Goudarz Karimi recounts his experience of being detained by armed police on suspicion of being a suicide bomber after he was spotted wearing a weight vest during a training walk.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Republican politician calls for all Muslims to be purged from military
State representative Rick Womick (R-TN) has made no secret of his anti-Muslim views. A New York Times article from July described Womick on the statehouse floor, warning his constuents that Islamic law was the most urgent threat to their way of life. But in an interview on the sidelines of the “Preserving Freedom Conference” at the Cornerstone Church in Madison, TN, Womick went to new extremes to paint Muslim Americans as dangerous and seditious.
Muslim ex-Whole Foods employee sues company for discrimination
A Muslim man formerly employed at a Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia is suing the company, claiming he was mistreated for going on a pilgrimage to Mecca and for praying at work during his breaks.
Glenn Mack Jr., 24, had been working at the Philadelphia store for about two years and, said his lawyer, loved his job. In the fall of 2010, he made a vacation request to take 18 days off, 2½ months before his time off was to start. Whole Foods requires two-weeks’ notice for time off. Mack’s plan was to go to Saudi Arabia and make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.
“When [Mack’s supervisor] discovered [Mack] was going to Mecca for his pilgrimage, that’s when things started to change,” said Mack’s attorney, Amara Chaudhry, the civil rights director at the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “He was told his job would not be guaranteed upon his return.”
In a complaint filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Mack claimed his supervisor “had previously been heard making Islamaphobic comments,” according to Chaudhry, and Mack said he was given a difficult ultimatum. “His supervisor apparently said to him, ‘You can choose. It’s either your job or your religion,'” Chaudhry said. Mack chose his religion and made his pilgrimage.
Muslims in New York feel powerless over NYPD secret reports
Justice may not be on the side of people subjected to surveillance, the Associated Press reports.
Islamophobia in France on the rise
Islamophobia is on the rise in France, according to figures released by the French Muslim umbrella group, CFCM. Attacks and insults perpetrated against Muslims went up 22 per cent in the first nine months of this year, the group says, and it fears that there will be more ahead of next year’s general election.
Citing Interior Ministry figures, the CFCM says that 115 cases were reported to the police between the beginning of January and the end of September. But they are a gross underestimate, according to CFCM president Abdallah Zekri, because victims are often loath to go to the authorities. “We can say that the rise, according to statistics we have, is about 50-55 per cent,” he told a press conference in Paris Thursday.
The figures cover profanation of cemeteries and mosques, physical attacks, insults, provocations and burning or profanation of the Koran.
Zekri called on Interior Minister Claude Guéant to put pressure on the police to “arrest at least some of the people who have committed these acts”, expressing frustration that vandals who attacked cemeteries have not been identified.
Trial over Murfreesboro Islamic Center plan set for next April
The trial over the site plan approval for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has been scheduled for next April. Seventeen plaintiffs are suing Rutherford County, claiming officials violated Tennessee’s open meetings law.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Joe Brandon Jr. also tried to argue that the mosque violated his clients’ constitutional rights, claiming mosque members were compelled by their religion to subdue non-Muslims. Chancellor Robert Corlew dismissed that claim in May.
Rutherford County attorney Josh McCreary said that Corlew set an April 25 trial date during a hearing on Wednesday. Corlew also agreed to allow The Murfreesboro Post to intervene in the case.
Notice for the meeting where the site plan was approved was printed in The Post. Plaintiffs argue The Post is not a newspaper of general circulation, as required by law.
Offers of aid pour in after fire at Wichita mosque
When the Rev. Jackie Carter learned of the fire that heavily damaged a mosque in west Wichita early Monday morning, she knew what she needed to do.
“They are welcome to use the worship space at our building,” said Carter, pastor of First Metropolitan Community Church at 156 S. Kansas. “We believe it’s important for everyone to have sacred space, and now they don’t.”
It’s just one of numerous offers of assistance for the mosque and those who pray there, said Hussam Madi, a spokesman for the Islamic Society of Wichita. The society posted a letter of appreciation on its website today.
“On behalf of the Islamic Society of Wichita, we would like to thank the Wichita community for the outpouring of support we continue to receive in response to the fire at the Westside Islamic Center,” Jenaya McHenry, office manager for the Islamic Society of Wichita, stated in the letter.
“We have received numerous phone calls and e-mails from individuals and churches offering kind words, support, services and space to aid the Muslim community in Wichita. We are truly grateful to be part of such a giving community and for each and every person who has reached out to us.”
The cause of the fire at the mosque at 3406 W. Taft, southeast of Maple and West streets, remains under investigation.
“There are plans to rebuild,” Madi said. “It’s going to require some fundraisers.” Preliminary cost estimates are in the $120,000 range, he said. People wishing to send financial donations for the mosque can send them to the Islamic Society of Wichita, 6655 E. 34th St. North, 67226.
“We deeply appreciate the help and the offers from other peoples of faith in our city,” Madi said. “That makes us feel that we are a part of this community, which we work hard to be a part of.”
Wichita Eagle, 3 November 2011
See also “Respect, protect rights”, Wichita Eagle, 3 November 2011
Pamela Geller: ‘I endorse Herman Cain. What he doesn’t know, we’ll teach him’
TPM reports on Pamela Geller’s endorsement of would-be Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. The kiss of death to Cain’s campaign, surely?
Far-right extremism is much more than a political irritant
Following on from his appearance before the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee yesterday, Matthew Goodwin has a piece at Comment is Free in which he emphasises the central point that he made to the MPs:
The simply reality of post-9/11 politics is that we have focused almost exclusively on tackling only one form of extremism. In the aftermath of New York and the attacks in Bali, Madrid and London, the emphasis on tackling al-Qaida marked a logical response to the priorities of national security. Today, however, the landscape has changed. We need to adopt a more holistic approach to challenging extremism and sharpen our understanding of its different branches. Most importantly, we need to overhaul the traditional view of the far right that claims this movement is nothing more than a minor political irritant.
Sir Norman Bettison, Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, also gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee. He told them that the English Defence League’s main purpose was to be “provocative” and that, even though police had sought to liaise with the group, this had “absolutely no effect in terms of ameliorating their behaviour”.
In contrast to the views of DCS Adrian Tudway, the National Co-ordinator for Domestic Extremism at Scotland Yard, or the reluctance of the Metropolitan Police to stop the EDL’s proposed march though Tower Hamlets, Norman Bettison has taken the threat posed by the EDL seriously. After consulting with the local community he did not hesitate to apply for a ban on the EDL marching in Bradford last year, under Section 13 of the Public Order Act, and when they turned up in Dewsbury in June for a static demonstration he used his powers under Section 14 to prevent them entering the town centre and instructed them to hold their rally in the station car park instead.
Islam is not a religion but a totalitarian theocracy, Republican candidate tells CAIR
A Republican candidate for Hillsborough Clerk of Circuit Court on Monday fired off a letter saying Islam is “not a religion” but a theocracy that is “totalitarian and littered with human rights violations.”
Scott D. Barrish, a 35-year-old private security officer who previously ran unsuccessfully for the Hillsborough School Board, sent the letter to the Council of American-Islamic Relations. He signed it as a member of the Hillsborough County Republican Party’s executive committee. “Your efforts in espousing Islam in America and Florida will not succeed,” Barrish wrote. “This is us vs. you. In the great words of the late President Ronald Reagan, ‘I win, you lose!'”
Barrish said in an interview that he sent the e-mail letter because the group had engaged in what he called publicity stunts. CAIR, for instance, thanked Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio for declining to speak at the upcoming Florida tea party convention because it featured a presentation by an “anti-Islam extremist.”