My Experiences of the Muslim 'Extremists'

This week, there has been a lot of press about a meeting being broken up in Canton Community Centre, organised by a small Muslim grouping named the Supporters of Tawheed. The media was full of stories about links to support for terrorism, yet today an impression was given by the local organiser that they were nothing more than a discussion group that gave no support to such things.

I suppose that my first libertarian instincts would be to question the tactics of the Police in this instance, but then, I have bumped into this lot on a previous occasion. A couple of years ago, I was canvassing with a group of Plaid activists in Grangetown and we happened to have a woman Muslim Welsh candidate. We were approached by a few young followers of this particular grouping and they were in our faces, aggressive and frankly manic. These were bright local lads who were driven by a deep passion for what they believed in, but it was way beyond a passionate belief-it was fanaticism. They reminded me very much of a brainwashed bunch of religious sect fanatics who used to hang around outside my college at exam time, looking to pick up vulnerable youngsters. At the time, they went around Grangetown defacing any political posters or even street signs with their 'Muslims don't Vote' stickers and were known by local Muslims families as the 'Go to Hell' Party!

It could be argued that by driving underground such groupings, these vulnerable young people are even more open to extremist views than they would be otherwise. However, it is also vital for the 99.9% of Muslim families to make it clear to the rest of their community, that such views do not have general support. However, I would also suggest that there is far more education about what Islam really stands for, so that the rest of society does not base its opinions on negative stereo-typing. There is still a lot of work to do, in society understanding that Islam is no threat to anyone, but fanaticism from all sides is.