A controversial University of Central Florida professor spoke before a full audience Tuesday night and warned that there is a “civilization jihad” being waged by Islamic fundamentalists on local, academic and political fronts.
“They’ll try to whitewash the crimes that Muslims have done,” said associate professor Jonathan Matusitz, speaking before an Act! Space Coast meeting of nearly 200 people in the Brevard County Commissioner’s meeting room in Viera.
The Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France reports that a man has been arrested following the appearance of anti-Muslim graffiti in the centre of Avignon during the night of 12-13 August. He is to be charged with incitement to racial hatred.
The CCIF notes that this follows an earlier graffiti attack in Orléans-la-Source during the night of 7-8 August. In that case the perpetrators got off with just a fine, to the indignation of the local community, who have lodged a complaint.
The CCIF adds that although the minister of the interior, Manuel Valls, has severely condemned such acts, which continue to multiply, this makes no difference to the situation that the Muslim community in France faces. They have been subject to series of cowardly and dangerous attacks which are repeated and intensified due to the inaction of political leaders.
The Huffington Post has a shocking account by Aissetou, a 16-year-old school student, who was attacked by racists in the western Parisian suburb of Trappes.
See also “French teen ‘attacked for wearing Muslim veil'”, The Local, 15 August 2013
As the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France points out, this is not the first time that a young Muslim woman has been attacked in Trappes.
The Boston Globe reports on the case of Iman Abdulrazzak, the young Muslim woman who was asked to remove her headscarf during a bar exam:
Marilyn Wellington, executive director of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Examiners, called the mix-up “very unfortunate” and said the board takes responsibility for the mistake.
She said the board may consider revising its rule requiring prior authorization for religious headwear. The rule was established to prevent people from concealing notes or other information that could be used to cheat on the exam, she said, not to inhibit religious practice.
The First Amendment is one of the most cherished hallmarks of America. There is no other nation on earth that has such a robust right for citizens to articulate their thoughts – including scientific discourse, the ability to challenge the government, and even expressions of hatred and bigotry.
Eastern Michigan University recently hosted a debate on Islam in which an anti-Muslim critic named Robert Spencer was the key participant. People ranging from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to prominent rabbis have criticized anti-Muslim intolerance spewed by Spencer and his affiliate organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative.
I believe that Spencer has the fundamental right to speak hatefully about fellow Americans. I also know that people of goodwill have the right not to engage him in his rhetoric. Moreover, we have the right to challenge his bigotry by not granting him dignified platforms.
Passivity in the face of hate speech has cumulative consequences. Words matter, and discrimination is inspired by those who have loud voices that repeat sweeping false generalizations and stereotypes.
Dawud Walid of CAIR writes at the Detroit News blog, 13 August 2013
See also “Debaters at EMU spar over whether Islam promotes violence”, Detroit News, 10 August 2013
And “Islam debate held on EMU campus”, Eastern Echo, 13 August 2013
A French Muslim leader has condemned the “climate of Islamophobia” in France after a soldier was arrested for planning a terrorist attack on a mosque. Citing figures that racist attacks had risen by 60 per cent, he accused the government of inaction.
Mosque rector Kamel Kabtane addressed over 100 supporters gathered outside the El Forkane mosque in the Venissieux suburb of Lyon on Monday. He condemned the arrest of a 23-year-old sergeant who was taken into custody suspected of planning a terrorist attack on the mosque as evidence of increasing hostility towards French Muslims.
The officer was detained at Mont Verdan airbase last Wednesday for being “possession of ammunition linked to a terrorist enterprise” against a place of worship.
“The fact that a soldier has been arrested for a terrorist plot shows a climate of Islamophobia reigns in France today, we cannot deny it,” Kabtane told supporters. He stressed that the presence of a “black sheep” in the army was evidence the institution had been “infected” by the extreme right. “Muslims are afraid, veiled women don’t dare leave the house,” said Kabtane, comparing the current racial tension to the anti-Semitism of the 1930s.
Prejudice based on their religious clothing and faith is creating extra barriers for workers in the UK, Huma Qureshi reports.
The EDL has called a number of regional demonstrations across the country this weekend, with the obvious hope of building for a big turnout in Tower Hamlets next month. They plan to march in Edinburgh, Hull, and Portsmouth this Saturday, 17th August. Local UAF groups are mobilising with broad forces to ensure that there is an anti-fascist/anti-racist presence in these areas on the day.
In Edinburgh we are urging activists from across Scotland to stop the SDL from marching upon the annual Edinburgh Festival. This is a clear affront to the multicultural and diverse nature of the festival and must be resisted!
Below are assembly details for each protest:
Edinburgh:
Oppose the SDL march through the heart of Edinburgh during the festival.
Saturday 17 August
Assemble 12pm
Chambers Street, Edinburgh city centre. Scotland-wide mobilisation.
Hull:
Saturday 17 August
Assemble 11am
Pearson Park Mosque, (corner of Park Road & Pearson Park). Supported by Hull TUC.
Portsmouth:
Saturday 17 August
Assemble 12pm
Meet at the Fountain, Commercial Road, Portsmouth.
Members of a Houston mosque were outraged last week when a local shopping center posted signs with the slogan “No Muslim parking.”
The “No Muslim parking” signs were reportedly posted on Thursday morning throughout the area shared by Houston’s El Farouq Mosque and the Westview Shopping Center, a local strip mall, television station KPRC reports.
Each sign was emblazoned with the following message: “No Muslim parking in the Westview Shopping Center. Your car will be towed.” The signs were so offensive that they were taken down by Thursday afternoon.
On September 22, Ticino will become the first Swiss canton to hold a referendum on banning face-covering headgear in public places. Political commentators say the initiative has good chances of being accepted.
Burkas, full-body cloaks worn by some Muslim women, especially in Afghanistan, are few and far between in the Italian-speaking canton in southern Switzerland. According to official estimates, only about 100 women in Switzerland wear them.
“Hand on heart: who has ever seen a burka in Switzerland?” began an editorial in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung in 2010, after canton Aargau tried to get a nationwide ban on burkas in public places (thrown out by the federal parliament two years later). “You might see a few Arab tourists coming out of expensive boutiques in Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse or Geneva’s Rue du Stand – but out in the sticks?”
The Ticino initiative does not explicitly target Muslims – the phrasing to be voted on is “nobody in public streets or squares may veil or hide their face” – but in practice it means women in burkas. The law would apply to burkas and niqabs, Arabic face coverings with a slit for the eyes often worn as part of a full-body covering, but not to headscarves.
Until now, burka bans haven’t stood a chance in Switzerland. Yet pundits believe Ticino could write history and become the first canton to introduce a ban on all face coverings – similar to the controversial one already in force in France – into the cantonal constitution.