Donald Trump for “Total and Complete
Shutdown” of Muslim entry to U.S.
Dr. Mozammel Haque
There will be Presidential elections in the United States
in 2016. Donald Trump is the Republican forerunner candidate. He is a
billionaire business tycoon. His plan is to ban Muslims from entering United
States which raised denunciation, condemnation from the head of states to the ordinary
people irrespective of race, colour and religion throughout the length and
breadth of the globe. This was the talk of the town, became a household
discussion and debate in the media both printed and electronic and debated in
the broadcasting media, in the BBC Channel 4, Question Time in BBC Channel one
and Newsnight in the BBC Channel Two.
In this column I will try to present briefly the reaction
and response from within the United States both from Republican and Democratic
Party and the American Muslim. Similarly, what is the response of the world
leaders to this proposal? Another question was raised: block Mr. Trump coming
to the United Kingdom? And what decision was taken.
Donald Trump Plan
Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for “a total and complete
shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” on Monday evening in the wake
of the San Bernardino terrorist attack and hours before a campaign rally on the
USS Yorktown, a second world war aircraft carrier berthed near Charleston,
South Carolina.
Jessica
Glenza reported from New York to The Guardian, “Trump proposed the
“total and complete shutdown” of Muslims’ entry into the United States on
Monday evening, hours before a campaign rally on the USS Yorktown, a second
world war aircraft carrier berthed near Charleston, South Carolina. The
statement came in response to a shooting in San Bernardino, California, that
killed 14 people. The FBI is investigating the massacre as an act of terrorism
inspired by ISIS. Trump remains the frontrunner in the race for the Republican
presidential nomination.”
This inflammatory statement provoked condemnation from
across the political spectrum and has spurred international controversy and
condemnation from many with the Republican party. Democrats, Muslim leaders,
the UN and foreign leaders criticised the call as dangerous and divisive.
World Leaders Response
So
inflammatory was this Donald Trump’s statement, prominent world leaders felt
the need to respond; in France, Prime Minister, Manuel Valls wrote in Twitter:
“Mr. Trump, like others, fuels hatred.” In Israel where Trump was due to visit
within weeks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this statement: “The Prime
Minister rejects Donald Trump’s recent remarks about Muslims.” In Great
Britain, UK Prime Minister David Cameron dismissed his position as “divisive,
unhelpful and quite simply wrong.”
UK
Prime Minister David Cameron calls Trump comments as “Divisive, unhelpful and
quite wrong”. His comments are part of global backlash – Carl Bildt, “A West
with the public discourse driven by the extremist voices of a Le Pen or a Trump
risks taking us into a civilization war.” Even from Harry Potter J.K.Rowling – “How horrible. Voldamort was
nowhere near as bad.”
Matt
Dathan online political reporter wrote in The Independent , “Leaders across the political spectrum in the UK united in
condemnation of Mr Trump's latest controversial comments. Labour's candidate
for London Mayor Sadiq Khan, himself a Muslim, said he hoped Mr Trump's
campaign "dies a death. His Conservative rival, Zac Goldsmith, described
Mr Trump as "one of the most malignant figures in modern politics,"
adding: "I hope his campaign ends in absolute disaster." Ruth
Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, took to Twitter to voice her
dismay:
Mayor of London
Boris
Johnson
Matt Dathan also reported, “Boris Johnson has hit out at Donald
Trump for his “ill-informed comments”
calling for Muslims to be banned from the United States” to ensure the country
does not end up with “radicalised” no-go area like London. He described Mr
Trump's remarks as "complete and utter nonsense" and invited Mr Trump
to visit the capital to experience the work of UK police officers in local
neighbourhoods across the city.”
"As a city where more than 300 languages are spoken,
London has a proud history of tolerance and diversity and to suggest there are
areas where police officers cannot go because of radicalisation is simply
ridiculous," the Mayor of London said.
"I would welcome the opportunity to show Mr Trump first hand some
of the excellent work our police officers do every day in local neighbourhoods
throughout our city. “Crime has been falling steadily both in London and in New
York - and the only reason I wouldn't go to some parts of New York is the real
risk of meeting Donald Trump.” Reported in The Independent.
UN Official
UN
refugee agency UNHCR said it was concerned that the rhetoric was putting an
"incredibly important" resettlement programme for vulnerable Syrian
refugees at risk.
Reaction
from Within the U.S.
