The Montreal Gazette has published a hard-hitting editorial on the Quebec halal meat controversy.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
American Muslims defend religious freedom against ACT! for America
The Bartlett meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance — to the American flag and to the Republic for which about 50 citizens have gathered to express their deep concern. “Radical Islam is here and it’s threatening every freedom we hold dear,” said Mason Ezzell, a local businessman and former Air Force pilot.
He was addressing the February meeting of the Memphis chapter of ACT! for America, a grassroots, anti-Islam organization that claims more than 150,000 members in 650 chapters across the country. “I wish it wasn’t true. I hate that it is. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Many Muslims are good people who just don’t know what’s happening. We don’t want to believe what’s happening, but it is. This is real, folks.”
Prevent faces growing university opposition
The government’s counter-terrorism strategy is facing opposition on university campuses over concerns it is discriminatory and encourages spying. Student groups and lecturers have moved to distance themselves from Prevent, a Home Office initiative that aims to combat violent extremism, after being asked to report Muslim students deemed vulnerable to radicalisation.
The National Union of Students (NUS) is expected to table a motion at its conference next month condemning as “totally unacceptable” approaches by Prevent officers asking for details of student Islamic society members.
The motion, a draft of which has been seen by the Guardian, will call on delegates from across Britain to “stand in solidarity with those negatively affected by Prevent”. It adds: “The language, concepts and unspecific terms of definition used in the Prevent strategy are unhelpfully generalist and in some cases problematic, and could well be open to discriminatory interpretations.”
Houston senator backs Muslim academy excluded from Texas schools association
Houston state senator Rodney Elliswon’t let up trying to get a private school association to let a Muslim school join them.
The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools rejected Houston’s Iman Academy back in 2010. But Iman isn’t the only Islamic school TAPPS turned down. Iman and the others say the application process makes it pretty clear that Muslims are not welcome.
This all came out when TAPPS said it would not change its state basketball play-offs schedule to keep Houston’s Robert M. Beren Academy, an orthodox Jewish school, from playing on the Sabbath. TAPPS backed down when parents went to court.
Ellis joined the fray for both schools. And, with the basketball season over, that leaves the Iman question still out there.
EDL fail to disrupt opening of new Islamic centre
The presence of the English Defence League failed to disrupt the opening of a new Islamic centre in Luton yesterday.
The Discover Islam Public Information Centre, based in Upper George Street, is a community project which aims to provide a neutral environment for people to ask questions about Islam or Muslims that they would feel too embarrassed or intimidated to talk about otherwise.
But outside, surrounded by police, EDL leader Tommy Robinson and around 20 of his followers handed out leaflets which stated that the centre promoted “Luton In Harm-enemy“. The protest was responding to the views expressed on a blog by the centre’s manager, Yusuf Bonner, which Mr Robinson claims are “extremist”. Mr Bonner was not present at the event.
Inside, those running the centre attempted to ignore the EDL and instead focus on what the new building would bring to the town.
Halal hysteria reaches Quebec
The Parti Quebecois is sounding the alarm bell over an Islamic food ritual, calling slaughter for halal meat an affront not only to the rights of animals but to the values cherished by Quebecers.
The pro-independence party declared its concerns Wednesday about halal animal-rights standards, and is worried that mainstream companies are selling the meat, without any labelling, to unsuspecting Quebecois customers. The PQ is now demanding a report on the halal situation from the provincial government, by March 23.
Milwaukee: Islamic Society faces hostile questioning over proposed mosque
A crowd gathered at the Brookfield Public Library raised questions Tuesday not just about a proposed mosque in the area, but about the faith and ideology of those who plan to use it.
“We’re not fighting against a religion, what we’re fighting against is a tyrannical ideology,” said Janet Spiewak of the conservative Eagle Forum, which hosted the discussion.
She urged residents to raise concerns about the mosque’s traffic impact and other zoning issues at the city’s upcoming meetings on the project, presumably as a way of stopping it from being built. “We can, through public pressure, force the aldermen and the mayor to acknowledge where the majority of Brookfield stands,” she said.
Mad Mel as dance
“This is Islamophobic shit,” cried an angry spectator two-thirds of the way through DV8’s investigation of multiculturalism. I was later told that the intervention was a “staged performance”. If so, it was both exceptionally convincing and dangerously counterproductive, since I spent the rest of the evening wondering whether it contained a measure of truth.
Michael Billington reviews “Can We Talk About This?”, a show at the National Theatre in London created by Lloyd Newson.
University of North Carolina students walk out on David Horowitz as he compares Muslims to Nazis
About 20 minutes after David Horowitz began speaking Monday, nearly all the students in attendance walked out of Hamilton Hall in protest. The action came in response to what participants said were slanderous remarks about Muslims and members of Arab nations.
Florida: Muslim cab drivers claim employer barred them from praying
Eight Muslim cab drivers in Orlando, Fla., claim their employer prohibited them from praying during work hours, and even assaulted and fired one of them for doing so. Now they’re filing complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that they were discriminated against on the basis of their religion and national origin.
The eight Arab-American employees worked for Star Taxi, a member of the Transtar Transportation Group, which provides taxi, luxury SUV and limousine services in the Orlando area. They allege that various supervisors told them that they would be fired if they were caught praying at any of the company’s service stations, even though employees of other faiths regularly prayed and read religious material.