The Real Trojan Horses
Much has been written on this Hoax hype which was triggered by a fabricated document and blustered by neocon media outlets and politicians such as Michael Gove and Theresa May. Some have highlighted that the term “Trojan Horse” is a Chapter heading in Gove’s anti-Muslim diatribe, Celsius 7/7 which has been comprehensively exposed by writers such as Darymple as essentially a useless book. However the usage amongst xenophobes, Islam and Muslim-haters amongst the right-wing and neocon extremist is more common than first thought.
Douglas Murray
Douglas Murray, the notorious neocon, has been a key influence in the discourse regarding Muslims today and his desire to make the lives of Muslims difficult is coming to fruition, as can be seen from the treatment of the Muslim minority at the cold-blooded hands of the government and media. From the false Eurabia hypothesis to blatant racism Douglas Murray is an anti-Muslim, Islam-hating racist neocon.
Douglas Murray in his book Neoconservatism: Why we need it was first published in 2006. In one section, lamenting the fact that Americans were focussed on anti-Muslim violence he states,
“The Whitehouse and all government departments remain intent on demonstrating how pro-Muslim they can be, celebrating Muslim religious festivals and arranging constant photo-opportunities with Muslim “leaders.” These are the early signs of societal suicide… In the face of this the government has been unwilling – because scared – to recognize that its immigration and multiculturalism policies have to an extent allowed this threat within American society. The moves to counter it must be harsh, and mosques and centers that have been preaching hatred must be closed down entirely. Treating the Islamist threat seriously means being wary of allowing the Trojan horse into our midst. At the very least it means ensuring that the Trojan horse is not built from our own materials of tolerance and fairness.” P.178
Regarding Muslim schools he writes,
The attitude towards Muslim schools should be exceptional… if any Muslim academies are allowed to exist, they should be funded entirely privately, with no taxpayer assistance and should be subject to uniquely strict regulation and inspection. If such conditions are considered unbearable, then Muslims will have to try their luck in other countries… America must start implementing its response… For we have allowed the Straussian-nightmare endpoint of relativism to arrive, in which intolerance towards our society is treated as a value “equal in dignity” to intolerance… we must not allow tolerance to prove the Achilles heel of freedom. To defend our tolerance we must be intolerant to those who oppose us. pp. 177-178
Apart from his seriously disturbed analysis, his use of the terms “Trojan Horse” as a derogatory term for the “Muslim fifth column” can be noted.
In the end notes of the book, Murray references (on p. 239) a book by extremist, anti-Muslim Robert Spencer called Islam Unveiled. Spencer’s book, which demonises Islam as a religion, is filled with fallacious half-truths and is celebrated by the right-wing Muslim haters
Spencer, an ordained Catholic deacon who is the main writer for the anti-Muslim Jihad Watch website, has been behind other websites named f***allah.com and f***islam.com. His incitement to hatred is such that even Theresa May the extremist banned him from entering the country.
Spencer’s writings have also inspired the anti-Muslim Christian terrorist Anders Breivik.
Murray’s referencing of Spencer is telling of his mentality.
Douglas Murray also positively references fellow neocon Michael Gove in several places in his book, and cites his article, Michael Gove, “The very British Roots of Neoconservatism and Its Lessons for British Conservatives” in Stelzer’s book, Neoconservatism.
Michael Gove
An ardent neocon, I have briefly elucidated his anti-Muslim positions in a blog here. He has a knack for attacking Muslims especially Muslims in the educational context. For example in the House of Commons, in 2008 he expressed his disdain for government support of Muslim faith schools, along with mythical accusations regarding teaching materials.
In November 2009, he further attacked two Muslim schools with lies which were then exposed.
His virulent prejudice and historical actions against the Muslim minority make him unfit to be the Secretary of State for Education.
Interestingly, his book, Celsius 7/7, was also published in the same year Murray’s book was published. The historian William Dalrymple wrote that Gove’s book was “a confused epic of simplistic incomprehension, riddled with more factual errors and misconceptions than any other text I have come across in two decades of reviewing books on this subject” and Geoffrey Wheatcroft called it a “Muslim-bashing diatribe”.
In this book, he has entitled the eighth chapter, “The Trojan Horse”, which incidentally talks about the Islamist “threat within”.
