Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

French Catholic Church speaks out against veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The French Catholic Church warned Paris today against banning Muslim full-face veils. It said France must respect the rights of its Muslims if it wanted Islamic countries to do the same for their Christian minorities.

Bishop Michel Santier, the top French Catholic official for inter-religious dialogue, said very few women in France wore full veils and Muslim leaders agreed it was not obligatory in Islam.

“The French, including the Catholics among them, should not let themselves be gripped by fear or a ‘clash of civilisations’ theory,” he said in a statement calling for distinctions between the majority of peaceful Muslims and a minority of radicals. “If we want Christian minorities in Muslim majority countries to enjoy all their rights, we should in our country respect the rights of all believers to practice their faith.”

Daily Mail, 1 February 2010

Veil ban will increase Islamophobia, boost far right and oppress women

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Raphaël Liogier is right to point out the problems with France’s proposed ban on the veil (Comment, 27 January), which will pave the way for similar moves against other visible expressions of religion. Shutting down the right to choose to wear the veil will only further embolden Islamophobia, the far right and fascist parties. The debate has had the net effect of demonising a minority of Muslim women, who number less than 2,000 in France. It will mean the only option for many of these women will be to stay confined to their homes. All this, ironically, in the name of integration and the liberation of women. We are one society and many cultures; respecting and allowing all cultures freedom of expression, as long as this does not impinge on the rights of others, means all communities can fully contribute to society. The debate in France is already impacting here, with Ukip calling for a ban on the burka and niqab.”

Letter from Ken Livingstone and others in the Guardian, 29 January 2010

Tory MP says rapist was influenced by migrants’ ‘barbaric and medieval’ attitudes towards women

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David Davies MPDavid Cameron was last night challenged to deselect a Welsh Conservative MP who linked the case of a teenage Muslim rapist to “barbaric and medieval” views towards women “imported into this country”.

Monmouth MP David Davies made his controversial comments during a radio interview while discussing the case of Bilal Khan, 13, who was jailed for three years for raping a 20-year-old woman in a park at Stoke-on-Trent.

He said: “I think there is a wider question here. What is it about this young man’s upbringing, what about his community or his parental upbringing, that led him to think that women are second-class people whose rights can be trampled over like this?

“That is a very interesting question, and there are some sensitive issues here but there do seem to be some people in some communities who don’t respect women’s rights at all and who, I may say, without necessarily saying this is the case on this occasion, who have imported into this country barbaric and medieval views about women, and that is something that also needs to be addressed.”

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said: “David Davies should be ashamed of himself. His was a knee-jerk reaction based on ignorance. Rather than concentrating on the facts of a shocking case, he chose to malign entire communities in a wholly unfair and divisive way.”

Naz Malik, chief executive of Awema, the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association, said: “By linking in this instance the rape case to undefined migrant communities, David Davies displays the thought processes of a racial bigot. I think it is time David Cameron reassured Britain’s ethnic minority communities by sending a very strong message to him that his remarks are wholly unacceptable. That could be achieved by deselecting him as a Conservative candidate in the coming general election.”

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, a group representing young Muslims, said: “We in our communities find what Bilal Khan has done evil and totally unacceptable in Islam and for Mr Davies to suggest that somehow these rapist attitudes are engrained in some parts of [black and minority ethnic] communities is deeply offensive and of no substance.”

Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood said: “These comments not only display a crass ignorance of different cultures, but are highly inflammatory. To suggest that ‘backward, medieval and barbaric’ views towards women are being ‘imported’ into the UK is dangerous and irresponsible. Discriminatory attitudes towards women have to be tackled in all communities, regardless of race or religion. For David Davies to claim otherwise, suggests he is either very ill-informed or trying to court the anti-immigration brigade.”

