Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

French Muslim minister wants respect after slurs

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Valeurs actuelles and Minute

France’s new Muslim education minister called for more respect Wednesday after becoming the target of slurs, while a top Socialist politician said a magazine should be convicted of inciting racial hatred for referring to her religion and ethnic background as a “provocation.”

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a 36-year-old rising star in the Socialist Party, said she has been the target of racially-motivated verbal attacks over the last week, including being branded “Ayatollah” by a conservative weekly. “I call for respect,” she told The Associated Press in an email. “And I repeat in particular that racism is not an opinion, but a crime.”

The Morocco-born Vallaud-Belkacem, who doesn’t publicly speak about her religion, is seen as an easy target to attack the unpopular Socialist government led by President Francois Hollande.

She is a young, Muslim woman in a political landscape made up mostly of white, Catholic men. She’s an outspoken defender of gender and racial equality, and supported a divisive law legalizing gay marriage last year. She also intervened in a national debate on the negative impact of halal meat, saying society should stop pointing the finger at Muslims.

One conservative politician referred to Vallaud-Belkacem as a “smiling Vietnamese Communist,” and a fake identity card has appeared on social media falsely claiming she changed her name from Claudine Dupont to a more ethnic-sounding one to get promoted.

A top Socialist Party official threatened legal action against Minute magazine, which in its latest edition calls her religious and ethnic background a “provocation.” The official, Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, said the magazine should be convicted of inciting racial hatred.

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Austrian far-right activist convicted of inciting hatred against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ja zu Österreich ohne Minarette

Two weeks ago an Austrian far-right activist, named by the Stoppt die Rechten website as Michael F., received a 5-month suspended prison sentence for incitement, as a result of anti-Muslim comments he had posted on the “JA!! zu: Österreich ohne Minarette!!!” (YES!! to Austria without Minarets!!!) Facebook page.

These comments included references to “Muslim scum” and to “Muslims who live here at our expense and only breed like rats”.

Stoppt die Rechten points out that the “JA!! zu: Österreich ohne Minarette!!!” Facebook page has featured comments that are even more inflammatory than Michael F.’s , and notes that the admins have been urgently deleting them. It asks why the authorities have taken no action over this.

“JA!! zu: Österreich ohne Minarette!!!” was launched in 2009 by Robert Faller, a founder and leader of the now reportedly defunct Nationale Volkspartei. In 2012 Faller was given a suspended 18-month sentence for breaching Austria’s constitutional ban on National Socialist activity.

Despite its clear neo-Nazi links, his Facebook page has attracted over 16,000 likes, including from prominent members of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which claims to be a mainstream political party with no connection to fascism.

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CAIR criticizes state lawmaker for anti-Muslim Facebook comments

Posted on by Bob Pitt

John BennettThe leader of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Wednesday called on Republican leaders to repudiate remarks made by Rep. John Bennett on his private Facebook account.

Adam Soltani, CAIR Oklahoma executive director, is also asking the Republican from Sallisaw to apologize for the remarks.

A Monday Facebook post from Bennett reads: “The Quran clearly states that non Muslims should be killed. Arab is the ethnicity, not Muslim or Islam. Be wary of the individuals who claim to be ‘Muslim American.’ Be especially wary if you are Christian.”

Soltani said Bennett has taken the phrase out of context. “This is something revealed in the context of them being at war,” Soltani said. “This is when you meet in battle. It doesn’t say just go out and kill people.”

He said elected leaders should not be seeking to instill fear of Islam or Muslims. “Anti-Muslim bigotry and statements that promote misunderstanding and incite hatred toward a minority group have no place in the Oklahoma Republican Party,” Soltani wrote in a letter to Bennett. “Individuals elected to represent the people of Oklahoma should be held accountable for such extremist, inaccurate and intolerant views.”

Bennett, 40, said he has no intention of apologizing, adding that he was referring to Muslims who hold extreme views.

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French court bans Muslim with ‘jihadist links’ from nuclear sites

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A French court this week upheld a ban on a Muslim engineer from entering nuclear sites citing his links with Islamist networks, in a move blasted by his lawyer as “Islamophobic”.

The 29-year-old, who works for a subcontractor to French energy giant EDF, had worked freely at nuclear power facilities throughout 2012 and 2013. But in March this year the man, who cannot be named under French law, had his pass to enter the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear power station revoked.

Officials said he had links with a jihadist terrorist group and that he was in touch with an imam involved in recruiting youngsters to fight in Iraq.

A court in the northeastern town of Châlons-en-Champagne upheld the ban saying the management could prevent those “undergoing a process of political and religious radicalisation” from accessing sensitive sites.

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Muslim academic draws hate fire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anne AlyAs a proud and outspoken Muslim, Anne Aly has also become a target for anti-Islamic hate groups.

The Curtin University lecturer – who chooses not to wear a hijab and denounces Muslim extremists – has been bombarded with hate mail after a recent interview in which she defended Islam as a religion of peace. Her quotes were republished on a right-wing website called Jihad Watch, along with her work email address.

“I was just really speaking out against some of the false assumptions about my religion,” Dr Aly said. “But what they (the hate groups) really want is for me to denounce my religion. By saying that Islam is not about terrorism and Islam is not about beheadings or female genital mutilation, they can’t cope with that because it shatters the basis for their arguments.”

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Ombudswoman’s defence of hijab sparks heated debate in the Czech Republic

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anna ŠabatováTwo young women from Somalia and Afghanistan who were studying at a Prague nursing school left the institution last year after the headmistress refused to allow them to wear headscarves in class.

