The story of Pascal Abidor, a student from Montreal’s McGill University, and his Constitutional battle with the US government.
Islamophobia: We need to accept the ‘other’
We’re witnessing a surge of virulent Islamophobia in Europe, especially in the Netherlands and some parts of Scandinavia. And sadly, this seems to have crossed the Atlantic.
In 2002, a survey of Canadian Muslims by the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations found that 56 per cent of respondents had experienced at least one anti-Muslim incident in the 12-month period since 9/11. Mosques or mosque construction sites in Ottawa, Montreal, Hamilton, Waterloo and Vancouver have been targeted by vandals. In January, anti-Islamic graffiti were spray-painted on the walls of the Outaouais Islamic Centre in Gatineau, Que. – the third such attack in four months.
Karen Armstrong writes in the Globe and Mail, 26 March 2012
French government will bar entry to Qaradawi, says Sarkozy aide
Qaradawi addresses mass rally in Tahrir Square in February last year
The French government will deny entry to an influential Egyptian preacher if he accepts an invitation from an Islamic organisation to visit France next month, a close aide to President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Sunday.
Sarkozy, who is running for re-election, has announced a crackdown on people who follow extremist Islamic messages on radical websites in the wake of a spate of killings by an al Qaeda-inspired gunman.
His aide, Henri Guaino said the government would take measures to block the entry of Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi if he seeks to take up the invitation from the Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF), a Muslim umbrella group.
“The French government does not want any extremist preachers entering its territory,” Guaino, a special advisor and speech writer to Sarkozy, told French Radio J.
West Sacramento Islamic Center vandalized again
The West Sacramento Islamic Center was vandalized overnight and leaders there are calling it a hate crime.
The center is under construction, being rebuilt, but leaders fear it won’t ever get done if someone doesn’t stop damaging their sacred place.
Abdul Karim Yusufzai on Saturday showed CBS13 the damage done by vandals, vandals he’s convinced are filled with hate. “It is hate,” he said. “They know this is a community center, a religious building.”
Kingston Mosque attack accused admits lying to police
A bricklayer who denies taking part in an attack on Kingston Mosque is “no angel” and lied to police during his interview, a court has heard.
Martin Pottle, 23, a former Orleans Park School pupil from Feltham told the court he originally lied to police as he was hungover and scared of being remanded in custody as he was on bail in connection with another offence.
Catholic group urges TAPPS review
The organization that represents Texas’ Catholic high schools on Thursday called for a comprehensive review of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, calling TAPPS’ treatment of Jewish and Muslim schools unacceptable.
“Failure to sufficiently improve the structure and management of TAPPS will require a re-examination of our 43 Catholic schools’ continued affiliation with TAPPS,” wrote Margaret McGettrick, education director of the Texas Catholic Conference Education Department.
Riposte Laïque leaders convicted of inciting hatred against Muslims
Two officials of the Riposte Laïque website, which presents itself as the defender of the principle of secularism, were given fines today by the criminal court in Paris for inciting hatred against Muslims.
Racists convicted of attack on Muslim taxi driver
A taxi driver today told how he feared for his life after a group of passengers launched a racist attack on him before threatening to “take him down a side street and kill him”.
During the terrifying incident, father-of-five Muhammed Hussain, from Holme Slack, Preston, was spat at, punched in the face, grabbed around the neck and called racist names. His attackers even threatened to cut off his beard.
Gingrich says it should ‘bother’ Obama that people think he’s Muslim
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is amping up his language on President Obama’s faith and his relationship with Muslims. Gingrich told ABC News Friday that that he takes the president at his word that he’s a Christian, but finds it “very bizarre” that Obama is “desperately concerned to apologize to Muslim religious fanatics.”
Strangers in our own land
Ryan Erfani-Ghettani examines how the nationalist myths of white victimhood, reverse racism and Islamification promoted by the mainstream right-wing press fuel the rise of the far right.