Scottish Taxpayer Financing Muslim, Pro-Burka Propaganda

The Herald today continues an interview with Samina Ansari, a Muslim campaigner, who has made a film to promote burka-wearing and show that the women who wear it do so of their own free will. She claims she was inspired to this by a "racist" and "islamophobic" attack:

Glasgow-born Samina Ansari and her loved ones were assaulted because she was wearing a traditional Islamic hijab, which covers the hair, but not the face.

It happened last year, when Ansari, her husband and their baby were driving along a main road. The gang, armed with bricks and chains and accompanied by a snarling dog, surrounded the car, shouting “get the Paki bastards” and “go back to your own country”, before attempting to smash the car windows.

Samina locked the doors while her husband frantically dialled 999, fearing for the safety of the baby in the back seat. One man brought the chain down on to the windscreen, while another tried to smash in through the passenger window.

Muslims have a track record of making up stories like this so we cannot be sure that it even happened. In any case, she says the alleged incident inspired her to make a film to portray burka wearing in a positive light. The film, Hijab – The Light Behind the Veil, was made under the auspices of the Amina Muslim Women’s Resource Centre and can be seen here.

The film as a whole can be considered a work of propaganda. It shows happy, smiling Muslim women, including, pitifully, some indigenous converts, all talking about how great and "empowering" it is to be wearing a burka or hijab.

But it also contains clear political propaganda. The French decision to ban the burka is denounced, for example:

Open-minded democratic people recognise the decision as a token display from the French right.

So the two-thirds of the British people who favour a burka ban according to opinion polls aren't "open-minded" or "democratic"?

Much of it could be considered not just pro-burka but pro-Islam propaganda:

Islam liberates women and uplifts them to high status of honour and respect.

"So what?" you might say. They're entitled to express their point of view. But let's look at where this organisation gets its funding from. According to their 2009 Annual report, the most recent one on their website, their sources of funding were:

Grant Income 257,083
Donations & Fundraising 7,202
Bank Interest 788
Total Incoming Resources 265,073

So almost all of their income comes from the Scottish taxpayer. The Scottish taxpayer is now paying for the making of Muslim propaganda films.

And why is the taxpayer even paying for a Muslim Women's Resource Centre anyway? Should we really be providing public services on a religiously discriminatory basis? Do we have Catholic Women's Resource Centres? Protestant Women's Resource Centres? Wee Free Women's Resources Centres? No, we encourage Catholics, Protestants and Wee Frees to see themselves as citizens of a unified country by providing services on a non-discriminatory basis. Why don't we do that with Muslims too?