Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Exeter: police prepare for right-wing ‘ban the burka’ demonstration in city centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Devon and Cornwall Police are preparing for a potential flash point with the right-wing English Defence League and anti-fascist campaigners set to converge on Exeter at the weekend.

The controversial group is understood to be taking part in a “ban the burka” protest in the city centre on Saturday while there is expected to be a counter rally by anti-racist campaigners, including the group Unite Against Fascism.

English Defence League supporter Jim Myers, from Exeter, said the protest was not being organised by EDL. “We haven’t organised it, we’re just supporting it,” he said. “It has been organised by another group, the United People of Britain.”

Supporters of the group, which claims to be non-racially or politically motivated, say they will be wearing balaclavas and burkas to emphasise their message.

Meanwhile, Unite Against Fascism (UAF) is planning to meet at Bedford Square, in the city centre, between 11am and 2pm.

Liz Allnatt, of UAF, said: “People of Exeter are more concerned about jobs and pay and what is going to happen to their local services. Exeter is a beautiful city and people of all different beliefs and backgrounds usually get along here. The Muslim community has added to the city. The annual Respect Festival is a huge, well-attended celebration of Exeter’s diversity.”

This is Cornwall, 10 February 2011

See also “Groups will stage event to celebrate city’s diversity”, Express & Echo, 9 February 2011

London Assembly member condemns Cameron’s attack on multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Murad at SRtRC launchAn influential voice of the Bangladeshi Diaspora has weighed in against British and German governments move rejecting multiculturalism.

Murad Qureshi, since 2004 a powerful London-wide elected Assembly Member in the capital’s City Hall, was responding to the British prime minister David Cameron’s assertion last week that multiculturalism was a failed policy.

He appeared to be echoing similar remarks made by German chancellor Angela Merkel last October in which she said Germany’s attempts to form a multicultural society have utterly failed. Cameron’s speech at the Munich Security Conference on Feb 5 focused on the challenges posed to the UK by ‘home-grown’, British Islamic extremism and radicalisation.

Bangladeshi-born Qureshi, in his second term as a Labour politician at City Hall, was scathing about Cameron’s statement. He pointed out that while Merkel was at pains to underline that “Islam is part of Germany”, the British leader did not offer any such qualification in his comments.

Qureshi says: “We did not hear a similar condemnation of right-wing extremism from the PM. All this while many thousands of Londoners celebrated with the Chinese community the beginning of their new year in Central London. We did not hear him talking about this aspect of multiculturalism, its cultural and linguistic form but just its recent religious manifestation, largely in response to world affairs. In his attempt to curry favour with Merkel, he picked on the Muslim communities of the UK.”

Qureshi also launched a broadside at apparent divisions within the Conservative Party about Islam and multiculturalism. On January 20, the party’s Muslim co-chairman Baroness Warsi expressed her views that it had become socially acceptable to be prejudiced against Muslims. Her fellow cabinet member, the secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, is meanwhile on record as saying: “Islamism [is] a totalitarian ideology [which turns to] hellish violence and oppression'”. Qureshi said: “So clearly in the cabinet, Gove has won the debate and got the ear of the PM and not Warsi.”

Cameron’s speech in Germany coincided with a demonstration in Luton in the UK by the newly-emergent far-right street protest group the English Defence League. An exasperated Qureshi stated: “The final insult is that the EDL supporters were quoting him as justification for their march”.

bdnews24.com, 11 February 2011

Sweden: UPS sued for sacking Muslim who refused to shave beard

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sweden’s Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, DO) has filed a lawsuit against parcel delivery company United Parcel Service (UPS) after the company dismissed a Muslim driver who refused to shave his beard.

In a lawsuit filed with Sweden’s Labour Court (Arbetsdomstolen) on Monday, the ombudsman argued that the company should pay the man, a resident of Spånga northwest of Stockholm, 150,000 kronor ($23,000) in compensation plus 42,000 kronor in lost income, as well as interest on both amounts.

“The rule has no legitimate purpose and is not appropriate and necessary,” wrote Anders Wilhelmsson, the ombudsman office lawyer representing the man, in the filing.

The man was employed in June 2010 by the Uniflex staffing company, which intended to subcontract him to UPS as a driver. The contract was to last through the summer until August 31st, but the stated aim was a permanent position with UPS if all went well, according to DO.

