ENGAGE refers us to an article on the Political Scrapbook blog reporting the Daily Mail‘s attempt to blame travel problems during the Olympics on, yes you guessed, Muslims. Apparently they will cause chaos when they “squeeze into non-Games lanes to worship at the many mosques that surround the Olympic Park”.
Marianne Møllmann of Amnesty International welcomes FIFA’s recent decision to lift its ban on women footballers wearing headscarves and also the news that several gulf countries are for the first time sending female athletes (wearing headscarves) to the Olympics. She notes, however, that more and more European countries are imposing restrictions on the wearing of headscarves or face-veils in public.
Trades unions and protesters have called on a Bristol City Council cabinet member to withdraw his claim that the Labour mayor candidate was “weak and naive” in his handling of the English Defence League (EDL) march earlier this month.
Gary Hopkins, the executive member for community safety, said Labour councillor Mike Woollacott was “totally irresponsible” for ignoring police advice and encouraging a counter-demonstration in the city centre. He added Marvin Rees, the party’s nomination for elected mayor, was weak, easily led and naïve for supporting him if he did not think violence would follow. Cllr Hopkins also attacked Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy for calling for a ban on the EDL march.
But at the weekend, the We Are Bristol group – made of trades unions and community groups – hit back, asking whether the Liberal Democrats were “playing the race card”.
The different ways the media covered two cases of men grooming children for sex show how shockingly easy it is to demonise a whole community, Joseph Harker argues.
Supporters and anti-racist campaigners turned out at court for the latest hearing in the case of a pensioner who has been ordered to stop sending racist letters in the post.
Margaret Walker who has admitted sending out up to 500 anonymous letters and leaflets filled with vile abuse, has had an interim Asbo order extended until her case goes to a full trial in September.
The order was made at a hearing at Fareham Magistrates’ Court last month. Yesterday’s hearing was to arrange time for legal arguments and set a trial date.
The Daily Star on Sunday exposes serving members of the armed forces who are active members of the English Defence League.
“Gaffney has turned up so many ‘Muslim infiltrators’ in government or civic positions that it is difficult to keep track. If a Muslim runs for political office, or even wants to get involved in their local community, or establish any sort of institution, whether they are a Republican or a Democrat, outrageous charges of ‘creeping Sharia prononent’, ‘stealth jihadist’, ‘Muslim Brotherhood plant’, etc. are made by Islamophobes.”
Sheila Musaji examines the record of the man who inspired Michele Bachmann’s Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy theory.
The American Muslim, 21 July 2012
See also Matt Duss, “Frank Gaffney’s latest boogeyman inspired Bachmann’s witch hunt”, Think Progess, 19 July 2012
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Friday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority violated the First Amendment rights of a pro-Israel group when it rejected an advertisement the group wanted to place on city buses on grounds that they contained demeaning language.
The group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, had proposed an ad that said, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.” Then, between two Stars of David, the ad said: “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.”
Three men were arrested today on suspicion of committing racially aggravated public order offences at a protest staged by members of the English Defence League.
Around 30 people took part in the demonstration in Chelmsford city centre, a spokesman for Essex Police said.
Sheila Musaji notes that many of Congress’s leading Republican Islamophobes are members of an evangelical Christian organisation called Capitol Ministries. She writes:
“Looking through information on Capitol Ministries, it seems that they are not only anti-Muslim, but also anti-gay, and anti-Catholic. However, they seem to focus more of their venom on Muslims….
“How is it that of the 46 Congressional sponsors on Capitol Ministries list, at least 23 of them have been involved in anti-Sharia, anti-Muslim, Islamophobic activities? That’s at least 50% of the members of this group who seem to believe that it is a ‘Christian’ value to bash Muslims….
“These are people who have political power, and are using it to demean and demonize members of a minority religion.”