Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Racial slurs used during attack on Iowa Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Iowa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-IA) today called on local state and national law enforcement agencies to investigate an allegedly bias-motivated attack on an Iowa Muslim as a possible hate crime.

CAIR-IA said an 18-year-old Iraqi refugee and his mother were reportedly assaulted following a recent softball game at Cedar Rapids‘ Tait Cummings Park by a member of the opposing team.

During the game, supporters of the opposing team allegedly shouted racial slurs at the victim and his team members. After the game, the victim was allegedly hit in the jaw by an assailant from the opposing team who shouted slurs such as “raghead,” “terrorist” and “camel jockey.” The victim’s jaw was broken in the alleged assault. The victim’s mother was allegedly assaulted by the same person when she tried to defend her son.

CAIR press release, 18 June 2010

East End protest against EDL on Sunday

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Racist EDL: Not Welcome in East London

Demo Sunday 20 June

Assemble 12.30pm Stepney Green Park

March to Altab Ali Park

Confirmed speakers so far include:

Christine Blower, general secretary, National Union of Teachers
Matt Wrack, general secretary, Fire Brigades Union
Hugh Lanning, deputy general secretary, PCS union
Cllr Helal Abbas, leader of Tower Hamlets Council
John Biggs, London Assembly Member
Anas Altikriti, British Muslim Initiative
Laura Maxwell, Jewish Council for Racial Equality
Rev Alan Green, Dean of Tower Hamlets and chair of the Interfaith Forum
Representatives from the London Muslim Centre, the Council of Mosques and Islamic Forum Europe
Speakers from other faith communities
Tower Hamlets councillors Lutfur Rahman, Abdul Ullah andOliur Rahman

Download leaflet here

Welsh Assembly Member criticises police response to Cardiff EDL demonstration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Cardiff 2Police have come under attack from an Assembly Member for the way they handled a controversial protest march in Cardiff.

Leanne Wood told the National Assembly she had been “sickened” by the decision to allow members of the Welsh and English Defence League to rally in Cardiff.

The Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales Central addressed a counter demonstration by Unite Against Fascism on June 5. But she said she was “appalled” that South Wales Police had spent money “building a steel fence and kettling in the anti-racist protesters, while the English Defence League were escorted to a pub and then escorted on a march around the city centre”.

Ms Wood has asked the Assembly Government to examine what happened and report back “to make sure that a situation that happened in Cardiff a week last Saturday can never happen again”. She has also written to Chief Constable Peter Vaughan expressing her concerns.

A South Wales Police spokeswoman said they had not yet received Ms Wood’s letter. But Assistant Chief Constable Nick Croft has already responded to a letter from Ross Saunders, of the Cardiff Communities Against Racism group.

In his reply Mr Croft explained that the Welsh and English Defence League protest had been allowed to go ahead because it was lawful, even if the views expressed were “unpopular or disturbing”.

South Wales Echo, 17 June 2010

Cf. Nick Lowles’ recent article condemning “the complete failure of the authorities to address the growing EDL threat. Over the past few years hundreds of millions of pounds have been ploughed into community cohesion and other such initiatives but then we are told that groups that are deliberately setting out to whip up tension and violence cannot be stopped”.

He continues: “The problem appears to stem from the Public Order Unit at the Home Office, who have taken it upon themselves to act as the champions of free speech in advising successive Ministers that EDL protests should be allowed to happen…. They currently hide behind the legal opinion that static protests cannot be prevented but their real reason is far more ideological and short-sighted.”

France criticised over discrimination against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Racial profiling and some politicians exploiting racial and xenophobic stereotypes persist in France despite progress in fighting discrimination, a Council of Europe report said Tuesday.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) issued its fourth report on France with positive comments on the country’s High Authority against Discrimination and for Equality (HALDE) for “its key and growing role in the fight against racism”.

However, “while there had been improvements in certain areas, some issues gave rise for concern, such as minorities’ perception of the police, prejudice against Muslims and the tone of the immigration debate,” said Nils Muiznieks, chair of ECRI, the Council’s independent human rights body.

Many racial acts go unreported and for those that are referred to authorities there is a low conviction rate, the report said. “The police frequently resort to racial profiling and take law enforcement decisions on the basis of racial, ethnic or religious stereotypes” rather than individual behaviour, it said.

In the political arena, the report noted that most politicians condemn openly racial comments and race-related acts, but that there are some who exploit the issue. In relation to immigration, “there is widespread suspicion that non-citizens engage in fraud to obtain residence permits and access to rights,” the report said.

Regarding Muslims, part of French society doubts their willingness and ability to “respect French values”. “The debate on the prohibition of the niqab (the face-covering veil) has increased feelings of discrimination among Muslims and may result in further excluding some Muslim women from society,” the report said about the government’s considering a ban on Muslim women wearing the full veil in public.

Problems of discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, nationality or ethnic origin persists in access to employment, education, housing, and goods and services, the report added.

