In Spain recently, 150 passengers on board Monarch‘s Malaga-Manchester flight staged a revolt, refusing to board the plane until two Asian passengers were removed [thanks Chickpea]:
The trouble in Malaga flared last Wednesday as two British citizens in their 20s waited in the departure lounge to board the pre-dawn flight and were heard talking what passengers took to be Arabic. Worries spread after a female passenger said she had heard something that alarmed her. Passengers noticed that, despite the heat, the pair were wearing leather jackets and thick jumpers and were regularly checking their watches. [Link]
As the revolt spread, more and more passengers either refused to board or left the airplane. The staff responded, not by allaying people’s suspicions, but by removing the two men. They were not detained or charged, and flew back to the UK on a later flight:
… the aircraft was cleared while police did a thorough security sweep. Nothing was found and the plane took off – three hours late and without the two men on board. Monarch arranged for them to spend the rest of the night in an airport hotel and flew them back to Manchester later on Wednesday. [Link]
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p>Conservatives in the UK called the passengers’ actions a victory for the terrorists:
Patrick Mercer, the Tory Homeland Security spokesman, said last night: “This is a victory for terrorists. These people on the flight have been terrorised into behaving irrationally. For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour of their skin is just nonsense.” [Link]
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p>Can you imagine American conservatives defending the two men who were removed and criticizing the passengers for acting crazy? I’d plotz if I saw that on Fox News.
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p>Unfortunately, this was neither the first case of this sort, nor is it likely to be the last:
Websites used by pilots and cabin crew were yesterday reporting further incidents. In one, two British women with young children on another flight from Spain complained about flying with a bearded Muslim even though he had been security-checked twice before boarding. [Link]
I saw no mention, in any of the stories, about who these men really were nor how they felt about the matter. Personally, I’m of the opinion that passengers who refuse to fly without already appropriately screened passengers should be the ones who are removed from the flight, not the two guys who were just sitting their minding their own business when mass hysteria descended.
It seems we might soon find ourselves with foreskin checks by the passengers, if not airport security. Kudos to the Tories for finding a way to both score political points and stand on principle at the same time!
UPDATE 1:
Here is some information about who the two were and what happened from their perspective [Thanks Jai]. It seems they were two British students of Pakistani origin who went to Malaga for a day trip. They say the whole incident happened because a little old lady got freaked out by them, and thought that the whole idea of flying to Spain for the day was suspicious:
Friends Sohail Ashraf and Khurram Zeb, both 22, … insisted they were just a couple of ordinary lads who wanted a bit of fun on a day trip to Malaga. They are so far removed from extremism that they even spent the day boozing and tucking into a McDonald’s burger. Khurram admitted: “As Muslims we are not supposed to drink alcohol, but we did have a few.”The pair, studying for degrees at Manchester’s Umist institution, believe the scare was sparked by an elderly lady sitting nearby.
Khurram said: “We were chatting away in Urdu and she kept looking at us. At first I didn’t really take any notice. I just thought perhaps she’d never seen an Asian person before.”<
p>Sohail added: “She had to move to let us sit down and I knew straight away that something was bothering her. I tried my best to ignore her but she started asking me questions like where we lived and how long we had been in Malaga. When I told her we had only gone for the day she became even more suspicious. She kept saying that was a strange thing to do. Suddenly she got up and walked toward the cockpit.” [Link]
BTW, they also say that they weren’t wearing heavy jackets either:
The friends deny claims they were wearing heavy leather jackets which aroused suspicion. They insist they merely had on light windcheaters, T-shirts and jeans. [Link]
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Kudos to the Tories, indeed.
Yes, I can imagine that. Conservatives != racists.
It was the Democrats (including even Barbara Boxer and of course, H. Clinton) who were tripping over themselves opposing the Dubai ports deal. Nobody had any problem when a British company was operating the ports. When DP World got into the game though, it became “unsafe to give it to foreigners”, even though Dubai is extremely friendly with the US and America has had more experience with terrorists from the UK than from Dubai.
As for Fox News, if you try to look for an Indian face, (such as Uma Pemmaraju) or a middle Eastersn face on TV, your best bet would be Fox News.
I’m not saying that conservatives are racists. However, in the USA when similar incidents happened Fox News loudly supported the passengers. I really can’t see them doing the opposite here – dismissing the fears of the average white passenger and calling the brown skinned “suspicious” passengers the victims.
It’ll be easy enough to check – watch Fox News coverage of this incident in the next few days, see what they say.
