Dutch Catholic schools ‘can ban headscarves’ court rules

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Imane MahssanCatholic schools are allowed to forbid Islamic pupils to wear headscarves. Such an item of clothing is in conflict with the Christian principles of the institution, which are protected by freedom of education, a district court in Haarlem ruled yesterday.

Don Bosco College, a Catholic secondary school in Volendam, forbade a 15 year old pupil, Imane Mahssan, to wear a headscarf. The girl then took the school to court, but has now lost the case.

According to the judges, the headscarf ban fits into the Catholic character of the school, whereby different expressions of faith are not allowed. The judge considers that the headscarf ban does not restrict freedom of expression and that the school is not discriminating on the basis of religion.

Don Bosco College introduced the headscarf ban last September, a few months after Imane had made a request to wear one. Because the girl received no response to her request for months, she started to wear the headscarf.

Don Bosco College said the school may not have indicated any headscarf policy in response to Imane’s request, but it was already in the school rules that pupils must respect the Catholic basis of the school. This was of importance in the ruling by the Haarlem court.

Earlier, the girl’s case was in fact upheld by the Equal Treatment Commission (CGB). This advisory court only makes non-binding rulings, though the courts usually do adopt the CGB conclusions.

NIS News Bulletin, 5 April 2011

See also RNW which reports: “Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam Freedom Party, has been quick to congratulate the school on the verdict. On Twitter he wrote: ‘A just ruling! I hope many Christian schools will follow this example’.”

Veiled Muslim women are under attack in the UK claims new research

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Research into the experiences of veiled Muslim women is to be presented at a public event to be held at the University of Leicester on April 6.

Irene Zempi, from the Department of Criminology at the University of Leicester, is conducting postgraduate research into the victimisation of veiled Muslim women and their experiences as direct victims of Islamophobia in the streets of Leicester. With her in-depth qualitative research revealing the “hidden”, often “invisible” nature of Islamophobia, Irene will also identify ways to improve services and support offered to victims of anti-Muslim hate crime.

The research design employs interviews with female veiled victims. In particular, prospective research participants include British Muslim women who are descendants of immigrants from South Asia (in particular Pakistan, Bangladesh and India) and from other Muslim-dominated regions such as the Middle East, from African countries such as Somalia and Nigeria, as well as British converts to Islam.

Irene said: “My study is looking into the experiences of veiled Muslim women in order to raise awareness about the ‘true’ nature of Islamophobia that they face, and the consequences of the abuse and intimidation veiled Muslim women and their communities have to go through.”

“It is worrying that in a liberal democratic society such as Britain, Islamophobia is accepted and even expected. It is necessary to point out that Islamophobia is a new form of racism. As Baroness Warsi said in her speech at the University of Leicester about the ‘cancer of Islamophobia’: ‘When people get on the tube and see a bearded Muslim, they think “terrorist” … when they hear “Halal” they think that sounds like “contaminated food” … and when they walk past a woman wearing a veil, they think automatically “that woman is oppressed”‘.”

Irene highlights that public expressions of Islamophobia are invariably random in nature and so individual victims may be targeted when they are spotted in a public place such as streets, shopping centres, buses, and trains.

“Persistent staring, spitting, calling names, throwing of eggs or stones, and pulling women’s veils off are the overwhelming types of anti-Muslim hostilities, yet rarely reported to the police. As a result, this victimisation remains ‘invisible’ for police and local authority,” says Irene.

University of Leicester press release, 4 April 2011

Why EDL’s Guramit Singh should be excommunicated

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sikhs Against EDL 3Pickled Politics has picked up on the ultimatum issued by the Sikh community to Guramit Singh of the English Defence League, warning that they will call for his excommunication unless he renounces the EDL. Jai writes:

“As confirmed by the extensive list of signatories involved, this action is endorsed by the British Sikh population, including numerous influential Sikh temples & organisations across the United Kingdom, particularly in London and Birmingham. This includes the two largest Sikh temples outside India….

“In complete violation of core Sikh tenets, Guramit Singh has been heavily involved in the EDL’s persecution of ordinary Muslims en masse whilst explicitly representing himself as a Sikh and claiming to be acting in the name of Sikhism, including deliberately modifying & grossly distorting sacred verses by the Sikh Gurus in order to ‘inspire’ EDL members present during his foul-mouthed public speeches demonising Muslims, Islam and the Prophet Mohammad.

