Yasmin Alibhai-Brown denounces drone attacks against the populations of Muslim-majority countries as “state-sponsored, state-activated, state-engineered terrorism”. She writes: “Western leaders are blindingly proud of their democracies and human rights but how much better are they today than the Muslim terrorists they are trying to defeat? In fact, in terms of numbers of innocent dead, they are a good deal worse.”
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
French Muslims demonstrate against closure of prayer hall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe7MNGjQOMI
These protestors are on a silent march. They say they have had enough of Islamophobia from the Mayor of Montrouge, a suburb south of Paris.
Berkeley conference adopts resolution condemning Islamophobia in France
Resolution of the 4th Annual International Conference on Islamophobia at UC-Berkeley in Support of French Muslims and Opposing Islamophobic Discourses in France
Whereas; for the last ten years, Islamophobia has increased in an alarming way all over the world.
Whereas; every year, the Annual International Conference on Islamophobia at UC-Berkeley confirms the global perverse and continuing problem of Islamophobia.
Whereas; France is one of the countries in the world where racism against Muslims has increased the most. In the name of secularism, women’s rights, the defense of Republican values, and the struggle against terrorism, Islamophobic discourses affect all spheres of the French society (politics, media, intellectual debates, economics, etc).
Whereas; the French state itself – the judicial, legislative and executive powers – from the higher to the bottom levels of the French public administration has become a promoter of Islamophobia. The March 2004 law against the veil is at the heart of public legitimization of discriminatory practices against Muslims.
Play spreads the word to dispel fear of Islam
A play set in ancient Mecca and Medina and about to tour West Yorkshire aims to tackle Islamophobia through educating while entertaining.
‘Spread by the Word’ from Islamic theatre company Arakan Creative takes the form of stories from the Quran – charting the holy book’s revelations and how they impacted on the society of the time.
Set in the 7th century, it goes right back to the beginnings of Islam and looks at the first anti-Muslim sentiments that emerged when the prophet Mohammed began preaching.
Leyton Sharia Council defends itself after Panorama exposé
An Islamic council which mediates on Muslim marriages has defended itself after a member of staff was secretly filmed telling a woman complaining of domestic violence to only go to the police as a “last resort”.
The Islamic Sharia Council, in Francis Road, Leyton, was investigated by the BBC’s Panorama documentary series this week following allegations it was ruling on cases it had no legal authority to get involved in.
BNP returns to ‘Muslim heroin trade’ propaganda
South Ribble Councillors Caleb Tomlinson, Derek Forrest and Cameron Crook with BNP leaflets
Councillors in South Ribble say they are appalled and offended after a political activist personally targeted them to ask for their support for a campaign which allegedly blames Muslims for the heroin trade.
Tony Bamber has written to three councillors in the area and personally delivered a letter and leaflets under the auspices of the ‘Preston Pals’, which he says is in honour of the men of the 7th Battalion the ‘Loyals’.
Mr Bamber is also standing in next month’s Lancashire County Council elections, as a member of the British National Party (BNP) in Burnley, and local Labour councillors are furious that he is trying to spread what they say are ‘racist views’ in Leyland.
Islamophobia? It’s just ‘a figment of liberals’ imaginations’
Well, that’s what Brendan O’Neill argues at the Telegraph. He asserts that there is no sign of any mass outbreak of anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States following the Boston bombing. But then, O’Neill is part of a political tendency – formerly the ultra-left Revolutionary Communist Party but now organised around the right-wing libertarian online magazine spiked, whose adherents have long argued that Islamophobia is a myth.
Boston bombings: western governments reaping what they sow?
According to US newspapers, the sole surviving suspect says the west’s invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan were major motivations for doing what he did. And without any outside, foreign assistance, according to US officials quoted in the Washington Post.
This fact will be played down or more likely ignored very largely by the government in Washington.
But it is important because it is a direct admission from the suspect himself that politics and western foreign policy are the driving forces for him rather than Islam, al-Qaeda, foreign connections and all the rest of it currently being pointed at in so many quarters despite the patent lack of meaningful evidence.
Alex Thompson’s View, 24 April 2013
See also “Bomber motivated by religion? Media regurgitates government propaganda”, Loonwatch, 24 April 2013
Update: See Glenn Greenwald, “The same motive for anti-US ‘terrorism’ is cited over and over”, Guardian, 24 April 2013
CAIR decries inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric on Boston bombings
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today decried the wave of inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric following the Boston Marathon bombings and the revelation that the suspects in the case are Muslim.
CAIR also noted that Americans of all faiths have rejected the call by a minority of extremists to stereotype Muslims and Islam.
While at least two anti-Muslim hate attacks were linked to the bombings, CAIR says it has not received any reports of violent bias-motivated incidents since the suspects were identified.
“We believe it is a positive sign that the vast majority of Americans have rejected the type of guilt by association advocated by extremist commentators seeking to exploit the tragic events in Boston to further their personal agendas,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “As a nation, we have learned to judge a person based on their actions, not on their faith or ethnicity.”
Awad said the recent spike in hate rhetoric comes in the wake of a coordinated long-term effort by Islamophobic activists and groups to demonize Islam and marginalize American Muslims.
Oklahoma anti-sharia law ‘serves no purpose other than to keep anti-Muslim passions inflamed’
In an editorial, the Tulsa World condemns Oklahoma’s adoption of an “anti-sharia” law, which will come into force later this year.