Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Shariah charade

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In the 19th century, Catholicism was regarded by many people in this country as thoroughly incompatible with Americanism. They saw it as a hostile foreign element that would subvert democracy. Today, a majority of the justices on the Supreme Court are Catholic, and they are taken to be as American as Mountain Dew.

We’ve come a long way in religious tolerance. Or maybe not. The belief that Catholics are irredeemably alien and disloyal has given way to the fear that Muslims pose a mortal threat to our way of life.

Steve Chapman on the bogus threat of Islamic law in the US.

Chicago Tribune, 10 June 2012

When is a terrorist not a terrorist? When he’s a white non-Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Real-life scenario No. 1: A man with a weapon strides into a military medical office in Texas and opens fire, killing 13 people and wounding 29 before he is stopped and taken into custody. In the ensuing news media coverage and public discussion, the incident is widely viewed as an act of terrorism.

Real-life scenario No. 2: A man with a weapon shows up at a public gathering inside a supermarket in Arizona and opens fire, killing six (including a U.S. district judge) and wounding 13 (including a member of the U.S. House of Representatives) before he is stopped and arrested. In the ensuing media coverage and public discussion, the incident is generally not characterized as terrorism.

The difference? In the first scenario – the 2009 Fort Hood shootings – the perpetrator, Nidal Hasan, was a Muslim of Palestinian ancestry. In the second – the 2011 Tucson shootings that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords gravely wounded – the perpetrator, Jared Loughner, was non-Muslim and white.

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Eleven arrested during EDL rally in Rochdale

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Rochdale June 2012

Eleven men were arrested by police today during a rally by the English Defence League in Rochdale.

More than 400 members of the far-right organisation gathered for around two hours outside the town hall. The majority were brought into the town centre on buses and coaches from a nearby retail park at 1pm.

Many gathered outside pubs on Packer Street amid a heavy police presence before they were escorted by officers to a pen on the car park outside the town hall. Officers dealt with a handful of minor skirmishes as the group marched the short distance to the car park from Packer Street.

Two fireworks, believed to be bangers, later exploded at the feet of crowds stood outside the pen near to the Post Office on The Esplanade. No one was injured.

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EDL get ready to descend on Rochdale

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL paedophile sex gangs placardRochdale shop owners are preparing ahead of tomorrow’s English Defence League march. The far-right movement will descend on the town at 1.30pm to demonstrate against what they see as an expansion of Muslim extremism.

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk urged the town to continue as usual. He said: “Tomorrow’s ‘protest’ is nothing more than an attempt to stir up racial tensions and incite violence. The police are fully prepared to deal with this and the protest will be outside of the town centre, which will be open for business as usual. I would urge everyone to continue to support local shops and businesses.”

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After no-fly problem, Muslim student walks into U.S.

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An American-born Muslim student who was prevented from flying to San Diego from Costa Rica after being told his name was on the U.S. government no-fly list returned home Thursday evening after flying to Mexico and then walking across the pedestrian border crossing to his waiting family.

Kevin Iraniha, 27, was met by his father, Nasser, brothers Jahan and Shervin, and several representatives from the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, including executive director Hanif Mohebi. The council came to Iraniha’s aid this week after a friend referred the family to the organization, Mohebi said.

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Minnesota bakery workers in dispute over dress code

Posted on by Bob Pitt

More than 30 Somali employees at a bakery walked out in protest Monday after the owner ordered female workers to wear mid-calf skirts after a woman’s long dress recently got caught in a boot washer, MyFoxTwinCities.com reported.

Mike Knowles, the owner of Dianne’s Fine Desserts, told the Faribault Daily News that the new guidelines were installed for safety concerns. Somali workers, however, call the new rules an attack on their Muslim religion.

The women reportedly showed up to work in their full-length attire and were given the option to adjust their skirts or leave. About a dozen women left and they were joined by 20 men who say the dress code goes against teachings in the Koran.

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Judge rejects ‘national security’ defense in Muslim’s bias suit

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today welcomed a federal judge’s ruling that rejects a claim by a Washington, D.C., hotel that it had the right to discriminate against a Muslim employee because of a “national security exemption.”

United States District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein ruled yesterday that “the national security exemption does not immunize Defendant from liability as to Plaintiff’s retaliation claim.”

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