Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Fox News links terror attacks in Norway to Park51

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Friday night on The O’Reilly Factor, guest host Laura Ingraham did a brief report on the terrorist attacks that killed dozens of people in Norway. She began by saying, “In the ‘Back of the Book’ segment tonight, two deadly terror attacks in Norway, in what appears to be the work, once again, of Muslim extremists.” She went on to describe the attacks, which involved a bombing in Oslo and a mass shooting.

Ingraham then immediately transitioned into a segment on Park51, the planned Islamic community center near the World Trade Center, by saying, “In the meantime, in New York City, the Muslims who want to build the mosque at Ground Zero scored a huge legal victory. A Manhattan judge dismissed a lawsuit by former New York City firefighter Timothy Brown, who was trying to stop construction of the mosque. Bill O’Reilly spoke with a lawyer for the Muslim developers yesterday.”

Friday’s edition of The O’Reilly Factor was recorded, so, despite the fact that several outlets were already reporting at the time the show aired that the suspect in the attacks was not linked to any Islamist groups, Fox News viewers were left with that impression anyway.

Logistical constraints aside, it’s totally inappropriate to juxtapose news of a terrorist attack with a discussion of Park51 because they both purportedly have something to do with Muslims. This is an attempt to reanimate Fox’s failed strategy from last year of smearing Park51 by baselessly associating it with terrorism.

Media Matters for America, 23 July 2011

Legal challenge to Belgian veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Belgian burqa ban is set to be challenged before the country’s constitutional court by two women who willingly wear the full-body Islamic covering, their lawyer said Friday – one day before the new law was to come into effect.

“My clients are far from being the only ones,” Ines Wouters told the German Press Agency dpa. “This is really a head-on attack on the Muslim world.”

Belgian lawmakers earlier this year approved the new law, which punishes anyone caught in public places with their face completely or partially covered – thus preventing identification – with a fine of up to 137 euros (197 dollars) and up to seven days’ imprisonment. Officials argue that the law is a matter of safety. Concerns about women being forced into wearing the burqa have also been raised.

But Wouters described the measure as disproportionate and discriminatory, arguing that it will further stigmatize the Muslim community. She said she would file her lawsuit with the constitutional court over the weekend. It calls for the burqa ban to not only be reversed, but also suspended until the court rules on the matter.

One of her clients, a Belgian woman who converted to Islam and has worn the burqa for 13 years, is no stranger to challenging such bans. She succeeded in overturning a fine in the Brussels commune of Etterbeek, which implemented a similar local ban, Wouters said. Her other client is a Moroccan woman who moved to Belgium a few years ago.

Both women are married, in their 30s and don’t consider wearing the burqa “an obligation, but a choice they make,” Wouters said.

DPA, 22 July 2011

See also Open Democracy and Deutsche Welle.

Abercrombie & Fitch to pay $20,000 in damages for discrimination against Samantha Elauf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Samantha ElaufTULSA, Okla. — A federal jury has awarded $20,000 in compensatory damages to a Muslim woman who alleged that Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against her because she wore a head scarf.

The six-member panel deliberated more than four hours Wednesday before deciding on damages against the clothing retailer.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued on behalf of Samantha Elauf, who alleged she was denied a job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Tulsa’s Woodland Hills Mall because she wore a hijab. The hijab is part of her religious beliefs.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell ruled last week the store violated Elauf’s civil rights when it didn’t hire her.

Store officials denied any discrimination but acknowledged having a policy that bars headwear. Abercrombie & Fitch officials couldn’t be reached after hours for comment.

Associated Press, 21 July 2011

See also News On 6 and Tulsa World.

And “Abercrombie & Fitch lawsuit winner says she sued for all Muslim girls”, News On 6, 21 July 2011

Abercrombie & Fitch to pay $20,000 in damages for discrimination against Samantha Elauf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Samantha ElaufTULSA, Okla. — A federal jury has awarded $20,000 in compensatory damages to a Muslim woman who alleged that Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against her because she wore a head scarf.

The six-member panel deliberated more than four hours Wednesday before deciding on damages against the clothing retailer.

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50 racist incidents in Plymouth a day as hate crime increases 60 per cent

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Plymouth has seen an increase of 60 per cent in “hate crime” in the past five years and now suffers an estimated 50 racist or religiously aggravated incidents every day, a new report claims.

The city is one of three areas identified as experiencing particularly high levels of racist attacks which were analysed for the study, The New Geographies of Racism. Official figure show that the number of racist incidents reported to police rose from 224 to 359 between 2005 and 2010. However, according to experts working with people from black, minority and ethnic (BME) groups, under-reporting of offences means the actual number is much higher.

Author John Burnett, from the Institute of Race Relations, said: “Some of these incidents have left people seriously injured, permanently scarred and in need of continuous medical treatment. Others have involved burning or attacking people’s homes, work, or places of worship and others still have been part of concerted attempts to force people to flee the city.”

The research was conducted via interviews with a cross-section of people working with racism and racial equality in Plymouth. It draws on experience with asylum seekers, refugees, migrant workers, gypsies and travellers, students and victims of racial violence.

