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Since the sad
events of last July and reports in the media of anti-Muslim
feelings, Call Sign was interested to hear from any of our
Muslim subscribers as to their experiences of driving a taxi
on the streets of London. The Call Sign team were well aware of the sensitivity of such a topic, so it was with some trepidation that we made a few phone calls. To his great credit, Egyptian born Mohamed Abed-Alaziz (N09) responded to our request and we met him at Brunswick House. Mohamed has been driving a taxi for 4 years with the last 3 being on Dial-a-Cab and he was happy to give us his personal views. "I like it here on DaC," he told us, "the people are nice and the work is good. In the early days when I first started on the circuit, I had a bit of trouble with passengers at night due to my own lack of experience, but now I just put on EC5 and go wherever. I have good reason to be grateful to Dial-a-Cab," he said smiling. Perhaps surprisingly to the outsider, Mohammed’s wife of 15 years is Jewish and his Father-in-Law - whose nickname is 'Winegums' on account of his Weinberg surname - has been cab-driving for 55 years! This then, is no stereo-typical Muslim, who in Mohammed’s own words are portrayed by the media and press in just one way. "They do not show ordinary |
UK ANTI-MUSLIM FEELINGS? DAC’S MOHAMED GIVES HIS VIEW…  DaC Driver Mohamed Abed-Aleziz! "The Press are just looking for headlines |
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Muslim families going about their day-to-day lives," he said, "they are just looking for headlines. I live in a small street and am involved in the community’s life. The press and media like to promote a negative Muslim image, showing a strict Muslim way of life and I try to educate people that there is another way," he said firmly. "Even the Muslim women who cover their faces do not have the attitude to get involved in those terrible deeds. You have to have a special, brainwashed kind of mentality to carry out such acts of atrocity," he said. Call Sign asked Mohammed whether there had been any noticeable changes in passenger’s attitude towards him compared to how it had been before the 7 July atrocities and the attempted follow-ups two |
weeks afterwards? "Before the July events, I could occasionally feel an atmosphere and I was usually able to put the occasional comment down to drunkenness. Since 7/7, I have only had one woman make an unsavoury comment, but I do not go out of my way to make conversation with passengers, preferring to concentrate on driving safely and promoting a professional image of myself and Dial-a-Cab," he affirmed. Of one thing Mo was certain: "The word 'Madrassah' is an Arabic word for school and not a special organisation for terrorists." He went on to explain to Call Sign that the word had been a abused of late "…again a media mistake," he concluded. Call Sign would like to thank Mohamed for his time and for volunteering to be interviewed. |
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Religious Zealots By the time that you read this, I will probably have changed places with Omar Bahkri. By that, I mean that I should be sunning myself on the Costa del Plenty while he may have crept back into England - even though Syria have now requested his presence in their country. It seems strange to me that the authorities did not even know he was gone until after he left the country, what with all the added security around both the air and seaports. Did they not look at his passport or was he in disguise? Stranger still, he claimed that he would be back to have heart surgery provided under the National Health Service at a cost of approximately £7,500 – paid for by us, those he would not stop bombers blowing up. His wife, Mrs Bahkri, has now denied this, but how on earth can a person who hates and demonises the west and who has contributed absolutely nothing towards his or his families upkeep for the past nineteen years, be allowed to behave in such a manor? |
From the front seat of his TXII these are... THE VIEWS OF A GRUMPY OLD MAN! If the reports that he
will not return are true, will his benefits be stopped?
And will the £30,000 people carrier his wife uses be
returned as it is he and not she, who is disabled?
Surely even David Blanket, the former Home Secretary,
could see this was wrong? |
fault of their own, people were displaced
from their homeland and became migrants. The world has
moved on since then… A war is not as seen through the camera lens of a Hollywood studio with armies in different uniforms using conventional weapons. Today it is not even a guerrilla war, but a war of minds and ideology, with different interpretations of the holy book of one’s religion. If, as all the books say, there is but one God, how can it be that religion has caused more wars than prevented them? We all need something, or someone to believe in, but the religious zealots, of whatever faith who preach hate and intolerance of any other way of life are dangerous. It is they who should be condemned and not the religion. El Prez need not worry for the time when he is no longer leader of the country, as no doubt, Sherry will be in work for a long time to come defending the rights of these people. Chas Kissin (P99J) |
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