Wales Online, 29 January 2010

Media and politicians responsible for rise in hate crimes against Muslims in London, study finds

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate CrimeA rise in the number of hate crimes against Muslims in London is being encouraged by mainstream politicians and sections of the media, a study written by a former Scotland Yard counter-terrorism officer, published yesterday, says. Attacks ranging from death threats and murder to persistent low-level assaults, such as spitting and name-calling, are in part whipped up by extremists and sections of mainstream society, the study says.

The document – from the University of Exeter’s European Muslim research centre – was written by Dr Jonathan Githens-Mazer and former special branch detective Dr Robert Lambert.

“The report provides prima facie and empirical evidence to demonstrate that assailants of Muslims are invariably motivated by a negative view of Muslims they have acquired from either mainstream or extremist nationalist reports or commentaries in the media,” it says. “Islamophobic, negative and unwarranted portrayals of Muslim London as Londonistan and Muslim Londoners as terrorists, sympathisers and subversives in sections of the media appear to provide the motivation for a significant number of anti-Muslim hate crimes.”

In his foreword, the rightwing journalist Peter Oborne writes: “The constant assault on Muslims from certain politicians, and above all in the mainstream media, has created an atmosphere where hate crimes, ranging from casual abuse to arson and even murder, are bound to occur and are even in a sense encouraged by mainstream society.”

The report is based on interviews with witnesses to and victims of hate crimes, as well as police officers and former members of extremist organisations such as the British National Party. It says: “An experienced BNP activist in London explains that he believes that most BNP supporters simply followed the lead set by their favourite tabloid commentators that they read every day. When these commentators singled out Muslims as threats to security and social cohesion, he says that it was perfectly natural for BNP supporters to adopt the same thinking.”

The report says the extreme right are directing their violence more against Muslims than black or Asian Britons. “Interviewees with long experience of extremist nationalist street violence in London are unequivocal in their assessment that Muslim Londoners are now a prime target for serious violence and intimidation in the way that Londoners from minority ethnic communities once were,” it says.

The study focuses on anti-Muslim violence in London, with its authors saying they will produce one covering the whole of the UK by this summer.

Guardian, 28 January 2010

The report, Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate-Crimes: a London Case Study, is available online from the European Muslim Research Centre website.

Update:  See Jonathan Githens-Mazer and Robert Lambert, “Muslims in the UK: beyond the hype”, Comment is Free, 28 January 2010

Canada: Tories and Liberals reject veil ban, Muslim Canadian Congress supports it

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Conservative government will not follow France’s lead to consider banning the burka. “In an open and democratic society like Canada, individuals are free to make their own decisions regarding their personal apparel and to adhere to their own customs or traditions of their faith and/or beliefs,” said a spokesperson for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson. “We have no plans to introduce justice legislation in this matter.”

The Muslim Canadian Congress is calling on the feds to impose limits on the wearing of the full veil, suggesting “political correctness” is preventing politicians from tackling the sensitive subject. “It’s a control thing, identifying with Muslim brotherhood,” said senior VP Salma Siddiqui. “Basically it is a subservient tool.” Her group plans to lobby politicians from all parties in May.

Liberal MP Marlene Jennings said Canada’s charter rights protect religious freedom, and the Supreme Court has consistently ruled not to impose any limits. “Canadian women have the right, if they want, to wear a burka,” she said.

The controversy comes after France issued a report proposing a partial ban on the burka and niqab. The report called the wearing of full veil a “challenge” to the republic and a symbol of enslavement of women and extremist fundamentalism.

Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said Canada must send strong messages about equality of women but reject calls to follow France’s lead. “It goes without saying they should not be subjected to pressures from their communities, but neither from their government,” she said. “It’s not the place of the government to dictate how women should dress.”

Toronto Sun, 27 January 2010

Government criticised over failure to tackle anti-Islamic hostility

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daud Abdullah, Muhammad Abdul Bari, Inayat BunglawalaThere is growing disenchantment at the government’s “lacklustre response” to rising anti-Islamic hostility, the Muslim Council of Britain has said.