During the recruitment process, the man was informed that UPS had a uniform policy under which drivers were not allowed to have beards. During the recruitment process, no one asked if he was prepared to shave his beard. In addition, his beard growth was very minimal. As such, he believed his beard would not be a problem.

The man began his employment at UPS on June 7th, 2010. The first week was devoted to training. During that time, no one remarked about his beard, according to the lawsuit.

However, the following Monday just before his first run, his immediate supervisor told him he had to shave the beard the next day.

Since there were other colleagues in the vicinity, the man waited until the afternoon to speak to his supervisor again, but was nevertheless unable to make contact with his boss until the following morning.

The man told his supervisor that he was a Muslim and it was against his religious convictions to shave his beard. The supervisor said it sounded strange to him because there were other Muslims at UPS who had shaved their beards, reiterating the policy was in place so that drivers would look clean and neat and that a beard was unacceptable.

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Cameron’s scapegoating will have a chilling, toxic impact

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Blaming Islamists and multiculturalism for the backlash from US and British wars risks fuelling violence on the streets, Seumas Milne argues.

Guardian, 10 February 2011

As Milne points out, Cameron’s line on Muslims and multiculturalism “has been hailed by the far right”. And not just in the UK. The Financial Times quotes Front National leader Marine Le Pen applauding Cameron’s speech for endorsing the politics of her own party: “It is exactly this type of statement that has barred us from public life for 30 years. I sense an evolution at European level, even in classic governments. I can only congratulate him.”

Most Tennesseans back Muslims’ right to build houses of worship

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Murfreesboro mosque supportersThe recent battle over plans to build a mosque in Murfreesboro put tensions about the meaning of Islam in high relief, generating noisy denunciations of Muslims’ faith. But the people making the most noise were outnumbered, a recent poll found.

The statewide poll by Vanderbilt University revealed that 62.6 percent of respondents believe Muslims should have the same rights as other groups to build houses of worship, while 37.4 percent believe local communities should be able to prohibit construction of mosques.

Eric Bell, a Murfreesboro resident and filmmaker who is working on a documentary about the mosque controversy, said he wasn’t surprised by the poll results. “I have found that a lot of your everyday, mainstream people in Murfreesboro are afraid to speak out against the more vocal, xenophobic people,” Bell said.

Bell said he was troubled that the percentage of people expressing tolerance for Muslims wasn’t higher. Conversely, Rebecca Bynum, publisher and managing editor of the Nashville-based publication New English Review, was “encouraged” to find more than one-third of respondents “are wary of having a mosque built in their neighborhood”. “They’re correct to be concerned about the teachings of Islam,” she said.

The Tennessean, 9 February 2011

Dutch government rejects headscarf ban in schools

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Religious schools in the Netherlands may not ban Muslim pupils from wearing headscarves simply if it contradicts their core values, the cabinet said on Tuesday in answer to questions from the anti-Islam PVV.

In addition, the argument that the wearing of headscarves shows a lack of equality between men and women gets equally short-shrift from the ministers. “Fashion dictates all sorts of differences between the way men and woman dress,” the ministers said.

Meanwhile, a Muslim girl at the centre of a row over her headscarf at a Catholic school in Volendam has agreed to cover her head in the assembly hall and in school corridors only, the Telegraaf reports.

Dutch News, 9 February 2011

EDL supporters arrested on suspicion of publishing anti-Muslim videos

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police arrested two men yesterday for allegedly publishing a catalogue of vile and racially inflammatory material on the internet.

One of the men, from Paignton, is thought to be responsible for a series of anti-Muslim videos. He was one of two men arrested by Devon and Cornwall police on suspicion of publishing racially inflammatory material at 8.30am yesterday. He and a 41-year-old unnamed male, also from Paignton, were yesterday bailed by Police until May. Material was confiscated from an address in South Devon and a banner was removed from the boot of a car.

A police spokesman said: “We have investigated a number of incidents across the internet after they were brought to our attention last year. We have yet to analyse what has been seized and will then be in a better to look at what, if any, offences have been committed.”

This is Devon, 10 February 2011

One Million United points out that the English Defence League have helpfully identified the two arrested men as members of the EDL.

EDL Devon arrests

Canadian salon worker fired for wearing headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mehwish AliPickering, Ontario — A young Markham woman who works as an esthetician claims she was fired for wearing an Islamic headscarf because the salon “promotes hair”.

