Londonistan (term)
Encyclopedia
Londonistan is a pejorative
sobriquet
in use by parts of the media
referring to the British
capital of London
and the British Government's alleged tolerance of the presence of various Islamist
groups in London and other major cities of Britain as long as they carry out their controversial ideologies or terror campaign outside of Britain.
The word is a portmanteau of the British capital and the Persian
suffix -stan
, meaning "land" (used by several countries in South
and Central Asia
). The term has been used in a number of publications, including The New York Times
, Vanity Fair
, The Weekly Standard
, and in the 2006 book Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within.
The bombings and attempted bombings, mostly in Paris, in summer and autumn of 1995 by Armed Islamic Group
(GIA), killed eight and injured more than 100.
According to critics, Britain's "deep tradition of civil liberties and protection of political activists" led to the country becoming "a crossroads for would-be terrorists" for a decade after the mid 1990s. The Islamists used London "as a home base" to "raise money, recruit members and draw inspiration from the militant messages." The British government's perceived unwillingness to prosecute or extradite
terrorist
suspects provoked tensions with countries in which attacks occurred. Allegations of a British policy of appeasement of Islamists were made and denied.
ern, Europe
an, Pakistan and the United States
governments, who view many of these groups as terrorists.
Foreign governments were particularly angered when the head of Al-Muhajiroun
, Omar Bakri Muhammad
, claimed he lived in the UK under a "covenant of security", whereby he was left alone by the authorities so long as he did not sanction attacks on British soil. The British government denied the claim. Some suspects of the 1995 attacks on Paris have fled to the United Kingdom; Rachid Ramda
was eventually put into French custody on the 1 December 2005, after ten years of permanent request by French judges. Several non-British major newspapers have echoed the claim that the UK intentionally tolerates radical Muslims and hinders extradition of suspects in order to buy peace from terrorists.
, which brought home the vulnerability of Western countries to large-scale terror attacks. Subsequently, the British government arrested a number of key Islamist leaders, including Abu Hamza al-Masri
, the imam
of the Finsbury Park Mosque
, regarded as a base for Islamic extremists. The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001
allowed terrorist suspects to be detained indefinitely without charge. In 2004, the Law Lords ruled that this violated European law, but it was replaced with the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005
, containing similar powers. Many Islamists may have left the UK to avoid internment, while others went home after domestic political reform, such as Ali Salman
, who returned to Bahrain
to help found the country’s biggest opposition party, Al Wefaq
.
According to the New York Times, there were "seven or eight major plots" to attack civilian targets in Britain disrupted by police or intelligence officials.
Pejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
in use by parts of the media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
referring to the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
capital of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the British Government's alleged tolerance of the presence of various Islamist
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
groups in London and other major cities of Britain as long as they carry out their controversial ideologies or terror campaign outside of Britain.
The word is a portmanteau of the British capital and the Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
suffix -stan
-stan
The suffix -stan is Persian for "place of", a cognate to Pashto -tun and to Indo-Aryan -sthāna , a Sanskrit suffix with a similar meaning...
, meaning "land" (used by several countries in South
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
and Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
). The term has been used in a number of publications, including The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
, and in the 2006 book Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within.
Origin of the term
According to Omar NasiriThe mid- to late 1990s were the years when Britain's capital earned the sobriquet of `Londonistan,` a title provided by French officials infuriated at the growing presence of Islamist radicals in London and the failure of British authorities to do anything about it. Raids in France and Belgium had produced phone and fax numbers linked to the United Kingdom, and names of suspects were passed on. Some French officials believe that if more had been done by Britain at the time, the network behind the summer of 1995 bombings might have been broken up and the attacks prevented.
The bombings and attempted bombings, mostly in Paris, in summer and autumn of 1995 by Armed Islamic Group
Armed Islamic Group
The Armed Islamic Group is an Islamist organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
(GIA), killed eight and injured more than 100.
According to critics, Britain's "deep tradition of civil liberties and protection of political activists" led to the country becoming "a crossroads for would-be terrorists" for a decade after the mid 1990s. The Islamists used London "as a home base" to "raise money, recruit members and draw inspiration from the militant messages." The British government's perceived unwillingness to prosecute or extradite
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
terrorist
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
suspects provoked tensions with countries in which attacks occurred. Allegations of a British policy of appeasement of Islamists were made and denied.
Late 1980s onwards
The presence of active Islamists in London began to cause tensions with Middle EastMiddle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an, Pakistan and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
governments, who view many of these groups as terrorists.
Foreign governments were particularly angered when the head of Al-Muhajiroun
Al-Muhajiroun
Al-Muhajiroun is a banned Islamist organisation that was based in Britain and which has been linked to international terrorism, homophobia and anti-semitism...
, Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad
Omar Bakri Muhammad is an Islamist militant leader who was instrumental in developing Hizb ut-Tahrir into a major organization in the United Kingdom before leaving the group and heading another Islamist organisation, Al-Muhajiroun, until its disbandment in 2004.For several years Bakri was one of...
, claimed he lived in the UK under a "covenant of security", whereby he was left alone by the authorities so long as he did not sanction attacks on British soil. The British government denied the claim. Some suspects of the 1995 attacks on Paris have fled to the United Kingdom; Rachid Ramda
Rachid Ramda
Rachid Ramda is the convicted mastermind behind the 1995 terror bombings in French public transportation systems. He has denied these accusations.-Algeria:...
was eventually put into French custody on the 1 December 2005, after ten years of permanent request by French judges. Several non-British major newspapers have echoed the claim that the UK intentionally tolerates radical Muslims and hinders extradition of suspects in order to buy peace from terrorists.
Following September 11, 2001
The activities of London-based Islamists came under greater scrutiny after the September 11, 2001 attacksSeptember 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, which brought home the vulnerability of Western countries to large-scale terror attacks. Subsequently, the British government arrested a number of key Islamist leaders, including Abu Hamza al-Masri
Abu Hamza al-Masri
Abu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...
, the imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
of the Finsbury Park Mosque
Finsbury Park Mosque
North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, London was built in the 1990s to serve the large Muslim population in the area. It has a capacity of 1,800 people....
, regarded as a base for Islamic extremists. The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001
Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001
The Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was formally introduced into the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 19 November 2001, two months after the terrorist attacks on New York on 11 September. It received royal assent and came into force on 14 December 2001...
allowed terrorist suspects to be detained indefinitely without charge. In 2004, the Law Lords ruled that this violated European law, but it was replaced with the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005
Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005
The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, intended to deal with the Law Lords' ruling of 16 December 2004 that the detention without trial of eight foreigners at HM Prison Belmarsh under Part 4 of the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001...
, containing similar powers. Many Islamists may have left the UK to avoid internment, while others went home after domestic political reform, such as Ali Salman
Ali Salman
Ali Salman is the president of the Al-Wefaq political society in Bahrain. He is a Twelver Shi'a cleric educated in Qom. In January 1995 the Bahraini government forcibly exiled him to Dubai for leading a popular campaign demanding the reinstatement of the constitution and the restoration of...
, who returned to Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
to help found the country’s biggest opposition party, Al Wefaq
Al Wefaq
Al Wefaq National Islamic Society , also known as the Islamic National Accord Association, is a Bahraini political society, and the largest party in the Bahrain, both in terms of its membership and its results at the polls...
.
According to the New York Times, there were "seven or eight major plots" to attack civilian targets in Britain disrupted by police or intelligence officials.
Examples of usage in the Arabic press
- at Ash-Sharq al-Awsat, 22 August 2005
- at Al-Arabiya, 17 October 2010
See also
- Islamism in London
- -stan-stanThe suffix -stan is Persian for "place of", a cognate to Pashto -tun and to Indo-Aryan -sthāna , a Sanskrit suffix with a similar meaning...
- EurabiaEurabiaEurabia is a conspiracy theory about the alleged Arabization and Islamization of Europe, and the European leaders' alleged capitulation to Islamic influences.-Origin of the term:...
- Islam in the United KingdomIslam in the United KingdomIslam has been present in the United Kingdom since its formation in 1707, though it was not legally recognised until the Trinitarian Act in 1812. Today it is the second largest religion in the country with estimates suggesting that by 2010 the total Muslim population had reached 2.869 million.The...
- LondonstaniLondonstaniLondonstani is the name of Gautam Malkani's debut novel published in the United Kingdom in 2006. The book's name is derived from the setting of the novel, London, and the story's subject matter, the lives of second and third generation South Asian immigrants...
- 7 July 2005 London bombings7 July 2005 London bombingsThe 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
- 21 July 2005 London bombings21 July 2005 London bombingsOn 21 July 2005, four attempted bomb attacks disrupted part of London's public transport system two weeks after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The explosions occurred around midday at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval stations on London Underground, and on a bus in Shoreditch...
- Bahrain Freedom MovementBahrain Freedom MovementBahrain Freedom Movement is a London based Bahraini opposition group which has its headquarters in a north London mosque...
- Islamist demonstration outside Danish Embassy in London in 2006Islamist demonstration outside Danish Embassy in London in 2006The 2006 Islamist demonstration outside the Embassy of Denmark in London took place on 3 February 2006, in response to controversy surrounding the publication of editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
- Stop the Islamification of EuropeStop the Islamification of EuropeStop Islamisation of Europe , also known as Stop the Islamification of Europe, is a group with the self-declared goal of "preventing Islam becoming a dominant political force in Europe". It is a political interest group which has been active in Denmark and has conducted anti-Islamic protests in the...
- Political group