1) the human mind is not ‘rational.’ else, we would fear driving a car more than flying a plane (fatality risk wise). we would not consider buying lottery tickets (the cost vs. benefit is a non-brainer).
2) group conformism can lead to hysteria.
3) i get nervous when see bearded d00ds walking around on a plane. now, the reality is that most terrorists aren’t that idiotic, they don’t walk around with toupees and goat-beards and wave the koran. but so what? my brain is what it is. i don’t get hysterical and start screaming, but hey, there are lots of emotional people out there. having kids probably makes you even more nuts.
4) do most people here remain totally equanimous when muslims dressed in their full regalia show up on an airplane?
5) speaking of rationality, since 9/11 there has been a persistent trend of muslims + airplanes = not always good combination. the probability o a given muslim resulting in your death is orders of magnitude less probably than being robbed buy a random dude and left for dead on a sketchy street, but again, the cars & planes analogy holds. we don’t fly often. we do walk sketchy streets now and then as a matter of necesacity (depends on who we are).
6) my point isn’t to obsolve the individuals in question of all responsibility. but, to use a phrase, we need to look at the ‘root causes,’ and the bigger picture. after all, it isn’t generic hatred of the Other. white people in the USA are scared of black males are sketchy streets. on the other hand, they don’t start getting hysterical when a few black males show up on a plane. in contrast, if you see some muslims on a sketchy street dressed in full regalia, your first thought isn’t “sh*t, i’m gonna get mugged!” the response on the plane isn’t rational in terms of cost vs. benefit, but there are mental associations triggered that are very powerful. i don’t think brownz are insulated from this either.
7) so yes, this incident is Not a Good Thing. but, i think it is important to keep it in context.
I volunteer for the citizen gel bra checks. One can never be too busty, I mean too careful.
Silver lining: passenger revolts can be good things in case of actual terrorist hijack.
Here’s the idiotic thing: it’s quite normal for Málaga to have Arabic-speakers, being but an hour-long ferry ride from Morocco in the south of Spain. And Morocco (along with Turkey) is one of the most liberal, Westernized Muslim countries.
And even if the two passengers were Brits, there are loads of Brit Arabic speakers. Dunno about Manchester, but check out Edgware Road and Knightsbridge in London.
Ennis, as people on SM who consider themselves conervatives can attest, Fox News doesn’t necessarily represent conservatives. Rather, it is closer to some liberals’ picture of conservatives. I’d separate the two. I agree with you that Fox would generally support the fear of the other passengers (or fear-mongering of any sort). I also agree that it’s the complainin passengers who should be offered the option of getting off.
I can’t really think of any conservative Senator or Rep. who would support asking the two brown people to deplane. As for not making protests, I think the silence would be equally bad on both sides.
My other point about brown faces on Fox was just a general remark about something positive about Fox.
I feel bad for the two guys and probably this isn’t the first time they might have been through such treatment. I am curious to know what would the airline authorities have done, incase, passengers in the next flight also objected for these two men to be on. There have to be a better of doing this than just pulling them off the flight.
I look brown and I always have this fear [to be on time for an interview, or client meeting] that I wont be let on flight because of some 35-45 yr old woman felt uncomfortable. IMO, women of this age range are the most lunatic of all sorts. Contrary to what many people say, the older women 50+ are the most tolerant that I have known, probably something to do with growing up in ’60s and ’70s? 🙂
prasad, don’t be sexist 🙂
But, then – all men are irrational :))
You tried, my man.., you really did!!
There are quite a few Brit Arabic speakers in Manchester.
And it is quite likely these guys were just freshies (new to the UK) on holiday. That would explain the odd choice of clothing. I would really like to know what exactly did the female passenger overhear. For all you know they were talking about not being mistaken for suicide bombers.
I feel that this is the first of many more similar incidents to come. As people start losing trust in their governments to provide them with adequate security, the number is bound to go up. Hopefully calmer heads will prevail.
It is also my opinion that the persons who needed to de-board the plane should have been the people uncomfortable with flying with these 2 young men. What would have happened if the 2 men refused to de-plane? Would they have been arrested? Is this a cicil rights violation? The real question I have is, “When this happens to me, what should I do?” Do I stand up for my principles or do I de-plane?
ahh mr. ennis…as i fly across the border today…i will be careful not to say something that might upset the other passengers…. hmm… i could just see the headlines….’hummus spewing macaca causes some baba ganoush in the air’… ;)…
PC Bloggs, a female police blogger suggests a new way of policing, based on the flight ‘mutiny’ incident. Its called Chinese Whisper Policing
Yes, they would have been arrested if they refused to obey instructions to leave the plane.
