Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

US Muslims reject Bush term ‘Islamic fascists’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

US Muslim groups criticized President George W. Bush on Thursday for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a “war with Islamic fascists,” saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions.

“We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counter-productive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group.

“We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims,” he told a news conference in Washington.”We urge him (Bush) and we urge other public officials to restrain themselves.”

Reuters, 10 August 2006

British Muslims react to alleged terror plot

Posted on by Bob Pitt

British Muslims reacted with a mixture of concern and defensiveness to the latest terror alert and arrests. Raw memories of the Forest Gate fiasco and last year’s Stockwell shooting tempered their response. Sir Iqbal Sacranie, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “We applaud the action of the police in taking appropriate action to avert a tragedy but what is really required now is to be aware of the appropriate facts on which their action was taken. There is a danger of stigmatising a whole community. We should not allow certain sections of the media and politicians to use the opportunity to carry out a diatribe against us. We need to know the facts.”

Guardian, 11 August 2006

CAIR on LGF

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights organization often vilified on Johnson’s blog, calls Little Green Footballs “a vicious, anti-Muslim hate site … that has unfortunately become popular.” The irony, Hooper says, is that if the same kind of “hatred” that appears on LGF appeared on Muslim sites, it soon would be used by LGF’s fans to justify their worldview.

Like many politically themed blogs, Little Green Footballs doesn’t always traffic in subtlety and nuance. Dissenting points of view often are dismissed as “idiotarian” or “LLL” (for “loony liberal left”), and Islam is mockingly referred to as “RoP,” meaning “religion of peace.”

Hooper says the Reuters incident is unfortunate in itself, but says such sites as Little Green Footballs use such lapses “as a club against the entire mainstream media. Their line is basically that if one freelance photographer alters a photo, then everything Israel does must be justified. Or if one of the sentences that Dan Rather once uttered wasn’t correct, then the media is corrupt and Dan Rather’s whole career is rotten to the core.”

The FBI, according to Hooper, recently investigated several threats of physical harm against Muslims posted by Little Green Footballs readers.

Washington Post, 9 August 2006

Most Muslims are not separatists or extremists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Channel 4’s Dispatches survey has contributed nothing to the ongoing tense, contorted debate over identity and belonging. It is part of a currently fashionable trend to scrutinise Muslims and place every aspect of their lives under the spotlight, lest they may realize their inherent potential for extremism and violence. While they use every twist of the English language to assert their tolerance of difference, those who have succumbed to this trend can only be called arrogant, authoritarian, prejudiced and islamophobic. Why else would they regard the frequenting of a mosque, or wearing of a headscarf, as the marks of a separatist and would-be extremist?”

Soumaya Ghannoushi responds to the Dispatches documentary “What Muslims Want“.

Comment is Free, 10 August 2006

Police need to tackle ‘institutional Islamophobia’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Police Service risked further alienating young British Muslims unless more was done to tackle “institutional Islamophobia” in its ranks say Islamic groups spokespersons. The comments came after Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, called for an independent judicial inquiry into the radicalisation of young Muslims in the wake of the July 7 London bombings.

Massoud Shadjareh, chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: “It has been clear for a very long time that there is an institutional Islamophobia in the implementation of stop and search. We need to get rid of a culture that exists – unfortunately it exists in our society as a whole, but it is much more damaging when mixed with the powers the police have.”

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, added, “Almost every Muslim family seems to know of someone, somewhere in the UK who has been stopped and searched for no reason other than the way they look or dress.”

Asian Image, 10 August 2006

Meanwhile, in a letter to the Times, a fellow copper takes issue with Tarique Ghaffur: “All police officers who have the task of policing the streets will be unimpressed that a senior officer is supplying ammunition to disaffected individuals, who will moan about police actions. It is hard enough to do your job without being undermined by your own senior management. We should try and keep Muslim communities on board, but we cannot change the profile of the current terrorist threat and adopt different ‘softly softly’ tactics. We would appear as a service unable to do our job because of being scared of offending Muslim communities. The bottom line is that the terrorist threat is from the Muslim world.”

