Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Football casuals claim sparks march ban for extremist group Scottish Defence League

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL demonstrators
‘We have nothing to do with Nazi-ism’ – SDL supporters on a demonstration

Far right extremist group the Scottish Defence League has been banned from a proposed march amid claims an attempt had been made to recruit 
football casuals.

Edinburgh City Council’s licensing sub-committee ruled that the demonstration – set to be attended by around 150 people – should not go ahead. A spokesman for the SDL has vowed to appeal the decision in court, saying it could not control what was posted on its Facebook site.

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Bradford hate attack victim warns of growing threat from far right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bradford man Ali Shaan, a spiritual leader who was born and grew up in the city, is one of dozens who have reported being the victim of a racist attack in the area this year. The number of unreported incidents is feared to be much higher.

Recently he was walking down Canal Road on his way to prayers, when three young men in a car shouted abuse and spat on him. “It was quite horrible and I was very upset after that,” the 20-year-old Bradford College student said. “Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. That is the kind of thing that seems to becoming more directed towards the muslim community.”

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‘Muslim rage’ – another Newsweek publicity stunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Newsweek Muslim rage“Thoughtfulness has flown out the window at Newsweek this week, as Tina Brown traded in a little bit of integrity and placed her bets on Islamophobia being a big seller with the magazine’s screaming ‘Muslim Rage’ cover”, Alexander Abad-Santos writes.

Atlantic Wire, 17 September 2012

See also Ben Armbruster at Think Progress, 17 September 2012

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‘Love Muslim neighbors’ billboard coming to Murfreesboro

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Love Your Muslim Neighbors billboardA new message encouraging local residents to “Love Your Muslim Neighbors” is slated to go up on a South Church Street billboard by the end of the month.

The message is being placed on a billboard at 1015 S. Church St. by a self-described Washington, D.C.-based Christian advocacy and education organization called Sojourners, according to the group’s communications director, Tim King.

King said the organization decided on Murfreesboro as a location after several residents living within a 100-mile radius of the city took notice of the group’s message on a billboard in Joplin, Mo., and began calling for one to be placed here.

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Hundreds march in peaceful Doha rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Doha protestHundreds of people marched in a peaceful rally from the Omar bin Khattab mosque to the American embassy in Doha yesterday afternoon soon after the Friday prayer to protest against a film denigrating the Prophet of Islam.

Expressing their resentment over the attempt to malign Islam by tarnishing the image of the Prophet, the protesters called for revenge against those who made the movie. “No Muslim will tolerate such a cowardly and lewd form of depicting the Prophet’s personal life. It is unfortunate that America and Europe have become the breeding ground for hatred against Islam and Islamic values and Islamic way of life” said one of the protesters, Abdullah al-Mutawwa.

Prior to the rally, Islamic scholar and chairman of the International Union of Ulema, Dr Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi, strongly criticised the film in his Friday sermon at the Omar bin Khattab mosque.

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Nova Scotia: racist attacker jailed for one month

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Pictou County woman who cares for her three grandchildren has been sentenced to a month in jail for hurling racial insults at a doctor’s wife and assaulting her, as well as attacking the victim’s rescuer.

Justice Ted Scanlan of Nova Scotia Supreme Court said in a written decision released Tuesday this was one of the most difficult sentencings of his 20 years on the bench. “I have sentenced people for murder, assault, robbery, drugs, you name it. This case stands out,” Scanlan said.

The incident happened in the mall on Westville Road in New Glasgow on May 29, 2011. A drunken Katherine Feltmate, 51, confronted Alizah Khan, asking her why she was wearing a head scarf on a hot day. Khan asked her why she was commenting on what she was wearing when others were wearing sweaters, coats or jackets.

Feltmate then hurled racial and religious slurs at Khan, forced her against a wall, raised her hands and pushed a shopping cart around. Brian Anthony Jarvis came to Khan’s aid, and Feltmate turned on him and accused him of being racist.

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