2009: A great year on umaronline.com

Season Greetings from umaronline.com (123greetings.com)

May I begin by wishing those celebrating, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you are in the best of health in this season of goodwill. As we wave goodbye to 2009, I would like to take this opportunity to review what has been a highly successful and productive year at umaronline.com. The blog, officially established in 2006 was re-launched on 4th June 2009, bringing you exclusive coverage and analysis of the European elections. At that time, I could not have imagined the level of interest a personal website could generate and I was delighted to be proved wrong. The election coverage acted a catapult to coverage of some bigger events as ratings soared in the latter part of the year. To date, I have covered 21 events in Bradford, Manchester and London. Here is an overview of the fun times we have shared. Thank you for your support.

In June 2009, after the election coverage, umaronline.com brought you exclusives from the Bradford Mela 2009. Backstage exclusives included the official ceremony to mark the opening of the 21st Bradford Mela, interviews with some of British bhangra's finest and videos from RDB's rocking performance. The final event covered in June was the launch meeting of the Conservative Muslim Forum in West Yorkshire, attended by around 50 Conservative party MP's and councillors at the Rio Grande in Bradford. As far as comedy value is concerned, seeing Pakistani political leaders fight on TV was a real highlight around the community. However, the month ended with tragic and shocking news that the king of pop, Michael Jackson had died of a heart attack in LA. RIP MJ.

July began with the coverage of Spiritual Reality - an event highlighting the multi-faith nature of Bradford. Video coverage included exclusives from the performance by Sheffield NoXcuse among others. Other highlights from July - Pakistani stage comedy in Bradford, a Kabbadi competition in Bradford, graduation ceremony from Bradford university, ft. Chancellor Imran Khan and the one which got the most acclaim - the visit of Pakistani politician Maulana Fazal-ur-Rahman to the UK.

August was by far one of the most successful months on umaronline.com. There were many exclusives and lots of hits. South Asian independence day exclusives included two massive events, each carrying their own appeal. It all started with the flag-hoisting ceremony at Pakistan Consulate in Bradford, as news came through of Umaronline.com starting work with Urdu Times UK to bring you the very best in independent journalism and ground breaking exclusives. The first big event was the Rock On concert, in Manchester, featuring Atif Aslam and other South Asian performers. This was followed by exclusive coverage of Pakistan Dhoom 2009, featuring some of the biggest Pakistani pop-stars at Wembley Arena. I was delighted with the record number of visitors to umaronline.com during August, because by contrast, September was a quiet month as I moved back down South for my final year of the Law degree. Notable, however, was minimal coverage of my first experience of the Notting Hill carnival, along with my first encounter with Scientology.

October saw the return of boxing commentary to umaronline.com as the sister site sportscene.tk closed down. The big fight LIVE came from Nottingham as Carl 'the cobra' Froch took on American Andre Dirrell in the Super Six series. Other highlights from October included an exclusive poll asking Queen Mary law students about their best lecturer, the National Union of Pakistani Students and Alumni (NUPSA) freshers dinner with an exclusive interview with the Pakistani High Commissioner in the UK and the launch of the Conservative Party general election volunteers campaign at CCHQ with Party Chairman Eric Pickles.

November was an even bigger month and it began with an exclusive that had you all talking. Umaronline.com brought you an exclusive interview with Anjem Choudary, the head of Al-Muhajiroun about his 'March 4 Shariah' campaign in the UK. At the same time, there was coverage of secular Muslims who organised a counter-demonstration against Choudary's plan to impose Shariah law in the UK. Big fight LIVE continued with David Haye taking on Nikolai Valuev in Germany, followed by Manny Pacquiao taking on Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas. Mid-November, NUPSA was back on umaronline.com with their joint-press conference emphasising Pakistani youth unity.

This month (December), umaronline.com brought you yet more exclusives. The first major event was David Cameron's speech at the Conservative Muslim Forum Eid party, a personal favourite of many. This was followed by coverage of an intensive debate on the Islamification of Britain held by the Muslim Debate Initiative (MDI) in Central London.

