by Tom Slater, spiked
Have we learned the lessons of 7/7? So begins every trite radio and TV discussion today as we mark 20 years since four homegrown jihadists blew themselves up on London’s transport network and took 52 innocent souls with them.
Going by much of the commentary, you’d think this was a purely logistical, security question. There’s a long piece on the BBC website, talking about how the police and the security services were forced to up their game after the London Bombings, the new powers they now enjoy as a consequence, the attendant concerns over civil liberties, etc.
The words ‘Islamist’ and ‘jihadist’ do not appear once in the piece, even as it details the evolving ‘extremist’ threat posed first by al-Qaeda and then the ‘self-styled Islamic State’. There is often a stubborn refusal, a stammering hesitation, to mention what flavour of ‘extremism’ most menaces us – a cowardly tic that was skewered best by Morrissey: ‘An extreme what? An extreme rabbit?’
This attempt to brush over the I-word – to blithely ignore the religious, ideological character of those hellish bombings two decades ago – is everywhere today. The deadliest terror attack on UK soil since Lockerbie – the deadliest terror attack on London ever – is being talked about as if it were motivated by some vaguely defined form of ‘hate’ or ‘division’, rather than a global Islamist movement.
Coverage from Religion Media Centre
Courage and hope on the 20th anniversary of the London Bomb attacks
Commemorative events were held across London to remember the victims of the London bomb attacks 20 years ago, when explosives were detonated on three underground trains and a bus. Relatives of the 52 people who died, and representatives of the 700 people injured, were joined by emergency services, politicians and faith leaders for special services.
There were moments of remembrance at each site of the attacks, and another at the Hyde Park 7/7 memorial where the Prime Minister laid a wreath. He said: “Those who tried to divide us failed. We stood together then, and we stand together now — against hate and for the values that define us of freedom, democracy and the rule of law”.
The main service was at St Paul’s Cathedral, where the Bishop of London, Sarah Mullaly, gave the address saying: “My prayer for us all is that we practise living in hope, that we learn to love the future, to strive for reconciliation and peace, and that, as our wings strengthen, we may know that underneath us all and those that we love is life and eternity, and there are the everlasting arms of God, who brings hope.”
Guardian reporter Geneva Abdul, writes that the feelings of suspicion, isolation and hostility experienced by Muslims in the aftermath of the attacks “have, for some, only worsened after decades of UK counter-terrorism policies, and a political landscape they say has allowed Islamophobia to flourish”.
The Muslim Women’s Network UK issued a statement saying the attacks were “a betrayal of the core values of Islam and our shared humanity. In the years that followed, many Muslims have taken active steps to challenge the fringe extremist ideologies and to amplify the voices of the unacknowledged majority who are committed to peace, coexistence, and active participation in wider society”.