Middle East Online, 16 June 2010

Paris: ‘pork sausage and booze’ party to go ahead at new venue

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Paris pork sausage partyFrench organizers of a so-called “pork sausage and booze” party in Paris – designed as a deliberate provocation against Muslims – will move it from a heavily Muslim neighborhood to the Arc de Triomphe on Friday.

The group, “Identity Block,” called the new venue “Plan B,” after Paris police banned their bash this week on grounds of maintaining public order.

Advertised on Facebook and receiving some 7,000 RSVPs, the party is billed as a “resistance to the Islamization of France.” It was initially planned to take place next to a mosque in the 18th district after Friday prayers, and on the same day as the English-Algerian World Cup soccer match.

The date holds meaning for the French: On June 18, 1940, Charles DeGaulle issued his famous call for the French to resist Nazi occupation in World War II.

“Identity Block” is an assortment of mostly French right-wing groups.

Today, the group sent out a press release, calling upon “all Parisians … and French” to meet at the Arc de Triomphe Friday to eat ham and drink grape juice, fly French flags, protest the police ban, and listen to speeches against “religious control of public space” in France – a reference to the majority Arab-Muslim Goutte d’Or neighborhood where the sausage and wine party was to be held.

Fadela Amara, a French federal minister of Algerian origin, calls the implicit protest against Muslims “hateful, racist, and xenophobic.”

The idea to gather at the Arc de Triomphe is described by Identity Block as symbolic, since it was where 2,000 schoolboys defied a Nazi ban on protest and marched against the occupying forces some 70 years ago.

Marine Le Pen, deputy leader of the right-wing National Front (FN) party, calls the ban a “capitulation” by authorities to Muslims. The conservative American Thinker website ran a blog notice titled “Creeping Sharia,” suggesting that concern by Paris city hall of a riot or casualties is a bending to Islamic law.

A more authentic comparison might be a neo-Nazi group holding a pork barbecue in front of a synagogue in a Hasidic Brooklyn neighborhood on Passover, then, when the city bans the event, calling the response “Creeping Torah.”

Robert Marquand in the Christian Science Monitor, 17 June 2010

Police escort EDL supporters out of Whitechapel

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police chiefs in London’s East End are today calling for calm in the community after minor clashes in Whitechapel last night believed to involve members of the English Defence League.

Tension has been high since the EDL planned to march next Sunday to Stepney’s Troxy venue where an Islamic conference was due to take place. The EDL called off its march, claiming “victory” after the Troxy cancelled the conference. But some of its supporters were alleged to have turned up at Whitechapel last night.

Tower Hamlets deputy Police Commander Colin Morgan said in a statement: “There are rumours of anti-Muslim activity. But there is a big difference between what is actually happening and what people say is happening. I would ask community leaders to do all they can to call for calm and for people not to believe rumours which have no basis in fact.”

Organisers of a counter anti-fascist rally at Stepney Green Park are going ahead on Sunday claiming the EDL is still a threat in the East End. About 20 EDL supporters were reported to have arrived at Whitechapel Underground station last night looking for a pub, but were spotted by market traders and Asian youths.

Eye-witness Glyn Robbins, one of the rally organisers, told the East London Advertiser: “This group can’t control its membership. They came to the East End to prove their prowess, which vindicates our position. Sunday’s rally must go ahead.”

Police turned up and escorted the men inside the pub back to the Underground station.

Deputy police commander Morgan’s statement continued: “Tensions were running high between 50 youths outside the pub and a group inside who they believed to be members of the English Defence League. Officers escorted the group back to Whitechapel station to prevent disorder.”

Police were called again at 8pm to reports of EDL supporters outside the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, but found no sign of them. Instead, there was a crowd of up to 700 people. One youth was arrested for possessing a hammer, Scotland Yard later confirmed.

East London Advertiser, 15 June 2010

Meanwhile, Jim Fitzpatrick MP has denounced Unite Against Fascism for going ahead with an anti-EDL demonstration on Sunday, accusing UAF of accusing the organisers of using the EDL for their own propaganda when the danger has passed. Fitzpatrick told the East London Advertiser:

“The EDL are not coming to the East End any more…. Yet ‘Unite Against Fascism’ is going ahead with its march that will do nothing for the community. At best it is causing concern in the community and at worst stirring up fear and anger. Why are they not trying to reassure the community? It is dangerous for them to use EDL as a stick to stir up the community.”

Supporters of Staten Island mosque launch Facebook page

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Midland Beach protest placardThe Midland Beach mosque controversy [see here and here] recently expanded to the pages of Facebook, when people identifying themselves as members of the Class of 2011 of Susan E. Wagner High School in Sea View created a group on the social networking site called “Supporters of New Mosque in Staten Island“, which by late this morning had grown to 151 members.

One of them, Zara, wrote that she cannot understand “why there is this fear, this hate toward an entire society and it is provoked blindly.”

“I did not create this group to call your neighborhood bigots or racists,” she wrote. “I don’t believe that’s true in any respect…. I grew up in that area. Now, my case may be somewhat different because I moved away before 9/11 and that’s when Islamophobia was born.”