So there you have it, thanks to you, 2009 has been a superb year on umaronline.com. It was, however, just the beginning and what's to say 2010 will not be bigger and better. I aim to bring you more independent journalism, more commentary/analysis and more exclusives from the world of news, sports and entertainment, right here. Thank you so much for your help and support throughout 2009. Thank you for visiting umaronline.com and thank you for taking part in the big debate by commenting on my coverage. Once again, I would like to wish those celebrating a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope 2009 was a successful year for you and 2010 also brings bundles of joy. The man with the camera will keep on exploring in 2010 and I'd like you to be part of my journey. Keep reading umaronline.com.

Warmest Regards.

Umar Farooq

www.umaronline.com

Umar Online Official Statement

Thank you for your wonderful support and overwhelmingly positive response in relation to my coverage of the Islamification of Britain debate. It was a fascinating debate and I was delighted to be able to share my views with friends and colleagues about various issues raised. For those of you that read my extensive review, I'm sure you will agree that fairness and impartiality are central to my style of journalism because this is a forum for independent journalism. However, I was pretty upset with some of the allegations coming from certain far-right individuals who believed that my coverage carried a hint of bias towards the organisers, Muslim Debate Initiative. As a result, I would like clarify the situation by making the following points:

• I am in no way part of Muslim Debate Initiative - and whilst I applaud them for their willingness to invite other community groups to the table for a discussion, I do not necessarily agree with the views of any individual(s) from the group.

• The videos of the debate uploaded onto my YouTube channel, UmarOnlineTV, were independently filmed by myself, exclusively for umaronline.com and have nothing to do with MDI or their official film of the debate. I did not edit any of the videos and uploaded the introduction (in full), the debate (in full), Q&A (in part) and the conclusions (in part). Most crucially, after the introduction, 10-minute speeches were made by each speaker which were not recorded and have not been uploaded.

I hope this clarifies my position and any accusations of bias or lack of fair coverage have been dispelled. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me on info@umaronline.com. For more independent journalism and commentary on news, sports and entertainment, keep reading umaronline.com.

Thank you.

Umar Farooq

www.umaronline.com

EXCLUSIVE: BNP and others take part in the Islamification of Britain debate, MDI praised for providing platform

The debating panel (umaronline.com)

The Muslim Debate Initiative was the host of a lively and respectful debate about the Islamification of Britain in Central London on Thursday night. The Muslim public discussion group invited members from the BNP (British National Party), English Democrats and the Christian People's Alliance in a frank and open discussion at the Conway Hall in Holborn. Unfortunately, representatives from the EDL (English Defence League) and SIOE (Stop Islamification of Europe) dropped out from the debate at the last minute. The proceedings were chaired by Paul Williams and the six panellists were Jeffrey Marshall (Senior official, and London organiser for the BNP), Abdullah al Andalusi (Co-founder of Muslim Debate Initiative), Alan Craig (Head of the Christian People’s Alliance Party), Andrew Copson (Director of Education and spokesmen for the British Humanist Association), Reverend Frank Gelli (Church of England, Spiritual Advisor to Princess Diana) and Robin Tilbrook (Chairman of English Democrats).

The debate, lasting around 3 hours was divided into different segments. Firstly, each of the six panellists spoke for 10 minutes about the topic of discussion. This was followed by an intense 50 minute debate with views being exchanged across the table in quite a civilised manner. After this, a short break was followed by a 50 minute Q&A session where members of the audience questioned the panellists as to their views. In the end, each of the speakers issued concluding remarks and the proceedings were called to a halt.

So now you know what happened, let me explain how it all unfolded. There is no doubt that the Islamification of Britain/Europe is quite a controversial issue and a range of views exist on this topic. As stated earlier, I'm a big fan of resolving differences through debate and dialogue and in that department, the work of Muslim Debate Initiative in bringing together people from different parts of the community on to one public forum is quite an achievement. The next task is to see the event through on the night itself and avoid any major hiccups. Once again, the debate as a whole was well managed with the speakers getting reasonable time to speak and a fair opportunity to air their views. However, as you may or may not be aware, wherever the BNP go, UAF (United Against Fascism) follow. So, when I arrived outside Conway Hall and was greeted by a man from UAF, there was a slight fear that things could get out of control. Thankfully, that wasn't the case and there was only one occasion during the debate that security was called into action (some guy, presumably from UAF came in and started shouting 'BNP YOU SCUM.....' before he was escorted out). In general, however, the debate took place in good faith and there was plenty of cooperation between the panel and audience.

