Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Religious leaders denounce Robertson comments

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Religious leaders, left-leaning political activists and victims of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York joined Wednesday (May 4) to denounce recent comments Pat Robertson made about the escalating battle over the federal judiciary.

MoveOnPAC, a progressive group that provides financial backing to congressional candidates, said it’s launching a TV ad campaign repudiating the religious broadcaster’s Sunday (May 1) comments on ABC’s “This Week.”

Robertson, who had a brief 1988 GOP presidential bid, told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos that federal jurists were a more serious threat to America than “a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings” and that Muslims were unfit to hold federal judgeships.

“And they have said in the Quran there’s a war against all infidels,” Robertson said. “Do you want somebody like that sitting as a judge? I wouldn’t.”

Religion News Servide, 4 May 2005

The making of the Arab menace

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Anti-Arabism and Islamophobia are so much a part of the political and cultural discourse on Arabs and Muslims in American society today that most do not even recognize it as racism. The fear mongering of the Bush administration and the right wing media pundits who make a living from demonizing Arabs and Muslims have inundated people with images of the violent Arabs bent on death and destruction. For media outlets like Fox Television, it is a way to sell their sensationalist news programs and for the current administration, a way to sell its wars.”

Excellent article by Rayan El-Amine from Left Turn, 28 April 2005

Has the additional merit of really pissing off Robert Spencer. See Dhimmi Watch, 3 May 2005

Pat Robertson: No Muslim judges

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Evangelist Pat Robertson is in trouble with U.S. Islamic organizations for saying Muslims should not serve in the president’s Cabinet or as judges. In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” Sunday, Robertson, who ran for president in 1988, said if were elected he would not appoint Muslims to his Cabinet and that he was not in favor of Muslims serving as judges. “They have said in the Quran there’s a war against all the infidels,” Robertson said. “Do you want somebody like that sitting as a judge? I wouldn’t.”

World Net Daily, 3 May 2005

See also “CAIR calls on leaders to repudiate evangelist’s remarks”, CAIR press release, 2 May 2005

Muslims protest over terror laws

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hundreds of Muslims have taken part in marches through London and Blackburn to protest anti-terror legislation.

Saturday’s protests were organised by more than 50 Islamic organisations including Stop Political Terror and the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

Dr Adnan Siddiqui, an organiser of the London march, said: “This demonstration sends a clear message against the climate of fear that has been created.”

The Blackburn protest was aimed at the local MP, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

BBC News, 30 April 2005

See also IHRC press release, 30 April 2005 and Islam Online, 30 April 2005

Arab Americans sue Denny’s for discrimination

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Seven men of Middle Eastern descent have sued a Denny’s restaurant franchisee and one of its managers for $28 million, saying they were kicked out because of their ancestry and compared to Osama Bin Laden.

The men, who are all U.S. citizens, are seeking $4 million each from Restaurant Collection Inc., which owns the Denny’s franchise in South Florida, and shift manager Eduardo Ascano, whom they say compared them to the al Qaeda terrorist leader.

“This was a terrible act against Arab Americans,” Alan C. Kauffman, one of the attorneys for the group, said Wednesday.

The seven men are of Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian descent and include a doctor, a real estate agent, an insurance broker and a restaurant owner. They live in Broward and Palm Beach counties. They filed suit last week in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court. No trial date has been set.

Associated Press, 28 April 2005

See also Palm Beach Post, 28 April 2005

US conference on Islam sheds light on dialogue

Posted on by Bob Pitt

For two days, an international conference on Islam opens Friday, April 29, in Madison, the United States, with an objective of clearing stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam, highlighting the merciful Islamic tenets and enhancing dialogue and understanding among the different faiths.

Under the theme “Islam and Dialogue”, the International Conference on Islam, held on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, brings together a cohort of senior academics, scholars and researchers from a number of leading US universities to discuss means of consolidating intercultural understanding and shedding more light on the aspects of Islam in American society.

“We need more intercultural, interfaith understanding. In our society we do lack knowledge about Islam and different aspects of it,” said Mustafa Gokcek, a UW-Madison graduate student and one of the conference’s organizers, The Capital Times reported.

Gokcek stressed that one of main goals of the two-day international conference is to show the diversity of the Muslim world and the Islamic cultures. “We tend to see a monolithic Islamic world. People mostly hear about Islam through terrorist events and suicide bombings,” he stressed.

