Comment on Alan Thornett

We've recieved this from the Muslim Action Commity commenting on Alan Thornett's piece The Danish Cartoons


Dear Sir,

I read the article by Alan Thornett on the Danish cartoons and was very depressed to read his inaccurate comments on the numbers attending the various rallies called to protest against the Danish cartoons. This is clearly politically motivated, as it is clear he neither understood the position of the Muslim Action Committee and clearly sought to promote the MAB who are allies in his coalition.

The national press reported that the MCB and MAB's demo on the 11th drew between 3-5000 demonstrators and that the MAC demo on the 18th drew 10-15,000 demonstrators. Independent organisations such as the Islam Channel whose ceo Mohammed Ali and it's political editor Yvonne Ridley are both part of Respect and the Anri-War Coalition reported that the MCB/MAB demonstration had 20,000 demonstrators and that the MAC demonstration had 60,000.

Any independent observer and anyone who examines the press coverage and the areiel footage will know that the MAC event was larger and could not possibly have been smaller as Mr Thornett asserts.

No real examination of the MAC's aims and objectives have been examined by any of the socialist reporters and actually there was no principaled stance not to have non-Muslims on stage. Vanessa Redgrave in fact spoke that day. However our stance is one of promoting Islamic religious values which can be shared and appreciated by others such as good manners, civility, tolerance. It is not the case that we wish to be isolated but rather that we want to stand on our own feet and fight our battles based on our own values, not others.

Thank you for your time, i hope some sort of amendment and apology will be forthcoming.

Ismaeel-Haneef Hijazi
Media Representative
Muslim Action Committee (MAC)
www.globalcivility.com