Two interesting articles by Ben Chu from the Independent, marking the tenth anniversary of the Oldham riots: “Oldham: A town still divided?” and “Muslims in Britain continued“.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Offensive email amounted to religious harassment
The Muslim News reports on the case of a Muslim IT worker who suffered harassment in his workplace.
A 21st century freedom ride
Chris Nineham reports on last Saturday’s conference against Islamophobia and an initiative to challenge the French ban on the veil.
Catalonia – far-right party gains in regional elections
Against the backdrop of citizens’ protests against the Socialists’ austerity package, the Right made significant gains in Catalonia by focusing on anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim themes. Liz Fekete reports.
Bulgarian MPs condemn Ataka assault on Sofia mosque
Prayer carpet on fire outside the Banya Bashi mosque on 20 May
The Bulgarian Parliament has condemned the actions of Volen Siderov and members of his ultra-nationalist Ataka party outside the Sofia mosque on May 20 2011, Bulgarian media reported on May 27. MPs from all parties present in the parliamentary sitting, with the exception of Ataka MPs who abstained, voted in favour of the declaration condemning Ataka’s actions.
University of California: Muslims and Jews unite to oppose David Horowitz
The announcement earlier this month by College Republicans at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) that they would be hosting as talk this evening by David Horowitz of FrontPage Magazine and Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week notoriety provoked the no doubt intended furore.
College Republicans applied for a grant of $1,770 from Associated Students Finance Board to subsidise the costs of the event. However, the AS rejected the application following objections from the newly-formed UCSB Respect Coalition, which brought together over 60 student groups including the Muslim Student Association, Students for Justice in Palestine, American Students for Israel and Queer Student Union (although the university’s Legislative Council did allocate $800 for the event’s security costs).
Predictably, Horowitz denounced the decision as an outrageous attack on free speech, although all that had really happened was that College Republicans had been denied the use of their fellow students’ money to finance Horowitz’s hatemongering.
UCSB American Students for Israel, UCSB Students for Justice in Palestine, UCSB Muslim Student Association and a UCSB Jewish community centre, Santa Barbara Hillel, have issued a joint statement replying to Horowitz’s complaints. They write:
David Horowitz has claimed that opposition to A.S. funding for his upcoming speech is rooted in a desire to silence him and curtail his right to free speech. The truth is that we merely oppose the use of student funds to subsidize bigotry and prejudice. Students must be exposed to a wide variety of intellectual perspectives on all issues, but Horowitz goes far beyond providing an alternative perspective.
We and many other students on this campus are deeply offended by his claim that “there is a movement for a second Holocaust of the Jews that is being supported [at UCSB] by the Muslim Student Association.” The UCSB MSA is an incredibly valuable member of our campus, has been involved in numerous interfaith dialogues and provides a cultural and religious home to a large segment of the UCSB Muslim community. The accusation that the UCSB MSA has ties to terrorism is not only baseless and inaccurate, but it also propagates stereotypes and misconceptions that far too often have led to deadly consequences.
We stand unified with our Muslim friends in repudiating these grossly inaccurate stereotypes and call upon the UCSB community at large to stand by their fellow students.
Rather than stage a protest against the Horowitz meeting, now billed as “Infantile Disorders at UC Santa Barbara: Why the Muslim Student Association is Afraid of David Horowitz”, the UCSB Respect Coalition have organised an alternative event under the title “The Alternative: Empowering Our Voices”.
EDL abuses MEPs attending anti-racist meeting in Luton
A chorus of boos and chants greeted Euro MP Richard Howitt as he arrived at Luton Town Hall for extremism talks this afternoon.
A large group of English Defence League members had gathered at the Duke of Clarence pub after EDL leader Tommy Robinson accused the MEP of failing to tackle Islamic extremism.
With Mr Howitt were MEPs from five other European countries who have experienced far right extremism in their own countries.
Before the group arrived, EDL members emerged from the pub and lined the pavement, holding placards and chanting slogans including “Muslim bombers off our streets” and “No surrender to the Taliban”.
Emerging from the meeting to more booing, Mr Howitt said: “Not only are the EDL unrepresentative, they seek to prey upon the insecurities of normal people who are worried about their jobs and homes.”
A updated report adds that “MEPs from Austria, the Netherlands, Hungary and Slovakia arrived at the building for anti-extremism talks to booing and shouts of ‘scum’ from the EDL members.”
See photos by Mirrorimage at Demotix
Lay off American Muslims, urges Esposito
“It’s time to turn a deaf ear to our preachers and politicians of hate and get it right with our American Muslim fellow citizens.”
John Esposito at the Huffington Post, 24 May 2011
EDL threatens to gatecrash European anti-racist meeting in Luton
A Euro MP says a bid by the English Defence League to hijack an anti-racism meeting in Luton today (Thursday May 26) will not derail the event. Richard Howitt will be joined by other members of the European Parliament to discuss racism and extremism, as part of his campaigning against far right groups across Europe.
But the EDL says it is angry at the politician’s criticism of their organisation. EDL leader Tommy Robinson says he plans to try to enter a meeting planned at Luton Town Hall to put questions to Mr Howitt.
He said: “I want to get in and talk to him. Are they going to talk about militant Islam? They need to wake up and not be afraid to talk about the real problem. The EDL hasn’t got a stall outside Don Miller’s in the town centre every week. We’re not the ones they need to stop. It’s just a political stunt by Richard Howitt so he can say that he’s stopped racism.”
Mr Howitt says the MEPs, from five European countries, have “hands-on”experience in tackling extremism, and that the aim of the visit is to show that Luton is a “centre of excellence” for combating racism and extremism. During the visit they will speak with faith leaders, councillors, trade unionists, Unite Against Fascism, Searchlight and join with the Luton Town FC Managing Director and players.
Commenting on the possibility of an EDL protest during today’s event, he said: “The demonstration against me is a typical example of the EDL shouting and screaming from the sidelines and causing upset and fear while ordinary people just want to get on with living peacefully and happily in Luton.
“My European MEP colleagues were saddened to see people from France, Germany and Denmark joining the ranks of the EDL march in Luton earlier this year. The significance of the EDL spreads far beyond the UK’s shores which is why we need a Europe-wide response and I think the EDL must be running scared if they feel they need to hold a protest on Thursday.
“Luton is resilient and Lutonians won’t let racists and extremists dictate to them. I am confident threats and intimidation by the EDL aimed at stirring up panic, racial hatred and fear will never succeed in dividing Luton.”
How the Terrorism Act is used to bully Muslims into spying on their communities
Vikram Dodd examines evidence that the police and MI5 are abusing Schedule 7 stop and search powers to try and turn innocent people into informers.
See also “Asian people 42 times more likely to be held under terror law”, Guardian, 24 May 2011
And “Black and Asian people unfairly targeted by anti-terror law”, FOSIS press release, 23 May 2011
FOSIS quotes Lord Ahmed as stating: “Ten years after it was first introduced, Schedule 7 is having an extremely damaging impact on community relations. This government has failed to adequately investigate and regulate Schedule 7 in the way that it has with other stop and search powers such as Section 44. That’s why I think it’s time we had an independent review into the use of Schedule 7.”
The FOSIS and StopWatch briefing paper on Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 can be consulted here.