Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Feminists face off over the veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“You might notice that as this conflagration spreads, more and more conservatives – many of whom do not identify as feminists – are rushing in to stoke the fire. As they do, the discussion becomes less about defending women’s rights and more about supporting their ongoing culture war. That reminds me of a line from Wolf’s essay: ‘Ideological battles are often waged with women’s bodies as their emblems, and Western Islamophobia is no exception’.”

Tracy Clark-Flory examines the debate between Naomi Wolf and Phyllis Chesler.

Salon, 5 September 2009

EDL’s anti-Muslim provocation results in violent clashes in Birmingham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL in BirminghamOfficers were trying today to identify more people involved in violent scenes at a right-wing protest which resulted in dozens of arrests.

More than 30 people were arrested in Birmingham city centre yesterday when anti-fascist campaigners fought with supporters of a rally against Islamic fundamentalism by The English Defence League (EDL).

The disorder involved around 200 people and spilled on to the adjoining Bennetts Hill, a street lined with a number of pubs popular with shoppers. West Midlands Police said a group of more than 20 men were arrested on a bus in Digbeth High Street. Later a “significant” number of people were also detained from buses that left the Bennetts Hill area. They were taken into custody at stations across the city.

Earlier this week the force, along with Birmingham City Council, obtained an order from the Home Secretary banning protesters from the Bullring area of the city, under section 14a of the Public Order Act. Under the same legislation, Chief Constable Chris Sims passed an order restricting the protests to two locations – Lancaster Circus and Old Square.

But after meeting on Broad Street in the city’s entertainment district, demonstrators proceeded to New Street, around half a mile away, and trouble ensued.

Mail on Sunday, 6 September 2009

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Muslim woman barred from New Zealand court for wearing headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yasmeen AliYasmeen Ali was attempting to enter Hastings District Court on Tuesday to support her brother Carlos Manuel Brooking, 22, who was appearing for sentencing on a charge of assault.

Ms Ali, a 25-year-old mother-of-three, was asked by a court attendant to remove her headscarf on entering the courthouse. She refused and took a seat. When she tried to re-enter court after the morning break, she was blocked. She complained to the court manager, who told her she could not enter wearing a headscarf because the judge, Geoff Rea, had forbidden it.

Her brother had earlier been put into custody after refusing to remove a hat while sitting in court awaiting his sentencing, despite being requested to do so by Judge Rea.

Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres today called for reassurance for the Muslim community. ”I can’t imagine a nun being told to remove such attire, and the same should apply to others who wear head coverings for religious reasons, such as Muslims, Sikhs and Jews,” he said.

Judicial communications adviser Neil Billington said the incident was the result of Judge Rea’s “mistaken  assumption of what was occurring in the courtroom”.

“The judge required the removal of the woman because of her association with [her brother] who had just been removed. The judge had mistakenly assumed that her headgear was a demonstration of protest at the court.”

Dominion Post, 3 September 2009

See also 3News, 3 September 2009

Belgian school terms begins amid protests over veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Antwerp school protestDozens of protesters sported party hats, colanders and other unlikely headgear in protests Tuesday at schools in the Belgian city of Antwerp where authorities have banned girls from wearing the Muslim veil.

Around 60 people turned up for the start of the school year outside the gates of the Athenee Royal of Antwerp school, where most students are Muslims, carrying banners calling for “freedom of choice,” television pictures showed.

Another 70 protesters assembled at the Hoboken secondary school in suburb of Antwerp, in the Dutch-speaking north of Belgium which also introduced a ban on Muslim veils on Tuesday.

The two schools targeted for the protests were following the lead of others throughout the country as the number of schools still allowing the veil decreases each year.

“This ban is against the freedom of religion and violates the right to an education,” for young Muslims, said Samira Azabar, one of the protest organisers.

After the two schools decided on the ban in June an imam in Antwerp called on “all Muslim parents not to send their children back to school” for the new academic year.

Athenee head mistress Karin Heremans said that so far a dozen students had stayed away from school.

She justified the ban by saying girls who had refused to wear the Muslim veil had been subjected to intimidation at a school where “the proportion of Muslims has increased from 50 percent to 80 percent in the last three years.”

Agence France-Presse, 3 September 2009

Scottish Labour accuses Scottish-Islamic Foundation of financial irregularities

Posted on by Eddie Truman

SIF

The right-wing blogosphere has been cock-a-hoop at news that the Scottish-Islamic Foundation “have been forced to repay” £128,000 to the Scottish Government for “an event that never took place”.

The news was covered by the Daily Mail and Express, peddled by Centre for Social Cohesion’s Douglas “Neoconservatism: why we need it” Murray and Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, and repeated by Harry’s Place.

