Latest issue of Arches Quarterly

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Arches Quarterly

The Cordoba Foundation presents its Spring / Summer 2011 edition of Arches Quarterly, a journal providing nuanced analysis of the issues and developments in the arena of dialogue, civilizations, and a rapprochement between Islam and the West.

In this edition, Arches Quarterly explores early Muslim contacts with European Societies, their contributions to culture and civilisation as well as their historical legacies, in an attempt to better understand Europe’s Islamic roots and the place of Islam and Muslims in contemporary Europe.

Download Arches Quarterly here

To order a hard copy of Arches, click here

Minneapolis man pleads guilty to hate crime in assault on Somali man

Posted on by Bob Pitt

George ThompsonA 64-year-old man pleaded guilty Wednesday to violating the civil rights of an 83-year-old Somali man he assaulted in Minneapolis last year while yelling that he was a Muslim and should go back to Africa.

George Thompson, of Minneapolis, appeared before U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in federal court today in St. Paul.

Thompson, a former employee of the Transportation Security Administration, was charged under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Protection Act, passed in 2009. Shepard was tortured and murdered in Wyoming by two men who believed he was gay; Byrd, a black man, was dragged to his death behind a truck by three men in Texas.

Court papers said Thompson attacked his victim on May 4, 2010, because of the man’s “actual and perceived religion and national origin.”

Continue reading →

Telford: council calls for ban on EDL march, police claim there are ‘insufficient grounds’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

English Defence League ProtestTelford & Wrekin Council has called for the planned English Defence League march in Wellington on Saturday to be cancelled.

Council leader Kuldip Sahota said: “The overwhelming voice from the community in Telford – and in particular in Wellington – is that people do not want this march in our town. The council believes the march should not go ahead. We are in an environment now where there has been widespread violence elsewhere and we simply feel they should cancel the march.

“We do understand and appreciate the very difficult position that the police are in but as community leaders we have a duty to listen to our residents and protect their properties and businesses. It is therefore our belief that the march should be cancelled.”

Assistant Chief Constable Simon Chesterman, of West Mercia Police, said:

“The police overall strategic intention is ‘To work with Telford & Wrekin Council, other agencies, protest organisers and communities to ensure public safety including the safety of those people attending any protest and the football match’. The police have a duty to protect life and property and facilitate peaceful protest.

“Legal powers to seek a banning order are set out in the Public Order Act and any application for a ban would have to be within the confines of the legislation. There are insufficient grounds upon which to seek a banning order at this time.”

A number of business in Wellington are set to close at lunchtime on Saturday before the start of the march. Several have also taken the decision to board up their shop fronts. Frozen food retailer Iceland said their Wellington store would stop selling alcohol on Friday until after the march.

Shropshire Live, 10 August 2011

West Mercia Police have stated that they will impose restrictions on the EDL march under Section 12 of the Public Order Act. But Section 13 allows for the police to apply for a complete ban if “the powers under section 12 will not be sufficient to prevent the holding of public processions … resulting in serious public disorder”.

Presumably the police are arguing that there is no threat of serious public disorder. Yet the fact that shops are boarding up their windows and closing down in advance of the EDL march is surely a good indication that it does pose such a threat.

According to Nick Lowles of Searchlight, the police are even unwilling to apply for a ban on the EDL march in Tower Hamlets on 3 September.

‘Ayatollah of the RAF’: Mail on Sunday witch-hunts Joel Hayward

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Mail on Sunday has published an attack on Joel Hayward, dean of the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell (“Ayatollah of the RAF: Academic ‘university’ head is Muslim convert who claims Nazi gas chambers were British propaganda and criticises Libya air strikes”). The story has since been taken up by the Daily Star, under the bizarre headline “RAF pilot converts to Islam”.

The main source for the Mail‘s witch-hunt is a letter headed “The Air Force Ayatollah”, which was sent to the paper by anonymous RAF officers who would obviously rather have Robert Spencer running the college. Apparently students at Cranwell “are in fear” of expressing anti-Muslim sentiments in front of Hayward. Worst of all: “Anyone who fails to follow the line that Islam is a peace-loving religion is hauled into his office for re-education”.

The Mail concurs in finding it sinister that Hayward “has frequently challenged claims of Islamic aggressiveness”. In fact, his views on that subject are so off-the-wall that one of his articles, “The Qur’an and war: Observations on Islamic just war”, was published in the RAF’s own academic journal, Air Power Review.

Continue reading →

Germany’s far right campaigns with xenophobic election posters

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Berlin election posters

Germany’s extreme right-wing Nationalist Democratic Party (NPD) is using xenophobic election posters in its campaign for the Sept. 18 Berlin state elections.

One of the election posters that went up over the weekend has the words, “Have a nice journey to your home country”, with cartoon drawings of a woman with a headscarf, a man with a turban and a black man. A similar poster were used in earlier campaigns.

Another poster, portraying NPD Chairman Udo Voigt sitting on a motorcycle with the text “Give gas”, was reminiscent of the Nazi gas chambers and triggered outrage from many politicians.

An Internet site was also published in preparation for the far-right political party’s campaign. A video on its homepage shows a woman with a headscarf and the Turkish flag with the words: “We Germans have become foreigners in our own neighborhoods. How much more will we tolerate?”