Islam Allan, identified as one of the administrators of the group and wearing a headscarf in her Facebook photograph, responded to a message from a person named Johann Conrad, who wrote on Monday: “Go back to your own country. You don’t belong here. Just get out. We don’t want you here.”

Ms. Allan replied: “This IS my country. I was born here,” adding that a mosque is “a place of worship, just as a church or synagogue might be.”

SILive, 16 June 2010

Update:  See “Foes of Midland Beach mosque start rival Facebook page voicing their opposition”, SILive, 16 June 2010

Yasmin Qureshi calls on police to drop charges against anti-EDL demonstrators

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yasmin_QureshiBolton’s newest MP has accused Greater Manchester Police of heavy-handed tactics during March’s English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism rallies.

Now Yasmin Qureshi, who was elected as Bolton South East MP last month, is calling on GMP to drop charges against anti-fascist activists arrested on the day.

Ms Qureshi was on the UAF front line at the protest against the EDL’s rally in Victoria Square on March 20 and is leading the new national campaign calling on police not to prosecute left-wing protesters.

The newly formed Justice4Bolton campaign is arguing the use of conspiracy laws, rather than charges relating to specific incidents which would require greater evidence, “indicates a move towards de-legitimatising protests against the rise of fascism in the UK”.

Ms Qureshi said: “I did not see or hear any activity amongst the protesters that I would have described as violent disorder, though there were some police officers who, in my view, were being heavy-handed in some cases. I supported the aims of the protest against the English Defence League in Bolton and I was there.”

Justice4Bolton has already won the support of trade unions, anti-fascist organisations and influential MPs including former Northern Ireland and Wales Secretary Peter Hain.

Thousands of UAF and EDL demonstrators held counter-demonstrations in Victoria Square on March 20. Police made more than 70 arrests, with more than 50 of those UAF supporters. Among those arrested on the day were Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, and Rhetta Moran, joint secretary of Greater Manchester UAF.

Mr Hain said: “The UAF has worked very hard to get rid of the British National Party and the fascist threat and should be congratulated, not prosecuted.”

Bolton News, 16 June 2010

Update:  Cf. “Police deny claims of EDL support”, Bolton News, 17 June 2010

Civil rights groups decry US Muslim’s no-fly plight

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yahya WehelieU.S. civil liberties groups are protesting the case of a 26-year-old Muslim-American man who was placed on the no-fly list and barred from returning to the States after spending 18 months in Yemen.

Yahya Wehelie, an American citizen, remains stranded in Cairo after being stopped there by FBI agents while en route back to his Virginia home six weeks ago, The New York Times reports. The agents questioned Wehelie about his contact with other Americans in Yemen, including a New Jersey man suspected of joining al-Qaida and killing a hospital guard in Yemen.

Yehelie and his family, who live in Burke, Va., told the Times he despises al-Qaida and went to Yemen to study and meet a wife. Though issued a temporary passport and cleared by the FBI to return to the U.S., he remains on the federal no-fly list, unable to travel home by plane and fresh out of other options.

“How can he travel home if he can’t fly?” Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in an interview with AOL News. “We’re just concerned that this is part of a pattern of government officials stopping Muslim travelers, American Muslim citizens, to pressure them to give up the constitutional rights that they would normally have if they were on American soil.”

Hooper said Wehelie was interrogated several times, subjected to “psychological pressure” and denied access to an attorney. He told AOL News he emphatically objects to allowing anyone who is a danger to America to board a flight here, but said that does not seem to be the case with Wehelie. “These no-fly lists are vast,” he said. “There needs to be some legal type of oversight on who should really be on it.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has also decried Wehelie’s case and those like it, saying the “vast majority” involve American Muslims. “There is absolutely no legal basis for placing a U.S. citizen into effective exile. There’s no question that it’s illegal to do so,” Ben Wizner, an ACLU senior staff attorney, told AOL News. “If the U.S. wants to investigate [Wehelie], there is unquestionably a safe way to bring him home to do so.”

AOL News, 16 June 2010

See also CAIR press release, 16 June 2010

EDL leaders drop plans for ‘suicide’ demonstration in Tower Hamlets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Leaders of the English Defence league have issued a pledge today that they won’t be marching into London’s East End on Sunday.

Plans were dropped after talks with Scotland Yard advising them that a Muslim meeting they were objecting to was not going ahead at Stepney’s Troxy venue after all. “It would be a suicide mission if we walked into East London,” their leader Tommy Robinson told the East London Advertiser.

“The Met Police told us there would be a hostile scene with thousands of protesters coming from all over if we turned up. We’ve won our victory just getting the Islamic meeting with its extremist speakers cancelled.”

But even cancelling Sunday’s EDA march won’t stop a counter demo by anti-fascist campaigners who plan to march at 2.30pm from Stepney Green Park to Whitechapel’s Altab Ali Park for a rally to show ‘East End solidarity’ against the Far Right.

East London Advertiser, 15 June 2010