A far-left U.K publication has reported on the recent annual conference of the Stop the War Coalition which was attended by one of the leaders of the new U.K. Muslim Brotherhood organization known as the British Muslim Initiative (BMI). The report describes the conference and the topics of discussion as follows:
The strength and determination of the anti-war movement in Britain was clearly demonstrated at the Stop the War Coalition’s annual conference held in London last Saturday. Over 450 delegates from local groups, peace campaigns, trade union branches and colleges across Britain attended. The conference reflected Stop the War’s success in the colleges with many new and established student groups sending delegations and around 80 students staying at the end of the conference to discuss building the movement in the colleges.Opening the conference Stop the War chair Andrew Murray reminded delegates of the achievements of the movement over the last year and warned of the growing threat of an attack on Iran….The conference discussed topics including the growing brutality and resistance to the occupation in Iraq and the attacks on civil liberties in Britain.
The report goes on to say that former MAB leader Anas al Tikriti from the British Muslim Initiative and Kate Hudson, chair of [The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament] “both spoke of the importance to their organizations of their joint work with the Stop the War Coalition.”
As a previous post has discussed, the BMI is a relatively new Muslim Brotherhood group which split off from the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB). According to sources in the U.K, the breakup appears to be the result of a conflict between traditionalists in the MAB who were unhappy with the high level of involvement in U.K left-wing politics while those who who formed the BMI wished such activity to continue. Prior to the split, the MAB often joined in coalitions with far-left U.K groups such as the Stop the War Coalition and the Respect Party. The Stop the War coalition, as well as the MAB and the CND, were the sponsors of the February 2003 anti Iraq war demonstration in London reported by police to have been the largest demonstration ever held in the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood organizations frequently ally themselves with far-left political movements in coalitions relating to U.S. foreign policy and to Israel.