Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Nebraska Muslim workers faced ‘unlawful harassment’
Muslim advocates say federal officials have determined a Nebraska meatpacking plant isn’t doing enough to accommodate the religious needs of its Muslim workers.
Representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Friday that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled this week after a nearly yearlong investigation into conditions at the Grand Island JBS Swift and Co. plant.
Hundreds of Muslim workers walked off the job there last fall, saying they wanted time to pray during the workday. That led to mass firings.
Associated Press, 28 August 2009
See also CAIR press release, 28 August 2009
A committee against Islamophobia
“In 2005 a parliamentary committee against antisemitism was established to ‘confront and defeat antisemitism in this country and beyond’. At a time when anti-Muslim bigotry has become pervasive and is now translating into actual hate crimes, it is surely crucial that a similar committee against Islamophobia is also set up to monitor and help combat anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination.”
Inayat Bunglawala at Comment is Free, 27 August 2009
The British amateur terror trackers: A case study in dubious politics
Tom Mills and David Miller investigate.
Salma Yaqoob | Birmingham united against fascism
Birmingham city councillor Salma Yaqoob, joined by Adrian Goldberg, Khalid Mahmood MP, John Hemming MP, Cllr Judy Foster, Chief Insp Adrian Atherley and Apache Indian, calls on the West Midlands Police to ban a march by far-right groups planned for September; following the violence erupted amidst an EDL-Casuals United demonstration on 8th August in the city.
Date: Sunday 23rd August 2009
Venue: Birmingham Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1.
How Quilliam smears anti-fascists
On 18 August we posted a piece entitled “Quilliam accuses anti-BNP protestors of ‘thuggery and hooliganism’“, which criticised an article by Lucy James of the Quilliam Foundation that had appeared on the Progress Magazine website.
Our criticisms provoked a hostile reaction from one of the Harry’s Place wannabees who run a blog rejoicing in the name of the Spittoon, where we were accused of producing “an amateurish bit of slime” against Lucy James. I hadn’t intended to post on it here, but as the Spittoon piece is being punted around as a “comprehensive rebuttal” of our article, I think it’s necessary to place an answer on record.
Somali-American professors angered over repeated searches
Two Somali-American scholars at the University of Minnesota say they’re outraged by what they consider invasive questioning and searches while traveling abroad this summer.
Abdi Samatar chairs the U’s geography department. He’s married to Cawo Abdi, a sociology professor. Since June, the husband and wife say they’ve been pulled aside a total of six times at airports for lengthy interviews that have lasted up to two and a half hours. They believe customs officials targeted them for being Muslim and ethnic Somalis.
Earlier this month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan – the “Brad Pitt of India” – made headlines around the globe when he was stopped at a New Jersey airport. Khan said, at the time, that he believed he was questioned because his Muslim name raised red flags in a post-Sept. 11 world.
But countless Somali-Americans who don’t enjoy Khan’s level of celebrity say they’ve been subjected to similar searches, called secondary inspections, upon re-entering the U.S.
Samatar and his wife are both U.S citizens with American passports. In August, they were returning from South Africa on separate flights and were steered into a waiting room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. “We looked at each other, and we smiled, and we said, ‘OK, let’s see where this takes us,” recalled Cawo Abdi, Samatar’s wife.
But now, Abdi said, she feels indignation. “It’s a very unpleasant experience to be interrogated for two or three hours when you have never committed a crime, when you are doing your job, and you of course care about the security of every American,” she said. “Being a citizen, I expect, and I have a right, for a certain level of protection, and I don’t feel like I’m treated like an American.”
Call for ban on anti-Muslim demonstration in Birmingham
West Midlands Police have been urged to step in and ban a far right group from holding a march in Birmingham next month to avoid a repeat of the shocking scenes of violence witnessed earlier this month.
White nationalist organisation The English Defence League (EDL) and an associated group, Casuals United, are due to hold a rally against Islamic extremism in the city on September 5. Their first demonstration on August 8 ended with violence and bloodshed as supporters clashed with anti-racism campaigners.
One of those calling for a ban was Respect councillor Salma Yaqoob, who expected more street violence if EDL returned. “When it comes to public safety we have every right to intervene,” she said. “But the ‘just stay away’ message we are hearing won’t wash with today’s Muslim youngsters who won’t put their heads down and carry on walking when they are subjected to racist taunts – they will react and fight back.”
Tariq Ramadan still welcome in Oxford
Tariq Ramadan, the Islamic scholar sacked by Rotterdam city council and Erasmus University, will take up the job of professor of contemporary Islam studies at Oxford University in Britain from September 1, the Telegraaf reports.
Ramadan was fired because of his refusal to stop working for an Iranian-backed tv channel. The city and university said this could not be combined with his other roles as academic and advisor on integration.
Ramadan has been attached to Oxford as a researcher and lecturer for the past four years. “Freedom of expression is a fundamental right which will be respected,” a spokesman for the British university told the paper.
EDL plans provocation in Harrow on September 11
A Harrow mosque leader says he is “sad” about plans for a 9/11 far-right protest outside its building.
The English Defence League (EDL) has organised a demonstration in front of the building, in Station Road, on September 11, and plans to make it a memorial event for the 2001 terrorist attacks. The event will take place on a Friday, the Islamic holy day.
Ghulam Rabbani, general secretary of the mosque, said: “We also believe that September 11 wasn’t right. We have a policy of anti-extremism. If people have something against us, they probably don’t know us. If you are Christian or Muslim we can still be friends. We hope the local community and our friends and the local government and police will be there to try seriously to defend everybody.”
Members of EDL clashed with anti-fascist campaigners in Birmingham on August 10 with police in riot gear struggling to control the situation. Officers made 35 arrests.
The original protest outside Harrow Central Mosque was organised for August 29 on the back of claims there were plans to hold Sharia court meetings in its new building. Mr Rabbani says there are no such plans but a statement on the website of the far-right coalition the British Defence Leagues says they do not believe him and do not “want any more mosques in this country”.
The statement reads: “It has now been rescheduled to September 11th, which is a Friday, but will incorporate a 9/11 anniversary commemoration. This is now being organised by the EDL.”
Mr Rabbani said: “We have worked very hard with the local government and the local police to keep community cohesion and partnership. All of the community can live together peacefully. Most of the community is happy with us. This group is coming from outside.”