While the headmistress claimed that the dispute was not about religious freedoms but about adhering to the rules of a given institution, Ombudswoman Anna Šabatová has now defended their right to do so:

“It was indirect discrimination. The girls were, in effect, denied access to education. A school principal cannot use an internal regulation to decide if someone can cover their head with a scarf, which in this case happened to be a religious symbol.”

The Ombudswoman’s stand immediately sparked heated debate about whether students should be allowed to wear headscarves and other religious symbols. Radko Hokovský from the Prague-based European Values think tank argues that the Ombudswoman’s verdict does not reflect the broader situation in Europe:

“The veil is not only a religious symbol. According to a verdict by the German Constitutional Court and other international institutions in Europe, including the European Court of Human Rights, it is also perceived as a form of exclusion within schools and also as discrimination against women.”

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Crackdown on British jihadis ‘will push youth further towards extremism’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David Cameron’s renewed crackdown on British-born extremists will push marginalised young people further towards radicalisation, the UK’s biggest Muslim organisation has said.

Harun Khan, deputy secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), raised concerns about the prime minister’s anti-terrorism strategy amid signs of a wider impasse in relations between the government and Muslim groups.

“They need to be talking to us and others to understand what it is that’s leading these boys down this route,” Khan told the Guardian. “Part of the problem is the constant talk of legislation, harassment and monitoring, stripping people of their passports. This is what’s leading young people towards radicalism.”

The warning came as Cameron and Nick Clegg held further talks to try to agree on the final details of plans to stem the flow of British-born jihadis travelling to and from Syria and Iraq. Cameron is due to make a statement to MPs at 3.30pm on the proposals, which are expected to include measures to improve the flow of information about airline passengers to intelligence agencies and to intensify cooperation with Germany and Turkey, the main routes to Syria.

Khan said many young British-born Muslims felt pushed to the fringes of society and that the latest government crackdown could nudge them further into the grasp of radical clerics, instead of drawing them back into mainstream society.

“This is really unprecedented in what we’re seeing right now with young people,” he said. “People are watching the news and thinking: ‘These people are getting slaughtered, I need to do something’. Now we’ve put all these people out of the country and we’re saying you can’t come back in.”

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Another flop for the fascists in Cricklewood

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-SEA protest August 2014

Today the far-right South East Alliance staged a demonstration in Cricklewood, for the third time this year. They claimed to be protesting against the Muslim Brotherhood, who were once supposed to have an office there. As before, a large number of anti-fascists turned out for a counter-demo organised North West London United, among them Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt and London Assembly member Murad Qureshi.

It wasn’t looking good for the SEA, with a mere 15 “patriots” taking to the streets to resist the threat of Islamo-fascism. Having eventually managed to drag themselves out of the pub, they gathered on Cricklewood Broadway shortly after 1pm and seemed rather uncertain as to why they were there, shouting about Muslim grooming gangs and Muslim paedos. What that had to do with the Muslim Brotherhood was unclear.

Things picked up a bit for them an hour or so later when SEA leader Paul Pitt/Prodromou arrived with some more supporters, bringing flags and a few sheets of A4 paper with the words “Ban the Muslim Brotherhood” printed on them. The SEA’s banner was unfurled, featuring the slogan “One nation, one aim, one future” (presumably inspired by “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer”), alongside those of two other far-right groupuscules, the Scottish Defence League and Scottish Volunteer Force.

The SEA hung around for another hour, during which they shouted incoherent abuse at the counter-demonstrators and delivered a couple of speeches nobody but themselves could hear. They were then escorted out of Cricklewood under police protection.

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Muslim basketball player speaks out against international federation’s ban on religious headwear

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Indira KaljoThe International Basketball Association’s ban on religious headwear like turbans, hijabs, and yarmulkes worn by some Sikh, Muslim, and Jewish basketball players is an “extremely disrespectful” way of forcing players to choose between their favorite sport and their religion, one of the Muslim women fighting to overturn the ban told ThinkProgress this week.

Indira Kaljo, a Bosnian-American Muslim who played college basketball for Tulane University, began challenging FIBA’s ban on religious headwear this year, when she decided she wanted to wear a hijab during games but could not if she wanted to play professionally in Europe.

Kaljo did not wear the hijab while playing at Tulane or during a year of professional ball in Ireland. But after deciding to adhere more closely to her faith, Kaljo took her story to the Council on American-Islamic Relations in an effort to pressure FIBA into changing its policy. She played covered in an American summer league this year and does not want to return to Europe if she cannot wear a hijab.

“I shouldn’t have to decide between faith and sports,” Kaljo said in a phone interview with ThinkProgress this week. “And not just me, players around the world.”

“It’s extremely disrespectful,” Kaljo said. “There’s no other way to put it other than, it’s disrespectful.”

The policy has drawn international criticism in the form of official complaints from the Turkish basketball federation, social media movements, online petitions, and even a letter from American lawmakers after multiple Indian Sikh players were told they could not wear traditional religious turbans during games in different Asian federation tournaments. It has been a focus too of Muslim groups and women players who have challenged it, including the women’s team from the Maldives, which withdrew from an under-18 Asian tournament this month when officials refused to let players wear hijabs during games.

FIBA was scheduled to review the policy during executive meetings in Spain this week before the start of the men’s basketball World Cup. But it announced Thursday that it would indefinitely delay its review, meaning the ban will remain in place.

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