I wonder who posted this on the EDL’s Facebook page. Obviously someone who can spell and has a basic command of grammar. Which rules out 99.9% of the EDL membership.
Mosque attackers chanted ‘E, E, EDL’, court hears
The protest in Kingston that preceded the attack on the mosque
A member of a hooded mob that attacked Kingston mosque hung from the front of the building and tried to pull parts of it off as the violence raged, a court has heard.
Nine men accused of the attack on November 21, 2010, are currently on trial at Kingston Crown Court to deny the charges against them. The attack came hours after a peaceful English Defence League (EDL) rally.
During the violence, 20 to 30 men with their faces covered waved pieces of wood, urinated beneath the minaret and laid bacon on a car, the court heard. The jury have been shown photos of the aftermath which include parts of the sign above the mosque entrance which had been ripped down.
King’s Lynn Islamic centre objections ‘removed’
On-line objections to a proposed Islamic community centre in Lynn are being vetted for racist or inflammatory content.
One objector contacted the Lynn News after his comments about an application to change the use of a former pub in London Road were removed from West Norfolk Council’s website. The objector, who asked to remain anonymous, said his comments were phrased politely and were not abusive or threatening in any way.
A council spokesman replied that objections to the application relating to the former Queen’s Arms pub were being vetted by council officers after inappropriate comments were received.
SPLC reports growth of US hate groups
The Southern Poverty Law Center has published the Spring 2012 issue of its Intelligence Report, on “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2011”, which identifies a continued growth in the number of hate groups operating in the United States.
In “The ‘Patriot’ Movement Explodes” Mark Potok states: “The radical right grew explosively in 2011, the third such dramatic expansion in as many years.” Potok writes:
The number of anti-Muslim groups tripled in 2011, jumping from 10 groups in 2010 to 30 last year. That rapid growth in Islamophobia, marked by the vilification of Muslims by opportunistic politicians and anti-Muslim activists, began in August 2010, when controversy over a planned Islamic cultural center in lower Manhattan reached a fever pitch. Things got worse later in the year, when Oklahoma residents voted to amend the state constitution to forbid the use of Islamic Shariah law in state courts – a completely unnecessary change, given that the U.S. Constitution rules that out. The overheated atmosphere generated by these events also helped spur a 50% jump in the FBI’s count of anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2010. Then, in March 2011, U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) held hearings on the radicalization of U.S. Muslims that seemed meant to demonize them. At the same time, there was a swelling of truly vicious propaganda like this remarkable Jan. 14, 2011, comment from columnist Debbie Schlussel: “They are animals, yes, but a lower form than the dog, as they won’t learn to change their behavior for a carrot or a reward.”
In connection with anti-gay groups Potok points out:
In another development, most of the religious right groups that started out opposing abortion but moved on to attacking LGBT people have recently begun to adopt anti-Muslim propaganda en masse. The gay-bashing Traditional Values Coalition, for instance, last year redesigned its website to emphasize a new section entitled “Islam vs. the Constitution,” published a report on Shariah law, and joined anti-Shariah conferences.
Muslims must counter bigotry and hatred online, says CAIR leader
According to the British Runnymede Trust, Islamophobia “is a useful shorthand way of referring to dread or hatred of Islam – and, therefore, to fear or dislike of all or most Muslims.”
Islamophobia is a form of intolerance alongside xenophobia and anti-Semitism and these days it’s not difficult to find online. Hate mongers spout vitriol against Muslims on Facebook, YouTube and BlogSpot. Just returned from an internal OIC workshop held in Brussels to discuss Islamophobia, Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Chicago Office, asserted that Muslims must do more to fight this scourge.
“Islamophobia is rampant online. There is almost a monopoly by the Islamophobes on Islam and Muslims online,” remarked Rehab. “What we’re trying to do is to encourage others to be more active online. People need to start blogs and have websites that engage in commenting on Islam and which link to positive material that is informative about Islam and Muslims. It is necessary to push back against this onslaught of Islamophobic attacks.”
Provocative atheist billboard fails to provoke Muslims
Paterson, New Jersey — A note of provocation was all too evident when an atheist group put up a huge billboard a block from the area’s largest mosque, saying in Arabic as well as English that religion is based on nothing more than myth.
The big green sign with white and gold lettering, mounted above a liquor store at Broadway and East 33rd Street, was put up by the group American Atheists. It says, “You know it’s a myth … and you have a choice.” It appears about a block away from the Islamic Center of Passaic County, the city’s biggest mosque.
The message was not meant to anger Muslims, or even change anyone’s mind about religion, said David Silverman, president of American Atheists. He said instead that he’s calling out to that community’s “atheists and asking them to come out of the closet.”
“If pointing out there are atheists in a community is seen as provocative, that’s too bad.”
PFAW report: The Mythical Martyrdom of Jerry Boykin
A new People For the American Way Right Wing Watch: In Focusreport identifies the techniques used by Religious Right leaders to portray themselves as victims of an assault on religious liberty.
The report, The Mythical Martyrdom of Jerry Boykin, examines the anti-Muslim extremism of Retired Lt. Gen. Boykin that derailed an offer to speak at West Point Military Academy, as well as the tactics he employs to legitimize his own religious and political agenda.
“Lt. Gen. Boykin’s claim that Muslims have no First Amendment rights and that the United States is at war with Islam are contrary to basic American values,” said Michael Keegan, President of People For the American Way. “His attacks against Muslims are so extreme he was even publicly rebuked by President George W. Bush. It is ironic that a man who so fundamentally misunderstands our Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of worship to all Americans is playing the victim of religious oppression. In reality, Boykin is just a part of the far-right effort to use the banner of religious freedom as cover for spreading fear and intolerance.”
Texas schools association discriminates against Muslims as well as Jews
A Houston Islamic academy was denied membership to the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools after being grilled about the Koran and the mosque located at Ground Zero.
Iman Academy applied for membership to TAPPS in 2010, but the association denied the school’s request. After being rejected two years ago, Principal Cindy Steffens did not go public with the story, but The New York Times uncovered the Houston academy’s name last week and ran an article about the controversy.
French PM scrambles to defuse halal-kosher row
France’s prime minister told Jewish leaders on Wednesday he had not meant to stigmatise their community when he urged them to rethink ancient dietary laws, as he strove to defuse a fractious row about minorities in the run up to a presidential election.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon caused an uproar on Tuesday when he said the Jewish and Muslim “ancestral traditions” of ritual slaughter were outdated and unjustified. It was the latest in a series of divisive comments by politicians about the religious practices of France’s ethnic minorities, seen as a bid to attract right-wing voters ahead of a two-round election in April and May.
CAIR asks Oklahoma church to drop anti-Islam agenda
The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) today called on a church in that state to drop its anti-Islam agenda, citing the Islamophobic views of a church speaker who claims that President is an undercover Saudi Arabian “Muslim plant” in the White House.
The keynote speaker of tonight’s event at Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla., is Avi Lipkin, an infamous Islamophobe who alleges among other things that Muslims worship the devil and that all Muslims want to kill Christians and Jews.
“This kind of bigotry and hysteria only serves to fuel the growing chorus of anti-Muslim sentiment that is unfortunately spreading in the Heartland,” said CAIR-OK Executive Director Muneer Awad. “We respectfully request that the church drop this speaker and other hate-mongers, and offer its congregants a sincere opportunity for dialogue and information about Islam and Muslims.”