“Our votes are useless”

Page 38
Q-News, Issue 362
April 2005

Having bargained with our communities, undermined our unity and caused infighting in mosques, politicians have given Muslims little in return. That is why it’s time to stop dancing to their tune and, as the Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Abdul Wahid argues, develop a political agenda that is truly our own. 

Let’s face it: all political parties have policies that harm the interests of the Muslim community. Is it not the case that the Labour Party, for example, has for many years developed a class of “leaders” within our mosques and community structures who, for the exchange of a few grants, have kept our mosques from being truly productive centres within the Muslim community which actively deal with community problems and promote honest debate and discussion? When the Iraq war occurred - a war waged by a Labour government and sanctioned by a Conservative opposition - did not the Labour Party try to utilise its self-imposed leaderships to silence the voice of the Muslim community in the mosques?

Or take for example the Liberal Democrats a party that, true to its political ideology, believes in the liberalisation of attitudes and laws towards sex and drugs. Has this society not already witnessed the effects of a liberal social agenda that has led so many of our Muslim youth into drugs and crime?

The policies of these political parties work against our true interests. We want to make sure our youth are protected from a hedonistic and individualistic society. We want to reclaim our mosques so that they become true educational and community establishments. We want to break down the fear of Islam in the wider society that is promoted by these same politicians (like Hazel Blears and others).

That is why the Hizb ut-Tahrir are launching a positive agenda for Muslims in the West. An agenda of self reliance, utilising the strengths within our community, to achieve the great things our community deserves, and to unlock the potential good which, by example, can even benefit wider society.  

This agenda was launched in our manifesto entitled Stand for Islam: Build our Community was launched at a conference earlier this month. The key points of our action plan include:

• We must become a united, well-defined community, who can present a united front when it matters. This cannot happen if we are Labour Muslims, Lib Dem Muslims and Tory Muslims. Assimilation into the party political machine was the death knell for the labour movement, the women’s movement and the black movement.
• We should educate and empower our community so they can push on with their Islamic duties and fight against discrimination. The case of Shabina Begum, the 16 year-old, who won her appeal court ruling, is a good example. Ms Begum fought to be able to wear jilbab using existing laws, despite elected representatives - councillors and MPs - distancing themselves from her.  
• We can develop effective solutions for our youth by dealing with problems of drugs, alcohol and anti-social behaviour on their level, and not relying on strategies that haven’t been tried and tested in the streets. Many of us have been working in these areas for many years and have seen youngsters leave the gang and drug culture, and return to a cleaner, Islamic way of living.
• We can mobilise our community to work hard to develop more independent Islamic schools, not be held ransom by the government education machine. These could become a beacon for the wider society and truly offer alternative solutions for the schooling system in the UK. We can harness resources and goodwill within our community to practically address academic underachievement in a manner that successive governments have failed to do, as well as trying to shape the ethos of mainstream schools.
• With respect to the War on Terror, be it terrorising Muslims with new laws, or the attempt to colonise anew states in the Muslim world - liberalised, but not liberated - we should realise that we can effect a change in opinion from here. It is possible to convince people that we need a Muslim world which chooses its own rulers, independent of Western interference, and which rules by Islamic laws, and with Islamically defined systems of accountability. This work can be done, and is being done, but needs strengthening.
  

The Islamic political path for Muslims in Britain must be built upon three pillars: self-reliance, carrying the message of Islam to the West and becoming a voice for our ummah.

These are the exciting challenges that await us. We could be the only “minority” community in the UK to successfully address our interests without being “diluted into the system” if we do not allow ourselves to be fooled that voting every four or five years is a panacea for the problems facing us.

Members of our community are already engaging in this important work. This positive agenda will strengthen the work they are doing. Our harsh analysis of the party politics should be taken in the spirit it is meant - as a wake up call to Muslims about the realities of this system. We pray that this step will help all of us realise our potential, to truly become a light for those around us.