Suneer, as far as I know, the captain of the plane has the right and authority to remove anyone from the aircraft for almost any reason. “Acting suspiciously” would certainly qualify as a such a reason in this day and age. The company operating the plane can choose to discipline the captian if he/she did that without good reason.
Acting suspiciously is a good reason to do so. However, pandering to the prejudices of other passengers is not.
Fox News isn’t conservative. It is populist. Is that really so hard to comprehend?
Would ‘ants in pants’ syndrome count at acting suspicious. Wonder if this poor gentleman would be de-planed too. hmm?
actually, it’s reactionary.
But anyways – I offered the earlier thought on Fox News because I think there are any number of polticians, Republican and Democrat, Conservative and Liberal, if it was politically prudent. It it isn’t, then they won’t. Fox News is a great medium to medium by which to channel populist sentiments.
That said – the Tory party made a commendable statement. But, they are also statements that, in a roudabout way, criticize the current status quo/situation/mindset. A status quo that has been under the Labor leadership that the Tory’s are trying to beat. I think i remember reading, during the last round of elections, that the Tory’s were trying to recruit the Brown vote much in the same way the Dems were trying to do it here – by criticizing the actions of the current administration.
So, it is kind of simplistic to merely chalk it up to Conservative/Liberal talk. It is politics as usual.
Once I start being in transit, I hate taking my jacket off, even if it gets super hot. I’ve been teased and berated about this. I just don’t want to lose it! 🙁
without all the typos. sorry…long day. kind of scatter brained.
But anyways – I offered the earlier thought on Fox News because I think there are any number of polticians, Republican and Democrat, Conservative and Liberal, who would criticize silly actions by passenters if it was politically prudent. It it isn’t, then they won’t. Fox News is a great medium by which to channel populist sentiments.
That said – the Tory party made a commendable statement. But, they are also statements that, in a roudabout way, criticize the current status quo/situation/mindset/administration. A status quo that has been under the Labor leadership that the Tory’s are desperately trying to beat. I think i remember reading, during the last round of British elections, that the Tory’s actively sought to recruit the Brown vote much in the same way the Dems were trying to do it here – by criticizing the actions of the current administration, and thus the consquences of those actions (i.e. hysteria).
So, it is kind of simplistic to merely chalk it up to Conservative/Liberal talk. It is politics as usual.
Sincerely, I do not find the people who refused to go along with these two guys to be unreasonable, while I pity these 2 guys. Now, if these 2 guys were intelligent, these guys should instigate their community guys to think rationally as to why these incidents are happening with regular intervals. Self introspection, is now very important for peaceful muslims throughout the world. Secularism, democracy and human-rights cannot any longer be one way traffic, that non-muslims generate and muslims consume. It should be both ways. Muslims need to look beyond Islam, for example toward Buddhism or jainism for spiritual happiness, while still practising Islam. Peace be upon Muhammed, the Prophet and and also all of us.
The two men concerned were identified as (South) Asian. Why it would not occur to other people that (South) Asians would be unlikely to be speaking to each other in Arabic is more than a little bemusing to me, unless they were just practicing their language skills between themselves or something. I even read an article in a major British newspaper yesterday about the issue of people becoming suspicious/paranoid upon hearing “one of the Arabic languages being spoken”.
Because, obviously, Urdu*/Hindi/Punjabi/Gujarati etc are “Arabic languages”, you see 😉
That’s unfortunately an oxymoron and an impossibility for the really hardcore Muslims, because from their perspective Buddhism, Jainism etc are not from God and are therefore “fake” religions. Whole other argument (and off-topic, so I’ll stop there).
*Before anyone jumps in, yes I know about the Arabic words common in Urdu, along with the Persian/Farsi influence.
nothing so far in the post indicates these people were even muslim. they could have been you, especially with your “arabic name”.
So, the new confusion is whether these two guys were actually muslim or not? I mean, does it matter? You think an english speaking brit is more informed than an english speaking American about identifying different races, religion etc? Almost all those well informed people wouldnt act in such unreasonable way of starting a chinese whisper.
