Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

‘Instead of dividing France, you should unite it’, Tariq Ramadan tells Sarkozy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tariq Ramadan at UOIF 2012

Swiss Islamic intellectual Tariq Ramadan laid into French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a speech to the annual meeting of a major Muslim organisation Saturday. His call to “unite France” and not “divide it” came after government ministers criticised the Union of Islamic Organisations of France’s (UOIF) invitation to him to speak.

Before the UOIF meeting at Le Bourget near Paris this weekend Interior Minister Claude Guéant said he regretted the fact that Ramadan was on the speakers’ list.

He may regret it even more after Ramadan’s speech, which did not name him or the president but clearly targeted their rhetoric during the presidential election campaign and their reaction to the killing spree of “lone-wolf” Islamist Mohamed Merah.

Continue reading →

Sheikh Raed Salah wins appeal, immigration tribunal rules that deportation order was ‘entirely unnecessary’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Raed Salah protest
Demonstration outside Royal Courts of Justice in support of Raed Salah last July

Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, has won an appeal against his deportation from Britain, according to the group that invited him to the country.

Mark Ockelton, the vice-president of the UK’s Upper Immigration Tribunal, ruled that the government’s decision to deport Salah “appears to have been entirely unnecessary”, and upheld his deportation appeal, a statement from the Middle East Monitor (MEMO) said on Saturday.

Continue reading →

Tennessee Congressional race gets 100 percent more anti-Shariah-y

Posted on by Bob Pitt

If you live in Middle Tennessee, get ready for another four months of overheated rhetoric about Islam. On Thursday, tea partier and anti-Shariah activist Lou Ann Zelenik announced that she’s challenging incumbent Rep. Diane Black (R), setting up a rematch of a 2010 GOP primary that focused heavily on the question of whether Muslims in Murfreesboro should be allowed to build a new mosque.

Mother Jones, 6 April 2012

UOIF Le Bourget congress underway amid fears of anti-Muslim backlash

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UOIF Le Bourget congress

Hundreds of Muslims began a four day Islamic congress in Paris on Friday, as fears grew of a religious backlash following the Toulouse killings.

More than 200 organisations from all over France are taking part in the four-day event which comes just weeks after Al Qaeda-inspired gunman Mohamed Merah shot dead seven people.

Many think the tragedy has led to French Muslims being marginalised further and feel there is a need to reassure the wider French community. 22-year-old Sara Taharaoui from a south-eastern Paris suburb said: “The whole Muslim community condemns what happened with Mereh. Terrorism isn’t part of the Islamic religion and we are here to condemn his acts.”

Some Muslims said they felt increased scrutiny after the French government decided to ban several foreign Muslim clerics from entering France. The men were due to give speeches at the conference.

Some political analysts think President Nicolas Sarkozy is playing up fears ahead of first-round leadership elections in a fortnight. Many think he’s not done enough to distinguish between the radical few and the mainstream Muslim community.

Continue reading →

France: young woman in veil assaulted, called ‘dirty terrorist’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lqi6H0dfoL8

On 26 March 2012 at Juvisy-sur-Orge (in the Essonne department) a young woman wearing a veil was attacked. She was leaving a branch of the state employment agency Pole Emploi and returning to her car. She was violently asssaulted, threatened with a knife and insulted as a “dirty terrorist” and “dirty Arab”, while the individual tried to tear off her veil and steal her watch. Although the attackers could be identified by a DNA test, the prosecutor refused, because it “costs too much money”.

Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France, 3 April 2012

Via LoonWatch

Hampshire Football Association takes action over EDL supporter’s Facebook comments

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Steve Clarke EDLA youth football team manager whose Facebook page had racist and homophobic comments on it has been charged by Hampshire Football Association.

Steve Clarke, who manages the under-15s squad at Havant & Waterlooville Youth FC, faces two charges. He is accused of improper conduct and of making comments deemed to be of a racist nature.

Hampshire FA and the Football Association last month launched an investigation after Havant & Waterlooville Youth FC passed on information regarding allegations made about Mr Clarke on an internet blog.

When he was approached by The News, Mr Clarke, from Havant, strongly denied making any racist or homophobic comments. He said the only explanation he could think of for the comments appearing on his page was that his profile on the social networking website had been hacked. He told The News he no longer holds a Facebook account.

Mr Clarke, who has previously used an image of himself pictured with young players as his profile picture on Facebook, has been given until April 12 to respond to Hampshire FA about the two allegations.

Portsmouth News, 4 April 2012

See also Portsmouth Nazi Watch, 4 April 2012

Attorneys ask judge to throw out legal challenge to Murfreesboro Islamic Center

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Murfreesboro Islamic Center under construction

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The final legal hurdle over construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro may be over.

County attorneys asked a judge to throw out the final legal challenge on Wednesday. Opponents have argued the county failed to give sufficient public notice before approving the project.

The judge will review the motion on April 19. County officials are hoping he will toss out a lawsuit that claims they did not give proper notice when approving building plans for the new Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.  Mosque opponents say they are readying a response.

Meanwhile, major progress has been made in construction of the center.  Distinctive arches have taken shape, the frame of the building is complete and workers are starting to put bricks around it.

“We are so excited,” said Imam Ossama Bahloul.  “I think when we have the new facility it will be a time for us to celebrate freedom of religion.”

Continue reading →

CAIR asks DOJ to probe threat, powder sent to Iowa Muslim lawmaker

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Iowa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-IA) today called on the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate a letter with “very threatening” language and containing a mysterious powder that was sent to a Muslim representative in the Iowa House yesterday.

The letter, sent to Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad Des Moines), was opened by his clerk Tuesday afternoon on the House floor. When a white powder “billowed out” from the envelope, a hazardous materials team was called and the Statehouse was locked down for several hours. The powder was ultimately deemed harmless.

Continue reading →