Mehwish Ali, a 22-year-old esthetician with Trade Secrets in Pickering, was fired Tuesday, a day after she says the co-owner told her the hijab was unacceptable. “I was devastated when I heard that,” Ali told theStar. “I have worn the hijab for more than 10 years and never felt any kind of discrimination.”

But Robert Facchini, co-owner of the franchise near Highway 401 and Brock Rd, categorically denies that. “This is a performance issue, strictly a performance issue,” he said. “Her performance was poor and it’s only based on those comments that the decision to terminate her was made. Nothing else.”

Ali disagrees and has turned to the Human Rights Legal Support Centre for help. “I couldn’t just shrug it off,” she said. “I had to do something about it.”

A graduate of the Marca College hair and esthetics school in Toronto, Ali started working at the Pickering outlet of Trade Secrets, one of Canada’s larger professional beauty retailers, six weeks ago.

She said she wore a headscarf for the interview, which was conducted by the store manager. A week later, Ali was hired and her job entailed doing facials, manicures, pedicures and waxing services. It had nothing to do with hair, she pointed out.

Everything was going well, said Ali. “I liked my work and the people I worked with.” Then, said Ali, Mylene Facchini, Robert’s wife and co-owner, walked into the store on Saturday afternoon and saw the young woman in the hijab for the first time.

On Monday, Ali said, Mylene was at the store when she walked into work at about 3 p.m. “I was wearing a bright red hijab,” said Ali, adding that Mylene told her that since Trade Secrets promoted hair, headwear was unacceptable.

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Sikh demonstrators in Luton deal a heavy blow to the EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sikhs Against EDL

A delegation of Sikhs marched proudly joining a big rally against the English Defence League (EDL) held in Luton on Saturday 5th February 2011. They played the Dhol, a Punjabi war drum, as they entered the rally carrying a banner that read “Sikhs Against the English Defence League – Fighting Intolerance since 1699”, a reference to the establishment of martial Sikhism by the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

They were greeted with cheers by more than two thousand demonstrators gathered in the Park Square, in the center of Luton, who gave the marching Sikhs a great applause.

This comes as a great blow to the English Defence League as they had claimed that they are getting support from many Sikhs. The demonstration by “Sikhs Against the EDL” shows otherwise.

The Sikh protesters shouted slogans against Guramit Singh, one of the self-styled EDL leaders from Sikh background and called him a traitor. They claimed that he had brought shame to the Sikh community and should be locked up due to some of his recent speeches.

Varinder Singh spoke on behalf of the Sikh delegation and pointed out that the Sikh community has a proud tradition of fighting Fascism in the Second World War. He asked, “Given our proud history, how can Sikhs not oppose the racism and Fascism espoused by the EDL?”

Varinder Singh went on to condemn Guramit Singh (ethnic spokesperson for the EDL) and other racist traitors of Sikh origin joining EDL and expressed that these individuals should be held accountable.

Balwindar Singh Rana, also from a Sikh background said, “The Sikhs Against the EDL have launched a ‘Joint Statement‘ which has already gained support from some of the major Sikh and Hindu organisations, including many Sikh Student Societies, as well as many prominent individuals in this country. People are waking up to the dangers of the racist poison that is being spread by the EDL and they will no longer fall for their ‘divide & rule’ tactics.”

He further added: “In the ’70s and ’80s, whether we were Sikhs, Hindus or Muslim, we were all united against the racists and fascists of the National Front and the BNP. We now have to show the same unity again if we are going to halt this tide of racist hatred by the EDL.”

Salvinder Singh Dhillon from the Indian Workers Association pointed out that the rally was being attended by all communities was a proof that they all stand shoulder to shoulder against promotion of racism and fascism. He said that, “The poison of racism serves to divide people and weaken their common struggles against the attacks by the state on their livelihood, against imposition of tuition fees, and the pending massive spending cuts in social services, health and education.”

The rally was organised by Unite Against Fascism (UAF), a broad based organisation supported by numerous individuals and organisations including trade unions and members of parliament. Various speakers expressed their opposition to EDL and the racist British National Party (BNP). There was also a further protest in the Bury Park, near the Mosque, organised by the Muslim community and attended by nearly two thousand people.

SikhNet News, 8 February 2011