Anti-Islam ads on San Francisco buses put Muslims at risk

“Geller’s ads demonize Muslims at a time when they are under attack. As an educator, I fully support free speech and the open exchange of ideas. But hate speech like the bus ads has a destructive, cumulative impact on society. The term ‘savages’ has been used to demonize people of color and marginalize them throughout this country’s history.”

An excellent piece by Hatem Bazian condemning Pamela Geller’s racist anti-Palestinian advertising campaign on San Francisco buses and their role in aggravating a situation where the US Muslim community is the victim of hatred and physical assaults.

San Jose Mercury News, 8 September 2012

A planned mosque inches along, but critics remain

The New York Times reports on the fight to build a mosque at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in the face of continuing Islamophobic opposition.

Pamela Geller is not happy: “Look at this mosquestrosity; you don’t have to be rocket scientist to see that this Muslim Brotherhood beachhead should never have been built on this street. Where is the money coming from to pay for this fortress?”

Oslo police monitor anti-Islam meetings: report

Police investigators have for years been participating in meetings of far-right and anti-immigrant groups and individuals, including Anders Behring Breivik, in order assess the potential for violent attacks, according to a media report.

The meetings brought together groups opposed to immigration and Islam and were organized by the website Document.no, according to a report in the Aftenposten daily.  The meetings discussed subjects ranging from immigration to ecology, according to the newspaper.

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Michael Coleman conviction for blog comments is liberty’s loss

Michael Coleman BNPWell, that’s the editorial view of Stoke-on-Trent’s local paper, the Sentinel, on the recent conviction of the city’s British National Party leader on a charge of racial harassment over articles he posted on his Stoke Patriot blog.

According to the Sentinel,  the racist abuse that fills Coleman’s blog merely amounts to “purple prose” and his views are “at worst objectionable”.

This is a man who couldn’t even bring himself to condemn the attempt to blow up a Stoke mosque. Stating only that he could not “sanction” their actions, Coleman described the two men jailed for this crime as “patriotic Britons” and wrote: “I understand and share the anger that must have been in their hearts as they witnessed this Mosque been [sic] built in their city.”

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EDL member charged over pipe bomb threat

A man has been charged after allegedly making online threats to carry out an “Oslo-style” bomb attack on Muslims.

Kenneth Graham Holden, 30, will appear before magistrates later this month charged with two counts of sending offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages or matters.

Police launched a probe after race-hate posts were allegedly made on Facebook in April this year.

Detectives discovered comments threatening a pipe bomb attack on Ocean Road, in South Shields, South Tyneside, inspired by the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

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Geller accuses Washington’s National Geographic Museum of promoting Islamization of the West

1001 Inventions

Anti-Muslim organizer Pamela Geller has joined forces with Justice Department attorney and author, J. Christian Adams, in a scathing critique of a National Geographic Museum exhibit on the contributions of Muslim scientists, the Washington City Paper reports.

The exhibit, called “1,001 Inventions: Discover the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization,” debuted at the Washington, D.C. museum in August and will stay through February. Featuring a video starring Academy-Award winning actor Ben Kingsley, as well as various interactive displays, “1,001 Inventions” aims to explore basic science principles in fields such as optics, time-keeping, hydraulics, navigation, architecture, and math, according to its website.

Geller recently posted an article on her popular blog, Atlas Shrugs, in which she called the exhibit “Islamist propaganda” and “fabricated.”

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Protesters denounce Geller ads, call on New York transport authority to take action

White Plains MTA billboard protest

WHITE PLAINS — As supporters held up signs protesting Islamophobia, a coalition of community leaders and residents gathered downtown Thursday to denounce anti-Muslim advertisements posted at Metro-North stations throughout Westchester County.

The coalition revealed its plan to counter the anti-Islamic campaign, calling on Metro-North to distance itself from the advertisement and donate revenue earned from its publication to an organization that combats extremism.

Paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative – a group led by Pamela Geller – the ads associate the religion of Islam with 19,250 terrorist attacks carried out by extremists since Sept 11, 2001. Printed in large block lettering on a dark background, an asterisk denotes that number is rising, and a slogan below reads: “It’s not Islamophobia, it’s Islamorealism.”

“The bigotry and hate this ad directs at Muslims and Islam is totally unacceptable in Westchester or anywhere else,” said Priscilla Read, a community activist who helped organize the event. “Our purpose is to raise awareness about what this ad represents, and mobilize action in support of our Muslim neighbors.”

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Redmond, Washington: Muslims’ rental car targeted with racist graffiti

A rental vehicle driven by a group of young Muslim men – at least two of whom live in Redmond – was the target of racist graffiti during a recent vacation near Lake Chelan.

According to a news release from the Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR), the vehicle was scrawled with racist phrases including “Sand N**gers” and “Doon Coons.” The vandals also left several physical scratches on the car.

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Keith Ellison: GOP ‘basically a bigoted party’

Keith Ellison (4)Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) blasted Republicans for including a plank in their convention platform targeting Shariah law in an interview with Mother Jones Wednesday, blasting the language as “an expression of bigotry.”

“There has never been any legislation offered to establish Shariah law – not at the federal level, not at the state level. There’s not been a municipal ordinance opposing this, there’s not been anything,” said Ellison, the nation’s first Muslim member of Congress.

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