Antony Loewenstein has published an edited version of his essay from the new collection On Utøya: Anders Breivik, right terror, racism and Europe in the emag Crikey.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Barnabas Fund not spreading Islamophobia, says Sookhdeo … and the Charity Commission evidently agrees with him
The Christian Post reports that the Charity Commission has rejected a complaint about the Barnabas Fund’s Islamophobic propaganda, as featured in a booklet entitled Slippery Slope: the Islamisation of the UK.
A report of the decision on the Barnabas website headlined “Barnabas Fund vindicated by Charity Commission” quotes a letter from the Commission as stating:
Hackney Community College students protest against removal of prayer room curtain
Kamil Alp and fellow Hackney Community College students are campaigning against the removal of the curtain in their prayer room.
They have accused chiefs at Hackney Community College in Falkirk Street, Shoreditch, of “discrimination” after it took down the drapes in the college’s multi-faith facility.
But the college says the room is for students and staff “of all faiths and none” and its actions are in line with its values of equality and inclusion.
A group of students have now started a petition demanding the curtain be replaced and have so far collected 30 signatures, including men and women of different faiths.
Nashville hotel cancels anti-Sharia conference, says Geller and Spencer are extremists
A Nashville hotel has canceled a conference by the Sharia Awareness Action Network, saying it was concerned the speakers include “extremists” with a history of contentious events.
The “Preserving Freedom Conference” had been scheduled for Nov. 11 at the Hutton Hotel near downtown. The hotel in a statement Monday said it has to be “mindful of the safety, security and peace of mind of its guests.”
The hotel cited reports by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center about speakers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer of the group Stop Islamization of America, adding that they have “a history of controversy and contention surrounding their appearances.”
A post on Geller’s website said the hotel had “caved to Islamic supremacist demands” and urged supporters to call the hotel’s management to complain.
Associated Press, 25 October 2011
See also the Tennessean, 24 October 2011
Home secretary urged to ban planned EDL march in Birmingham
A councillor from one of the Birmingham suburbs most affected by the summer riots has written to Home Secretary Theresa May, urging her to ban the proposed EDL march.
Lozells and East Handsworth Labour councillor Waseem Zaffar said the recent disturbances had shown the need for communities to work together.
“During a difficult period for the city when three young Muslim men lost their lives in the disturbances, it was the strength of our communities standing together that defused the tension and allowed the diverse community of Birmingham to move forward together,” he said.
“The EDL must not be able to bring their messages of hate and division to places where diversity is a strength not a weakness. There must be no place for hatred in our communities. Now that EDL’s march in London has been banned by you, you must also ban the march in Birmingham,” he added.
Birmingham Mail, 25 October 2011
See also “Concern over planned EDL march in Birmingham next Saturday”, ENGAGE, 24 October 2011
And “Birmingham: say no to the racist EDL, Saturday 29 October”, Unite Against Fascism, 25 October 2011
Update: See “EDL Birmingham demo location moved by police”, BBC News, 25 October 2011
The government must engage with Muslim students
Over at the New Statesman blog Nabil Ahmed, president of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, responds to the home secretary’s decision to cancel a FOSIS-Civil Service careers event in London last week, as reported by Paul Goodman (who else?) at Conservative Home.
Hertz fires 26 Muslim drivers in prayer break dispute
SEATTLE — More than two dozen Somali Muslim drivers for Hertz at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport are being fired after refusing to clock out for daily breaks during which they normally pray.
The 26 workers drive the company’s rental cars to and from the airport for cleaning and refueling. They are among 34 Hertz employees suspended Sept. 30 for failing to clock out before breaks.
Teamsters Local 117, which represents the workers, said Hertz agreed during contract negotiations last year that union members would not need to clock out during prayer breaks. But the company maintains workers were violating a settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached two years ago.
“From our perspective, Hertz didn’t even follow their own internal policy,” union spokesman Paul Zilly said Friday. Hertz didn’t provide a verbal or written warning and jumped right to suspension, he said. “It was a huge disappointment and a tremendous frustration,” Zilly said.
Hannity hosts anti-Muslim ‘hate group’ leader to analyze events in Middle East
On the Friday edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity invited Pamela Geller, head of the anti-Muslim group Stop the Islamization of America, to discuss events in Libya and the Middle East. The Southern Poverty Law Center identifies Geller’s organization as an anti-Muslim “hate group,” and Geller herself has an extensive history of hate speech and extremist rhetoric – both of which she brought to her Hannity appearance.
Geller engaged in her usual anti-Muslim ranting, declaring that Sharia law “discriminates against women and non-Muslims, it restricts the freedom of speech and freedom of conscience.” After being asked by Hannity how many Muslims are radicalized, Geller replied, “I don’t think they’re radical, I think they’re devout.” She seemed to think Moammar Gadhafi had been doing just fine as Libya’s leader: “I think we have to question why we went into Libya. Libya had, after the Bush doctrine, abandoned their unconventional weapons, abandoned their WMD, was selling oil to us, less than the Saudi Arabians. I mean, why did we go into Libya then? Why didn’t we go after the real devil?”
How not to fight ‘campus extremism’
Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have no place in the university learning environment and universities should exercise due responsibility in protecting students against hate speech and racial or religiously motivated violence. But the histrionics of the debate, captured by the likes of Quilliam, HJS, Student Rights and Prof Anthony Glees, does little to better aid our understanding on the nature and complexity of the problem. Muslim and Jewish students deserve better than to be treated as political footballs or to have their right to free expression curtailed by imagined threats.
ENGAGE responds to an article in the Jewish Chronicle criticising University College London provost Malcolm Grant’s views on campus extremism.
JROTC’s headscarf rule keeps girl from parade, spurs bias claim
A Ravenwood High School freshman said her Muslim beliefs were put to the test when commanding officers in her Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program told her she couldn’t both wear a headscarf and march in the September homecoming parade.
Demin Zawity, 14, has since quit the JROTC and returned to regular physical education classes, but the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter of complaint to Williamson County Schools Director Mike Looney.
Zawity said she felt like crying when she was told she couldn’t wear the headscarf with her uniform. She’d been wearing it all along, but homecoming marked the first time she was going to wear her JROTC uniform as well. “They were making something that is not such a huge deal into something so dramatic,”she said. “The next day was the parade, and I couldn’t march. If I can’t march, I want it to be because I don’t want to and not because of my religious headwear.”