Expressions of Opposition To The Tone of The Debate
- John Denham MP said that the debate was "flawed" as the government appeared to be "grandstanding" for the sake of the majority rather than actually listening to the Muslim minority.
- Writing in the Edinburgh Middle East Report, a journal on Islamic and Middle Eastern affairs, Jess McConnell, Islam Editor, suggested that the entire debate was the result of "media speculation" and cited Yemenis' increasingly liberal attitudes towards the veil as proof of the debate's superficiality.
- Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, said "I think it's right for him to say 'would you mind not making me feel uncomfortable' in this case, as long as it is clearly understood the answer to that can be 'no'." He later followed up these comments by saying that he feared that the debate "could be the trigger for the grim spiral that produced riots in the north of England five years ago". He said that the debate "seems to have turned into something really quite ugly", adding, "we need to have this conversation but there are rules by which we have the conversation which don't involve this kind of targeting and frankly bullying."
- A number of individuals, including India Knight, George Galloway and Ken Livingstone, compared the plight of Jews in 1930s Britain with that of contemporary British Muslims, especially in light of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street.
- Writing in the Daily Mail, Peter Oborne said that the debate included "the nastiest and most irresponsible politics I have seen from a mainstream political party in my life, and we will all pay a horrible price for such cynical opportunism" as it will "encourage extremism, whether from white supremacist parties like the BNP or within Islam itself".
Read more about this topic: British Debate Over Veils
Famous quotes containing the words expressions of, expressions, opposition, tone and/or debate:
“We ought to celebrate this hour by expressions of manly joy. Not thanks, not prayer seem quite the highest or truest name for our communication with the infinite,—but glad and conspiring reception,—reception that becomes giving in its turn, as the receiver is only the All-Giver in part and infancy.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Its idea of “production value” is spending a million dollars dressing up a story that any good writer would throw away. Its vision of the rewarding movie is a vehicle for some glamour-puss with two expressions and eighteen changes of costume, or for some male idol of the muddled millions with a permanent hangover, six worn-out acting tricks, the build of a lifeguard, and the mentality of a chicken-strangler.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“When feminism does not explicitly oppose racism, and when antiracism does not incorporate opposition to patriarchy, race and gender politics often end up being antagonistic to each other and both interests lose.”
—Kimberly Crenshaw (b. 1959)
“Genius resembles a bell; in order to ring it must be suspended into pure air, and when a foreign body touches it, its joyful tone is silenced.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“Like man and wife who nightly keep
Inconsequent debate in sleep
As they dream side by side.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)