OTTAWA — Racist graffiti has marred a sign marking the future site of a mosque in Barrhaven. The messages – “F*** Muslims,” “Ragheads Go” – and a swastika were spray painted onto the sign at 3020 Woodroffe Ave., near Claridge Drive, between Thursday night and Friday morning.
“The EDL were formed in June 2009, after demonstrations by a group of radical Muslims, at the homecoming parade, in Luton, of some of our troops, the Royal Anglian Regiment, returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. It is a rapidly growing movement, whose main Facebook group has over 15,000 members to date. The EDL has tried to make clear that it is not opposed to Muslims, but to radical Islam, against which they hold protests all over Britain.”
“The anti-burqa cause is sweeping Europe. In addition to Belgium and France, Italy and the Netherlands are considering bans. Yet the targets of these measures are virtually nonexistent. Mr. Bacquelaine estimates that a couple of hundred women in Belgium wear a full veil. In France, one study estimated that there are 1,900 burqa wearers in a Muslim population of 5 million.
“The idea that this poses a criminal or cultural threat is ludicrous. Those who say they are defending women’s rights have it exactly backward: They are violating fundamental rights to free expression and religious freedom…. Muslims, including the devoutly religious, are in Europe to stay. Banning their customs, their clothing or their places of worship will not make them more European. It will only make Europe less free.”
Editorial in the Washington Post, 1 May 2010
A human rights organisation has condemned the intimidation, profiling and attempted recruitment of members of the Muslim community by Special Branch and MI5. Cageprisoners specifically cited the case of Asif Ahmed, who it said was recently detained under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 in Edinburgh airport along with his wife.
Schedule 7 allows police to stop and question travellers at ports and airports “for the purpose of determining whether they are a person who is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.” Failure to answer questions is a criminal offence.
The Ahmeds were allegedly questioned in detail and an attempt was made to coerce Mr Ahmed into becoming an informer for Special Branch to spy on the Muslim community.
Cageprisoners also published a report titled The Horn of Africa Inquisition, which detailed how the community from the Horn of Africa and those travelling to the region have allegedly been harassed by MI5 and Special Branch through profiling techniques.
Cageprisoners executive director Asim Qureshi said:
“The last seven years of the war on terror have seen the profiling and criminalisation of the Arab and Pakistani communities by UK authorities around the world. The policies that have been implemented through counter-terrorism legislation and Prevent have only been counter-productive as Muslim communities feel marginalised from British society. It is an unfortunate reality that many Muslims feel besieged at this time and the policies of government have done nothing to temper that.”
See also “British Muslims on safari ‘stopped by MI5′”, Independent, 1 May 2010
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) overruled an earlier verdict banning Iran’s female footballers from observing Islamic code of dressing in the Olympic Games in Singapore, and allowed Iranian women footballers to wear Islamic dress during the competitions.
Earlier in March, FIFA had banned the Iranian women football squad wearing Hijab from participating in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) which will be held from August 14 to 26 in Singapore.
Following the announcement, Head of Iran’s Football Federation Ali Kaffashian along with Member of the Federation’s International Relations Omid Jamali travelled to Switzerland to meet FIFA President Sepp Blater and FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke on April 14.
The Iranian side could convince Blater and Valcke that the Iranian girls’ new wearing would not violate FIFA rules, noting that the entire world should respect Muslims’ rights and consider Islamic rules and values as a crucial factor when dealing with the Muslim countries’ women football teams.
Following the discussions in Switzerland, FIFA wrote a letter to Kaffashian, announcing its agreement with the Iranian girls’ Islamic code of dressing.
In its letter, FIFA said that if the hat covers the hair without violating the game’s rules and the girl footballers can use it, participation of the Iranian girls in the Olympic competitions in Singapore will be unimpeded.
FIFA also ordered the relevant bodies to take all the requirements to register the Iranian under-15 female footballers, stressing that there is no problem for the participation of the Iranian girls in the Singapore Olympic games.
