Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

In defence of multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The debates on community cohesion and national security (in the wake of September 11) found common cause in the spectre of ‘the enemy within’ – the Muslim community. Over the last five years a virulent and all pervasive form of racism, directed against Arabs and Muslims, has come to permeate British life. The demonisation of Muslims in the media is being reinforced by the application of anti-terror and policing measures which specifically target that community. And a popular racism, with increased attacks on Muslim institutions and people perceived to be Muslim, has ensued.

“In many areas of Britain, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities and newly arrived refugees who happen to be Muslim, are amongst the poorest in the country. In such areas educational provision from pre-school to further studies is lacking, employment opportunities for the young are absent. Note the areas in which the 2001 ‘riots’ took place were those with industries, usually textiles, for which Asian immigrant labour was recruited in the 1950s. Now those industries have died (and/or been exported to the Third World) and with no new investment in the area, the job opportunities for the children and grandchildren of those original immigrants have gone.

“But instead of recognising how the economic decline in such areas, coupled with a long and unbridled racial discrimination over things like housing allocation, has led to exclusion from mainstream society, the excluded communities themselves are being blamed for their isolation. Instead of examining the impact of white flight out of mixed neighbourhoods, Muslims are blamed for self-segregating.

“What is unusual and worrying about the new anti-Muslim racism is that erstwhile liberal-thinking people who would normally eschew any form of personal racism, now find it possible to join in the clamour against Islam and Muslims. And they do so because the idea of a fundamental clash of civilisations – between enlightened, western Christendom on the one hand and benighted, barbaric Islam on the other – has become commonplace and accepted.

“Muslim people as a whole are now being stereotyped not just as terrorists but also as backward, sexist, homophobic bigots whose intolerance and values threaten all our freedoms – of artistic expression, freedom of speech etc and values of equality and fair-play. Such values are now being passed off as something intrinsically British, when they are, in fact, universal. And the challenge to such values, which is carried out all the time, by all different sectors of society, is now being racialised in order to stereotype one set of people – Muslims.”

From In Defence of Multiculturalism, IRR briefing paper by Jenny Bourne

Free the Egyptian blogger! But…

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Marc Lynch“It’s nice to see everyone raising their voices to protest the sentencing of Egyptian blogger Abdel Karim Nabeel to four years in prison. International criticism of escalating Egyptian repression can only be good, whether the criticism is official or NGO or public. I add my voice to those who call for a revisiting of the verdict and for his release from prison.

“At the same time, I can’t help but note that Nabeel is far from the only political activist in Egyptian jails right now. The Egyptian regime is engaging in an unprecedented crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. Hundreds of its members have been arrested and referred to the notorious state security courts, their businesses closed down and their bank accounts frozen, without even a trace of due process. Some Muslim Brothers are even bloggers, if that’s what it takes to get people to care. Because not many people seem to.

“This selective outrage, where Westerners care about one anti-Islamist blogger but can’t be bothered about equally arbitrary and illiberal repression of hundreds of Islamists, only reinforces general skepticism that this isn’t really about freedom, human rights, or democracy.”

Marc Lynch at Abu Aardvark, 22 February 2007

King Fahad Academy cleared over textbooks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

King_Fahad_AcademyA school accused of using textbooks that called Jews “apes” and Christians “pigs” has been cleared of racism by Government Inspectors.

The Saudi-funded King Fahad Academy, in Bromyard Avenue East, Acton, provides a “satisfactory education” according to Ofsted inspectors, who made a surprise visit to the school last Thursday.

Education ministers had ordered an inquiry into the independent school after allegations of “institutionalised racism” surfaced two weeks ago. But the unannounced visit by inspectors found the school met “all the regulations concerning pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education”.

Inspectors looked at lesson plans, store rooms and documents, as well as randomly interviewing teachers and 30 pupils aged between 13 and 16. They said the school had been “open and co-operative”.

“Lesson observations, curriculum plans and discussion with pupils indicate that there are good opportunities provided for pupils to learn about their own and other cultures and religions,” the report stated. “Pupils express their opinions freely and well, showing good empathy and tolerance of others’ views. They show good awareness of topical issues and knowledge of British institutions. This reflects the school’s stated aims and ethos.”

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Schoolgirl loses court battle to wear niqab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A girl aged 12 yesterday lost her bid to be allowed to wear the niqab in class when the high court supported her school’s decision to ban the full-face Muslim veil.

Lawyers for the girl, known in court as X, had argued the Buckinghamshire school’s actions were irrational and infringed her human rights, because it had allowed her three elder sisters to wear the niqab for nine years.

Mr Justice Silber found the veil ban was “proportionate” for identification reasons and because the niqab could jeopardise communication between teacher and pupil. He also accepted the importance of enforcing a school uniform under which girls of different faiths would have a sense of equality and identity within the school’s “ethos”, and the need to avoid peer pressure on other girls to take up the veil.

Last September, when X began wearing the niqab after reaching puberty, she was told it was unacceptable, because teachers felt it would make learning and communication difficult. During the hearing, the judge was told the girl’s sisters all played an active role in the school, that staff had not objected to their niqabs, and that they had achieved high A-level results, disproving the learning impairment argument.

But the court heard they left school some time ago, and since then security concerns had heightened. Of 120 Muslim girls in the 1,300-pupil school, half wear a headscarf or hijab but none wears a niqab.