White
House
The
White House promptly responded to Trump’s call. “We should be making it harder
for ISIL to portray this as a war between the United States and Islam, not
easier,” said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to President
Obama. “It’s totally contrary to our values as Americans. . . . It’s also
contrary to our security.” Time magazine reported.
White
House Press Secretary Josh Earnest later challenged the Republican Party to
denounce the leading candidate, and said that the proposal "disqualifies
him from serving as president". Mr Earnest said that the Trump campaign
had a "dustbin of history" quality to it, calling the candidate a
"carnival barker" with "fake hair".
The Republican Party
Mr Trump's proposed ban prompted a horrified reaction from
Republicans and others.
Most
senior Republican legislative members distance themselves from their leading
candidate’s comments. “This is not conservatism. What was proposed yesterday is
not what this party stands for and more importantly what this country stands
for.” Paul Ryan, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives said on 8th
December 2015
Ed Pilkington reported in the Guardian on 8
December, 2015, Trump’s remarks immediately drew condemnation from Democratic
presidential candidate Martin O’Malley, who tweeted: “@realdonaldtrump removes
all doubt: he is running for President as a fascist demagogue.” Other politicians on both sides of the aisle quickly
followed suit including former vice president Dick Cheney.
Jessica
Glenza reported in the Guardian, “Prominent Republicans from across the
spectrum have condemned Trump’s proposals. Former US vice-president Dick Cheney
said barring Muslims from entering the country “goes against everything we
stand for and believe in”, in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh
Hewitt.”
Republican
presidential rival Lindsey Graham said: “What has been in the past absurd and
hateful has turned dangerous.” He told the Guardian: “Donald Trump today
took xenophobia and religious bigotry to a new level. His comments are hurting
the war effort and putting our diplomats and soldiers serving in the Middle
East at risk. The way to win this war is to reach to the vast majority of
people in Islamic faith who reject Isil and provide them the capability to
resist this ideology. Ed Pilkington reported,
Ed
Pilkington also added, “Today’s statement embraces a ‘fortress America’
approach, is doomed to fail and shows a complete lack of understanding by
Donald Trump as to what the war is all about. As to interpreters and others who
have helped American military in Iraq and Afghanistan, this policy, if enacted,
would be a death sentence.”
Among his rivals, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush called
Trump "unhinged"; Ohio Governor John Kasich called his statement
"outrageous divisiveness", while Florida Senator Marco Rubio called
it "offensive and outlandish". Former US Vice President Dick Cheney
said Trump's statement "goes against everything we stand for and believe
in".
Democratic Party
Democrats
were direct in their condemnation. Former Maryland governor and Democratic
presidential candidate Martin O’Malley called Trump a “fascist demagogue”. And
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton called the proposal “reprehensible,
prejudiced and divisive”. “This makes us less safe,” the candidate said on Twitter.
Lauren Gambino reported in The Guardian on Friday,
11 December, 2015, Hillary Clinton has condemned Donald Trump, calling him shameful,
dangerous and declaring: “I no longer think he’s funny.”
“I think for weeks, you know, you and everybody else were
just bringing folks to hysterical laughter and all of that,” Clinton told the
host. “But now he has gone way over the line. And what he’s saying now is not
only shameful and wrong – it’s dangerous.”
Trump’s rhetoric was harming the nation’s ability to fight
the rise of the Islamic State, feeding the group “propaganda” it could use to
recruit, Clinton said. “This latest demand that we not let Muslims into the
country really plays right into the hands of the terrorists,” she said.
“I don’t say that lightly, but it does. He is giving them a
great propaganda tool, a way to recruit more folks from Europe and the United
States. And because it’s kind of crossed that line, I think everybody and
especially other Republicans need to stand up and say ‘Enough, you’ve gone too
far.’”
US President Obama
In
this connection it is most important to mention President Obama’s remarks on
Muslims. Following is the highlights from the President’s rare address from the
Oval Office.
“We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight
be defined as a war between America and Islam,” Obama said. “That, too, is what
groups like Isil want. Isil does not speak for Islam. They are thugs and
killers. Part of a cult of death. And they account for a tiny fraction of a
more than a billion Muslims around the world, including millions of patriotic
Muslim Americans who reject their hateful ideology.
“Muslim Americans are our friends and our neighbors. Our
co-workers. Our sports heroes. And, yes, they are our men and women in uniform
who are willing to die in defense of our country,” he added. “We have to
remember that.”