One Day Conference Saturday 5 June 10am to 5pm
Camden Centre London WC1H 9JE
Muslims are under attack in this country as never before. Government policies and the media have created an atmosphere in which all Muslims are portrayed as reactionary and anti-western.
Young Muslims in particular are subject to surveillance in colleges, schools and mosques in the name of combating “extremism”. Those who exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully have been subject to arrest and heavy sentencing.
Meanwhile, the racist “defence leagues” have been focussing their attacks on Muslim communities, with provocative marches in towns and cities inciting racial hatred and bigotry.
From its founding in 2001, Stop the War has been committed to combating racism. We recognise that Islamophobia is a direct consequence of the “war on terror”. We believe it is vital that the anti-war movement acts in conjunction with other campaigns and organisations to stem its tide.
The Stop Islamophobia: Defend the Muslim Community conference on Saturday 5 June, organised by Stop the War and the British Muslim Initiative, will bring together a wide range of opinion united in concern over the escalating demonisation of Muslims in our society.
Organised by Stop the War Coalition and British Muslim Initiative
Supported by CND, Cordoba Foundation, Federation of Student Islamic Societies, Islam Channel, Islamic Forum of Europe, Islamophobia Watch, London Muslim Centre, Muslim Welfare House, National Union of Journalists, North London Central Mosque, Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Book here
After Belgium’s parliament voted to ban Islamic full-face veils, the German vice-president of the European Parliament has called for a ban of the burka throughout Europe.
Silvana Koch-Mehrin called the full-body veil an attack on the rights of women in a guest editorial in the Bild am Sonntagnewspaper. “I would like to see all forms of the burka banned in Germany and in all of Europe,” wrote the politician, a member of Germany‘s pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP).
She called the burka a “mobile prison,” saying that those who veil women take away their faces and therefore their personalities. “The complete veiling of women is a blatant acknowledgement of values that we here in Europe do not share,” she wrote.
Remember Douglas Story, the Virginia truck driver whose license plate – 14CV88 – was recalled following claims by the Council on American-Islamic Relations that that it contained a coded message expressing neo-Nazi views, an accusation that Story indignantly denied?
Violence broke out between anti-Islamist protesters from the English Defence League and riot police at a May Day march in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Demonstrators hurled coins, glass bottles, plastic flag sticks and cans at officers after the event. Around 200 protesters burst through police lines and scuffled with officers armed with riot shields, batons and dogs. Onlookers said there were no apparent serious injuries.
Around 1,000 members of the far-right group had marched to the town’s Market Square, chanting and waving flags. One onlooker said: “As the protesters came to leave the square members of the EDL thought they weren’t been allowed out quickly enough and some began pushing and shoving. Soon missiles were been thrown and riot police had to be called in to calm the situation down.”
Local Area Commander Superintendent Richard List, of Thames Valley Police, strongly condemned the violence. He said: “It is disappointing that the EDL has not continued to protest in a peaceful manner.”
See also Socialist Worker, 1 May 2010
Muslims in France say the government’s plan to fine women for wearing the Islamic veil is one in a string of political ploys that stigmatise them and pander to anti-Islamic prejudice.
Extracts from the law leaked on Friday propose to fine women 150 euros (200 dollars) for wearing a full-face veil in public, while anyone who forces a woman to wear one would face a year in jail and fine of 15,000 euros.
Some say giving police the power to fine Muslim women in the street is part of a worrying trend, after the government’s “national identity debate” and its targeting last week of a man accused of polygamy and radicalism.
Amid the polygamy controversy, bullets were fired at a mosque in Istres, southern France, and a halal butcher in Marseille. A French Muslim group, CFCM, said this signalled “a rise of racism and Islamophobia.”
“It’s getting tougher and tougher. It’s as if people have had something against us for a long time and now that the politicians are saying it, they are letting it all out,” said Mamadou Alpha Diallo, 73, outside a Paris mosque.
Muslims in France “have the impression that Islam is on trial,” added Dounia Bouzar, an anthropologist and high-profile commentator on Muslim affairs.