Gove and his book are critical in influencing the “counter-jihad” movement which is made up of extremists like Spencer, Pamella Geller (who is also banned from the UK), and domestically through the EDL, UKIP members and Britain First (as well as providing narrative support to neocons Douglas Murray, Michael Shawcross et al). As one right-wing news site notes:
“Gove’s book Celsius 7/7 expressed similar views to Geller and Spencer, and indeed the EDL. Indeed Celsius 7/7, published in 2006, itself provided philosophical inspiration for Counter Jihad ideology that began to emerge around that time. Leading members of the Counter Jihad read his book and were influenced by his views.”
Deeper into the Right-Wing Extremists – Sam Solomon, Geert Wilders, EDL
The “Trojan Horse” appellation has been used consistently by American-inspired, right-wing extremists to attack Islam and Muslims as threat which needs to be countered.
Sam Solomon has shared platforms with Geller and Spencer (see here also) and was the one who notoriously drafted UKIP MEP Gerard Batten’s “proposed charter of Muslim understanding” a document which inter alia, asks Muslims to denounce verses of the Qur’an.
Solomon, a Christian, has written a book attacking Islam and, using spurious arguments, pedalling the same myth the neocons such as Murray and Michael Shawcross drum-beat: that the increase of Muslim population through birth and immigration translates into a Muslim “taking over”. The book is entitled Modern Day Trojan Horse and was published in 2009.
Geert Wilders (whose events Solomon has attended) wrote in praise of the book that,
“I hope that every person in the Western world reads it, including the sleeping political elite. This book should bring about a much needed awakening.”
Geert Wilders in return, in his speech to the Dutch Parliament, also referred to Muslims as the “Trojan Horse”:
“Islam is the Trojan Horse in Europe. If we do not stop Islamification now, Eurabia and Netherabia will just be a matter of time.”
Given the fact that the extremist, racist English Defence League in the UK have been inspired by likes of Spencer and Geller, it is little surprise that members of the EDL would also use such language.
In the above image, again “Trojan Horse” has been used to describe Islam as a threat:
“’The Trojan Horse’ Muslim Migration, Intimidation, Domination.
Right-Wing, Neocon Extremist Think-tanks
American neocon/right-wing think-tanks and institutes have also pejoratively used the appellation of “Trojan Horse” to describe Muslims.
Gatestone Institute, a right-wing, neoconservative think-tank, which publishes articles from authors such as extremist Robert Spencer and Alan Dershowitz (a pro-Zionist exposed by Norman Finkelstein for plagiarism), is one such example. It was formerly known as the Hudson Institute. Under this name, it invited Geert Wilders to deliver a talk attacking Islam and the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon). Michael Curtis, an analyst at the Institute has dedicated an entire piece about the Trojan Horse of Europe entitled, “Accomodation (sic) of Islam is Trojan Horse of Europe”. Here is another example on the Institute’s own website.
The Clarion Project is another anti-Muslim organisation which has been been publishing Nazi-esque propaganda and which has been identified as part of a multi-million dollar American Islamophobic Network. It has promoted Quilliam Foundation’s Ghaffar Hussain and the Henry Jackson Society.
The Clarion Project have also published articles supporting the idea of Islam being the Trojan Horse hell-bent on invasion:
“Islam is more than a religion… Since radical Muslims know they can never defeat our military on the battlefield, they devised the strategy of internal subversion… Like the ancient Trojan Horse welcomed within the city’s gates, Islam has entered America disguised as a religion… But its ultimate objective is political: Destroy America and establish an Islamic nation under Sharia Law.”
Concluding Remarks
Given the overwhelming evidence of the fact that Islam has been described as the “Trojan Horse” threat by highly bigoted, neocon individuals in the UK, who are linked to an entire industry of Islamophobia across the Atlantic Ocean into the US, who have in-turn inspired terrorism and mass killing, it would be ridiculous to assume a Muslim would plot and plan an “Operation Trojan Horse” in Birmingham. In fact, the evidence from the neocon chorus of the Trojan Horse describing derogatorily Islam and Muslims suggests this was a plot used by the neocon lobby to, in the words of Douglas Murray, make conditions difficult for Muslims across the board.
With members of the government holding such dangerous (neocon) beliefs themselves, and have associations and links, either in person or in narrative with extremists who have inspired terrorism, it begs the question, how on earth can any form of impartiality be attributed to Michael Gove, who has ensured his own people are in the right place within the Department for Education and Ofsted?
The real threat, the real Trojan Horse, is the infiltration of neocons in the government, who have subverted key government bodies which are meant to be impartial and compromised them with a philosophy of deception, lies and fear, the effects of which the Muslim minority have experienced and the schools have witnessed over the past few months.
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