Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

The Danish and Iranian cartoon controversies

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In an article on US-Iranian relations Haroon Siddiqui takes up the antisemitic cartoon contest in Iran:

“Conspicuous by their silence in all this are those who during the Danish cartoon controversy had mounted a noisy defence of the right to offend. They are neither lining up to reprint the cartoons from Tehran nor are they criticizing the exhibit. It is a predicament of their own making. If they condemn the show, as they should, they’ll open themselves to accusations of double standards, namely, that their defence of freedom of speech last spring was meant only to protect their right to malign Muslims and Islam.

“But anti-Islamic prejudice alone does not explain the West’s conflicting emotions. Some people do believe freedom of speech is absolute. But it is not. It is constrained by the laws of libel and hate. It must be balanced against the right to freedom of religion. It is subject to self-restraint, dictated by our evolving understanding of what is and is not acceptable. The Danish and Iranian cartoon controversies have added another element to this complex equation. The global village demands of us a broadened outlook, one that avoids needless needling across all religious divides in these troubled times.”

Toronto Star, 3 September 2006

Robert Fisk at the Chicago Muslim convention

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Daniel Pipes is a bête noire, as is Steven Emerson, a freelance journalist who grinds out article after article about the ‘American jihad’ for such august papers as The Wall Street Journal, which, by the way, more and more reads like The Jerusalem Post. Emerson and his work are taken apart by al-Marati and his colleagues in a widely circulated booklet entitled Counterproductive Terrorism: How Anti-Islamic Rhetoric is Impeding America’s Homeland Security. ‘Those representing pro-Israeli groups continue to intimidate and marginalise those who are critical of Israeli policies by claiming this is pro-terrorism’, al-Marati says with a mixture of anger and weariness. ‘This is to the detriment of America, to the detriment of countering terrorism’.”‘

Robert Fisk speaks to Salam al-Marati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, at the Chicago Muslim convention.

Independent on Sunday, 3 September 2006

US Muslims face growing suspicion

Posted on by Bob Pitt

American Muslims have blamed politicians and the media for the US public’s increasing hatred and fear of Islam in the five years since the September 11 attacks.

“The trends of Islamophobia unfortunately are worsening,” Abdul Malik Mujahid, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organisations of Greater Chicago, said at the start on the annual meeting of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) on Friday. “During the last five years the Muslim community has been scrutinized by almost all branches of the government and the media to the extent that more than half a million Muslims have been directly touched by this process.”

“They continue to face dehumanization and a great trend of Islamophobia,” Mujahid said. Mujahid cited George Bush’s recent remark that if terrorism is not beaten in Baghdad then Americans will have to fight it in their own streets as a remark that casts suspicions on Muslims in their own country.

Al-Jazeera, 1 September 2006

‘This prejudice is forcing me to leave Britain’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Ever since the London bombings I have been more and more disquieted by the attitude of so many people towards the Asian community, in particular the Muslim section. The fact that there are few visible differences to most people between a Hindu, Sikh or Muslim has meant that everyone in this community is now suffering from increased, negative, racially motivated attention.

“Finally I have come to the conclusion that for most liberally minded British Asians like myself, the answer is to get out. I am weary of prolonged searches at airports, ferry ports and the like. My last encounter at the Eurostar terminal in Paris involved being asked: ‘What is the purpose of your visit to the UK?’ Bearing in mind that I have a UK passport which shows my place of birth as Glasgow, I was puzzled by this question.”

Nadeem Butt in the Independent, 1 September 2006

‘Islam-phobia’ abounds in post 9/11 America

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Nearly a third of Muslims in the United States are Black. However, ‘Islam-phobia’ – negative images and buzz words that produce stereotyping, physical and verbal attacks, and racial profiling of Muslims of color, including Muslims of African descent – has exploded in this country since the events of September 11, 2001.”

Charles Hallman reports on a panel discussion on media perceptions and misperceptions on Islam during the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention in Indianapolis earlier this month.

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, 30 August 2006

Muslim Miss England accuses Blair

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The country’s first Muslim Miss England has accused Tony Blair of fuelling hostility towards Islam in the wake of the London bombings. Hammasa Kohistani, 19, said the attacks of July 7 last year had in some ways brought communities together, as people from many different backgrounds were killed. But statements from the Government in the year since the bombings had created “negative stereotypes” of Muslims, she said.

Press Association, 31 August 2006

Western Union blocks Muslims’ transfer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Western Union, a global money transfer agency, has delayed or blocked thousands of cash deliveries by American Muslims on suspicion of terrorist connections simply because senders or recipients have names like Mohammed or Ahmed, drawing rebuke from the community as a yet another form of identity harassment.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights advocacy in the US, insisted that the department has the right to fight terrorism, but not over Arab and Muslim Americans rights.

“A comprehensive policy has to be implemented by the Treasury Department to ensure accuracy in efforts to fight terrorism and stop funneling of money to terrorists,” Husam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR Los Angeles chapter, told IOL.

“But at the same time, those Americans who have not committed any wrongdoing must be able to transfer money without any problems or delays,” he stressed.

Ayloush said CAIR’s national office has met with Western Union to eliminate errors and ensure innocent individuals are able to transfer money without any fears or obstacles.

“We also urged Western Union to change its forms to include the first name, last name and middle initial of the sender and the recipient to help reduce false positives that could delay money transfers otherwise,” he added.

“CAIR also filed an FOIA request with the Treasury Department to become aware of what procedures are used to put the list together.”

Iman al-Asyouti believes these regulations seem like an accusation for every single Muslim American. “It means that they [the government] treat us as terrorists until we could prove the opposite,” she said. “It seems like a joke to me and I still can’t believe that things like this are happening here, in America,” she fumed.

Islam Online, 30 August 2006

Fascism is new buzz word among Republicans

Posted on by Bob Pitt

President Bush in recent days has recast the global war on terror into a “war against Islamic fascism”. Fascism, in fact, seems to be the new buzz word for Republicans in an election season dominated by an unpopular war in Iraq.

Bush used the term earlier this month in talking about the arrest of suspected terrorists in Britain, and spoke of “Islamic fascists” in a later speech in Green Bay, Wis. Spokesman Tony Snow has used variations on the phrase at White House press briefings. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., in a tough re-election fight, drew parallels on Monday between World War II and the current war against ‘‘Islamic fascism,” saying they both require fighting a common foe in multiple countries. It’s a phrase Santorum has been using for months. And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday took it a step further in a speech to an American Legion convention in Salt Lake City, accusing critics of the administration’s Iraq and anti-terrorism policies of trying to appease “a new type of fascism”.

The White House on Wednesday announced Bush would elaborate on this theme in a series of speeches beginning Thursday at the American Legion convention in Salt Lake City and running through his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 19. “The key is that all of this violence and all of the threats are part of one single ideological struggle, a struggle between the forces of freedom and moderation, and the forces of tyranny and extremism”, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters traveling with Bush aboard Air Force One.

Conservative commentators have long talked about “Islamo-fascism”, and Bush’s phrase was a slightly toned-down variation on that theme.

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‘Islamophobia and anti-semitism are much alike’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said Islamophobia, which has been fueled by the Sept. 11 attacks in the West, is similar to the anti-Semitism movement seen in 1930s. Ihsanoglu said, “I do not think the current situation is good for either the West or for the Islamic world. The two civilizations should cooperate because hostility against the West increases parallel to the rise of Islamophobia.”

Zaman, 30 August 2006