Jet Blue again ?
http://raedinthemiddle.blogspot.com/
Iraqi Peace Activist Forced to Change T-Shirt Bearing Arabic Script Before Boarding Plane at JFK
One of the two men who approached me first, Inspector Harris, asked for my id card and boarding pass. I gave him my boarding pass and driver’s license. He said “people are feeling offended because of your t-shirt”. I looked at my t-shirt: I was wearing my shirt which states in both Arabic and English “we will not be silent”. You can take a look at it in this picture taken during our Jordan meetings with Iraqi MPs. I said “I am very sorry if I offended anyone, I didnt know that this t-shirt will be offensive”. He asked me if I had any other T-shirts to put on, and I told him that I had checked in all of my bags and I asked him “why do you want me to take off my t-shirt? Isn’t it my constitutional right to express myself in this way?” The second man in a greenish suit interfered and said “people here in the US don’t understand these things about constitutional rights”. So I answered him “I live in the US, and I understand it is my right to wear this t-shirt”.
Then I once again asked the three of them : “How come you are asking me to change my t-shirt? Isn’t this my constitutional right to wear it? I am ready to change it if you tell me why I should. Do you have an order against Arabic t-shirts? Is there such a law against Arabic script?” so inspector Harris answered “you can’t wear a t-shirt with Arabic script and come to an airport. It is like wearing a t-shirt that reads “I am a robber” and going to a bank”. I said “but the message on my t-shirt is not offensive, it just says “we will not be silent”. I got this t-shirt from Washington DC. There are more than a 1000 t-shirts printed with the same slogan, you can google them or email them at wewillnotbesilent@gmail.com . It is printed in many other languages: Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, English, etc.” Inspector Harris said: “We cant make sure that your t-shirt means we will not be silent, we don’t have a translator. Maybe it means something else”. I said: “But as you can see, the statement is in both Arabic and English”. He said “maybe it is not the same message”. So based on the fact that Jet Blue doesn’t have a translator, anything in Arabic is suspicious because maybe it’ll mean something bad!
Meanwhile, a third man walked in our direction. He stood with us without introducing himself, and he looked at inspector Harris’s notes and asks him: “is that his information?”, inspector Harris answered “yes”. The third man, Mr. Harmon, asks inspector Harris : “can I copy this information?”, and inspector Harris says “yes, sure”.
inspector Harris said: “You don’t have to take of your t-shirt, just put it on inside-out”. I refused to put on my shirt inside-out. So the woman interfered and said “let’s reach a compromise. I will buy you a new t-shirt and you can put it on on top of this one”. I said “I want to keep this t-shirt on”. Both inspector Harris and Mr. Harmon said “No, we can’t let you get on that airplane with your t-shirt”. I said “I am ready to put on another t-shirt if you tell me what is the law that requires such a thing. I want to talk to your supervisor”. Inspector Harris said “You don’t have to talk to anyone. Many people called and complained about your t-shirt. Jetblue customers were calling before you reached the checkpoint, and costumers called when you were waiting here in the boarding area”.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/21/1348224
What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander, right? Stuck at the airport behind someone who’s wearing white linen past Labor Day? Call security and tell them it makes you feel uncomfortable. See a tshirt bearing a college’s name that’s archrivals with yours – call security. Perhaps once the “others” see how ridiculous and illogical this behavior is, perhaps they will modify it.
Ridiculous, irrational and illogical, yes. But at the same time, very dangerous. Being subject to that kind of negative response to fear constantly (not just at an airport, but in the street and shops etc) can breed the very ‘hate’ that these passengers were trying to avoid by refusing to board that plane. Irrational actions can have terrible (unforeseen) consequences.
Be sure to check out Shahrukh Khan in “Yobs On a Plane”… I’m envisioning the SOaP movie poster… but with Team England football scarves instead of snakes wrapped around the fuselage… too bad I don’t have a working copy of Photoshop handy…
This is a superb idea. I’ve been flying a lot lately, was caught in JFK en route to Halifax during the bomb scare a week and a half back, and have to fly again in 36 hours. I hate flying because I’m usually shown “special” treatment, placed in “special” lines, and given “special” searches. It’s all quite flattering actually, but someday it would be nice to make a pre-emptive move as you suggest.
Yet with my luck, the guy I point out as acting strange will be a US Air Marshall…
Ennis
You do realize that the president directed his TSA not to profile brown skinned people and went out of his way after 9/11 to ask Americans to treat Arabs and South Asians as Americans and not terrorists? Maybe you do but why let facts get in the way of a good smarter than thou post.
yeah, and how did that work out?