Participants in the international event include professors and scholars from leading US universities such as UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, Harvard, Notre Dame, Marquette, Emory, Northwestern, Boston College, Syracuse, Georgetown and Columbia.

Islam Online, 29 April 2005

Official policy behind anti-Muslim cyber racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The spiraling rate of cyber-racism against Dutch Muslims is the direct result of policies adopted by the government and politicians against the Muslim minority in the country, said a Muslim activist.

“What else would you expect in a country whose rulers ignite hatred and discrimination both directly and indirectly?” asked Abdel-Rahim Kajouane, the director of the multicultural forum center in The Hague. “The policies sponsored by the Dutch government and politicians against Dutch Muslims, especially over the past few years, largely contributed to mounting discrimination,” he told IslamOnline.net.

The recent report by the Dutch monitoring center on racism and xenophobia indicated that incidents of cyber racism against ethnic minorities in the Netherlands went up to 1800 in 2004 from only 1300 in 2003. The report, released on Monday, April 25, said that Dutch Muslim bore the brunt of cyber racism, which spiraled to 409 incidents last year from 231 in 2003.

It maintained that the killing of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, blamed on a Muslim extremist, contributed to fueling racist attacks against the Muslim minority in the country. Van Gogh was widely known for his criticism of Islam and caused an uproar with his short film “Submission” about Islam and women. Dutch Muslims, who expressed disgust and outrage at the hatred-inciting 11-minute clip, swiftly condemned the killing of the filmmaker.

Kajouane, of Moroccan origin, accused several ministers and leading politicians of propagating discrimination through the media. “They are practicing discrimination by giving racist remarks and mobilizing citizens against certain “ethnic” groups,” he added.

This, said the activist, is being done as part of the government’s campaign against “radicalism and extremism,” for which the state allocated 900 million euros. Last January, Dutch authorities adopted new security measures to prevent Muslims from joining courses of diving, aviation, throwing and shooting under claims of “terror-combat”.

Kajouane warned that such government policies would undermine tolerance in the country. He further urged the Dutch politicians to avoid racist remarks against ethnic minorities in the country.

Islam Online, 28 April 2005

Jailed candidate begins campaign

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Vote BabarAn alleged terror suspect yesterday launched his bid to become an MP from within the walls of Belmarsh high security prison. Babar Ahmad is fighting an attempt by the US government to extradite him to face charges that he raised money over the internet to support terrorism in Chechnya and Afghanistan.

The former IT worker, 30, is standing in the London seat of Brent North for Peace and Progress, the human rights party founded by the actors Corin and Vanessa Redgrave. His election literature calls for a tightening of extradition rules and an end to “police brutality and torture”.

At a press conference to launch Mr Ahmad’s campaign, Mr Redgrave said: “Electing Babar would be the most powerful message on human rights and justice that could be given. Just let the Americans try to say that an elected MP should be extradited.”

Guardian, 27 April 2005

For the Free Babar Ahmad website, see here.

American border secrets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“What steps should Western border agencies take to defend their homelands from harm by Islamists? In the case of non-citizens, the answer is simple: Don’t let Islamists in. Exclude not just potential terrorists but also anyone who supports the totalitarian goals of radical Islam. Just as civilized countries did not welcome fascists in the early 1940s (or communists a decade later), they need not welcome Islamists today.

“But what about one’s own citizens who cross the border? They could be leaving to fight for the Taliban or returning from a course on terrorism techniques. Or perhaps they studied with enemies of the West who incited them to sabotage or sedition….. America finds itself at war with radical Islam not just in Afghanistan but in Buffalo, Boston, Boca Raton, and Baltimore. Controlling the border flow, therefore, has paramount importance.”

Daniel Pipes, the man who applauded the exclusion of Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) and Tariq Ramadan from the US, outlines his philosophy on border controls.

New York Sun, 26 April 2005

Fortunately, other US commentators take a different view of the suppression of Muslims’ civil liberties. See “Muslims’ lawsuit upholds liberties for all”, CAIR news brief, 26 April 2005

Or, for favourable coverage of democratic reformer Khaled Abou El Fadl, see “Are Islam and democracy compatible?”, CAIR news brief, 25 April 2005

Khaled Abou El Fadl has, of course, been denounced by Daniel Pipes as a “stealth Islamist” and is presumably exactly the sort of US citizen who deserves to suffer harassment when crossing the US border.

Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2004