The Muslim News reports on the case of a Muslim IT worker who suffered harassment in his workplace.
Geert Wilders speaks at Cornerstone Church in Nashville
Videos courtesy of LoonWatch.
A 21st century freedom ride
Chris Nineham reports on last Saturday’s conference against Islamophobia and an initiative to challenge the French ban on the veil.
Swiss canton bans Wilders
Right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders is not allowed to speak next month in the canton of Valais. Officials in Savièse said right-wing figures could bring unrest to the community, and that applications for protest permits had already been filed. Wilders was invited to speak by Swiss People’s Party member of parliament Oskar Freysinger.
Catalonia – far-right party gains in regional elections
Against the backdrop of citizens’ protests against the Socialists’ austerity package, the Right made significant gains in Catalonia by focusing on anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim themes. Liz Fekete reports.
Bulgarian MPs condemn Ataka assault on Sofia mosque
Prayer carpet on fire outside the Banya Bashi mosque on 20 May
The Bulgarian Parliament has condemned the actions of Volen Siderov and members of his ultra-nationalist Ataka party outside the Sofia mosque on May 20 2011, Bulgarian media reported on May 27. MPs from all parties present in the parliamentary sitting, with the exception of Ataka MPs who abstained, voted in favour of the declaration condemning Ataka’s actions.
Wilders has encouraged discrimination and violence against Muslims, court hears
Statements and speeches by PVV leader Geert Wilders over the past few years have led to an increase in discrimination and violence against Muslims, the MP’s trial in Amsterdam was told on Friday.
Michiel Pestman, representing a number of ethnic minority organisations, told the court Moroccan and other minority groups felt attacked by Wilders. “The attitude towards the Moroccan community has become harder due to the defendant’s actions,” Pestman said.
Mohamed Rabbae, former leader of the left-wing green party GroenLinks, told the court the PVV political manifesto shows Wilders’ eventual aim is to “get rid” of all Muslims.
California mosque fire was arson
Federal investigators have determined a fire that destroyed a mosque in Stockton last month was arson.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced its findings Wednesday. The ATF had opened an investigation into the fire at the Masjid Al-Emaan Mosque after it was gutted on April 23.
The mosque was located in a strip mall. A church next door, Living Well Ministries and Christian Center, was also damaged in the blaze. Damage from the fire was estimated to be about $400,000. There were no injuries.
No arrests have been made, but authorities are hoping a $10,000 reward for information will lead them to a suspect, or suspects.
See also “Mosque fire called arson; surveillance images released”, KCRA, 25 May 2011
Masjid al-Emaan has launched an appeal to finance the rebuilding of their mosque. Details here.
University of California: Muslims and Jews unite to oppose David Horowitz
The announcement earlier this month by College Republicans at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) that they would be hosting as talk this evening by David Horowitz of FrontPage Magazine and Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week notoriety provoked the no doubt intended furore.
College Republicans applied for a grant of $1,770 from Associated Students Finance Board to subsidise the costs of the event. However, the AS rejected the application following objections from the newly-formed UCSB Respect Coalition, which brought together over 60 student groups including the Muslim Student Association, Students for Justice in Palestine, American Students for Israel and Queer Student Union (although the university’s Legislative Council did allocate $800 for the event’s security costs).
Predictably, Horowitz denounced the decision as an outrageous attack on free speech, although all that had really happened was that College Republicans had been denied the use of their fellow students’ money to finance Horowitz’s hatemongering.
UCSB American Students for Israel, UCSB Students for Justice in Palestine, UCSB Muslim Student Association and a UCSB Jewish community centre, Santa Barbara Hillel, have issued a joint statement replying to Horowitz’s complaints. They write:
David Horowitz has claimed that opposition to A.S. funding for his upcoming speech is rooted in a desire to silence him and curtail his right to free speech. The truth is that we merely oppose the use of student funds to subsidize bigotry and prejudice. Students must be exposed to a wide variety of intellectual perspectives on all issues, but Horowitz goes far beyond providing an alternative perspective.
We and many other students on this campus are deeply offended by his claim that “there is a movement for a second Holocaust of the Jews that is being supported [at UCSB] by the Muslim Student Association.” The UCSB MSA is an incredibly valuable member of our campus, has been involved in numerous interfaith dialogues and provides a cultural and religious home to a large segment of the UCSB Muslim community. The accusation that the UCSB MSA has ties to terrorism is not only baseless and inaccurate, but it also propagates stereotypes and misconceptions that far too often have led to deadly consequences.
We stand unified with our Muslim friends in repudiating these grossly inaccurate stereotypes and call upon the UCSB community at large to stand by their fellow students.
Rather than stage a protest against the Horowitz meeting, now billed as “Infantile Disorders at UC Santa Barbara: Why the Muslim Student Association is Afraid of David Horowitz”, the UCSB Respect Coalition have organised an alternative event under the title “The Alternative: Empowering Our Voices”.
EDL plans confrontation with Muslim community in Tower Hamlets … with help from local Labour MP
Following their protest against “Muslim paedophiles” in Blackpool next Saturday, the English Defence League have announced that their next demonstration will be in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, which they describe as “the heartland of Islamic terrorism” (see here and here).
Comments about the Tower Hamlets protest on the EDL’s Facebook page have included a call to rip off Muslim women’s veils – from an individual currently on bail over charges arising from an attack on Kingston mosque – and even more explicit threats of violence such as this:
