, at least it seems the floodgates are now open.

"The other thing I can't understand about these stories is that they never refer to the perpetrators as paedohiles despite the fact that many are in their late 20s and the victims in some instances pre-teen."

That's curious, isn't it?

"Not to worry, normal service will doubtless be resumed next week"

Heh! Probably...

" It's as if the Indie couldn't stop her writing it, but they dont want the rest of us to comment on it or they might find their whole world view ruined."

Indeed! As Quiet Man points out, the lack of the religious angle in YAB's article is telling - she implies it's cultural, rather than another aspect of the religion they share...

"Largely supportive comments on another bold piece on this issue were elicited here, on an avowedly 'anti racist' blog site..."

Yes, 'Harry's Place' is usually one of the better left-wing sites.

Mark said...

'Harry's Place' is usually one of the better left-wing sites.

As if on cue, today they have this well argued piece from Peter Tatchell-
http://hurryupharry.org/2011/01/12/christian-homophobes-should-not-be-criminalised/#comments

Mind you, on the last couple of occasions I tried to post comments there, they were held back by the moderator !