Texas: Ahmadiyya mosque excluded from July 4 parade

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bait-ul-Muqeet Mosque bannerSpectators who lined the July 4 route through downtown were treated to a wide variety of sights and sounds, among the approximately 110 entrants in Round Rock Sertoma Club’s annual Independence Day parade.

They saw soldiers in uniform, combat veterans on motorcycles and roller derby women on skates.

They saw kids on bicycles and on horseback, Star Wars characters and men driving vintage cars.

They saw floats full of Republicans, Democrats and Vacation Bible Schoolers. They saw tumbling gymnasts, beauty queens in their tiaras and a high school marching band – plus Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, martial artists, Masons and the Knights of Columbus.

They saw Maggie Moo and Uncle Sam.

What they did not see, however, was an entry from Bait-ul-Muqeet Mosque. Representatives from the Deepwood Drive house of worship had their parade application denied, with a Sertoma Club organizer citing what he called “safety reasons.”

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Another Muslim-bashing story from the Mail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Teachers ‘denied schoolboy, 10, water on the hottest day of the year to avoid upsetting Muslim pupils during Ramadan'” – that’s the headline to a report in yesterday’s Daily Mail. The story, which is of course just the latest episode in the “Islamisation of the West” narrative promoted by the right-wing press, was also taken up by the Daily Express (“Teachers deny water to schoolboy, 10, on the hottest day of the year”).

Coverage was not restricted to right-wing newspapers. The story appeared in the Daily Mirror (“Mum claims son was REFUSED water at school in heatwave as it was ‘unfair’ on fasting Muslim classmates”) and also featured in the National Secular Society‘s daily media round-up (“Schoolboy forced to observe Ramadan fast – even though he isn’t a Muslim”).

It provoked the usual frothing at the mouth from the likes of Pamela Geller (“This speaks to the supremacism of Islam”) and Robert Spencer (“Easy to see which group is in charge in Britain”), along with the British National Party (“What kind of loony left teacher can actually think it is right to deny a child a drink of water on one of the hottest days of the year. She can only face the sack”).

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Polish parliament rejects ritual animal slaughter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Poland’s parliament on Friday rejected the ritual slaughter of livestock for food, angering the Jewish community as well as farmers and exporters of meat towards Israel and Muslim countries. Lawmakers struck down a government bill that would have reinstated the practice – a key tenet of the Jewish and Muslim faiths – with a vote of 222 against, 178 in favour and nine abstentions.

Ritual slaughter has been banned in Poland since January 1 after a Constitutional Court deemed it incompatible with animal rights law. Supporters of the practice had pegged their hopes on the bill, whose rejection the European Jewish Congress said it “strongly condemns”.

Poland’s chief rabbi Michael Schudrich meanwhile said the result “was a shock to us” in a joint statement with Piotr Kadlcik, president of the Union of Jewish Communities of Poland. “It directly infringes on the basic rights of the country’s Jewish and Muslim populations, which will henceforth be forced to either buy more expensive imported meat, or endorse an enforced vegetarianism.”

AFP, 12 July 2013

EDL thugs must be prosecuted for threats to journalist – NUJ

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Sarah Ann Marsall smear

Members of the English Defence League have been strongly condemned for harassment and threats of violence targeted at a young reporter.

Sarah Marshall, a trainee reporter on the Doncaster Free Press, was threatened on the Casuals United website, over an incident at an EDL rally in Sheffield six weeks ago. The website has a picture of her and the threat: “If Miss Marshall is not dealt with we will be outside Doncaster Free Press until she is.” The site gave contact details of the Doncaster Free Press.

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Police investigate suspected ‘nail bomb’ outside Tipton mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tipton policePolice have sealed off an area around a West Midland mosque and evacuated local residents after a loud bang was heard. No injuries have been reported but officers say they have closed off the area around Binfield Street as a precaution.

Eyewitnesses at the scene claim a bomb went off in the car park of the mosque at 1.15pm. Some residents have reported finding debris in the area – including nails. This is being investigated by forensic officers at the scene.

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Manic Street Preachers take legal action against EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Manic Street Preachers are taking legal action against the English Defence League for using their song ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’ to promote an upcoming demonstration in Birmingham.

Ironically, the song – taken from the band’s 1998 album ‘This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours’ – took its name from an anti-fascist slogan used during the Spanish Civil War and has now been used by the far-right group in a video about one of their demos. The song famously features the lyric: “So if I can shoot rabbits/Then I can shoot fascists”.

Michael Wongsam, the Chair of West Midlands Unite Against Fascism said in a statement: “We are appalled to discover that the racist and fascist English Defence League has used the anti-fascist song ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’ by the band the Manic Street Preachers…This song takes its title from an anti-fascist slogan used during the Spanish Civil War where anti-racists and anti-fascists from all over Europe tried to stop Franco’s fascists from taking over the country.”

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Footballer jailed over anti-Muslim tweets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shaun Tuck (2)Merseyside footballer Shaun Tuck was jailed after sending a string of anti-Muslim tweets in the wake of the Woolwich murder of Drummer Lee Rigby.

Tuck, 26, a former Marine FC striker who now plays for Witton Albion, in Northwich, admitted using the social network to call for mosques in the UK to be “gassed out or bombed”. The drink-fuelled online tirade also referred to beheading Muslim children and called for a riot in response to the tragedy.

Liverpool magistrates’ court was told Tuck, of Mollington Avenue, Norris Green, had been drinking after hearing the news of Drummer Rigby’s death on May 22. He tweeted the offensive messages over a number of hours on that day and in to May 23.

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Graffiti attack on Islamic Center in Texas

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Victoria Islamic Center graffiti

The Islamic Center in Victoria, Texas, suffered a graffiti attack yesterday, on the eve of Ramadan. The Victoria Advocate reports that “H8” (hate) was sprayed on the front of the building.

Police have categorised the incident as criminal mischief. They say they were unaware that “H8” had a meaning, or if the vandalism was in any way connected with the start of Ramadan.

Imam Osama Hassan said he is confident those involved in the vandalism will be identified, as the Islamic Center is equipped with eight 24-hour cameras around the property. They were installed in 2001 after a pig’s head was left on the doorstep of the Center.

See also “CAIR calls for hate crime probe of another Texas mosque vandalism”, CAIR press release, 11 July 2013

Update:  See “Police have suspect in Victoria Islamic Center vandalism”, Victoria Advocate, 12 July 2013

Update 2:  See “Juvenile may be charged in Islamic Center vandalism”, Victoria Advocate, 13 July 2013

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Guardian welcomes expansion of East London Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A month after a mosque in north London was destroyed in an arson attack, it is heartening to see that East London Mosque in Whitechapel is expanding. When it gets fully under way, the Maryam Centre will offer a range of projects and services for women in the community – a prayer hall, counselling, a gym – as well as house a school and a visitor centre for non-Muslims. The centre will make the mosque very much more than just a provider of religious services. With 25,000 worshipers attending a week, and that is outside Ramadan, the mosque has already become a key hub for the community. Its original purpose in 1910 was as a place of worship for sailors and travellers who came to Tower Hamlets. It took most of the last century to establish a permanent base in Whitechapel. Today it is the living and growing answer to those on the extreme right who vilify mosques as the home of fundamentalists.

Editorial in the Guardian, 11 July 2013

A welcome two fingers to the likes of Andrew Gilligan and Harry’s Place.