Was it just Islamic extremism?  Or was it really race?

In comments for the posts of others, I have speculated that one heretofore unmentioned potential motivation for the London bombings of 7/7 was race – in other words, it wasn’t just about religion and a “clash of civilizations.”  Interesting that British authorities are now talking about the involvement of a Jamaican-born, presumably Negro “Briton” in the attack.  We may learn that this person was a converted Muslim.  His wife is already said to have been so.  But we’ll see what else is revealed.

Nonetheless, it is quite interesting that the potential of a brown-black anti-white alliance may be here.  Comments about how so many of the victims were themselves ethnic minorities do not impress – London is so full of non-whites that any attack aimed at the UK’s capital is bound to harm some members of minority groups.  These people were not the targets, just “collateral damage.”

Here are some interesting and informative tidbits (Registration)

In Holbeck and Beeston, diverse, working-class neighborhoods, tensions between whites and residents of South Asian origin often run high…. Bradford, a community nearby, had riots a few years ago, as did Leeds, though on a smaller scale, and tensions between whites and South Asians often run high in the Holbeck and Beeston neighborhoods, home to many of Leeds’ Muslims, residents said. Many local businesses are owned by people of South Asian origin, a source of resentment among many whites. Last year a white teenage boy was stabbed to death by a group of South Asian teenagers, and the hard feelings have deepened since then …

A tall, shy teenager, Mr. Hussain, who lived in Holbeck, had taken up with a rough Pakistani crowd in his high school years, the kind of young people who brawled with white kids over girls and perceived slights.

The last sentence is quite remarkable and should be a wake-up call to people who are focusing only on religion.  Racial brawls over girls?  Obviously, that preceded the interest in religious beliefs.  The following quote also is also of interest:-

In many ways, the two youngest suicide bombing suspects, Mr. Tanweer, 22, and Mr. Hussain, 18, were British to the core, shaped by their diverse, rough neighborhoods, where flashy cars, petty teenage battles and designer clothes jostle with the Muslim values of work, family and religion. But in the last year or two, friends said, they had noted a turn toward Muslim piety in each man; nothing shocking or obnoxious, just something plain to see …

Mr. Tanweer, a university-educated cricket fanatic who also excelled in soccer and whose father ran a successful fish and chips shop, had taken to praying five times a day, something his relatives did not do, and attending a number of mosques regularly, acquaintances said. He even went to Pakistan last year to visit relatives and study religion, and some media reports said he visited Afghanistan on the same trip.

Putting aside the absurdity of the “British to the core” comment, one can ask: if religion was the motivating factor, then WHY did these young men become so religious all of a sudden?  What was it that made them turn away from being “British to the core” and move toward the path that ended in 7/7?  Was it a feeling of alienation due to race?  Once again: “young people who brawled with white kids over girls and perceived slights.”

Obviously, the NY Times doesn’t quite get it:-

As the identities of these suicide bombing suspects slowly emerged Wednesday behind a thicket of disbelief, the question that nobody in these neighborhoods could answer was this: What kind of radical force threw the three men together, with another bomber, to commit such a heinous crime against their country, the one they rooted for in soccer matches, and their people?

But that is the entire point: the UK was NOT their country, and the majority ethny in the UK was NOT their people.  One can speculate that it was this realization that put these young men on the path that culminated in the tragic events of 7/7.

To further my thesis of a racial motive, I cite Christian Science Monitor in which we can read:-

“The resulting isolation makes it easier for young Muslims to develop a contempt for British society….“There is also a lot of racism toward white British people,” says Ms. Choudhury. “It’s not really something that people want to talk about, but there are definitely some things that Muslims say between themselves that they would never say in front of white people.

Indeed.  The problem is that these South Asians are being racist against the British in the British peoples’ own homeland.  However, some do not think that the UK and London belong to the native Britons with (with apologies and acknowledgements to those who have already posted this quite fantastical statement elsewhere on the blog today):-

In Dalston market in north-east London on Thursday, “Abdullah,” a Muslim watch-mender and evangelist, was in a pugnacious mood…“We don’t need to fight. We are taking over!” he said. “We are here to bring civilization to the West. England does not belong to the English people, it belongs to God …  Mr. Helbawi pondered the attacks … London is a city for all the world.

Well, that’s that.  England belongs to God and/or to the world, not to the English people.  Of course, it would seem that South Asia belongs to the South Asian people; wasn’t South Asian self-determination the rationale for the fight against British colonialism?  But, what is good for South Asian cognitive elitists is, apparently, much too good for lowly white natives – and kuffars to boot -  in their own lands.

And, given that a US-based blog, that shall go nameless, has in the past featured two South Asian bloggers discussing their school fights with white American students because of racial slurs, the quote “… young people who brawled with white kids over girls and perceived slights” is very sobering indeed!

According to the NY Times article, some native Britons seem to have got it right:-

Some whites make no attempts to hide their disaffection, and say relations are only likely to worsen. “Make them all go back,” said David Swaine, 23, of Beeston.

Unfortunately, Mr. Swaine, “they” are not going anywhere, and “your” political establishment will continue to pander to every ethnic minority, not just Moslems.  Perhaps Mr. Swaine will join the BNP?  But what political options exist for the American majority?

Posted by JW Holliday on Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 04:24 PM in War on Terror
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