Meanwhile, another political group named “Bürgerbewegung Pro Deutschland” is using center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) member and former member of the executive board of the Deutsche Bundesbank Thilo Sarrazin’s racist comments about Muslim immigrants living in Germany in its posters.

Today’s Zaman, 8 August 2011

Update:  Berliner Morgenpost reports that the Berlin District Court has issued a ruling prohibiting Pro Deutschland from using Sarrazin’s name on their poster.

Muslim Canadian Congress joins Jewish Defence League to fight Islamic prayers in Toronto schools

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Toronto Stop Islamic Infiltration placardSome Muslim parents fear a handful of Toronto imams are turning their children into young radicals during Friday prayer services at some public schools.

“Who are these imams and what are their qualifications,” asked Sohail Raza, president of the Muslim Canadian Congress. “I am extremely concerned about what they are teaching our kids.” Raza was among 300 people who demonstrated outside the Toronto District School Board, on Yonge St., on Monday night.

Continue reading →

Media rush to blame Muslims for Norway attacks shows Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Miriyam Aouragh is the co‑author of Collateral Damage, a report into the response to the Norway attacks. She spoke to Socialist Worker.

When the news of the Norway attacks came out most people’s first reaction was deep shock. Whatever the context, the massacre of so many young people in cold blood was horrific.

But the first reaction of many commentators and the media was to rush to put the attack into a preferred political framework.

In our research on the aftermath of the attacks we studied the flood of online assertions about who the perpetrators might be. In the first 48 hours, media sources clamoured to denounce “Muslim extremism”.

Their blind assumptions, in the face of a vicious attack by an anti-Muslim terrorist, reflect how deeply rooted Islamophobia has become.

Even where reporters stuck to the facts, a more insidious message was seeping through.

It was that this massacre was, if not directly attributable to Muslim perpetrators, then somehow the responsibility of a tolerant immigration policy.

It is dangerous to suggest that unease about immigration is legitimate.

It leaves the mantra about a “native resentment” that continues to actively fan the flames of right wing parties across Europe unchallenged.

Muted, throughout, was the fact that the attack had been carried out by a right wing racist.

It is downright terrifying to think about what would have occurred had the perpetrator been Muslim.

So we cannot assume that the attack has exposed the danger of the far right and that will simply be enough to stop the rise of racist ideas.

Where I live, in Oxford, most people respond very positively to our local Unite Against Fascism campaigning.

But five days after the massacre one man came up, looked me in the eye and said, “This country doesn’t need Muslims, they are evil.”

There are consequences of allowing official politics to give credibility to racist ideas – of the mainstreaming of Islamophobia.

The response to Norway is a warning. We need to see it as a call to action.

Newspaper editor challenges Danish People’s Party leader over multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A war of words has broken out between Politiken‘s editor-in-chief, Bo Lidegaard, and the leader of the Danish People’s Party, Pia Kjærsgaard, about multiculturalism’s place in Denmark.

The exchange comes in the aftermath of the Norwegian massacre in which right-wing politicians have been accused of creating a negative tone in the debate about multiculturalism.

In an open letter to Kjærsgaard on Thursday, Lidegaard asked her to clearly state what she and her party believes is the future of multiculturalism.

“Do you agree that the multicultural society has come to stay and that the debate now needs to focus on how best to adapt to it? Or do you agree with your party members and other voices who see multiculturalism as a battle that will result in an inevitable showdown?” Lidegaard wrote.

“It’s not about forbidding one point of view or another, but making it clear whether the Danish People’s Party wants to solve the problems related to immigration and integration so we can build a multicultural community in Denmark,” he added.

But in Kjærsgaard’s response to Lidegaard on Tuesday, she accused Politiken of using the debate about the rhetoric used by the right as a cover for attacking the Danish People Party’s political views.

“If you don’t accept the multicultural society or if you try to counteract it you’re automatically stigmatised. In fact you’re not even allowed to criticise it at all,” Kjærsgaard wrote.

Kjærsgaard went on to criticise Politiken for not taking a stance against Muslim extremists in Denmark and for not demanding they tone down their language and rhetoric.

“Do you not accept that it is up to individuals to be responsible for their actions in cases such as Anders Breivik – or is it always ‘other’ people’s fault?”

Copenhagen Post, 9 August 2011

Update:  See “Danish right-wing infiltrated”, Politiken, 10 August 2011

Thugs who attacked Muslims and kicked over Qur’ans following EDL pro-Israel rally get two-week curfew

Posted on by Bob Pitt
Bryan Kelso with Kevin Carroll

Bryan Kelso with Kevin Carroll

English Defence League (EDL) members who kicked over Korans and traded punches with Muslims in Speakers’ Corner have been sentenced to a fortnight’s curfew.

Three men admitted public order offences at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday, August 3. Full-time carer Christopher Long, who lived in Kent Way, Surbiton, at the time of his arrest, held his head in his hands as prosecutor Eleanor Mawrey described the fight on October 24 last year.

Long, Brian Bristow and Bryan Kelso had attended a rally outside the Israeli embassy in Kensington, which ended in a confrontation between EDL members and anti-fascist campaigners in Hyde Park.

Continue reading →