The story is that SIF last year received £200,000 to organise IslamFest, a large event planned for this summer 2009 aimed at the public on Muslim culture, but which also had a Middle East trade expo as part of it. The original plans were to cost over £1m to hold, but there were difficulties in obtaining the remaining funding due to the economic crisis.

As a result, the plans were scaled back and pushed back. It has been split into two elements – Salaam Scotland and Etisal. The former is a four month festival of events taking place around Scotland from December this year, while the latter is the trade expo which will also take place this year.

The work is important given the level of Islamophobia in Scotland and the wider UK, and the project also has the potential to attract investment and jobs into Scotland – something you would have thought would be supported given the economic climate. The Scottish Government are still considering the new timetable.

Anyone with any knowledge of the voluntary sector knows that if a grant is given in a financial year, 08/09 in this case, and is underspent, the remainder is returned. This is not unusual. Perhaps what is unusual is SIF’s scrupulous approach to the money. SIF CEO Osama Saeed told the Express:

“Many in our position would simply have cobbled something together and spent the money. This would not have been good enough for the high standards we set ourselves”.

The full picture has not been reported anywhere. The event that “did not take place” claim is not the full story, and SIF’s critics know this.

If this was just a case of misrepresentation, that would be one thing. But SIF’s critics have had to add some spice to the story by claiming financial “irregularities”. The word has been repeated ad nauseam in quotation marks, but no one has been able to back it up.

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Fitzpatrick calls for ban on gender-segregated meetings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

London Muslim CentreGovernment Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has called for segregation to be outlawed in Britain. The controversial East London Labour MP, who hit the headlines last week after walking out of a Muslim wedding for being asked to sit apart from his wife, insists segregation of men and women outside places of worship should be against the law.

Mr Fitzpatrick, the MP for Poplar and Canning Town, told the BBC that he does not oppose segregation in mosques, but believes separating men and women in halls such as the London Muslim Centre and other public buildings was “unacceptable.”

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Young British Muslims angry with police and media

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Seen and Not HeardMany young British Muslims feel demonized by the police and the media and say they have come under pressure to prove their loyalty since the September 11 attacks and the 2005 London bombings, a study has found.

The report for the Policy Research Center, an Islamic think tank, was intended to give young Muslims their own voice to counter assumptions made by outsiders.

It said young Muslims had been portrayed in the media as a threat to society and often struggled to convince people that they can be both British and Muslim at the same time.

Public debate over immigration, nationalism and integration has left them feeling under attack, while Britain’s role in Iraq and Afghanistan has only increased the pressure. “As well as facing questions and challenges to their loyalty, young Muslims … are being pressed to define their identity in light of national and international events,” the report said.

Young Muslims are too often asked to prove that their religion is peaceful and they are law-abiding, the report said. “This is especially damaging when myths and stereotypes surmount accurate information, resulting in young British Muslims being portrayed as a threat to the wellbeing of the wider British communities,” it said.

Despite attempts by police chiefs to engage with the Muslim community, the report found many young British Muslims did not trust the police and felt harassed. The report blamed a dramatic rise in Muslims being stopped and searched in the street after the July 2005 suicide bombings, which killed 52 people in London.

Reuters, 31 August 2009

See also Policy Research Centre website

Update:  See Sughra Ahmed’s piece at Comment is Free, 1 September 2009

US Islamophobes’ heroine lied about seeing Muslim student sit during Pledge

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Heather LawrenceFervent patriots held Heather Lawrence up as a hero. When her story broke last week, bloggers and online commenters praised the 16-year-old junior and JROTC member at Springstead High School for confronting a Muslim student for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Lawrence, however, fabricated that part of the story, school officials say. “This girl lied,” Springstead principal Susan Duval said Monday. “I have confirmed with the homeroom teacher the young (Muslim) lady stood for the pledge.”

Lawrence said she was walking by another homeroom Wednesday morning when she saw a girl with the traditional Muslim head scarf sitting during the pledge. Later, Lawrence said she confronted the girl, told her she should stand during the pledge out of respect and, according to her own account and a school report, said, “Take that thing off your head and act like you’re proud to be an American.”

A teacher witnessed the confrontation and Lawrence was suspended for five days for violating the district’s policy against bullying and harassment. The suspension has since been reduced to three days.

After the incident, Heather Lawrence was asked by a teacher why she confronted the girl. “She began to rant that she was enlisting and was going to Iraq and that basically because the girl looks Middle Eastern, that makes her an enemy because all Iraqis are Middle Eastern,” according to the referral signed by assistant principal Stephen Crognale.

The story, reported by the Times and other local media Friday, went viral, prompting some praise for Lawrence for speaking her mind and boos for school officials for quelling her free-speech rights. Duval said the school has received calls from angry people who have “abused” her staff.

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