Despite the growing anti-Islam sentiment across the country, British students are coming together to fight Islamophobia, Reyhana Patel reports.
Yearly Archives: 2014
Let’s be honest about Britain’s Islamophobia
It’s happening again. It never really goes away, but, for different reasons, it tends to come in periodic bursts.
What am I talking about? Britain’s latest frenzy of Islamophobic incitement.
The familiar elements are all present. Demands for communal apologies, for explanations and justifications. Come on, the crowd shrieks, convince us that you belong here! Assure us that we’re safe with you in our midst! Deny links to the Taliban, condemn Boko Haram, and publicly renounce Al-Qaeda for us all to see!
Ben White writes at the Huffington Post, 14 May 2014
Call for ‘Muzzer blood’ to be spilled over plan to rebuild Farnworth mosque
Bolton BNP protesting against the Sughra Mosque development and (right) Frank ‘Muzzer blood’ Whittle
Earlier this month Bolton Council’s planning committee unanimously approved plans by the Sughra Masjid to demolish their existing one-storey place of worship, which has occupied the site since 1987, and replace it with a three-storey building.
Hardly a terrifying example of the creeping Islamification of Farnworth, you might think, but that hasn’t prevented the far right from whipping its supporters up into their usual racist frenzy over the issue.
An online petition against the development has been launched, with the backing of the fascist Bolton Patriot website. So far it has attracted over 500 signatures, along with the usual vituperative abuse of Muslims (“Cannot believe how the western wold allows the scourge of the world race who are so barbaric and full of hatred take over. Absolutely sickens me. I cannot stand what they stand for and don’t even consider them human”).
US court upholds ruling against SIOA, Geller denounces appeasement of ‘Islamic supremacists’
A federal appeals court has rejected a controversial blogger’s attempt to trademark the name of a group she founded called “Stop Islamization of America,” ruling that the name is too offensive to Muslims to qualify for protection.
Pamela Geller has stirred controversy across the globe with her portrayal of Islam as a religion hijacked by violent radicals bent on imposing Islamic rule over America. She’s probably most identified as a leader of protests in 2010 against the construction of a mosque near the ground zero site in New York.
The case decided Tuesday was yet another dispute pitting Ms. Geller against a government agency making claims that her zealous critique of political Islam crosses the line into hate speech.
The case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concerned a federal law allowing the government to refuse to register a trademark that disparages a “substantial composite” of a group.
A three-judge panel ruled that her group “Stop Islamization of America” isn’t eligible for a federal trademark because it said the name suggests an association between “peaceful political Islamization” and terrorism that many Muslims would find offensive. It affirmed an earlier ruling by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, which hears and decides trademark disputes.
Halal meat labelling plan rejected by MPs
MPs have rejected plans to make food outlets label meat from animals killed in accordance with religious practices, such as halal or kosher.
Conservative Philip Davies, who proposed the Commons debate, said there was a “huge public demand” to know more about where food came from. But consumer affairs minister Jenny Willott said the government did not think regulation was the best approach.
Mr Davies’ amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill failed by 264 votes.
Pew Research Center publishes findings on European attitudes towards migrants and Muslims
On the eve of elections to the European Parliament, the Pew Research Center has published its latest report on public opinion in the EU. It is based on face-to-face and telephone surveys in seven countries: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Crusade against British Muslims in education
The ‘Trojan Horse’ plot allegations in British media aim at discrediting the work of Muslim educationalists, argues Ibrahim Hewitt.
British Veterinary Association warns against ritual slaughter debate being ‘hijacked by prejudice’
Calls to label meat products with information about animal welfare at slaughter must not be hijacked by prejudice, according to the British Veterinary Association, which has been campaigning for an end to non-stun slaughter.
On the day that MPs debate an amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill calling for compulsory labelling of halal and kosher food, the President of the BVA has written to the three main party leaders asking them to support its call for food labelling to state whether the animal has been stunned in line with welfare legislation or not stunned under the legal derogation.
Recent media coverage about restaurants and supermarkets using and selling meat from halal and kosher slaughter has raised awareness of the issue of welfare at slaughter, but an enormous amount of confusion remains over how consumers can make an informed choice.
In the letters to David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband, BVA explains that labelling all halal and kosher products will do nothing to inform the public about the very proper concerns regarding welfare at slaughter but could fuel further confusion and potentially feed prejudice.
Carole Malone channels Taj Hargey
“Halal meat controversy is about unnecessary cruelty to animals and NOT Islamaphobia.” Well, that’s what Carole Malone claimed in her column in yesterday’s Sunday Mirror.
According to Malone, not previously known for her command of the finer points of Islamic theology, halal slaughter is not mandated by the Qur’an but is based on the Hadith – described by Malone as “teachings written 300 years after the Prophet died which are often used to justify hardline views”. Therefore, Malone asserts: “No Muslim is bound by his or her religion to eat halal meat.”
You might think this line of argument sounds familiar, and you would be right. Malone has lifted it straight from an article by the appalling Taj Hargey, published by the Daily Mail on its Right Minds blog last week.
You can understand why Islamophobes should be enthusiastic about Hargey’s article, which describes the sale of halal meat products by Subway and Pizza Express as “covert religious extremism and creeping Islamic fundamentalism making its way into Britain by the back door”. With a nod to the witch-hunt currently being conducted in Birmingham schools, Hargey concludes: “It is high time the white, liberal, Guardian-reading classes stopped behaving like apologists and woke up. There is a fundamentalist Trojan horse in our midst, and we must take corrective action.”
An open letter to Bill Maher from a Muslim American
“The problem isn’t Islam. It’s your movement to demonize Islam in the liberal left.” Rabia Chaudry calls out US comedian/TV host Bill Maher.
Update: See Omar Baddar, “5 things Bill Maher got wrong in latest Islam rant”, Huffington Post, 13 May 2014
And Fatimah Mazhar, “Why Bill Maher’s Islamophobia is way more dangerous than right wing bigotry”, Carbonated.tv, 13 May 2014