Rochdale Sex Crimes – Are they a product of the Pakistani Ghetto or Liberalism?

For certain, had these men been white Anglo-Saxons, the media coverage and the reaction would have been different; an isolated group of criminals only, with no reference to their racial or cultural identity. This is how for example serial killers are often portrayed. Take the example of the 8 Scottish paedophile gang convicted in 2009 [1] who were caught raping babies not consenting young teenagers like the Rochdale case, the news went unnoticed. Similarly, the recent case in Cornwall [2] also slipped under the media radar. There was no attempt to cast a slur on the wider community, based on the actions of these culprits.

In contrast, based on the actions of the 9 culprits in Rochdale, the media and certain politicians have been busy tarnishing the Pakistani community, which is almost a million or more in the UK. The notion of proportion and logic is discarded when there is an underlying agenda; predictably, the usual Islamophobes to the closet racists have come out blaming it on race and culture, the more daft elements of the far right are blaming religion.

We have become accustomed to semi-literate Islamophobes lacking in primary education, claiming how Islam promotes rapes. They can just about utter Sharia as ‘shooria’ or ‘muslamic’ law and rant about ‘alal’ meat as if they have discerning taste after a dose of alcohol. How is it possible for any religion to allow a clear sin? Islamic law, like the other Abrahamic faiths prohibits even consensual sex outside marriage, and by greater reason rape is given the severest punishment. You are far more likely to find rapists amongst the sexually liberal party goers than the devout Muslims in the Mosques.  If you want to blame religion, then blame the religion of secularism.

If we analyse this crime in the northern city of Rochdale, it has three components: drugs and alcohol, vulnerable young girls, and depraved men driven by lust - real life sexual predators.

As a society, we don’t just tolerate alcohol, but promote its consumption. Unlike alcohol, others forms of drugs such as cocaine, heroine and marijuana are technically illegal; however, trends amongst stars in the film and music industry often endorse it as something fashionable. By its consumption it will make you stand out from the rest is the implicit message, like violence is implicitly promoted through the violence of the good guys. Thus, the society is guilty in allowing and ‘promoting’ such substances in the first place. In contrast, Islam prohibits such all forms of intoxicants categorically; hence these men have acted in accordance with the values of the liberal West by using the intoxicants. I am sure the Islamophobes by now are dazed!  

The next component is the vulnerable young girls in care. For sure, the racial or religious identity of these girls would not have mattered to the 9 Pakistani men. They were seen as easy meat to prey on. Although the personal circumstances of these girls are not known, the fact that they are in care already tells us something; they have come from broken homes, which is a product of society and nothing to do with Pakistani culture. On the contrary, such a phenomenon is rare among Pakistanis as girls are always protected by their families. The liberals call it oppression as they are denied freedom.  The same argument is applicable to the native white population, where conservative values are upheld through the traditional family unit, which keeps them protected from sexual predators.  

Then comes the last component - these depraved men who acted with the opportunity to prey on these girls. The supply side is clear, demographics and liberal values that produce broken homes mean young white girls will be more in supply than girls from other ethnic backgrounds. The media is reluctant to acknowledge this pertinent point. 

As for the demand side, for these men the main component is opportunity, in conjunction with living in a liberal society which is highly sexualised. Isn’t sex promoted at every level without responsibility and consequence? Hence, their desire overtook their cultural values, which prohibits consensual sex outside marriage with anyone, let alone forcing someone using intoxicants.  

In short, the men acted in accordance with the liberal culture of the west, the use of drugs, opportunities provided by the easy access to vulnerable girls, and their sexual instinct agitated by a sexually charged society. However, that does not mean the men have no responsibility for their deeds, but one needs to point out the wider collective guilt, which nobody is acknowledging and passing the buck, describing it as a foreign cultural or racial problem, a nasty Pakistani import in the language of the far right.

Finally, what about justice for these young vulnerable girls? The lenient punishment given is not a fitting compensation for the loss of dignity and the permanent psychological scars; therefore, it will hardly constitute a form of deterrent for others. This reflects how society and the legal system value such crimes in the first place, which in turn shows how little they value the dignity of women. So much for women’s rights! It is not Islam, it is liberalism that facilitates such crimes and these criminals would have been crucified in a Sharia court, and not housed and fed in a relatively comfortable prison. The girls are collateral damage – because alcohol, drugs and a liberal sexual society is more important, and to hell with the consequences.

Yamin Zakaria (yamin@radicalviews.org)

Published on 16/05/2012

London, UK

www.radicalviews.org, http://yaminzakaria.blogspot.com

[1]http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/15277412?utm_source=JUST+West+Yorkshire+List&utm_campaign=f57b941a27-RACIAL_JUSTICE_NETWORK4_29_2012&utm_medium=email

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-11839816