Bigots ramp up Toronto school prayer protests

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Faith groups are ramping up protests against Muslim students praying in Toronto public schools as they vow to make the controversial practice an election issue in Ontario. A demonstration took place Sunday night outside the Toronto District School Board on Yonge St., and another is planned for Sept. 18 at Queen’s Park to demand an end of the prayer service.

The protests stem from a decision to allow Islamic prayer sessions every Friday in the cafeteria at Valley Park Middle School, on Overlea Blvd., which have been going on for more than a year. “We plan to keep on protesting until this practice is stopped,” said Ron Banerjee, of the Canadian Hindu Advocacy. “This is a stealth jihad that is taking place at the TDSB and not the violent jihad we had on Sept. 11.”

Banerjee said his group along with the Jewish Defence League and Costas Christian Mission are trying to get political leaders to take a stand on the issue before the Oct. 6 election.

Both Premier Dalton McGuinty and Conservative Leader Tim Hudak have said the issue will be left to the school boards and principals to manage. And Ontario Human Rights commissioner Barbara Hall has said that schools have a duty to accommodate faith needs up to the point of “undue hardship”.

Leonard Baak, president of Education Equality in Ontario, said McGuinty and Hudak “were squirming” when asked about Islamic sectarianism in schools. “Both men reveal a stunning lack of leadership on the issue,” Baak said on Sunday. “It is time for government to give all faiths equal respect and consideration.”

Toronto Sun, 11 September 2011

See also here, here and here.

Geller and friends commemorate 9/11

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mohammed was a terrorist placard

“There is no smiley face, no whitewash on what happened here ten years ago today. What happened, was murder!” As she peppered her speech with soundbites, Pamela Geller was occasionally forced to pause for chants of “U-S-A!” from the smattering of supporters who had turned out for her Freedom Rally yesterday in Lower Manhattan. It was doubtful that there were any “smiley faces” at the official commemoration at the 9/11 Memorial that morning, but if you spoke with attendees of the Freedom Rally, one might have gotten the impression that Presidents Obama and Bush presided over a mass burning of Bibles and bald eagles.

“This country has become communist,” Sheepshead Bay resident Patricia Randolph told us. “A good way to fight for freedom is to know your history, to know that Muslims build victory mosques in places that they have conquered.” She was referring of course to Park51 a cultural center and mosque that may be built blocks from the World Trade Center site. “And have you heard about that mosque they’re building in Sheepshead Bay near a school? Those women that walk around my neighborhood with black nails? They’re Taliban wives.” Her friend Elizabeth of Midwood added, “The Muslims rape little girls, we have to make it safe for the kids.”

Gothamist, 12 September 2011

See also Media Matters, 12 September 2011

Commons Select Committee invites US Islamophobe to testify about Muslim radicalisation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tomorrow, the British Parliament will hold a hearing on the “roots of violent radicalisation” in the Muslim community in that country. The first witness before the committee will be Rep. Peter King (R-NY). King will reportedly be the first member of Congress to ever address a committee of Parliament….

King, who has said Muslims are “an enemy living among us” and that there are “too many mosques in this country,” is not an appropriate “expert” to testify about radicalization in the United States. Additionally, multiple witnesses that King had wanted to call during his own investigation had to withdraw or be dis-invited due to their anti-Muslim bias. One witness withdrew because he was involved with a militia that tortured and killed Muslims, and another was rejected because of her stridently anti-Muslim views targeting not just extremism but the religion itself.

Despite the fact that almost twice as many terror plots since 9/11 came from non-Muslim groups, King refused to widen his hearings to examine radicalization in other areas. He even questioned the patriotism of Muslims in the United States, accusing the community of not cooperating with law enforcement authorities – despite the fact that around a third of terror plots that have been broken up since the 9/11 attacks were broken up with the help and assistance of Muslim American communities.

Zaid Jilani at Think Progress, 12 September 2011

TUC: NUJ to call for support against EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NUJ logoThe National Union of Journalists intends to call on delegates at the TUC conference to publicly condemn alleged attacks on the press by members of the English Defence League.

The union has submitted an emergency motion to the conference over the alleged attacks, which it claims included a photographer being set on fire and another journalist sexually assaulted at an EDL rally earlier this month.

The motion, which the NUJ hopes to have accepted and added to the agenda of the conference today, calls on TUC members to publicly condemn the actions of the EDL, as well as campaigning against far-right groups and offering assistance to affiliate unions if their members are threatened. It also calls on the police to take action to identify and prosecute EDL supporters who attack trade unionists.