Ann Wilkinson, co-director of the Plymouth and Devon Racial Equality Council, said the issues were “complex and difficult”, adding that racism was “more overt” in Plymouth than places like London. “It is a very good report and I hope that institutions in the South West will read it and take notice of some the difficulties faced by people who live here,” she added. “Racism is more overt here – that’s not a personal view but one from victims of hate crime – and there has been a rise in Islamophobia, which is a worrying trend we need to keep an eye on.”

Western Morning News, 21 July 2011

Tulsa woman testifies in Abercrombie hijab case

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Tulsa woman testified Tuesday that she hopes her role in a lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch will set a positive example for other young Muslims. “If they’re able to shop there, they should be able to get a job there, too,” Samantha Elauf, 20, told a Tulsa federal jury.

Elauf was not hired to work at an Abercrombie Kids store at Woodland Hills Mall in June 2008 after she wore a hijab – or religiously mandated headscarf – to her job interview. She testified Tuesday that she felt insulted and disrespected after she discovered that she was not hired because of the headscarf. “It was shocking to me,” Elauf said. “I thought I was like everybody else.”

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Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights blasts burqa bans as ‘sad capitulation to the prejudices of xenophobes’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Thomas Hammarberg comment

The Council of Europe, the oldest European institution which specialises in human rights, today (20 July) strongly criticised recent French and Belgian legislation targeting the burqa, a veil that covers entirely women’s faces.

Penalising women who wear the burqa does not liberate them, Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, said today in a written statement.

Hammarberg explained that a law in Belgium will enter into force on 23 July, introducing fines and up to seven days of imprisonment for women wearing such dress. Meanwhile in France, since April anyone who wears the niqab or burqa in public is subject to fines of 150 euros and/or “citizenship training”.

He adds that “loud voices” in countries such as Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland are demanding similar measures, while in northern Italy an old anti-terrorist law against concealing the face for security reasons has been used by some local authorities to punish women who wear full-cover veils.

The human rights commissioner rejects the view that such bans ‘liberate’ women, stressing that there is “very little” to show that this is the case.

Instead, Hammarberg insists that the way the dress of a small number of women has been portrayed as a major problem requiring urgent discussion and legislation is “a sad capitulation to the prejudices of xenophobes”.

“Much deeper problems of intercultural tensions and gaps have been side-tracked by the burqa and niqab discussions. Instead of encouraging this unfortunate discourse, political leaders and governments should take more resolute action against hate crimes and discrimination against minorities,” Hammarberg argues.

EurActiv, 20 July 2011

Group plans on spreading fear about Islam to high school students

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Defend Christians is an organization headed by Gary Cass, a minister who says that Christians are being attacked and losing their religious freedom in America. During the week of September 11, Cass’ organization, together with Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment and The Way TV, plan on handing out flyers condemning Islam.

According to Cass’ press release, “Christians across the US will be outside strategic high schools located near mosques with known links to terrorism. They will be handing out literature that tells students the truth about Islam and Mohammad and their violent, and oppressive policies towards non-Muslims, especially women and blacks.” His release does not reveal the basis for “known links to terrorism.”

In January, the Citizens for the First Amendment held a similar demonstration at a high school in Fallbrook, California. [And again in May at Murrieta Valley High School.]

“Like all patriotic Americans we cherish our liberties and our God-given rights and are committed to defending these principles,” said Steve Klein of Concerned Citizens for the First Amendment. “Fourteen hundred violent years of history prove that Islam is incompatible with America. Muslims believe they are superior and arrogantly reject our Christian principles of equality, minority rights and equal justice. We are going to the schools to protect students, and especially our young women, from the oppression Islam threatens to impose.”

“We are fed up with political correctness that refuses warn the next generation of Americans about the clear and present danger of Islam in America. It’s cultural suicide to stay silent,” said Dr. Gary Cass of Defend Christians.Org. “Muslims are trying to convert and radicalize our young people. By telling them the truth about the dangerous doctrines of Islam and the and wicked practices of Mohammad we are protecting our children.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center notes in its Summer 2011 Intelligence Report:

Rarely has the United States seen a more reckless and bare-knuckled campaign to vilify a distinct class of people and compromise their fundamental civil and human rights than the recent rhetoric against Muslims.

It would also be hard to imagine a more successful campaign. In the span of the two years since the start of Barack Obama’s presidency in early 2009, an astonishing number of people have turned into a kind of political wolf pack, convinced that 0.6% of the U.S. population is on the verge of trampling the Constitution and imposing an Islamic, Shariah-guided caliphate in its place. Like the communists that an earlier generation believed to be hiding behind every rock, infiltrated “Islamist” operatives today are said to be diabolically preparing for a forcible takeover.

Ironically, the Constitution seems more threatened by certain Americans who, prodded into paranoia by clever activists, opportunistic politicians and guileful media players, seem downright eager to deny Muslims the guarantees of religious freedom and the presumption of innocence.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked a spike in hate crimes against Muslim Americans.

God Discussion, 19 July 2011