Lawyers for X, protected by an anonymity order, argued the ban thwarted her “legitimate expectation” she would wear the niqab, and breached her freedom of “thought, conscience and religion” under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The lawyers said last night she and her family were “bitterly disappointed” and considering an appeal.

Guardian, 22 February 2007

See also BBC News, 21 February 2007

Hardly a surprising judgement, given Mr Justice Silber’s earlier comments.

MCB advocates ‘Taliban-style conditions’ in state schools, claims Express

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Express Muslims Tell Us How to Run Our Schools“Demands for a ban on ‘un-Islamic’ activities in schools will be set out by the Muslim Council of Britain today.

“Targets include playground games, swimming lessons, school plays, parents’ evenings and even vaccinations. And the calls for all children to be taught in Taliban-style conditions will be launched with the help of a senior Government education adviser….

“Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society said the report was a ‘recipe for disaster’…. ‘The MCB shouldn’t try to force its religious agenda on children who may not want it. The Government needs to send the MCB packing’.”

Daily Express, 21 February 2007

For the MCB’s actual position, see here.

For the inspiration this sort of irresponsible press coverage provides for the far right, see here.

For a demolition of the Express‘s lies, see Five Chinese Crackers, 21 February 2007

Islamophobic literature distributed at North Carolina school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called for disciplinary action against a public high school teacher in North Carolina who reportedly allowed the distribution of Islamophobic literature in his class.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says a Muslim parent whose daughter attends the Raleigh, N.C., high school reported that the teacher invited a guest speaker who handed out literature in his ninth-grade social sciences class that compared the teachings of Jesus with false accusations against Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. (Muslims in fact view Jesus as a Prophet of God equal to the Prophet Muhammad.)

Anti-Islam materials, including a pamphlet called “Jesus Not Muhammad,” were handed out in the class by a representative of a North Carolina-based Christian missionary group. The pamphlet labeled the Prophet Muhammad “A criminal,” “Demon Possessed,” and “Inspired by Satan.”

Another document given to the students was titled “Do Not Marry a Muslim Man.” The document stated: “His [Muhammad’s] militant commands and pagan beliefs are contained in the Koran, the book of Islam…. The Koran is the book of Islam that Muhammad claimed was revealed to him by Allah, the moon god of Arabs.”

CAIR press release, 21 February 2007

Update:  See “Teen’s dad says ‘anti-Muslim’ literature handed out in class isn’t freedom of speech”, Fox News, 23 February 2007

Update 2:  See “ACLU of North Carolina to investigate reports of anti-Muslim proselytizing to high school students”, ACLU press release, 27 February 2007

Mark Steyn’s final solution to the Euro-Muslim problem

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Three weeks ago, Christopher Hitchens reviewed Mark Steyn’s America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, for City Journal, the publication of the Manhattan Institute. The review was generally favorable, though not entirely uncritical. Hitchens quoted Steyn to the following effect:

“Why did Bosnia collapse into the worst slaughter in Europe since World War Two? In the thirty years before the meltdown, Bosnian Serbs had declined from 43 percent to 31 percent of the population, while Bosnian Muslims had increased from 26 percent to 44 percent. In a democratic age, you can’t buck demography – except through civil war. The Serbs figured that out – as other Continentals will in the years ahead: if you can’t outbreed the enemy, cull ’em. The problem that Europe faces is that Bosnia’s demographic profile is now the model for the entire continent. (Emphasis added.)

“Hitchens let this pass in silence, except for a little bit of tut-tutting about the differences among Muslims, but let’s call it by its real name: Steyn is justifying genocide, both retrospectively in Bosnia and prospectively in the rest of Europe.”

Mark Kleiman at The Reality Based Community, 18 February 2007

On being treated as a ‘dangerous foreigner’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Every air traveler likely has done it: stand in an airport security line in your socks, pushing forward plastic bins of shoes, jackets, laptops and handbags, all with only 20 minutes left to board, even though you showed up two hours early as told.

“Think you have it tough? Try being a Muslim American. We Muslim Americans don’t get smiles and ‘Have a good trip.’ Instead, we get suspicious security guards and frowns. For Muslim American men, it’s their beards that make the difference. For us women, it’s our head scarves.”

Naureen Kamdar relates her experience as a Muslim woman at a US airport.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 20 February 2007

Swedish integration minister rejects allegations of Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sweden’s new integration minister dismissed allegations of “Islamophobia” by Muslim groups, and vowed Monday to defend the rights of women who are “oppressed in the name of religion.”

Nyamko Sabuni, 37, has irritated Muslim leaders by opposing religious schools and suggesting that all schools ban Islamic headscarves for girls younger than 15.

Nearly 50 Muslim organizations signed a petition opposing her appointment as integration minister, saying her views “breathe of populism and Islamophobia.”

“I will not let myself be scared into silence,” Sabuni told reporters when asked about the petition. “I will never accept that women and girls are oppressed in the name of religion.”

The 37-year-old Congolese immigrant became Sweden’s first black Cabinet member when she joined the center-right coalition government that took power in October.

Her views on religious schools, which make up a fraction of the country’s 5,000 schools, headscarves and other issues have not been endorsed by the coalition, but stirred debate about the place of Islam in Scandinavian society.

Many Muslims feel unfairly singled out by Sabuni’s campaign against arranged marriages, genital mutilation and honor killings, saying such practices are linked to tribal traditions rather than religious beliefs.

Associated Press, 19 February 2007