Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Tancredo: scrap ‘Muslim symbol’ at 9/11 site

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A congressman is asking the US government to reconsider the crescent-shaped design of the memorial to those aboard a plane hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, because some may think it honors the terrorists. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Republican, says the design, called “Crescent of Embrace”, could invite “controversy and criticism”. In a letter sent Tuesday to National Park Service Director Fran Mainella, Tancredo said many have questioned the shape “because of the crescent’s prominent use as a symbol in Islam – and the fact that the hijackers were radical Islamists”. In July, Tancredo angered Muslims and others by suggesting on a radio program that the United States could “take out” Muslim holy sites if Islamic terrorists attacked the U.S. with nuclear bombs.

Salt Lake Tribune, 14 September 2005

For CAIR’s response, see here.

Liberal Islamophobia panders to racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Why is it that a significant section of liberal and left-leaning opinion has signed up with such relish to the ‘clash of civilisations’ argument? Its champions in the media may not phrase it as such, but you can hear the creak of the drawbridge being pulled up: they believe they are surrounded by enemies – Muslims and their dastardly non-Muslim apologists – and must defend to the last man the checklist of universal Enlightenment values that sustain their mission. Their most ferocious firepower is directed at former allies on the left whom they regard as yet to see the light.”

Madeleine Bunting takes on Nick Cohen et al in the Guardian, 12 September 2005

Over at Nick Cohen’s favourite blog, Marcus complains: “She fails to mention that the ‘thorn in the side of the muscular liberals’ as she approvingly describes al-Qaradawi incited the murder of a gay person because of his sexuality as recently as last month according to gay rights group Outrage. ‘The scholars of Islam, such as Malik, Ash-Shafi`i, Ahmad and Ishaaq said that (the person guilty of this crime) should be stoned.”

Harry’s Place, 12 September 2005

Meanwhile, the obscure “Aljazeera” magazine that was the source of this fairytale has removed the report from their website, GALHA have withdrawn their press release based on the “Aljazeera” story – but Outrage and Harry’s Place continue repeating the slander unencumbered by any concern for the facts.

McGuinty government rules out use of sharia law

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Seeking to end months of debate, Premier Dalton McGuinty now says ‘there will be no sharia law in Ontario’ – an announcement that should quell a growing public-relations crisis concerning the use of Islamic law, but which also exposes Queen’s Park to attacks from other religions. Following widespread condemnation of a plan that would formally allow the tenets of sharia to be used in resolving family disputes, the Premier said he’ll make the boundaries between church and state clearer by banning faith-based arbitrations…. Many moderate Muslims say they are overjoyed by the Premier’s announcement. ‘I’m so happy today. It’s a victory for the women’s rights movement’, said Homa Arjomand, an Iranian immigrant who has launched a campaign to stop sharia in Ontario.”

Globe & Mail, 12 September 2005

Homa Arjomand a “moderate Muslim”! But that is of course how she has dishonestly presented herself in the course of her inflammatory campaign.

Robert Spencer, too, is dead chuffed at this “hard-won victory for human rights”, although he thinks the ban should be restricted to Islamic arbitration.

Dhimmi Watch, 12 September 2005

For Yusuf Smith’s response to Spencer, see Indigo Jo Blogs, 12 September 2005

Bush ‘promoted West-Muslim clash’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

George Bush and the “right-wing neo-con establishment” have promoted a “clash of civilisations” between Muslims and the West, Ken Livingstone has said. The London mayor made the remarks at a TUC fringe meeting in which he called for vigilance against a growing threat from the British National Party. He warned that if certain ideas were allowed to grow in a society, such as that a clash of civilisations was inevitable, then groups such as the BNP were able to exploit the situation.

BBC News, 12 September 2005

Australian Muslims condemn terror, anti-Islam hysteria

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Australian Muslims condemned on Sunday, September 11, terrorist attacks against civilians and pledged loyalty to the country, while accusing new anti-terror measures of fueling anti-Muslim hysteria.

“These were warriors from an Islamic background that hijacked Islam,” Keysar Trad, the president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, told the National Security and Harmony Summit in Sydney University Sunday, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).

“They hijacked our lifestyle and our freedoms. And the spin machine of Western governments is exploiting these hijackers of Islam, these murderers.”

Australian Muslim leaders gathering for the meeting observed a minute of silence to remember the victims of 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, which claimed almost 3,000 lives.

Islam Online, 11 September 2005

See also ABC News, 11 September 2005

Double standards against Muslims and Islam in Canada

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The polemic on the possible introduction of the so-called sharia law in Ontario … highlights the double standards against Muslims and Islam. It exposes the polarizing methodologies of our media. It tests the Dalton McGuinty government’s commitment to the core liberal-democratic principle of the equality of all citizens. The dominant theme of the news coverage is clear: Medieval Muslims want to import the misogynistic Islamic penal code to Canada. And Queen’s Park is crazy to even consider it. There are sub-themes: Muslims have been plotting for long to supplant our secular laws with Allah’s. They are using multiculturalism to undermine it. Why would we let them, given what they do to women in Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, etc.?”

Haroon Siddiqui in the Toronto Star, 11 September 2005

Siddiqui asks: “why are journalists drawn to the same handful of critics? … Is it that the critics are media savvy? If so, it only confirms our vulnerability to manipulation. Or, is it that the critics are saying what the journalists want to hear? It seems so. Is it an accident that the only Muslims the media idolize are those who attack Islam or the broader Muslim community?”

Of course, some of the most prominent “Muslim” opponents of the Ontario proposal, who have been boosted by the Canadian media, are not Muslims at all, but members of the Islamophobic sect, the Worker Communist Party of Iran.

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