The Man Who Sold Britain Part 2: Bookburning (Peace Movement Ch.9)

Peace Movement Chapter 9

The Man Who Sold Britain

Part 2 : Bookburning

    The coalition partner, the Party Of Islam, demanded certain legal changes from the Labour Party to support them in government. In Muslim majority districts Sharia Law would apply to muslims, although it could not be applied to non Muslims. In these areas Muslims were not given the option to opt out of these laws. It was assumed that the Muslim Parties spoke for all their people, even though in practice many Muslims might vote for non muslim, (non religious) parties, they became subject to laws they had never given their assent to. Anthony knew the agreement was wrong when he assented to it, but without it he could not have remained Prime Minister and the Tories would have cobbled together their own coalition, which at the time had seemed a much worse fate. As soon as he gave an inch the Islamists took another Each concession was hard to give, and once given they could never be taken back. It did not seem to be many years before Islamic lawyers were extending Sharia law to non believers  in majority muslim districts and making a real fuss if the state intervened to try to remove individuals from its justice or the growing severity of its punishments. Very soon Sharia laws were being applied to all muslims, even if they did not live within majority muslim districts. Some muslims renounced their faith to try to avoid the severity of some Sharia Laws, but muslim lawyers tried to argue that anyone born within the confines of Islamic practice should be subject to its laws. The boundaries of the law softened and coalesced, as the law often does when there is change, and by making the arguments the laws shifted in favour of Sharia courts, until even people with no Islamic background at all, except to be unfortunate enough to live in districts which had eventually become Islamic majority districts found themselves being dragged through Islamic courts. Lawyers made a mockery of the common law of the land, pulling its influence out from underneath it, creating a new and evolving system of law, in which no one knew what the laws of the land were any more.

     In efforts to encourage schools to choose their own paths to better performance, and allow privately funded, or more variety in school management, the governments enabled Muslim schools to manage themselves and compete for students. They continued to send school inspectors to ensure that school standards were upheld. Muslim schools began to foster separation between children of different faiths and backgrounds, and taught Muslim kids what they wanted to them to learn rather than the secular educational bodies. Muslim kids began increasingly to feel themselves separate, and in some ways superior to the children of other faiths or of the secular. Many muslim children began to feel themselves to be more muslim than British, and that Allah carried far more authority in the modern Britain than a mere Prime Minister or the other traditional cultural institutions of the nation.

 Anthony was aware of the problems which were arising from the effective segregation which was occurring in Britain’s schools, but his coalition partners were insistent on the state giving choice to the parents of different religious groups. To have changed their stance would have meant the end of government for the Labour Party.

    As Iraq became the dominant muslim power in the world they came to pull the strings in quite a few muslim countries. Opponents of the dictator did not wish to feel his wrath, after the assassination of the Egyptian President and particularly after the destruction of Israel. Soon Saudi Arabia, on the one hand the preservers of Islamic tradition, but on the other always seeking to support the United States and the West in preserving the status quo, were soon to feel the ire of the Dictator and to be forced to contribute more to the cause of Arab power.

   “Islam is a tolerant religion. It encourages science and the arts.”

   “What about the appreciation of the female form?”

   “That is not art. It is pornography. It is an insult to the female.”

   “So Islam is in alliance with feminism now?”

   “There are many women who espouse Islam because of the freedom it brings from male oppression."

      Anthony walked along a familiar street. He had often been here when working in London. In recent times as Prime Minister it had become no longer possible to go out without police guards. He had mainly confined himself to travelling about in official cars. It was too dangerous to risk assassination or kidnap on the streets. A few years ago this had been a street of bookshops, some of them selling pornographic magazines, and even videos and DVDs, downstairs. Other types of shops had existed here too. He was aware that many of them had closed down in recent times. He wondered why. And why should have this change have occurred during his period of government. He, who had always believed in freedom of speech, and exercised it regularly during his years as prophet of anti materialism and real people’s values, had presided over enlightened government, at a time when paradoxically the press and literature had unfortunately become less free. The pornographic stores had closed under the assault of human rights and blasphemy rulings championed particularly by the growing muslim community, aided by many other interest groups.