“Guramit Singh’s excommunication would therefore be entirely in line with historical precedents during the time of the Sikh Gurus along with the temporal authority permanently bequeathed to the Khalsa by the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.”

Fresh attempt launched to introduce anti-burqa law in Belgium

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A committee in Belgium’s lower chamber of parliament approved Wednesday a law outlawing burqas and other kinds of Islamic face veils – relaunching efforts to introduce the ban nearly one year after they were thwarted by a government crisis.

The law seeks to punish anyone caught in public places with their face completely or partly covered – thus preventing their identification – with fines between 15 to 20 euros (21 to 35 dollars) and/or up to seven days’ imprisonment.

The draft law still needs to be approved by the full Chamber of Deputies and by the Senate, Belgium’s upper house.

A similar bill won backing from the Chamber last April, but was still waiting to be approved by the Senate when a linguistic squabble between Belgium’s French- and Dutch-speaking politicians led to parliament being dissolved, triggering early elections.

The bill was reintroduced by the centre-right French-speaking Mouvement Reformateur (MR), which stressed the need for a national law outlawing burqas after judges in January scrapped a local ban imposed in Etterbeek, a district of Brussels, the Belga news agency said.

Like last year, all other parties backed the proposal except for the French- and Dutch-speaking Green parties, which renewed calls for Belgium’s top administrative court to review the constitutionality of such a ban before it is introduced.

DPA, 30 March 2011

Via Islam in Europe

Qaradawi opposes Egypt’s Salafi movement, calls for ‘civil, democratic and pluralistic state’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Qaradawi at Tahrir Square rally
Qaradawi addresses mass rally in Tahrir Square, February 2011

The prominent Islamic scholar Youssef al-Qaradawi leveled severe criticism at Egypt’s Salafi movement, describing its thinking as both stagnant and extreme. Al-Qaradawi, who heads the International Union of Muslim Scholars, blamed the rise of Salafis on the absence of a genuine role for the moderate Islamic institution Al-Azhar.

Salafi groups have called for drafting laws based on the Quran and the Prophet Mohamed’s teachings. Though they have abstained from politics in the past, Salafi leaders announced they were considering a political role following the 25 January revolution.

Until the 1970s and prior to leaving Egypt, al-Qaradawi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. He considers himself a moderate Islamic scholar.

In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, he accused Salafis of adhering to literal interpretations of the Quran and tradition, even though religious fatwa should change to accommodate new issues. Muslims should not be confined to the interpretations contributed by scholars from past eras, he said.

Al-Qaradawi added that the Salafi movement opposed the 25 January revolution and accused the revolutionary youth of deviating from Islam by disobeying authority. “Strangely enough, they now present themselves as the heroes of the revolution and its defenders,” he added.

Egyptians have lost their confidence in Al-Azhar, he said, because its scholars obeyed the old oppressive regime.

Al-Qaradawi said Egyptians want a civil, democratic and pluralistic state that respects religions but upholds Islam as the official religion of the state and the source of legislation and guidance.

Al-Masry Al-Youm, 4 April 2011

EDL returns to Shotton

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Shotton

The Deeside division of the English Defence League have announced another demonstration against plans by the Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society for a mosque in Shotton, Flintshire. Have these ignorant bigots no sense of shame?

You may recall that the EDL staged a demonstration in January against proposals to convert the disused Shotton Lane Social Club into an Islamic cultural centre. The protest was poorly attended, with a mere 100 people participating, most of them from outside north Wales.

But the EDL’s efforts weren’t entirely wasted. Just over a week later the social club was burned to the ground in what was not unreasonably suspected to be an arson attack, and the building has since been demolished.

But evidently that isn’t good enough for the EDL. Last week Mohammed Munchab Ali, chairman of the Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society, was reported as saying that plans to establish a centre with a mosque in Flintshire remain in place despite the destruction of Shotton Lane Social Club.

So the EDL will be returning to Shotton on 21 May. Or as the EDL Deeside Demonstration Facebook page puts it: “Round 2, Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society get ready for EDL but this time BIGGER & BETTER than before.”

