Orlando, Florida: Billboards stress commonality of religions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic billboards appearing throughtout Orlando areaLocal Muslim organizations have started a media campaign stressing the commonality of Christians, Muslims and Jews.

The billboards proclaiming “Same family, Same message” sprouting throughout the Orlando and Daytona Beach areas are sponsored by the Longwood-based American Muslim Community Centers, the Islamic Center of Orlando and the United Muslim Foundation in Lake Mary.

“In the holiday season, people are more spiritual,” said AMCC Chairman Atif Fareed. “The idea is this would be an ideal time to spread the message that we are really from the same source: one family, one message.”

The billboards, which have several different slogans, refer motorists to the whyislam.org website of the New York-based Islamic Circle of North America. The organization’s “Why Islam” campaign is intended to raise awareness and correct misconceptions about a religion many Americans associate with terrorism.

“Our goal is to reach out and start a dialogue with our fellow Americans,” said ICNA President Zahid Bukhari.

Orlando Sentinel, 1 January 2013

Woman jailed after pulling hijab from victim in racist attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A woman who launched a racist attack against a Muslim and pulled her hijab from her head as she robbed her of her phone has been jailed for more than two years.

Eileen Kennedy, 28, and her 16-year-old niece Paige Bain assaulted Umaimi Musa in Glasgow in September.
 The teenager also assaulted Ms Musa’s friend, Mary Marandran, who was five months pregnant with her third child.

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Charlie Hebdo attempts to boost circulation with another anti-Islam stunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Guardian reports that French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo will this week release a special edition illustrated biography of the prophet Muhammad.

Its editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, told Agence France-Presse that the Life of Muhammad would be “perfectly halal” because it was a compilation of all that had been written about the prophet in the past by Muslim writers and Charlie Hebdo had “simply put it into images”.

As the Guardian points out: “Charlie Hebdo, which must sell 30,000 issues of its weekly magazine from news-stands to keep afloat, has routinely seen sales double or magazines sell out each time it has run controversial cartoons of Muhammad.”

Sky provides platform for fascist thug

Posted on by Bob Pitt
Alan Spence and Dipu Ahad

Spot the fascist thug: Alan Spence and Dipu Ahad

Sky Tyne and Wear has helpfully provided a platform for the English Defence League’s North East regional organiser Alan Spence to promote the EDL’s forthcoming protest against plans to convert Benwell Towers, the former setting for TV series Byker Grove, into a faith school for Muslims.

Sky doesn’t bother to inform its viewers that Spence is a notorious fascist thug, a former British National Party parliamentary candidate who a year ago was given a 7-month prison sentence for his part in an EDL attack on a left-wing meeting at Tyneside Irish Centre.

Still, even though Spence’s record of political violence is covered up, he is such an ignorant bigot that his TV appearance is unlikely to win any wider public support for the EDL’s message of anti-Muslim hatred. By contrast, local Labour councillor Dipu Ahad comes across as an articulate defender of the area’s growing diversity.

Sweden Democrats MP quits after racist scandal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Swedish lawmaker once seen as a future leader of the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats party announced Sunday he was quitting parliament and the party after a racist scandal.

Erik Almqvist, 31, was one of three party officials caught on film hurling racist abuse at two men, arming themselves with iron bars after a heated argument outside a fast-food restaurant, and calling a woman who tried to intervene a little “whore”.

“No, this is not your country, it’s my country,” Almqvist is seen telling one of the men in the clip.

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