Times, 10 August 2006

British Jews go to fight jihad for Israel

Posted on by Bob Pitt

osama saeed 2“I’d hate to witness the fallout if a British Muslim was caught fighting for Hizbullah just now. However, the Times carries a report of a British Jew who has gone over to fight for Israel – and the paper actually glorifies it. No questions about killing civilians here, never mind split loyalties.”

Osama Saeed exposes double standards over the Middle East.

Rolled Up Trousers, 9 August 2006

See “British volunteers answer army’s call”, Times, 7 August 2006

I recall the Mayor of London making a similar point just over a year ago. “If a young Jewish boy in this country goes and joins the Israeli army, and ends up killing many Palestinians in operations and can come back, that is wholly legitimate”, he was quoted as saying. “But for a young Muslim boy in this country, who might think: I want to defend my Palestinian brothers and sisters and gets involved, he is branded as a terrorist.”

For this the Mayor was denounced by Jon Benjamin, director general of the Board of Deputies, as “a lackey of the Muslim agenda” in Britain. See YNetNews, 19 July 2005

Pipes on ‘Sudden Jihad Syndrome’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Mr Haq’s actions are a clear instance of ‘Sudden Jihad Syndrome’, whereby normal-appearing Muslims unpredictably become violent. His attack confirms my oft-repeated call for special scrutiny of Muslims. Because the identity of the next homicidal jihadi cannot be anticipated, Muslims generally need to come under heightened observation.”

Daniel Pipes draws the lessons from the July 28 shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

New York Sun, 8 August 2006

Update:  For Yusuf Smith’s comments, see Indigo Jo Blogs, 10 August 2006

Confronting the monolith: the struggle against Islamophobia and Osamaism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Some have argued that Islamophobia confuses criticism of Islamic practices with fear, hate, or prejudice of Muslims. This begs the question: what makes these particular practices ‘Islamic’ and, more importantly, who gets to decide – and how? …. One can be a legitimate critic of Islam in the same way one can also be a critic of Hinduism, Judaism, Shinto, the Bahá’í Faith, Christianity, Buddhism, or any other organized religion; however, when one conflates the aggressive behavior and beliefs of a group of far right-wing individuals that claim to follow the teachings of their religion with the behavior and beliefs of every other individual that practices that same religion, this person cannot, in good faith, be considered a legitimate critic of Islam…. The trouble with those mired in the conflation-prone school of criticism is that they are unable to differentiate between Osamaism and Islam. While some inadvertently confuse the two, others conflate them purposely. In either case, the monolith is erected and we are confronted with Islamophobia.”

Jehanzeb Hasan at Media Monitors Network, 7 August 2006

Anti-terror laws alienate Muslims, says top policeman

Posted on by Bob Pitt

tarique ghaffurOne of Britain’s top police officers will today warn that anti-terrorism laws are discriminating against Muslims and law enforcement agencies are running a “real risk” of criminalising ethnic minorities.

Tarique Ghaffur, assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan police, will also call for “an independent judicial review” of why some young British Muslims turn to extremism. He warns that more work is needed to stop the “flight, fright or separation” of British Muslim communities after the July 7 2005 bombings in London.

Mr Ghaffur, Britain’s highest-ranking Muslim police officer, will today address a National Black Police Association conference in Manchester and tell how racism has blighted his own career. Since the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States, western countries have toughened counter-terrorism laws. Mr Ghaffur will say:

“Not only has anti-terrorism and security legislation been tightened across many European countries with the effect of indirectly discriminating against Muslims, but other equally unwanted practices have also emerged, including ‘passenger profiling’ as well as increased stop and search and arrest under terrorism legislation.”

In Britain, people of Asian appearance have borne the brunt of increased stopping and searching. Police have said the practice is “intelligence-led”, but Mr Ghaffur appears to cast doubt on this repeated defence: “These practices tend to be based more on physical appearance than being intelligence-led.”

Guardian, 7 August 2006