Racists have exploited the London bombings to mount a renewed attack on Britain’s Muslim communities.

The British National Party published a leaflet for a Barking council by-election, which used a photo of the bus destroyed on 7 July. It claimed that this was “the cost of voting Labour” and that the attack demonstrated that “it's time to start listening to the BNP”. This stunningly cynical electoral ploy ignores the fact that the bombing will have been the work of a tiny group of people motivated by reactionary political ideas. The overwhelming majority of Muslims condemn the bombings and the aims of the people who carried them out.

However, given that the BNP received almost 17% of votes in Barking in the General Election, it is possible that the leaflet will help stir up division, suspicion and hatred in the area.

Unfortunately there has also been more violent expressions of the BNP’s idea that “preaching in mosques” had caused terrorism. According to the police there have been numerous cases of arson at mosques in Wirral, Leeds, Bristol, Shropshire, Telford, Tower Hamlets, Merton, and Bradford. Although there were no casualties and damage was limited, many Muslims will now feel extremely vulnerable.

While the Muslim Council of Britain has received over 30,000 hate-emails since 7 July, it also says that this was probably the work of a tiny clutch of people.

We call on the labour movement to do everything in its power to defend everyone in the British Muslim communities for these kinds of attacks, if necessary through physical defence. After 11 September there was a terrible racist backlash as in the US. Eight murders were carried out in “retaliation”; one man, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was killed simply because he wore a turban. We do not want to see that happen here.

David Broder