Melbourne protest against Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Senior Muslim community leaders have refused to sanction any further protests against the anti-Islamic film that has set off riots globally, but two women in their 20s are pressing ahead with a mass pro-Islam rally in Melbourne on Sunday to protest against what they describe as a decade-long campaign against Muslims.

In the wake of the riots that erupted in Sydney last weekend, a Facebook page has been launched inviting more than 1800 people to the rally and calling on Melbourne’s Muslim community to “stand up against racism and rally in defense of Islam”.

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Wilders wants visa to speak in Australia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders, who has compared the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, has been invited by the Q Society to give speeches in Melbourne and Sydney.

The Federal Government has not yet made a decision but Multicultural Affairs Minister Kate Lundy described Mr Wilders as “an extreme-right politician promulgating views that are out of step with mainstream Australia”.

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Australia: inquiry into multiculturalism swamped with racist submissions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Federal Government inquiry into multiculturalism has been swamped with anonymous Islamophobic and racist submissions. The draft report is due out soon and will be released as tensions run high from recent protests in Sydney and around the world.

Of 513 submissions many are anonymous and contain lines such as: “I do object to the current policy on immigration allowing predominately (sic) Muslim so called refugees into this country they are the biggest manipulative group around, are lying deceitful and dangerous.”

Many of them have very similar themes; that multiculturalism has failed, that Muslims are to blame, that they threaten democracy in Australia and refuse to assimilate.

The submissions have been accepted by the inquiry into the “economic, social and cultural impacts of migration (which will) make recommendations to maximise the positive benefits of migration”.

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Football casuals claim sparks march ban for extremist group Scottish Defence League

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL demonstrators
‘We have nothing to do with Nazi-ism’ – SDL supporters on a demonstration

Far right extremist group the Scottish Defence League has been banned from a proposed march amid claims an attempt had been made to recruit 
football casuals.

Edinburgh City Council’s licensing sub-committee ruled that the demonstration – set to be attended by around 150 people – should not go ahead. A spokesman for the SDL has vowed to appeal the decision in court, saying it could not control what was posted on its Facebook site.

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Bradford hate attack victim warns of growing threat from far right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bradford man Ali Shaan, a spiritual leader who was born and grew up in the city, is one of dozens who have reported being the victim of a racist attack in the area this year. The number of unreported incidents is feared to be much higher.

Recently he was walking down Canal Road on his way to prayers, when three young men in a car shouted abuse and spat on him. “It was quite horrible and I was very upset after that,” the 20-year-old Bradford College student said. “Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. That is the kind of thing that seems to becoming more directed towards the muslim community.”

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West Hartford, Connecticut: man charged with hate crimes against Muslim woman

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Michael John GermainA man who verbally insulted a 55-year-old woman because of her ethnicity and threatened to punch her while she was waiting in line for a prescription at the Walgreen’s pharmacy at 324 North Main St. was arrested Saturday evening at his home and charged with hate crimes by West Hartford Police.

Michael John Germain, 68, of 725 Mountain Rd., was observed making “rude, offensive, and obnoxious comments for no reason” to a woman who was waiting in line at the pharmacy, said Lt. Jeff Rose of the West Hartford Police. The incident was reported by a pharmacy employee as well as the victim.

Many of the comments allegedly made by Germain included obsecenities which cannot be printed, Rose said. According to Rose, Germain was also heard saying, “I don’t like Muslims … get the hell out of here,” and also threatened to punch her.

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‘Tommy’ goes globetrotting

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geller and LennonThe English Defence League may have hit the skids in the UK, but that hasn’t prevented the EDL leadership from still being feted by their fellow anti-Muslim racists in the “international counter-jihad movement”.

Last week EDL leader Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) and his sidekick Kevin Carroll were in New York to attend the grandly titled International Freedom Defense Congress organised by mad Pamela Geller’s Stop Islamization of Nations to mark the eleventh anniversary of 9/11. Geller’s enthusiasm for her British guests and their heroic stand against the Muslim takeover of Britain was unrestrained, and she reproduces a report that hails Lennon and Carroll in the following breathless terms: “These brave gents refuse to leave their homes in spite of the fact that their country is now in the second stage of Islamic transformation.”

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‘Muslim rage’ – another Newsweek publicity stunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Newsweek Muslim rage“Thoughtfulness has flown out the window at Newsweek this week, as Tina Brown traded in a little bit of integrity and placed her bets on Islamophobia being a big seller with the magazine’s screaming ‘Muslim Rage’ cover”, Alexander Abad-Santos writes.

Atlantic Wire, 17 September 2012

See also Ben Armbruster at Think Progress, 17 September 2012

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