Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Baroness Warsi on Islamophobia and Muslim attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Baroness_WarsiThe government is “finally dealing” with Islamophobia in the UK, the minister for faith and communities has said in a personal film made for the BBC.

Baroness Warsi visited the Altrincham Islamic Cultural Centre and heard from trustee Amjad Latif about relations with the local community, and attacks on people and buildings.

The former Conservative Party chairman looked at problems relating to attacks and discrimination against ethnic communities, and recalled her description of the ‘dinner table test’.

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Boston suspect’s widow ‘ought to be in prison for wearing a hijab’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Appearing on Fox News Republican talk show “Hannity” Monday night, right-wing columnist Ann Coulter said she’s sad that not only does she think the Boston bombing should shut down the nation’s immigration reform debate, she would like to see the alleged bomber’s widow in jail too, not for committing a crime but for “wearing a hijab.”

“I don’t care if she knew about this,” Coulter said. “She ought to be in prison for wearing a hijab. This immigration policy of us, you know, assimilating immigrants into our culture isn’t really working. They’re assimilating us into their culture. Did she get a clitorectomy too?”

Hannity seemed momentarily puzzled at the sudden citation of female genital mutilation, stammering his reply. “I, uh, I don’t know the answer to that,” he said before confidently adding: “But your point is well taken.”

Raw Story, 23 April 2013

See also Newshounds, 22 April 2013

St George’s Day declaration by coalition of faith groups and campaigners

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The hijab should be as welcome as “bangers and mash” in England, a coalition of religious groups and campaigners have said, in an appeal for unity to mark St George’s Day.

Groups including the Muslim Council of Britain and inter-faith organisation the Christian Muslim Forum said the saint has been “hijacked” by groups on the “extreme right”, like the British National Party and the English Defence League, seeking to use him as a “symbol of triumphalism and division”.

“We want to promote a new, relaxed and confident, English national identity,” they said in a declaration. “A place where a hijab is as welcome as bangers and mash, and no-one is attacked for their race, religion – or lack thereof – or any other belief.”

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‘They gave into Islamophobia’: Omar Mustafa criticises Social Democrat leaders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Omar Mustafa protest (2)
‘Social Democracy, yes. No to Islamophobia!’ – demonstration last week in support of Omar Mustafa

Omar Mustafa has spoken out about his disappointment in the Social Democrat party, saying he felt let down by the leadership after being ousted from the party’s governing board just a week after his appointment.

“My involvement in different Muslim civil society organizations was seen as a burden and they asked me to give up my position,” Mustafa told newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).

Mustafa, who chairs Sweden’s Islamic Association (Islamiska förbundet), resigned from all his duties with the party after mounting criticism centring on the Islamic Association’s links to individuals with known anti-Semitic and homophobic views.

Asked if there was a particular incident that made him agree to quit the Social Democrats, Sweden’s left-of-centre opposition party, Mustafa replied that the leadership had sent a clear signal that the party lacked confidence in him.

“There was neither will nor ability to handle the media hunt against me even though they know very well that I have done nothing wrong and that the media hunt turned Islamophobic in character,” Mustafa wrote in the email interview with SvD.

He declined to clarify who “they” are but said it felt like “one, without reflecting properly, gave into Islamophobic forces within and outside the party”.

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