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Posted By fotdmike on June 12, 2009

Thursday 11th June 2009, the venue Biddenham Upper School, Bedford. A not unusual location for events of this sort… a debate organised by Bedford’s Hizb ut-Tahrir on an issue of very topical concern: “Credit Crunch: Islamic Economics or Capitalism”.

It was scheduled to start at seven in the evening with the principal protagonists being Richard Fuller, Bedford’s Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, and Mohammed J. Harwood, a Canadian convert to Islam and a specialist on Islamic economics.

Well, things didn’t really begin to kick off until just after 7.30 with Mr Harwood’s arrival having been delayed by a hold-up on the motorway. Apparently he was travelling from London specifically for the event.
And even by that time the event didn’t look as though it were going to be particularly well-attended with about 80 or so people having turned up. I’ve seen larger numbers at previous Hizb ut-Tahrir meetings and debates.

A pity really as a number of interesting aspects of the economy, the banking system etc, were discussed.

This despite Richard Fuller, the other intended debater, sending word at the very last moment that he wouldn’t be attending. I was unable to discover the reason for this but the general concensus was that he probably didn’t fancy the idea of crossing swords with Mr Harwood on a topic that’s on the forefront of a lot of peoples’ minds at the moment.
Moreover, the current global economic crisis certainly seems to be highlighting some fundamental flaws in the Western economic model so perhaps Mr Fuller didn’t fancy being put in the position of having to defend it… what with him being a Conservative Party member and all.

However, one effect of his non-attendance was to enable a much more open discussion with the audience, following a superb talk delivered by Mr Harwood.

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Categories: Events
Tags: credit crunch, debate, economy, hizb ut-tahrir, islam, mohammed j harwood, richard fuller