I will now elaborate on the debate itself. I think it was a very carefully selected and well balanced panel of guests. A few people were complaining about there being only one Muslim speaker (Abdullah) on the panel and perhaps there should have been more but I'm not too keen on that view. In terms of the overall performance of each of the speakers, here is a short summary, followed by a rating out of 10. This rating is not based on their views but on their abilities to put forward a well constructed and coherent argument.

Jeffrey Marshall

The BNP man came in with high hopes but came across as jaded and nervous when putting across his views in the 10-minute speech. His argument, primarily, was that we need to halt mass immigration and that in itself is leading to Islamification. A very typical BNP argument from Marshall who was towing the familiar party line. Aside from the main speech, Marshall wasn't really involved in the actual debate which sort of made me wonder whether he was being marginalised on purpose. Then again, when it came to the Q&A session, he addressed a question about British culture by referring to the niqab (veil) and saying 'they (Muslims) don't understand how much it annoys us (British)'. Not a view that I, nor many of the gasping crowd wanted to hear. A quiet night and a meagre 5/10.

Abdullah al Andalusi

The co-founder of MDI was the only Muslim speaker on the panel. He handled himself well at times often coming across as calm and composed in delivering well structured arguments. Coming from an Islamist stance, Abdullah clearly defined his views about Shariah law and existence of an Islamic state. He did, crucially, and perhaps rather controversially say that Muslims in the UK do not want the Shariah (a point picked up on by Craig) and that Shariah law was firstly a need in the Muslim states before anywhere else. There were times, however, when he looked shaken and was perhaps caught unaware when answering questions from the panel and audience. It seemed as though he was shocked by some of the positions taken by the fellow panellists. In particular, he was involved in some long exchanges with Alan Craig regarding Craig's simultaneous beliefs in liberal freedom and support for banning the veil. Despite this, Abdullah was certainly one of the better speakers on the night and gets a 7/10.

Alan Craig

The head of the Christian People's Alliance was a headliner with many expecting his controversial views regarding the Olympic mega-mosque to take centre stage. However, his subtle approach and careful choice of words really helped his cause. Regular references to Christian values such as 'love thy neighbour' and the importance of social relationships allowed him to have a massive influence on the crowd. Most of his arguments also stemmed from these principles. In particular, whilst emphasising his good faith relationship with Muslims and his positive views regarding Islam, Craig was able to identify some of the issues and concerns he has about the faith. Top of the list was the inequality imposed by Shariah law with emphasis on the discrimination against women. Closely linked to this was his opposition to the veil which he saw as a social barrier. The third argument was regarding his opposition to the mega-mosque based on it affecting social cohesion in the East end of London. All arguments were well structured and well defended by Craig throughout the evening. After the debate, many of the people told me they were quite impressed with the way he put his points across (a little like Abdullah) even though they disagreed with many of the points he made. In conclusion, one of the best speakers on the panel, getting an 8/10.

Andrew Copson

Not much to mention for the man representing the British Humanist Association. Copson came in flying the flag for liberal democracy and the centre ground. An easy position to take, usually, but not when you are surrounded by people firmly to the left or right. He argued for sharing a civic sense and civic identify which was essential to tackling the 'myth' of Islamification. He outlined his position as disagreeing with everyone on the panel which got him the sympathy vote in a way. Ultimately, fell short of taking a position and seemed out of place at times. His fear of holding a position meant he also struggled to back up views of some of the panellists one would expect him to stand up for. Copson took a very neutral view on issues like banning the veil whereas I would have thought he would be against any such ban. Gets an average 5/10.

Reverend Frank Gelli

A representative from the Church of England and supposedly the voice of Christianity on the panel. He was easily swayed and went off topic on many occasions but when on topic, challenged the others with solidly constructed arguments throughout the evening. He defended the veil by taking a liberal stance of free will (like Abdullah). Not involved in many exchanges but a good speaker when called upon. A reasonable 6/10.