Of course, with the building that would have housed the Islamic centre now reduced to charred rubble, the EDL are deprived of a concrete object on which to unleash their hate. Still, they can no doubt hope that their next public demonstration of Islamophobic hysteria in Shotton will inspire some sort of violent attack on the Muslim community of north Wales.

Update:  The Facebook page “EDL Deeside Demonstration” has now been amended to “(UNOFFICIAL AT THE MOMENT) EDL Deeside Demonstration”.

Could the EDL leadership have concluded that a protest against an Islamic centre that has already been the object of an arson attack might be seen by the public as just a tad tasteless? More likely they have taken fright at the prospect of the North West Infidels muscling in on the event.

NWI Chester

It was reportedly the NWI’s activists (along with their co-thinkers in the North East Infidels) who clashed with supporters of the EDL leadership at the Blackburn demonstration on Saturday, and their presence at the Shotton protest would very likely lead to another punch-up.

Further update:  See “English Defence League supporters plan second Deeside demonstration”, Flintshire Chronicle, 7 April 2011

Campaign against Camberley mosque resumes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

No to mosque in CamberleyControversial plans to build a mosque with two towering high minarets next-door to Sandhurst will be aired at a public inquiry that begins tomorrow.

The £3million building would have had a clear view over Britain’s top military academy and is just 400 yards from its parade ground – prompting fears it could be a security threat.

Plans to demolish a listed Victorian school building to make way for the huge Arab-style building were initially approved last year. But, after the intervention of army chiefs, the local MP and education secretary Michael Gove, and 7,000 residents who signed a petition, Surrey Heath Borough Council changed their mind.

Now planning officials will make their final decision though a six-day public inquiry after an appeal by the Bengali Welfare Association, which worships at the former school in Camberley.

There remains fierce opposition and angry locals expected to queue from the early hours of tomorrow morning to get in the Camberley Theatre, which only seats 360.

The Save Our School group, which organised the anti-mosque petition, said it was planning to hire lawyers for the inquiry.

Local residents were outraged that the association wanted to knock down the historic building to make way for the new mosque.

They were also concerned at the scale of the proposed new building, particularly the 100ft-high minarets, which locals said were out of character with the district’s architecture.

Alan Kirkland, from Save Our School, told The Guardian: “There is nothing in the Qur’an that says you should have domes and minarets. They need a mezzanine floor that is for women only. To most people, that’s objectionable.”

Daily Mail, 5 April 2011

Police march EDL racists out of Halifax

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL in HalifaxFar-right demonstrators were marched out of Halifax by police after racist abuse was shouted at town-centre traders.

Scores of officers and dog handlers were deployed to Wards End and Horton Street on Saturday at around 5pm to deal with a mob of English Defence League (EDL) supporters on their way back from a rally in Blackburn. Protestors from factions in Halifax, Hull, Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Leeds gathered at The Courtyard pub on Wards End, hanging an EDL flag outside.

A worker at the nearby Chicken Grill House takeaway said three men had shouted racist abuse and staff at some shops were so worried they closed up. Assistants at Hot 4 U takeaway on Wards End said a fight started in the street and eight men had tried to get into their shop but police had marched them away.

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‘Son of Fitna’ loses Wilders votes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Support for Geert Wilders’ far right Freedom Party has dropped by an equivalent of two seats in parliament, according to an opinion poll by Maurice de Hond’s peil.nl. The poll comes after Mr Wilders announced he would be making a sequel to his controversial anti-Islam film Fitna.

The two notional seats have shifted to the largest party on the right, Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s VVD. Freedom Party voters appear to be less enthusiastic about Fitna than they are about Mr Wilders other political ideas and proposals, say the pollsters. The percentage of Freedom Party voters who say they would vote for the party again has dropped to 79 percent, the lowest level in the polls since 2006.

Mr Wilders would win 24 seats in the 150-seat parliament if an election were held now, according to the poll. In fact this is the number of seats his party now actually holds – in the polls his popularity had risen since the last election. Senior coalition partner the VVD would gain two seats, three more than it currently holds.

On 1 April Mr Wilders announced he would be making Fitna II in 2012, about “the barbaric life of the sick mind of Muhammad”. Sixty-five percent of Freedom Party voters said they approved of the proposed Fitna sequel. However, the move only had the backing of 22 percent of those surveyed in total. Fifty-eight percent thought the new film would harm the Netherlands’ position internationally.

RNW, 3 April 2011