Canada: face veils banned for citizenship oaths

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Bob Pitt

The government is placing a ban on face coverings such as niqabs for people swearing their oath of citizenship, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Monday. The ban takes effect immediately.

As a result, Muslim women will have to remove their niqabs or any other face-covering garments, such as burkas, before they can recite the oath of citizenship to become Canadians. Citizenship judges will be directed to enforce the rules at ceremonies over which they preside.

It’s a “public declaration that you are joining the Canadian family and it must be taken freely and openly,” he said, calling it “frankly, bizarre” that women were allowed to wear face veils while they swear their citizenship oaths.

Continue reading →

Daily Mail’s bigoted and inaccurate reporting provokes more right-wing anti-Muslim hysteria

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Bob Pitt

Over the past week we have seen a wave of right-wing hysteria over the case of Rhea Page, a white woman from Leicester who was assaulted by four women of Somali heritage – or a “Muslim gang”, as they are invariably described.

The version of events that has gained currency on the racist right is that the women subjected Page to a “savage beating” while screaming “kill the white slag” but escaped a prison sentence because the judge accepted the defence’s argument in mitigation that the accused were Muslims who weren’t used to drinking alcohol. The case has been presented as an example of double standards in the British legal system, which supposedly discriminates against the white majority population and in favour of Muslims and other minorities.

Continue reading →

Netanyahu backs law to ban loudspeakers at mosques

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Bob Pitt

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday voiced support for a law that would ban mosques from using loudspeaker systems to call people to prayer. The so-called Muezzin Law, proposed by MK Anastassia Michaeli (Yisrael Beiteinu) applies to all houses of worship but the practice is prevalent only in mosques. “There’s no need to be more liberal than Europe,” Netanyahu said in reference to the law during a meeting of his Likud ministers.

Continue reading →

Mosque protest leaflet ‘is trying to whip up hysteria’

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Bob Pitt

A campaign against a mosque planned for Cambridge has claimed its dome is deliberately designed to “dominate” the skyline.

Homes have been leafleted by opponents of the Mill Road Islamic centre – leading some residents to claim the leaflet is whipping up antagonism against the city’s Muslim community. The anonymous publication brands the centre a “megamosque” and claims it will cause massive traffic congestion, late-night noise and disturbance to residents.

It also says the mosque’s dome will “overshadow” nearby homes because it is “twice the height of neighbouring houses”. The leaflet claims the building is “intended to overbear its surroundings and to send a message of physical and numerical dominance”. The flyer asks: “Does Cambridge need a megamosque?”

Continue reading →

Sharia law already devouring UK (it says here)

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Bob Pitt

PJ Media has posted a truly crazed comment piece by Paul Diamond. A British barrister who specialises in representing fellow fundamentalist Christians claiming to have been victims of discrimination, Diamond was a featured speaker at the Preserving Freedom Conference in Nashville last month, where he announced that the UK group Christian Concern would be linking up with the Tennessee Freedom Coalition.

It is worth reading his PJ Media article if you want an insight into the mindset of the most extreme elements within the evangelical Christian right. Some sample quotes:

Continue reading →

Lowe’s stands by decision to pull ads from ‘All-American Muslim’

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Bob Pitt

Lowes

Lowe’s is planning to stick by its decision to yank its ads from a reality TV show about American Muslims despite the growing opposition the home improvement chain is facing over the move.

California Sen. Ted Lieu put a statement out on Sunday that he is considering calling for a boycott of Lowe’s Cos., sparking criticism of the chain from both inside and outside of the Muslim community.

On social media web site Twitter, actor Kal Penn began directing people to a petition on signon.org in support of the TLC cable network show, “All-American Muslim.” By Monday afternoon, there were about 9,200 signatures.

On Monday, U.S. Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, who is Muslim, released a statement condemning Lowe’s for choosing “to uphold the beliefs of a fringe hate group and not the creed of The First Amendment.”

And Democratic state Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, the first Muslim elected to the Michigan Legislature, voiced her concerns directly with the company. She wrote a letter to Lowe’s CEO Robert Niblock. “I told them I was extremely disappointed that you give credibility to these hate groups,” Tlaib said. “People of Muslim faith are being attacked. It’s disappointing, disheartening.”

Continue reading →

Canada: face veils banned for citizenship oaths

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Bob Pitt

LEBANON MPS The government is placing a ban on face coverings such as niqabs for people swearing their oath of citizenship, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Monday. The ban takes effect immediately.

Continue reading →

Nanterre: 350 Muslims pray in street to ask for legalisation of mosque

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Bob Pitt

Nanterre Muslims praying

On Thursday 9 December around 350 Muslims prayed in the street in front of the City Hall in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) to ask the mayor to legalise a place of worship that has been temporarily established near the towers of the La Défense business district.

A big tent that serves as a mosque was set up in early October by the mayor of the neighbouring town of Puteaux, on land he owns but which is located within the territory of Nanterre. “We need a building permit to be granted in order to legalise the erection of the tent and obtain heating. But Patrick Jarry [the Gauche Citoyenne mayor of Nanterre] has refused to do this,” said Hassan Ben M’Barek, head of the Front des Banlieues Indépendant (FBI), explaining the origin of the street prayers.

Continue reading →

Pamela Geller turns Hollywood shooting tragedy into an Islamophobic hate fest

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Bob Pitt

Pamela Geller Undead On Friday, there was a tragic incident in Hollywood, California. A man began shooting people randomly near the corner of Hollywood and Vine, and injured two men, one critically, before he was finally shot and killed by police.

Pamela Geller had an article online right away titled HOLLYWOOD JIHAD: SHOOTOUT, GUNMAN CALMLY TARGETED DRIVERS AND PEOPLE WHILE SHOUTING ALLAHU AKBAR! She said in her lede: “What is most disturbing about this story, apart from the obvious horror, is that not one news account reported what one witness said the shooter was screaming: ‘allahu akbar.’ Not one news account. The media is the enemy.”

Continue reading →