Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Khadija Ravat won’t be watching Channel 4 programme

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The veiled Muslim woman signed up by Channel 4 to do their Christmas Day message will not be watching herself on TV – she will be watching the Queen. Khadija Ravat’s six-minute address will go out at 3pm, exactly the same time as the Queen’s annual broadcast. But yesterday, the 33-year-old teacher described herself as a patriotic Brit who has no intention of tuning into C4’s alternative Christmas Day message.

She said: “Believe me, I’m going to be watching the Queen’s speech. I like being British, being British has so much to it that can be shared by so many people.” She denied the C4 scheduling was divisive and said she wanted to build bridges between different communities.

Khadija, who teaches at a private Islamic school in Leicester, added: “We live in a fantastic society. We are all British. We have so many wonderful people around and I hope that we all respect each other. My world is so wonderful. Wherever I look, there are different colours, different people. Sometimes we disagree but we respect each other. That is why I will use the six minutes to put over a really positive message. I want to build bridges.”

Asked if it was provocative for a veiled Muslim to offer an alternative message to the Queen’s, she said: “I have never thought of it that way.”

Daily Mirror, 7 December 2006

Meanwhile, today’s Daily Star reports that 94% of its readers have called for the broadcast to be banned.

New York Police anti-terrorism analyst sues over anti-Muslim e-mails

Posted on by Bob Pitt

For several years, the New York Police Department has touted an elite undercover unit of mostly Middle Eastern and Asian investigators who use their foreign-language skills online to search out potential terrorist threats against the city. But now the department is under criticism from a member of the unit, an Egyptian-born analyst who filed a suit yesterday that charges he was subjected to hundreds of blistering anti-Muslim and anti-Arab e-mail messages sent out by a city contractor over the course of three years. In an interview yesterday, he said he complained repeatedly to supervisors but that no one took action.

At the center of the lawsuit are e-mail briefing messages sent out several times a day to members of the Intelligence Division by Bruce Tefft, a former C.I.A. official who has identified himself in the past as the Police Department’s counter-terrorism adviser. The e-mail messages were sent to everyone in the division, including Deputy Commissioner David Cohen, also a former C.I.A. official, the suit said.

According to the suit, the briefing messages were preceded by commentary from Mr. Tefft that included virulent anti-Muslim and anti-Arab statements like, “Burning the hate-filled Koran should be viewed as a public service at the least”, and “This is not a war against terrorism … it is against Islam and we are not winning”. In one, he asked, “Has the U.S. threatened to vaporize Mecca?” and responded, “Excellent idea, if true.”

New York Times, 6 December 2006

Australian mosque to get police guard for bikini rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lakemba mosquePolice have been asked to protect Australia’s largest mosque next weekend because of concerns that a bikini march staged to coincide with the anniversary of the Cronulla riots may get out of control.

The caretaker of Lakemba Mosque, the Lebanese Muslim Association, says it is taking no risks, requesting at least 32 police officers to protect the place of worship on Saturday and Sunday. Association president Tom Zreik said he met police on several occasions to ensure there would be adequate numbers of officers present to defuse problems and arrest troublemakers.

“We are treating this as something that is funny and hilarious but also taking precautions,” Mr Zreika said of the bikini march. “Some people may see this as provocation and the last thing that we want is to see anyone being attacked.”

The organiser, Melbourne grandmother Christine Hawkins, has asked women nationally to dress in bikinis and colourful beachwear and rally outside large mosques to show their disgust at comments by leading Muslim cleric, Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly, who likened women to “uncovered meat”. A white supremacist website has promoted the march.

Members of Sydney’s Muslim community began raising their concerns last week, with hundreds joining an internet discussion to find a “peaceful avenue” to protect their mosque.

Sydney Morning Herald, 3 December 2006

Muslim and Jewish groups unite to condemn Prager

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Conservative radio host and blogger Dennis Prager has now been criticized by both prominent Muslim and Jewish groups for his Townhall.com column attacking incoming Rep. Keith Ellison’s announcement that he will use a Quran during his ceremonial swearing-in as the first Muslim member of Congress.

Today, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Prager should lose his presidential appointment to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council because of “his intolerant views toward Islam in American Society.” Friday, the Anti-Defamation League said Prager’s position is “intolerant, misinformed and downright un-American.”

USA Today, 4 December 2006

Get to know Muslim neighbors, curb the paranoia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“America has to learn that Islam is not only the world’s second largest religion, it also is the second largest in the U.S. and is growing at the fastest rate. More than three-quarters of American Muslims were born here. Thirty-three percent of U.S. Muslims are people who were born in America and converted to Islam. These Muslims are here to stay; they are not going anywhere. We all have to learn to live together with mutual respect and understanding.”

Sarwat Husain in San Antonio Express-News, 3 December 2006

Newly elected Muslim lawmaker under fire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Keith EllisonThe first Muslim elected to Congress hasn’t been sworn into office yet, but his act of allegiance has already been criticized by a conservative commentator.

In a column posted Tuesday on the conservative website Townhall.com, Dennis Prager blasted Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison’s decision to take the oath of office Jan. 4 with his hand on a Quran, the Muslim holy book.