Response from American Muslims
Trump’s threat was met with perplexed anger on the part of
prominent Muslim American groups. Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the largest
such group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said on Twitter: “Where is there left for him to go? Are
we talking internment camps? Are we talking the final solution?”
Nihad
Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
said, "Donald Trump sounds more like a leader of a lynch mob than a great
nation like ours,'' adding "These are not just words... Trump and Carson's
mainstreaming of Islamophobia in the election is inciting discrimination, hate
crimes, violent attacks against Muslims and mosques."
Jessica
Glenza reported to The Guardian, Trump’s latest proposal “sounds more
like a fascist leader of the 40s than a man who is running to be the leader of
a civilized nation like the United States”, said Nihad Awad, executive director
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in an opinion piece for the
Guardian, suggesting a comparison between Trump and Adolf Hitler. Ahwad
called on Republicans to condemn Islamophobia, as President Obama did in a rare
Sunday evening address from the Oval Office.
Sadiq Khan, London Mayoral Candidate
Donald
Trump’s comments are no joke – they are helping to fuel a wave of hate crime
that, as I know from my own experience, makes all of us less safe, Sadiq Khan,
London Mayoral candidate said, ‘The number of Islamophobic incidents recorded
by the Metropolitan police increased by 70% over the past year alone.’
Mr.
Khan wrote in The Guardian on Friday, 11 December, 2015, “It’s too easy to
dismiss Donald Trump as a buffoon – to point and laugh at a man whose worldview
is as ridiculous as his hairdo. But to do so is to make light of a very serious
threat.
Trump
is just the latest public figure to articulate a growing wave of Islamophobia across
the western world. His shocking views justify the actions of those who commit
hate crimes and worse, play into the hands of terrorists such as Daesh (Islamic
State) – making Britain less safe.
Islamophobia
is on the rise. The number of Islamophobic incidents recorded by the
Metropolitan police increased by 70% over the past year alone. Every time there
is a terrorist incident involving evil fanatics who abuse the name of Islam
ordinary, law-abiding Muslims pay a heavy price.
The
most striking thing was the outpouring of anger from the British people and
press – saying loudly and clearly that we will not tolerate Islamophobia in
this country. Yet the views articulated by Trump encourage and legitimise those
who commit hate crimes.
And
worse – they play straight into the hands of terrorists such as Daesh and make
us less safe. Young British Muslims become more susceptible to radicalisation
and extremism when we don’t give mainstream Muslims the confidence to challenge
the extremists, and because British society is too segregated.
The
growing wave of Islamophobia that will be fuelled by Trump’s comments makes these
problems worse. Being subjected to Islamophobic abuse makes integration less
likely, and amplifies the views of the extremists rather than the mainstream.
It’s divisive and dangerous and puts British lives at risk.
We
must do more to challenge Islamophobia. As mayor of London, I’ll make tackling
hate crimes – including Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and homophobia – a top
priority for the Metropolitan police and ensure they get the resources they
needs to make a real difference. I’ll work with the police and community
organisations to improve the way we report and record Islamophobic crimes – so
we have the best possible information to act on.”
Guardian editorial
The Guardian
editorially wrote, “Mr Trump’s
announcement following the San Bernardino shooting that he wants to bar all
Muslims from entering America is shocking. It is close to lynch mob politics.
It is also, as it happens, almost certainly unworkable in practice. Few doubt
it would be struck down as unconstitutional on grounds of religious freedom. It
would have a devastating effect on American community relations (a high
proportion of US Muslims are African-Americans) and on the nation’s standing.
It may also be a sign that Mr Trump is getting rattled by the Republican race.
(The Guardian, editorial, 8th December 2015, modified on 9th
December 2015)
It
observed, “But there are no two ways about Mr Trump’s views. He is an
Islamophobe. He wishes to make Islamophobia an organising principle of state
policy. For a putative leader of a nation of immigrants to talk in this way is
a watershed moment for the United States. In Mr Trump’s America, the famous
words associated with the Statue of Liberty would have to be amended to welcome
“your tired and huddled masses – but no Muslims”.”
The
Guardian editorially mentioned, “It would be unhistorical to say that this is a
total breach with America’s past. The US was founded on the principle that a
black person was less of a human being than a white one. It passed a Chinese
Exclusion Act in 1882, and interned Japanese Americans during the second world
war. But this would be the first time that a nation founded on the principle of
religious freedom would have attempted to bar people on the grounds of faith
rather their nationality. That is, in a resonant word, un-American. And it
demands the kind of response to Mr Trump that Joseph Welch delivered to Joe
McCarthy in a famous Washington hearing in1954: have you no sense of decency,
sir?”