    There weren’t many people on the pavements these days either. What had happened to the London he had known, rich, eclectic, capitalistic and greedy for sure, but lively and relatively free in many senses of the word. Some Bangladeshi women walked past, heads bowed, so no man would be able to look into their eyes.

    A young culturally ‘English’ woman walked towards him along the pavement, headscarf over her long brown hair, which flowed out of the back of the headscarf. He caught her eye, couldn’t help it, the cultural conditioning of many years could not change him now. He was too old to change all his habits. She had sensed he was looking at her. Unlike most of the women he had seen in this street she did not look away or avoid contact altogether. She broke into a smile, which nonplussed him. Why would she smile at him? He was an old man. Was it because he dared to look into her face? Evidently she did not mind. It had been inadvertent. There was no reason for embarrassment. She was ‘English’ anyway so of course she would not mind would she! She was still looking at him, acknowledging his glance. My, she was beautiful, a fresh face. It was so rare he saw a woman’s face properly, except his wife and family members. There had been a time when he would most likely have been able to see this woman’s legs, arms and a fair bit of her chest too on a relatively warm summer’s day like today. It had been a long time since that had been possible.

    Then the woman’s face clouded over and the smile vanished as quick as it came. Instead a scowl seemed to spread over the pretty face. She continued to look at him, but without approval this time. He withdrew his gaze in disappointment and upset. Sadly he realised the woman was sending an unspoken message. He had had them before, quite often over recent years, not so many just recently, because people were getting used to the new ways, and dared not speak out any more, even without using words. She recognised him as the previous Prime Minister, the one the papers once said had given Britain away. She was coming close then, and unlike most women these days, she seemed to be refusing to get out of his way. Despite his age he decided to step one foot into the road, but it was too late. Her shoulder banged into his, and a small jolt went up his arm. He should have said something, but he did not feel able to answer the woman’s unspoken accusation. If someone had bumped into him for any other reason he would have responded in his own defence. He who had been Prime Minister was no coward. He would have attacked that person verbally, and felt free to embarrass them publicly. But he knew well what the woman’s eyes had been saying. He knew why she had purposely bumped into him. Because he understood her he had no way of striking back. She blamed him for the decay the country had fallen into, for the loss of free speech, the torrents of hatred which followed any perceived criticism of Islam or Islamic peoples. The history books were being rewritten, because no one dared to criticise the East. A young woman, even one who was presumably agnostic, no longer felt she could walk down the street without a headscarf on. Just five years before it would have been unusual to see any woman wearing one, except some religious groups. He walked on, nursing his shoulder, hanging his head just a little bit lower.

    As he continued along the street Anthony could see there were crowds up ahead. They seemed to be spilling onto the road. Some entertainment perhaps, he thought. Gatherings were becoming less common he thought as more people stayed at home, so this might be good to observe, whatever it was. There was light and smoke rising, firecrackers, laughter. He saw there was a fire, in the road, but there were people around it, like in a celebration, a crowd watching, participating in something. He felt drawn to it. He was reminded of bonfire nights gone by, of fireworks, sparklers, toffee apples, the warmth of human companionship and humour. Then he remembered that it was indeed bonfire night. It seemed to him that it was a few years since he had been to a bonfire. He associated them with his youth and the old days in Britain, good old days, despite the inequalities and corruptions which had existed in those days.

     Watching the books being burned outside the bookshop as the mob cheers the ringleaders on, he is reminded of bonfire nights gone by, of fireworks, sparklers, toffee apples and the sad effigies of Guy Fawkes who was only one of a long line of notorious terrorists. More recently some terrorists have been held in higher esteem, depending upon whether they were fighting for Allah or some appropriate crazy nationalist cause. He had forgotten that it is bonfire night until. now. Probably that is why the rioters have decided to act tonight. He sees a book he recognises. He should for it was one of his own, written some years before in more liberal times when none of the developments which had come to pass in recent times had even been imagined. For Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, Iran or Iraq perhaps, but not for Britain or France, Holland or the USA, no never.

(Part 3 to follow soon)