Press TV talks with author Max Blumenthal who illuminates a hate campaign against Barack Obama by the Republic Party that targets Obama’s religious identity as a Muslim and how this campaign is having real life consequences on the entire Muslim community inside America.
Monthly Archives: April 2011
Six due in court today over Redbridge mosque attack
A wedge will not be driven between Redbridge’s diverse communities, a mosque chairman has insisted, after a gang attacked his imam and worshippers.
Frightened men and women ducked for cover and the imam of Redbridge Islamic Centre (RIC), Eastern Avenue, Redbridge, was injured during last week’s attack before the final prayer of the day. Racist and islamophobic abuse was allegedly hurled as the gang smashed windows and tried to get into the main prayer hall.
But RIC chairman Abul Khayer Ali said this week he will not allow the attack to create divisions. He said:
“Redbridge is a strong and cohesive community with a long standing record of unity. We will not allow such callous attacks to create a wedge in the community. Rather, this will inspire the RIC to work harder to engage and work closely to reduce stigma and discrimination towards Muslims.”
Neighbouring homes and cars were also damaged during the incident, which happened at about 7.45pm.
Cllr Sohaib Patel, cabinet member for environment and community safety, said:
“Redbridge has a very successful diverse, multicultural and cohesive society where residents are able to live in harmony, respecting each other’s faiths and values. As the cabinet member for environment and community safety in Redbridge, I assure you that the council and its partners, including the police, will not stand by and let this incident change the very nature of these successes.”
He also praised the community safety partnership team for their work in the borough.
• Six people appeared at Redbridge Court on Saturday charged with violent disorder. Matthew Stephenson, 19, of no fixed address, Daniel Leal, 19, of no fixed address, Rockylee Beale, 19, of Wood Green, Essex and a 15-year-old boy have been bailed. Elliot Jones, 19, of no fixed address and Ryan Jones, 22, of Ilford, have been remanded in custody. They will all appear again at Redbridge Magistrates’ Court this morning.
Boorish anti-Muslim protesters aid Islamists
Advice to Islamophobes from David J. Rusin of Islamist Watch – for anti-Muslim propaganda to be effective you have to be a bit less crude in the way you express it.
France’s Sarkozy faces rifts on Islam debate
French President Nicolas Sarkozy faces mounting criticism over plans for a national debate April 5 on the subject of Islam in France, a week before the new burqa ban takes effect.
Staten Islanders support rally against war, terrorism and hostility toward Muslims
Staten Islanders were among interfaith leaders who gathered yesterday at City Hall in Manhattan, as 100 imams condemned terrorism and anti-Islamic sentiment and called for the end of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The imams endorsed an “Antiwar & Anti-Islamophobia” rally planned for April 9 at Union Square in Manhattan.
The United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) is organizing the rally, which is endorsed by more than 500 peace, justice, labor, civic, religious and civil liberties organizations and leaders. Another UNAC antiwar rally will be held the following day in San Francisco.
Hesham El-Meligy, an interfaith community leader from New Springville and a member of Noor Al-Islam Society, Mariners Harbor, and Eileen Bardel and Bill Johnson, both of Peace Action of Staten Island, were among Staten Islanders who attended the news conference.
Muslims are joining the peace movement “because wars of aggression are immoral and drain our national resources, which are already under tremendous strain,” said Dr. Shaik Ubaid, the New York state co-chair of Muslim Peace Coalition USA, a sponsor of the news conference.
He thanked the millions of Americans, including Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, “for speaking out against anti-Muslim fear-mongering.”
Nine men now charged with Kingston Mosque attack
A total of nine men have now been charged in connection with an attack which saw beer thrown at Kingston Mosque and the building urinated on.
The attack is alleged to have followed a march through Kingston town centre against Muslim extremism on Sunday, November 21, 2010. None of the men charged are from the Kingston area.