“He should not be allowed to do so,” Prager wrote, “not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American culture.” He said Ellison, a convert from Catholicism, should swear on a Christian Bible – which “America holds as its holiest book…. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.”

USA Today, 1 December 2006

See also Think Progress, 30 November 2006

In U.S., fear and distrust of Muslims runs deep

Posted on by Bob Pitt

When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.

The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be “off his rocker.” The second congratulated him and added: “Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country … they are here to kill us.”

Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver’s licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough. “What good is identifying them?” he asked. “You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans.”

At the end of the one-hour show, rich with arguments on why visual identification of “the threat in our midst” would alleviate the public’s fears, Klein revealed that he had staged a hoax. It drew out reactions that are not uncommon in post-9/11 America.

“I can’t believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said,” he told his audience on the AM station 630 WMAL (http://www.wmal.com/), which covers Washington, Northern Virginia and Maryland

“For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people’s bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver’s license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It’s beyond disgusting.

“Because basically what you just did was show me how the German people allowed what happened to the Jews to happen … We need to separate them, we need to tattoo their arms, we need to make them wear the yellow Star of David, we need to put them in concentration camps, we basically just need to kill them all because they are dangerous.”

Reuters, 1 December 2006

FBI pays $2 million to US Muslim in terror-suspect case

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has agreed to pay Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield $2 million as part of a settlement for wrongfully arresting him in connection with the 2004 Madrid terror attacks.

The New York Times reports that the FBI also apologized for its actions and agreed to destroy all materials collected during its electronic surveillance of Mr. Mayfield and secret searches of his home and office. Mayfield is also allowed to continue his lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the Patriot Act. He charges that the antiterrorism law violates the Fourth Amendment because is allows for government searches without first establishing “probable cause” of a crime.

Mayfield, an American-born convert to Islam, was put under government surveillance after the FBI mistakenly linked him to the March bombings. He was arrested in May 2004 and held for two weeks as a terrorist suspect, despite evidence from the Spanish government that he was not connected to the attack.

“The horrific pain, torture and humiliation that this has caused myself and my family is hard to put into words,” said Mr. Mayfield, an American-born convert to Islam and a former lieutenant in the Army.

“The days, weeks and months following my arrest,” he said, “were some of the darkest we have had to endure. I personally was subject to lockdown, strip searches, sleep deprivation, unsanitary living conditions, shackles and chains, threats, physical pain and humiliation.”

Christian Science Monitor, 30 November 2006

A school with a progressive attitude to the veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last month Tony Blair said the veil row was part of a necessary debate about the way the Muslim community integrates into British society. He said the veil was a “mark of separation” which makes people feel uncomfortable. But Charlie Taylor, deputy head of Turton high school arts and media college, Bolton, does not share the politicians’ concerns. “I should know about face covering,” he laughs from behind a generous beard. “Communication is more than just facial expression; mostly you know whether pupils are taking something in from what they say and how they say it. We don’t see the veil as an issue here.”

For the past two or three years, a small but growing number of Turton’s female Muslim sixth formers have chosen to wear the niqab – which covers the face – and staff have chosen to respect their choice. These students are not retiring violets. Indeed, they are among the feistiest students in the sixth form. Like many young women who have taken up the niqab in the UK, they wear it proudly, an outward sign, they say, of their deep faith, and a statement of their cultural identity.

Turton, in the largely white, northern suburbs of Bolton, close to the Pennine foothills, is the last place one would expect to find students wearing the niqab, given that most schools in northern towns, even those with a largely Muslim intake, allow students to wear the hijab (the headscarf), but stop short of the veil. But Turton’s sixth form of 500 draws from diverse cultures, and John Porteous, the head, is proud of the mix: “I think, increasingly, Asian heritage students and particularly Muslim girls are attracted to the sixth form because they find it a sympathetic place to be.”

All of Turton’s upper sixth Muslim girls – whether veiled, headscarf wearers, or bare-headed – who agreed to speak to The TES regard themselves as fully integrated into British society. They also respect each other’s choice of dress, believing it expresses their differing piety. They were all taking A-levels and plan to study for careers ranging from optometry to politics. Their dress, they say, is about their faith and cultural identity, not about wanting to be separate.

TES, 1 December 2006

Fascists jump on ‘sharia law’ bandwagon

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The BNP says make no mistake: the spread of Sharia law into the urban badlands where police have lost control of the streets is the thin end of the wedge for first creating a parallel legal system for Muslims, who will then consider themselves above the law of the land, and then attempting to terrorise the rest of the country into accepting its imposition on them.”

BNP news article, 30 November 2006

Rally against the BNP in Barking and Dagenham

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) is calling a counter rally and protest against the fascist British National Party’s (BNP) rally in Central Park on Saturday 9 December. We need as many anti-fascists as possible to show opposition to the BNP. The BNP will be hoping that the acquittal of Nick Griffin and Mark Collett earlier in November will galvanise their activists. The BNP has 12 councillors in Barking and Dagenham.

Further details on UAF website.