Right-wing conspiracy theories about Anthony Weiner and his Muslim wife Huma Abedin (see here and here) take a further lurch into lunacy with Robert Spencer’s interview at FrontPage Magazine.
See Justin Elliott at Salon, 21 June 2011
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
It’s time to lay the sharia bogeyman to rest
Mehdi Hasan exposes sharia hysteria.
Illinois: ex-court worker was harassed for being Muslim
A former child care attendant for the Cook County Circuit Court has sued the court, its chief judge and her former supervisor, alleging they harassed her because she’s Muslim.
In a suit filed last month, Fozyia Huri, a Muslim of Saudi Arabian origin, alleges that Sylvia McCullum, executive director of Cook County court’s child advocacy rooms, bullied her because she was not a “good Christian.”
Huri said she complained to the office of Chief Judge Timothy Evans numerous times. When the harassment continued, she filed a religious discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May 2010, the suit says. Once granted permission, she filed the suit a year later.
Sharia bill is based on a false premise
Sharia is a misunderstood term in the west and Lady Cox’s bill only perpetuates the myth that it conflicts with British law, argues Musleh Faradhi.
Socialist mayoral candidate backs second mosque in Sofia
Georgi Kadiev, the leftist Bulgarian Socialist Party’s runner for Mayor of the capital Sofia, has stated he has “nothing against” the possible construction of a second mosque in the city. If necessary, even a third and a fourth mosque may be built, as well as a synagogue or an Armenian temple.
However, Kadiev, who on Wednesday met the Chief Mufti of the Bulgarian Muslim Community, has set a restriction for the potential future mosque – it should not have loudspeakers, as their sound may be found too aggressive by the rest of the citizens.
Kadiev pointed out that most of Sofia’s Muslim community, between 30,000 and 50,000 people, are foreigners and do not have the right to vote, stating his endorsement is not populism.
At the beginning of June, Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish party, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, demanded to have a second mosque built in the capital Sofia.
On May 20, supporters of the far-right, nationalist Ataka party, led by party Chair, Volen Siderov, shocked Bulgaria as its rally protesting against the use of loudspeakers by the mosque got out of hand, and activists of Ataka assaulted praying Muslims in front of the mosque.
The anti-Muslim inner circle
The apparent recent surge in popular anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States has been driven by a surprisingly small and, for the most part, closely knit cadre of activists. Their influence extends far beyond their limited numbers, in part because of an amenable legion of right-wing media personalities – and lately, politicians like U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who held controversial hearings into the radicalization of American Muslims this March – who are eager to promote them as impartial experts or grassroots leaders. Yet a close look at their rhetoric reveals how doggedly this group works to provoke and guide populist anger over what is seen as the threat posed by the 0.6% of Americans who are Muslim – an agenda that goes beyond reasonable concern about terrorism into the realm of demonization.
The summer issue of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report profiles ten of the leading US Islamophobes.
Via LoonWatch
EHRC publishes report on religious discrimination in Britain
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report Religious Discrimination in Britain: A review of research evidence, 2000- 2010 has just been published. ENGAGE has provided excerpts from the sections of the report dealing with Islamophobia.
Right-wing blogger charged with harassing Muslim women
A St. Paul blogger faces misdemeanor charges after he allegedly harassed two Muslim women last week in downtown Minneapolis. Minneapolis police say John Hugh Gilmore, 52, who writes a blog called Minnesota Conservatives, caused a scene Thursday night on Nicollet Mall.
Sgt. Bill Palmer, a police spokesman, said Gilmore appeared to be drunk when he confronted the two women wearing the Muslim headscarf known as the hijab. “Mr. Gilmore made some comments that he didn’t believe the women should be in the United States, and that he thought that they were ruining America,” Palmer said.
Police say several onlookers intervened, and Gilmore allegedly threatened to assault one of the men.
The Muslim women had been attending the liberal NetRoots Nation convention, which was taking place at the same time as the conservative RightOnline conference.
Rise in racist abuse reported in Switzerland
Reported cases of racism against blacks and Muslims went up in Switzerland in 2010.
Incidents mainly happened in public areas, at work and in contact with the police, according to the 2010 report by the Federal Commission against Racism and the non-governmental humanrights.ch.
It mainly took the form of verbal abuse.
“It is striking how often those accused were in socio-economic positions of power and used this position, directly or indirectly against the victims,” the report says.
Those affected came from a wide range of backgrounds, and were both Swiss and immigrants.
Not all abuse is reported and the real figure is believed to be much higher, the report says.
The report calls on cantons to improve measures protecting people against discrimination.
The report can be downloaded here.
SPLC Intelligence Report: cadre of hard-core activists fueling resurgence of anti-Muslim hate
A decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a second wave of anti-Muslim hatred is being propelled by a small cadre of activists who are exploiting Americans’ fears of Islamic extremism, according to the latest issue of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report, released today.
In the wake of this hysteria, anti-Muslim hate crimes have been reported across the country, protests have been launched against mosques, and lawmakers in more than a dozen states have introduced legislation to ban the use of Islamic religious law, called Shariah, in the U.S. legal system – a completely unfounded fear.
“We’ve seen a remarkable resurgence of anti-Muslim hatred around the country,” said Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report. “Unlike the first and far more understandable wave that followed the Sept. 11 attacks, however, this one was largely ginned up by politicians and commentators pandering for votes and ratings. It’s been a despicable exercise in Muslim-bashing for personal benefit. While there are legitimate concerns about terrorism, the rhetoric we’ve been hearing aims to demonize all Muslims.”