The NUJ claims to have received numerous reports of journalists being harassed, racially abused, and having bottles and fireworks thrown at them by the anti-Islamic group.

The motion submitted to the TUC conference calls the alleged attacks “aviolation of press freedom and an attack on our democracy”. “Far-right attacks on media workers are aimed at deterring them from carrying out their work and are designed to intimidate trade union members and stop the media reporting on far-right activity,” it adds.

A spokesperson for the Met police confirmed that the force was investigating an allegation of assault at the rally in which a 17-year-old had his clothing set alight and suffered minor burns.

Journalism.co.uk, 12 September 2011

Are the EDL’s opponents motivated by contempt for the working class?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Joanne DickensAccording to Brendan O’Neill they are. In a piece on his Telegraph blog headed “A glimpse into the class hatred at the heart of the anti-EDL clique”, the Spiked editor expresses his indignation at a widely publicised YouTube clip in which “anti-EDL campaigners describe a female supporter of the EDL as ‘the most tattooed, horrible scrote of a woman’ they have ever seen and then laugh as they talk about how she was ‘kicked up the arse’ by a left-wing protester”. For O’Neill, the video “confirms what draws many young middle-class liberals towards anti-English Defence League campaigning: it provides them with a semi-legit cover for expressing their fear and loathing of the white working classes”.

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56% of Canadians think divide between West and Muslim world is ‘irreconcilable’, poll finds

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A majority of Canadians believes conflict between Western nations and the Muslim world is “irreconcilable,” according to a new national survey that revealed a strong strain of pessimism in the country leading up to Sunday’s 10th anniversary commemorations of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

The survey of 1,500 Canadians, conducted over three days last week for the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies, showed 56% of respondents see Western and Muslim societies locked in an unending ideological struggle, while about 33% – just one-third of the population – held out hope that the conflict will eventually be overcome.

ACS executive director Jack Jedwab said the finding has “serious ramifications” for Canadian policies aimed at bridging divides between cultures, which are based on the premise that citizens believe significant progress in mending such religious and cultural conflicts is achievable.

The dark view expressed in the survey “contradicts a fundamental idea in multicultural democracies like ours, that conflicts between societies can be resolved through dialogue and negotiation,” said Jedwab. “This is also a key element in multiculturalism, where Canada is often seen elsewhere in the world as a model in conflict resolution.”

He adds: “If a majority of Canadians feel it is irreconcilable, what does this imply for the various projects and programs in place that aim to bridge gaps?”

Postmedia News, 11 September 2011

EDL clash with locals in Edgware Road

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL members have descended onto one of London’s most famous streets and have had clashes with locals, this evening. Around 50-100 EDL members are currently on Edgware Road, a part of London dominated by the Arab community.

Chairs and windows have been smashed and police are trying to separate the two groups. The Edgware Road area is completely gridlocked with traffic tailing back all the way to White City and the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush

A London Air Ambulance has arrived in nearby Hyde Park, which is at the top of Edgware Road at the Marble Arch crossing. Some people have said that someone has been seriously injured although this is unconfirmed.

Earlier, EDL members clashed with the group Muslims Against the Crusades outside the 9/11 memorial near the US Embassy. 4 arrests were made.

Blottr, 11 September 2011

Update:  See also the Evening Standard which reports an eyewitness as saying that the clash took place at the Tyburn pub: “There was a group of EDL guys drinking outside the pub when a large group of Muslims walked past. The EDL started hurling racist abuse at the Muslims who took offence. They got angry and were yelling back. Then the EDL guys picked up pub furniture and started throwing glasses and chairs and tables at the group in the street.”

Another West Bank mosque targeted by Israeli settlers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Vandals sprayed graffiti on the walls of a mosque and a university in the West Bank town of Birzeit near Ramallah on Friday in attacks by suspected Israeli settlers.

Palestinian security officials told AFP that “Death to the Arabs” and slogans insulting the Prophet Mohammed were painted in Hebrew and that they suspected settlers were to blame.

It was the third mosque to be daubed with graffiti Hebrew since Monday, when Israeli troops demolished three homes in the settlement outpost of Migron.

Hardline settlers have adopted what they call a “price tag” policy under which they attack Palestinians and their property in response to Israeli government measures against settlements.

AFP, 9 September 2011

See also “US condemns ‘dangerous’ West Bank mosque attacks”, AFP, 10 September 2011