Martin Pottle, 22, of Eldridge Close, Feltham; Jordan Ellingham, 20, of Camden Road, Feltham, and a 17-year-old man from Shepperton were charged with affray and religiously aggravated criminal damage by Kingston police today, Friday, April 1. They were bailed to appear at Kingston Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, April 12.
Yesterday Alfie Wallace, 18, of Hetherington Road, Shepperton; Paul Abley, 24, of Hounslow Road, Shepperton, and Karl Matthews, 20, of Brentford High Street, were charged with the same offences. They will appear at Kingston Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, April 7.
Terence Earl, 31, of Aspen Lane, Northolt; David Morris, 20, of Elm Way, Epsom, and Adam Khalfan, 18, of Feltham Road, Ashford, were charged with the offences on Wednesday, March 30. They will also appear at Kingston Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, April 7.
Tunbridge Wells: English Democrats chairman exposed as Muslim-hating EDL supporter
An ex-preacher and hospital chaplain from Tunbridge Wells is an associate of a “terrible” far-right anti-Islamic group, we can reveal.On the “likes” listed on his Facebook page, local politician Adrian “Charlie” Ratcliffe has a link to an offensive joke about strapping pork on to oneself and running into a mosque. The page also contains a picture depicting the Koran in a highly offensive light.
Mr Ratcliffe’s views were condemned across the town this week, with West Kent Muslim Association president Nasir Jamil saying: “This is absolutely concerning for all Muslims in this area.”
But the 61-year-old, an English Defence League (EDL) activist, was unrepentant, and endorsed extremely insulting remarks made by others about the prophet Mohammed. He also made inflammatory comments that English girls needed to be on the lookout for gangs of Islamic rapists.
Mr Ratcliffe, also chairman of the Tunbridge Wells branch of the English Democrats party, said he would do “whatever necessary” to fight “militant” Islam – a term he used to describe “a very large number” of people following the faith in the UK. He denied he was a racist.
The retired trade union official from Greggswood Road was once an assistant chaplain at Pembury Hospital and a preacher at St Philip’s Church in Sherwood. Both organisations distanced themselves from him this week.
The EDL regularly stages protests about the building of new mosques – and Mr Ratcliffe was proud to have taken part in one in Dagenham, east London.
Mr Ratcliffe – the one-time chairman of Sherwood Community Action Group – and his fellow EDL members openly discuss their beliefs on their Facebook pages, pointing each other in the direction of anti-Islamic material.
An online quiz question posed by a Facebook friend of Mr Ratcliffe asked recipients what they thought of Muslims. The choices were: “They’re OK”, “I hate ’em” or “I can’t stand ’em, send them all back”. Mr Ratcliffe chose the last option.
After originally denying he had taken part in the quiz, he told theCourier his answer was referring to “extremists”. When pressed on having a link to the offensive website suggesting people should strap pork on to themselves and run into mosques, Mr Ratcliffe said he had found it “humorous” and would not advocate doing such a thing in real life.
And he claimed he was unaware the anti-Islamic picture was on his Facebook page at all – despite the fact it was displayed at the top, directly below his name.
See also This is Kent, 1 April 2011
Geert Wilders denounces Prophet as ‘insane, paedophile, rapist murderer’
Geert Wilders has stepped up his anti-Islam rhetoric by describing the Prophet Mohammed as an “insane, paedophile, rapist murderer” just two weeks before the opening of his trial on charges of inciting race hatred.
The leader of hard-Right Dutch Freedom Party will be prosecuted in an Amsterdam court on April 13 for previous comparisons of Islam to Nazism. On Thursday he fuelled the controversy surrounding his anti-Muslim politics and trial by publishing an article citing academics who accuse Islam’s founder of crimes ranging from child rape to murder.
“The historical Mohammad was the savage leader of a gang of robbers from Medina. Without scruples they looted, raped and murdered,” Mr Wilders claimed in the Dutch magazine HP/De Tijd.