Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Hizb ut-Tahrir are holding a conference on 4th August 2007 at Alexandra Palace, London. They claim, "in the current climate of fear and suspicion", that "the most fundamental of problems is the deteriorating instability and injustice in the Muslim world. Coupled with this is a misunderstanding of Islam, in particular its political ideas, which are so often misrepresented". So they want a dialogue to,
"explain to people in Britain why people in the Muslim world aspire to Islamic governance, the Caliphate and Shariah. Unfortunately until now they have largely heard these aspirations for the Muslim world demonised, conflated with violence and backwardness and labelled as the 'goals of terrorists' - all as part of the propaganda in the 'war on terror'. The Muslim community here has a huge potential for countering this propaganda through engagement in discussion, dialogue and debate.
The conference is aimed at motivating and empowering such discussion. It is part of a global campaign to revive the Caliphate system of government in the Muslim world. August will see many such events across the globe, most notably a conference with 100,000 delegates in Jakarta, Indonesia. In this context, our message to the Muslim community in Britain is aimed to reinforce the massive popularity for this political institution in the Muslim world, and to illustrate how we, whilst based so far away, can contribute to the debates currently raging about governance in the Muslim world".
Does David Cameron really want to ban this? Sunny Hundal in OK and Johann Hari in the Independent thinks not. My first encounter with them was a few weeks after London's 7/7, when I'd been away. Isabel Hilton was holding an editor's meeting at openDemocracy and a nicely dressed, bearded gentleman mentioned the Caliphate. Finally! I'd always wanted to meet someone who believed this, which, with all respect, is preposterous. I asked about its borders, will it include India, an overwhelmingly Hindu country yet with the world's largest Muslim population? Afterwards, he kindly reassured me that his organisation, yes it was H T, believed that countries would only become part of the Caliphate after a democratic vote and in the circumstances therefore they did not expect Britain to join. I was delighted because it seems to me perfectly obvious that HT's arguments, not just on the Caliphate but on Sharia law and refusing to vote and participate, are not hard to defeat. And that many Muslims, who participated strongly in our editorial discussion, will help achieve this. The next day, however, 5 August 2005, Tony Blair declared that he wanted HT banned. I was furious, nothing would give their foolish arguments more credibility.
