Fox News figures scapegoated Islam and promoted Islamophobia following an attack in London reportedly perpetrated by radical extremists which has been denounced by Muslim organizations in Britain. Media Matters has the details.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
CAIR denounces arson attack on Vancouver mosque
The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR.CAN), a national Muslim civil liberties organization, today denounced the attempted arson of a mosque in Vancouver, B.C. on May 22nd.
According to officials at Masjid Omar al-Farooq, two alleged suspects attempted to set the exterior of their mosque on fire after congregants had finished early afternoon worship. The mosque’s Imam noticed the smoke and rushed outside to extinguish the flames. Local police are now investigating and will review the mosque’s security camera footage.
Anti-fascists outnumber EDL at Sheffield demonstration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4AlzrD6Kv6Y
An English Defence League (EDL) demonstration in front of the city hall at 7pm today was met by a contingent of anti-fascists more than double their size.
At its largest the EDL numbered around 20, whereas the anti-fascists saw their numbers grow to at least 45 by 7:30pm, including students from the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and local FE colleges as well as members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF).
The counter-demonstration was organised by Secretary of Sheffield UAF Paul Scarrott after the group became aware of plans for EDL action outside the city hall.
EDL protesters chanted “E, E, EDL” next to the fountain on Division Street, while anti-fascist protesters responded with “Sheffield united, we’ll never be defeated” from beside the war memorial. After 30 minutes of demonstrating the EDL contingent had dispersed.
Unite Against Fascism statement on Woolwich murder
Unite Against Fascism statement on Woolwich murder
Unite Against Fascism sends its condolences to the family and friends of the soldier murdered yesterday in Woolwich. There can be no justification for such a terrible attack on an individual.
But we must recognise that fascist organisations such as the English Defence League and British National Party are trying to use the murder to whip up racism and direct hatred against all Muslims.
Woolwich terror attack: Muslims shouldn’t have to distance themselves
“We will have truly progressed as a society when Muslims no longer feel the need to distance themselves from the acts of terror performed by their supposed co-religionists. They bear no more responsibility for jihadism than Christians do for the Ku Klux Klan or the Westboro Baptist Church (or, more pertinently, than the English do for the EDL). To suggest, as Pauline Neville Jones, the former security minister, did on the Today programme this morning, that they have a special duty to condemn the attack is to perpetuate the myth of collective guilt.”
George Eaton at The Staggers, 23 May 2013
Gillingham mosque attacked after suspected terror attack in Woolwich
A man has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage over an attack on a mosque in Gillingham tonight.
Kent Police said officers are providing a visible presence in communities across Kent after a man was murdered in a suspected terrorist attack in Woolwich, south London, today.
It has been reported that display cabinets at a mosque in Gillingham were smashed earlier this evening.
Evidence doesn’t support fears of Islam in the West
“My book Why the West Fears Islam: Exploration of Islam in Western Liberal Democracies (June 2013 by Palgrave McMillan) indicates a persistent predisposition in the West to link Islam to un-civic behaviour and to see assertive Muslims as internal enemies threatening national values and identities as well as external enemies at war with Western civilisation.
“Intriguingly, there is no empirical evidence based on behaviours of Muslims in European countries or the United States that supports this fear. Actually, Muslim political practices are not different from their average fellow citizens. My investigation shows that in Europe and in the United States, Muslims express a greater trust in national institutions and democracy than their fellow citizens and that mosque attendance actually facilitates social and political integration.”
Bay Area Muslims still face Islamophobia, study finds
The quarter-million Muslims live in the San Francisco Bay Area face ongoing, entrenched Islamophobia more than a decade after 9/11, according to a new study.
“The Bay Area Muslim Study: Establishing Community and Identity” found 40 percent of Muslims in the region have experienced personal discrimination and 23 percent have been victims of a hate crime. The discrimination against Muslims was particularly pronounced in school-aged children, the study found.
More problems for UKIP: Another racist Islamophobe exposed
Hope Not Hate reports on the case of Alan Jesson, a newly elected UKIP county councillor in Lincolnshire, who has posted a series of racist comments on Facebook.
One comment reads: “How true it is that the biggest threat to the UK way of life was Islam and its followers.” Another: “Mosques need banning until they adopt sexual equality and gay relationships and conform to British culture.” Jesson also wrote: “No Mosques should be entertained in this country. Islam is anti Gay and anti women. It can never be part of English culture.”
He says he dreams of “a day when the migrants are persuaded or forced to return to their countries of birth” and predicts “I really do think soon there will be rivers of blood”.
These revelations follow the exposure of the foul-mouthed racist remarks made by another UKIP councillor in Lincolnshire, Chris Pain, along with equally bigoted comments by other prominent figures in the party, and the resignation of Eric Kitson as a UKIP councillor in Worcestershire.
Islamophobia increases worldwide: Report
Muslims around the world, particularly in Europe and Asia, are facing rising hostility and violence, amid restrictions on their right to wear religious outfits, a US report has found.
“Anti-Muslim rhetoric and actions were clearly on the rise – particularly in Europe and Asia,” said the International Religious Freedom Report cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Government restrictions, which often coincided with societal animosity, resulted in anti-Muslim actions that affected everyday life for numerous believers.”
The report, released by Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday, May 20, sheds light on restrictions facing Muslims and other religious minorities around the world.
See also “CAIR welcomes State Department’s recognition of rising Islamophobia”, CAIR press release, 20 May 2013