By Simcha Cade
These are my impressions of the demonstration organised by Mothers Against Radical Islam and Shariah (MARIAS) which took place in London on Monday 20th August.
The march was well stewarded, mainly by women in florescent yellow jackets, who kept us together and moving along well. There was no sign of any police presence accompanying the march or any opposition from the Left. There was, however, the usual police that are to be found in Westminster Also, a criticism I must level at the initial demo gathering at Downing Street is that the lack of banners meant that this part of the demo looked a little lost in the general hubub of Whitehall. I understand that there was a prohibition on banners in order to stop other groups hijacking the event for their own ends, but some official MARIAS banners may have been helpful here. As is usual for demonstrations in the Downing Street area, demonstrators gathered across the road in an area that appears to be reserved for demonstrations, which made the demo easier to miss and might have been more noticable if MARIAS had had their own corporate banners.
The rally in Old Palace Yard was fine, well-organised with a list of speakers who spoke well, with survivors of Islamic misogyny giving emotional speeches that were very well received. Baroness Cox opened the proceedings saying she has spoke up for us in House of Lords, and how she is determined to name the problem of Radical Islam. She’d flown in from Australia that morning, after a business trip, she said she hadn’t stopped for long enough to find out if she was tired. My husband was a little jealous that I got to shake Baroness Cox’s hand, as the book that she co-authored on the left wing takeover of the old Polytechnic of North London in the 1970s, ‘The Rape Of Reason’, is one of his favourites.
She was followed by Rahil Raza from Ontario in Canada, who had come over specially to join us. She said “I am a practising Muslim and I tell you speaking out for truth and justice will never make you an Islamophobe.” Those who abuse girls “should be locked up in a deep prison for life or deported to countries practising Shariah and see how long they last.” Her words were powerful and direct. It was heartening to hear a practising reformist Muslim speaking in this way.
Then Toren spoke, the mother of Becky Watson. Becky had been befriended by a 17 year old girl who was obviously involved with Pakistani men. Her mother tried to get help from Family Services, but they did not consider her a priority as she was fed and not being beaten. She went missing overnight and came back subdued. Social Services visited 3 times that week, and set rules for her. She went to school till March 4th. Then she pleaded to go to an under-16 drop in for an hour to see her friend, it was 5 minutes away. 15 minutes after she left, there was a knock at the door, she’d been in a car accident. She’d showed up a 17 year old boy in front of his friends, got on the bonnet of his car. he drove 200m with her clinging to the car, then she fell off and had head injuries which left her brain dead and they had to switch off her life support. The driver got 3 years and was out in 15 months. She was groomed from 11 years old and trafficked twice, she was described as now being ‘ a warrior with wings’.
After her, Samantha spoke to say she was a survivor of abuse by Pakistani and Bangladeshi men. She was supposed to be a looked-after child, she was made pregnant at 12 and a half years old, she attempted suicide many times. She’s 23 now, and was speaking out in the hope of even one girl being saved from the plight that engulfed her.
Then we heard from Dr Roma Tahir, part of MARIAS. She met Toni 4 years ago, she was married to a Pakistani man, her abuse left her unable even to cross a road at 30 years old. She broke free of her abusive marriage with Toni’s help. She’s ashamed of her Pakistani heritage, and she now has a British identity. She brought up the issue of Sharia Courts in the UK which she said exist to make women’s lives worse, they prolonged her agony. They should not exist in the UK, those who want them should go to another country. They don’t just deal with marriages and divorces but also how women dress. She was here to contextualise Islam to modern society and not 14 centuries ago. She wore pale pink, which represents classical feminism. There were others wearing rosettes of green, purple and white colours that are associated with the Suffragettes.
Then the rally was asked if we would hear from a man and when we agreed Rahil’s husband Sohil Raza spoke. He said he could have been like the abusers but his parents taught him humanity first, religion second and they told his religion teacher not to teach him about Sharia. He emigrated to Canada and embraced Canadian values, he went to find freedom of speech and freedom to practise any religion. He wants to encourage other Muslims to leave the ghettos. People came to Canada because of the problems in Pakistan. He said that people are missing out on British or Canadian values if they have 1 foot in England or Canada and 1 in Pakistan.
Toni’s daughter said people her age saw the world as fluffy and nice, something that those who are older and more worldly do not do. She said that she doesn’t want to be a representative for people her age but to be a representative of MARIAS and to help break the the silence about what is going on. She read 2 very moving pieces of writing, one a poem and one prose, written by survivors. More than anything else, one of these sticks in my mind, a girl groomed from 11 years old, raped by up to 50 men a night, she was supposed to be a looked after child. These girls were dismissed as prostitutes, they were ignored by the very people meant to help them, they were not helped. Those who should have protected these girls instead abandoned them.
Toni Bugle said she had advertised this event for 6 months,because of that lead-in time there should have been thousands there. At least 78 communities in Britian have been afflicted by Islamic Rape Gangs and if even 100 women had come from each one of them, then this demonstration would have been considerably larger. I did like the idea of having Teddy Bears with the names of some of the areas affected by Islamic sex crime, it was a good visual way of representing them and a reminder that many of these girls were children who should be comforted by these toys. These bears were sold to raise funds for the campaign and to raise awareness. This was a good event, moving and informative, but when you look at in the context of the scale of the problems we face in Britain from Islamic sex criminals, then it could and should have been so much bigger. Let’s hope that this is just the first stage in a build up of anger, especially women’s anger, at how little help the women and girls in Britain are getting in dealing with a rape and sexual abuse problem that appears to be unprecedented in modern British history. It is to be hoped that this anger is translated into practical help to get those girls and young women who are being horrifically abused, away from their abusers and into safety. If we had one hundred women like Toni Bugle all over the country, answering the phone to distressed women, then it may go some way to helping to alleviating this problem. This is work that should be done by groups like Women’s Aid and maybe we should ask why this does not seem to be done by established women’s groups?
I left with more questions than answers, but it is good to know we are not alone in fighting this menace.
( Simcha Cade can be contacted at @SimchaCade at gab.ai )
