Michigan: planning commission accused of Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The sale of the former Eagle Elementary School in West Bloomfield Township continues to be a contentious issue following a Tuesday meeting of the West Bloomfield Planning Commission.

Citing “inappropriate questioning” by a West Bloomfield Trustee during the meeting, the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Michigan contacted the Department of Justice on Wednesday.

Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR-MI, said the sentiment at the meeting matched the sentiment displayed when the school was initially sold to the Islamic Cultural Association.

“I witnessed the tension in the air and the amount of Islamophobic comments that were made (when the school was sold by Farmington Public Schools in November),” Walid said. “(Tuesday’s) meeting in West Bloomfield basically rehashed a lot of the sentiment I saw in Farmington.”

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Leicester: protests over Islamic community centre plans for disused scout hut continue

Posted on by Bob Pitt

It’s an unlikely setting for an ongoing night-after-night street protest.

However, hundreds of people have been gathering in Thurncourt Road, on Leicester’s Thurnby Lodge estate, for some weeks now to protest against an Islamic charity’s plan to turn a disused Scout hut into a community centre and prayer room.

On Friday, the number of people taking part swelled towards the 400 mark – with about 50 police officers there to oversee it.

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Interfaith, civil rights leaders in Ballwin decry recent attacks on mosques

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ghazala Hayat at press conference

BALLWIN — Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious leaders joined civil rights leaders here this morning in denouncing recent attacks against mosques around the country. They say that kind of violence represents intolerance and a hatred of Muslims, and they worry it escalates during election season.

“This is a result of an atmosphere of hate that is being created by a small group of radical Islamophobes within this country,” said Faizan Syed, executive director of the St. Louis chapter of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations). Ghazala Hayat, with the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis, added: “We also see, usually the year of election, this rhetoric goes up.”

At a news conference, they were joined by Barbara Jennings, with the Coalition of Catholic Sisters; Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg, president of the Rabbinical Association; and civil rights leaders including Brenda Jones of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri and Karen Aroesty of the Anti-Defamation League.

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Parti Quebecois would bar hijab from civil service with secularism charter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pauline MaroisPauline Marois is promising to end Quebec’s reasonable accommodation debate if she is elected premier on Sept. 4.

With a new Quebec Charter of Secularism, a Parti Quebecois government would seek to strike a balance between protecting the province’s values and allowing for different cultures to interact.

Under the proposed charter, civil servants would be barred from wearing any religious symbols, including the controversial wear of the hijab. The law would also prohibit citizens from refusing to be served by a member of the opposite sex.

“In Quebec, the state will be neutral. That is absolutely important. Next, the equality between men and women is a value that is not negotiable,” said Marois, at a campaign stop in Trois-Riveries.

Despite the rhetoric, the party leader said that Quebec’s cultural symbols would not be impacted, including Christmas trees and the crucifix that has hung in the National Assembly since 1936. “We’re not denying our past,” said Marois.

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Interfaith coalition resists Islamophobia in Michigan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An interfaith coalition plans to demonstrate its support Tuesday night for the sale of a school building owned Farmington Public Schools to a Muslim organization.

The sale last year of the former Eagle Elementary School in West Bloomfield for $1.1 million has drawn protests from groups alleging the district showed undue favor to the buyer, the Islamic Cultural Association, which plans to open a school there.

Taking “a stand against Islamophobia,” coalition members plan to attend the West Bloomfield Township Planning Commission meeting, which is at 7:30 p.m. The commission is expected to consider issues related to the Islamic group’s construction plans for the site.

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CAIR: Republican ‘Islamophobia machine’ encouraging violent attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Following an acid bomb being hurled at a Muslim school in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, a spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) told Raw Story that the number of attacks on American Muslims has escalated recently due in part to the Republican Party’s “Islamophobia machine” encouraging a tiny minority of extremists toward increasingly violent behaviors.

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German city to recognize Islamic holidays

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Authorities in Hamburg have become the first in Germany to officially recognize Islamic holidays so Muslim employees and students can celebrate them at home.

The decision forms part of an agreement between the north German city and local Muslim groups. Similar agreements exist with Christian and Jewish communities in the city.

Hamburg’s mayor, Olaf Scholz, said Tuesday that he hopes the deal will serve as an example for other German cities.

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Chelmsford unites against EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A group of church leaders, community groups and political partiesare preparing to unite against the English Defence League (EDL) this weekend.

EDL members are expected to descend upon Chelmsford town centre on Saturday, 18 August and United Chelmsford is preparing to march. The protest coincides with the first day of V Festival at Hylands Park.

United Chelmsford’s Celebration of Unity will be starting from Tindal Square at 11.30am and marching through the city at 1pm, the group expects their numbers to swell to 200 as they take a stand against the EDL.

Malcolm Wallace, Secretary of Chelmsford TUC, speaking on behalf of United Chelmsford, said: “This will be a magnificent demonstration of our City’s opposition to racism and islamophobia. The divisive policies of the EDL stand in sharp contrast to our multi-cultural Team GB and the spirit of the Olympics.”

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Home Office rejects far-right campaign against Azad Ali and UAF

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-EDL march Tower Hamlets 2010
Demonstration against the English Defence League, Tower Hamlets June 2010

In March this year the English Defence League’s political wing, the British Freedom party, launched a letter campaign aimed at persuading MPs who had signed Unite Against Fascism’s founding statement to withdraw their support from the organisation. The hook for this campaign was provided by a witch-hunting article by Andrew Gilligan (a journalist greatly admired by right-wing Islamophobes) who had accused UAF vice chair Azad Ali of being a fascist. The model letter provided by the BFP also included the claim that Azad Ali had been “exposed at the web site Harry’s Place” (which has been another source of inspiration for far-right racists).

It appears that the only positive response the BFP received was from Brian Donohoe, Labour MP for Central Ayrshire, who took up the issue after being contacted by George Whale, editor of the British Freedom website. To the delight of the BFP, Donohoe replied to Whale with a friendly assurance that he was pursuing the question of UAF on his behalf: “I have written to both the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary asking for an update on this website as I am sure the majority of these ‘signatories’ are unaware their names are listed there.” Donohoe also relayed to the Home and Foreign offices Whale’s accusation that UAF is an extremist group.

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