The Guardian
observed in its editorial, “Mr Trump’s Islamophobia is a problem for everyone,
non-Muslim as well as Muslim. It puts every attempt to build trust between the
west and the Muslim world – and between Muslims and non-Muslims in the west –
at risk. It undermines every American – whether an aid worker, business person,
diplomat, journalist or tourist – who seeks to build trust and community with
those outside the US on the basis of common humanity. If Mr Trump becomes
president in January 2017 there could and should be no credible cooperation
with his America in either the fight against jihadi terrorism or anything else
involving Europe’s credibility with the Muslim world. He would be on his own.
And so would we.”
Donald Trump will not be
blocked
In Metro
on 9th December 2015, it was reported under the caption: ‘Preacher
of hate’ Trump risks UK ban: “The SNP’s trade and investment spokesman Tasmina
Ahmed-Sheikh said, “It is within the gift of the UK government to deny access
to people who are hate preachers. Does what Donald Trump has said amount to
hate preaching? I would suggest that it does, given that he has denounced an
entire religion.”
Suzanne
Kelly, a campaigner from Aberdeen whose petition to ban Donald Trump from the
UK on the grounds of hate speech has acted as a lightning rod for public
disgust at the US presidential candidate’s Islamophobia. Libby Brooks Scotland
correspondent reported in The Guardian on Wednesday, 9 December 2015.
That
petition to block Donald Trump has now got hundreds and thousands of
signatures. By mid-morning of 9th December, 2015, more than 80,000
people had signed an online petition urging MPs to blacklist Mr. Trump. If the
petition reaches 100,000 signatures, which it appeared almost certain to by the
end of the day then MPs will consider debating a ban on him.
Now
the petition calling to ban Mr David Trump travelling to the UK has gathered
100,000 of signatures enough to ensure the Parliament to consider the issue a
debate. 429,211 signatories believe
Donald Trump should be banned from UK entry. The politicians were already
crushing the government to act.
On 9th
December 2015, Scotland National Party MP, Tasmina Ahmed- Sheikh, questioned in
the House of Commons: “I understand that the Home
Secretary has banned 84 hate preachers from entering the UK. Will the
Government lead by example and consider making Mr Donald Trump the 85th?
In reply to that, Chancellor George Osborne said, “I think that the best way to
confront the views of someone like Donald Trump is to engage in a robust,
democratic argument about why he is profoundly wrong about the contribution of
American Muslims, and indeed British Muslims. That is the best way to deal with
Donald Trump and his views, rather than trying to ban presidential candidates.”
It is learnt that the British government has signalled it
will not refuse the US presidential candidate Donald Trump entry to Britain
following his controversial comments about Muslims, despite a petition calling
for a ban gathering nearly 225,000 signatures in 24 hours.
Earlier,
Channel 4 presenter, Jon Snow interviewed Tulip Siddiq, MP for Hampstead and
Kilburn constituency. Ms. Siddiq said, “This is not only Donald Trump comment;
it is disrespectful. They are also dangerous; but the truth is that we also
have laws in this country that condemn hate rhetoric and for me Donald Trump
comments are intrinsically hate rhetoric. For something hate rhetoric, we have
banned 84 hate preachers last year coming into this country. Why should be
there any difference for Donald Trump?”
MP for
Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, Ms Siddiq, also mentioned Donald Trump is
contesting for the most powerful job in the world. “What he has done is equated
the entire Muslim population with the small group of people who are terrorists
manipulate religion to suit their minds. If that is not hate rhetoric, I don’t
know what it is. We make sure that we don’t allow people who preach hate into
our country. Why should we be making an exception to someone, it is because he
is billionaire, is it because he is politician; we do not accept people who are
not conducive to the common good of the people here – that’s what the Home
Office said that; not my word. His words are not conducive to the common good
of the people in Britain.” Channel 4 on 9th December 2015.
Tulip
Siddiq also mentioned, “There are 101 people we banned after the 7th
July attack from coming this country because they were not in tune with the
cohesiveness nature of our country. Many of them were Muslim hate preachers. We
did not allow them in because they don’t share our values, they don’t fit in
the community we have here, Donald Trump is that man.”
Ms
Siddiq, MP also added, “These are not rule I am making up; these are not rule
that MPs are making up. This is the law of the land. This is the Race and
Relations Act 2006. No one should be above the low especially Donald Trump.”
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