Robin Tilbrook

The Chairman of the English Democrats appealed to the values of the crowd in a very clever way. So much so that his views made sense to many whom, like me, were surprised at the firmness of these nationalists. Tilbrook emphasised English-ness based on a cultural tradition. He argued for a revival of the national sense of belonging to a community or society. He praised multiculturalism but feared those who wanted to change England into something else. This fear was clear in his opposition to the slow and incremental Islamification of Britain. Another well-versed speaker and perhaps the dark horse on the panel. Tilbrook was hardly pushed by the audience and enjoyed a quite friendly evening on the stage where he was able to claim some much needed publicity for his party. A very average 5/10.

Just a final point before I leave you with the exclusive video's of this debate. The general view amongst the audience members was that far too often, the panel were drifting off the subject of Islamification. This was certainly true at times, particularly when Abdullah and Craig turned it into an Islam v Christianity comparative religion debate. There were also times when views on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were being shared by the panel and cases of the audience members going on a rant about random issues that had nothing to do with the central topic. To put it firmly, the Chair could have been stricter in his policy of allowing people to drift off topic. Sadly, Williams, a convert (or revert) to Islam wasn't just flexible but at one point decided to step out of his role as chair to answer a question about Islam, much to the dislike of the audience. This level of flexibility can be criticised but it went hand in hand with the good faith on show on and off the stage.

Here is another exclusive. Umaronline.com brings you the full debate (video) on the Islamification of Britain held in Central London yesterday. There are also the best bits from the Q&A and the conclusion, exclusively on umaronline.com. Unfortunately, most of the filming was done hand-held so I'd like to apologise in advance for any shaky camerawork (I am entirely responsible). The discussion must not stop, feel free to air your views on this report. If you were at the debate, how did you find it? If you have seen it and have some points to make, fire away. As always, lets discuss, debate and carry out dialogue in a friendly and civilised manner.

For more independent journalism and commentary on news, sports and entertainment, keep visiting umaronline.com.

ISLAMIFICATION OF BRITAIN - REALITY OF MYTH? MDI DEBATE

PHOTOS :

VIDEOS

INTRO



DEBATE









Q&A







CONCLUSION





umaronline.com

POLITICS: Top of the tower, David Cameron speaks at the Conservative Muslim Forum Eid party

Picture this... a lavish Central London venue with awesome city views, 500+ city professionals from different walks of life and some of the leading members of the Conservative party shadow cabinet including the party leader David Cameron. Yes, I'm talking about the Conservative Muslim Forum Eid party held at the prestigious Altitude 360 in Central London yesterday to mark celebrations of Eid-ul-Adha. The chief guest, Rt Hon. David Cameron MP was in attendance with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi (a day after confronting extremists in Luton), Party chairman Eric Pickles MP and Shadow Justice secretary Dominic Grieve MP. The event was organised by the Lord Sheikh's Conservative Muslim Forum, a group set up to encourage British Muslims to participate in British politics by joining the Conservative party. It also hosts regular events in the House of Lords and has various sub-committees such as CMF Youth, Women and Health. Further information about the forum can be found at http://www.conservativemuslimforum.com.

In his speech, David Cameron highlighted the role CMF has played in attracting many young British Muslims to the Party who saw it as a white, middle-class, elitist party. He was also delighted to see Muslims and non-Muslims from different walks of life making it to the top of their professions and hailed their enormous contribution to British society. He used examples of British Muslims like boxer Amir Khan and Baroness Warsi as role-models for young British Muslims and as people they can look up to for inspiration. In the end, he wished everyone Eid Mubarak.

Umaronline.com brings you exclusive video coverage of the full speech. Apologies in advance for the shaky camera and bad lighting.

Incidentally, this is also the 100th post on umaronline.com. At this point, I would like to thank all of you for your help and support. For more independent journalism and commentary, keep reading umaronline.com.

DAVID CAMERON SPEECH @ CMF EID PARTY

Part 1


Part 2


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