The council wrote to the home secretary on the “growing problem” after a march by the English Defence League (EDL).

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said there was a “growing disenchantment at the lacklustre response from our political leaders to speak out against anti-Muslim hatred” among many British Muslim communities.

His letter said: “Whether this exists in explicit form through the actions of far-right groups, or implicitly with hysterical headlines in our media, the policy response to any of these has been far from satisfactory. We ask you to take leadership in this matter, especially in a year where divisive elements may well flourish in the run-up to the next general election.”

The MCB accused political leaders of staying silent on the issue and said they had “ridden the wave of this disturbing trend” but failed to challenge hostility.

It hosted a meeting of Muslim groups at the weekend to discuss what it called “the growing trend of anti-Muslim hatred and violence”.

BBC News, 27 January 2010

See also MCB press release, 26 January 2010

Swiss basketball player fails to overturn headscarf ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sura Al-ShawkA Swiss basketball player has failed in her bid to have a court overturn a headscarf ban when she plays in league games.

A local court in the canton of Lucerne said in a ruling published Wednesday that the ban doesn’t breach the rights of the player, who is Muslim.

Sura Al-Shawk, a 19-year-old Swiss citizen of Iraqi origin who plays for STV Luzern, sought permission from the Swiss basketball association to wear a scarf. ProBasket said in August she can’t because it could increase the risk of injury and the sport has to be religiously neutral.

ProBasket said it followed the rules of FIBA, basketball’s world governing body.

Associated Press, 27 January 2010

Parliamentary inquiry condemns veil as ‘un-French’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Islamic full-body veil should be banned from French public offices, hospitals, trains and buses, according to a parliamentary investigation which reported yesterday. In a bad-tempered final session, the committee of inquiry angered many members of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling centre-right party by rejecting their demands for an outright ban on the burka or niqab. After a muddled and heated six-month investigation, the committee decided that such a ban might be declared unconstitutional under French and European law.

Instead, a narrow majority of the 32 members accepted a compromise suggested by Mr Sarkozy and the Prime Minister, François Fillon. They called for a solemn, but unenforceable, parliamentary motion declaring the full-length veil – a marginal but growing phenomenon in France – to be “un-French”. They said that this should be followed soon by a law forbidding people to cover their faces in “official” public spaces, from hospitals to post offices.

The committee’s recommendation split the ruling Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) down the middle. The party’s parliamentary leader, Jean-François Cope, immediately announced that he would push ahead with his own draft law calling for an outright ban. Officially, Socialist MPs boycotted the final meeting of the inquiry, alleging that it had been “polluted” by party politics and hijacked by “faction fighting” within the UMP. Several leading socialist politicians defied the boycott, however, and support an outright ban.

The possibility of a law against the full-length veil was first raised last summer by a Communist MP.

Independent, 16 January 2010

Cf. Raphaël Liogier, “France’s attack on the veil is a huge blunder”, Comment is Free, 26 January 2010

California: Republican party asked to repudiate councilwoman’s anti-Islam posting

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today called on the California Republican Party to repudiate anti-Islam comments posted on Facebook by a Republican member of the Lancaster, Calif., city council.

CAIR-LA also sent a letter to the councilwoman asking her to meet with members of the American Muslim and interfaith communities to discuss the negative impact of the inflammatory remarks.

In her recent Facebook post, Council Member Sherry Marquez wrote in reference to a murder trial in New York involving a Muslim defendant:

This is what the Muslim religion is all about – the beheadings, honor killings are just the beginning of what is to come in the USA. We are told this is a small majority [sic] of Muslim’s [sic] in America, but it is truly what they are all about… You disrespect/dishonor them or their religion and you should die (they don’t even blink at killing their own wives/daughters, because they are justified by their religion)…

SEE: Council Member Sherry Marquez’s Facebook Posting

CAIR press release, 26 January 2010