Profiling exists, and profiling is a racist act. So either Bush had no contol over the TSA or Bush failed to enact a concrete solution to this profiling disaster. So which would you prefer, that he is incompetent as an administrator or lacks veracity in his speeches? Personally, I prefer the latter option; there was that whole “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction so let’s invade it” lie, if you’ll remember.
That’s it – I’m going to make a t-shirt with “I’m a VIP at the airport”. Too bad I can’t get one before I go to the airport tomorrow morning to drop off a relative.
What’s sadder is I’ve just about given up flying. In fact, I’ve recently passed up business trips to europe. I already get sick when I fly – meaning quick rushes to the lavatory before the “you may move about the cabin” announcement. My worst fear was getting hassled by a marshal in such a moment and landing as the lead story on CNN with noone believing me.
It’s time to renew my passport, but I think I’ll pass since I no longer plan on flying the friendly thighs er skies.
Profiling does exist already. I’ve been subjected to every random check, and was detained for 6 hours and interrogated. I asked why at the end, and they told me that I “fit the profile”. Mind you I had alcohol on my breath and I was reading a Rushdie book.
And if people think that American “conservatives” aren’t for profiling, I suggest you watch the clip below. Yes, you can dismiss it as fringe, but the loaded stance of Fox news, and the fact that its the #1 rated cable news network offers no consolation.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/40410/
To me the passengers were justified in leaving the plane. it appears that the two men were overheard saying that they had 30 minutes to live. I would have left. I wouldn’t have stayed to see if it was a prank or not.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/5276504.stm
Notice that no one has actually heard these guys say that they had 30 minutes to live. The guy in the news report David links to mentions someone else saying that they’d heard this. A slightly different version of events, also on the Beeb:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5278210.stm
Another article on the subject (possibly very similar to the one David’s posted, although this has a different, and better, photograph of the 2 guys).
thanks for the link jai.
i am so mad… dont know at what… the pansies who thought these guys were dodgy… or the airline staff for not havign a backbone… did you hear about the calgarian doctor who was escorted off his plane.
ok.. here’s the deal. if those two look dodgy… i must look like f*cking osama to the general public. and lest y’all should think speaking in tamil will get you off the hook , ainna da… think again. it’s all the same to the unwashed ear.
shave your beard or they’ll do you like the brazilians and shoot your arse down. 🙂
Thanks Jai – updated with photo and quotes.
The plot thickens even further. The two guys concerned are now being accused of doing the whole thing as some kind of publicity stunt. Their flight times don’t correlate with the reasons they gave for their trip to Malaga, and now UMIST is also indirectly casting suspicion on whether they’re actually students there; the claim was that they were supposed to be taking exams this week, yet UMIST says they have no knowledge of any such exams currently underway.
Full article from The Independent here.
ha some publicity stunt that would be! if they’re doing exams now..they’d be ‘resit’ exams! and if you go around asking universities its a well-known fact they don’t know much about different department resits..ho ho ho..what a basis for ‘suspicion’..
I checked the Manchester University online directory. It lists two people by the name Khurram Zeb, and one of them is a postgraduate student in the School of Computer Science, but it lists no Sohail Ashraf anywhere.
I can also confirm that Manchester University did have resits on from the 21st till the 25th of August. So the resit part of their story checks out.
The Independent has archived the article linked by Jai and it is now only available to subscribers. But it can be viewed on the website of the Belfast Telegraph here.
Rather than suspicions being raised by the resits, it is the following bit that seems odd to me.
166 quid (and thats 166 quid each) is a lot of money* to spend just for a recce. It is quite possible that they could afford it due to any number of reasons, a good part-time job, rich parents, a lottery win, etc. etc. And even if everything else is above aboard.. the whole “visiting a place to check it out” is just so absurd!!
I’m thinking of going to Hawaii for a vacation, so first I’ll fly to Hawaii just to check it out, then I’ll fly back home after spending half a
daynight there, and then go back to Hawaii after a week.On second thoughts, I might as well have my holiday in Hawaii on the first trip, since I’m already there !!!
http://www.thewilmslowexpress.co.uk/news/s/216/216979_monarch_student_faces_jail_over_card_cloning.html
It does not mean that he is a suicide bomber. It does mean however that at least one is prone to get into trouble. It’s not unreasonable to assume that they were acting as suicide bombers.
Thanx for the link David. Well so thats another possible source of money for the fella. But he might have cleaned up his act.. you never know.