‘Islamophobia’ by Chris Allen: buy now

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamophobia Chris Allen“Islamophobia” is the long awaited book by Chris Allen that attempts to understand and contextualise one of the most dangerous prejudices in today’s world.

Published by Ashgate at £16.99 (paperback) and £55.00 (hardback) it is available to buy NOW at a substantially discounted price from www.islamophobiabook.com.

What the publishers say about the book:

Despite numerous sources suggesting that Islamophobia is becoming both increasingly prevalent and societally acceptable in the contemporary world, there remains a lack of textual sources that consider either the phenomenon itself, or its manifestations and consequences. There is no authoritative text that attempts to understand or contextualise what might be seen to be one of the most dangerous prejudices in the contemporary climate.

Chris Allen begins by looking at ways of defining and understanding Islamophobia. He traces its historical evolution to the present day, considering the impact of recent events and their aftermath especially in the wake of the events of September 11, before trying to understand and comprehend a wider conception of the phenomenon. A series of investigations thematically consider the role of the media, the contemporary positioning of Muslims throughout the world, and whether Islamophobia can be seen to be a continuum of historical anti-Muslimism or anti-Islamism, or whether Islamophobia is an entirely modern concept. The issue of Islamophobia is considered from the perspective of the local, regional, and global. The incidence of Islamophobia, and the magnitude of the phenomenon and its consequences, is one that warrants a greater investigation in the world today.

This book is both academically and socially relevant and necessary.

Listen to an interview with Chris Allen here.

Colorado Muslim woman won’t remove headcarf for jail photo

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim woman who refused to remove her headscarf for a Boulder County jail booking photo has been told she’ll have to explain her refusal to a judge.

Maria Hardman, 19, of Boulder, who says she converted to Islam three years ago, pleaded guilty to an alcohol violation and was sentenced to two days in jail plus community service.

She told the Boulder Daily Camera on Friday that removing her headscarf for the photo would violate her beliefs because the Quran calls for Muslim women to wear the scarf except in the company of close family.

A police report said Hardman’s blood-alcohol level was 0.19, more than twice the legal limit, after she crashed her motor-scooter in August. Alcohol consumption is generally considered to be banned by Islam. Hardman said she drank punch provided at a party without knowing it contained alcohol. She said she left after she found out.

Hardman said she was told to remove the scarf for the photo Wednesday, when she reported to the jail to do paperwork in preparation for a two-day work crew as part of her sentence.

She said her attorney spent three hours trying to persuade officials to let her wear the scarf for the photo. She said jail officials eventually allowed her to leave without taking her photo, but it’s not clear whether she began serving her sentence.

Larry Hank, who oversees the jail, said Hardman will have to explain her refusal to the judge in her case and that jail officials are preparing a motion to explain their reasoning.

The newspaper reported Hardman’s attorney is also working on a motion. No hearing has been scheduled.

Associated Press, 4 December 2010

Update:  See “Student Voice: ‘I am a Muslim and I love this country'”, Colorado Daily, 6 December 2010

Four arrests over Stoke-on-Trent mosque arson

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stoke mosque arsonFour teenagers were arrested yesterday after an arson attack on a Staffordshire mosque – described by police as a racially-motivated crime. The fire began at a newly-built mosque in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, at 6.30am.

Police detained three men and a woman in their late teens. Firefighters were called after smoke was seen coming from the mosque. Police said they were investigating a link between the attack and damage to a nearby gas main. The mosque was not seriously damaged.

Chief inspector Wayne Jones said: “We are treating this as a racist attack on a religious building.” He added: “I am sure the community are as appalled as we are at this behaviour. I would appeal for anyone with information to come forward. Local neighbourhood police officers are meeting with members of the community to keep them informed and to address their concerns and obvious anger about this criminal incident.”

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Daily Mail exposes the Islamification of Narnia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Narnia fans’ fury after Liam Neeson claims Aslan – the symbol of Christ – could also be Mohammed”, reads a furious headline in the Daily Mail. Neeson, who provides the voice of Aslan the lion in the new film of C.S. Lewis’s book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, has scandalised middle England by claiming that the character is also based on other religious leaders.

“Aslan symbolises a Christ-like figure”, Neeson has stated, “but he also symbolises for me Mohammed, Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries. That’s who Aslan stands for as well as a mentor figure for kids – that’s what he means for me.”

The Mail has tracked down Walter Hooper, Lewis’s former secretary and a trustee of his estate, who says that the author would have been outraged. “It is nothing whatever to do with Islam,” he is quoted as saying. Hooper attributes Neeson’s remarks to political correctness and a desire to be “very multicultural”.

Childcare manager ran racist blog, claimed that Muslims ‘smell of curry and have a stupid religion’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A childcare centre manager behind a racist internet blog has been found guilty of misconduct by the care workers’ watchdog. Helen McClymont also leaked confidential information about children in her care on her daily blog, called “Helen’s Life”.

Now, the care manager faces being banned from working with children after an inquiry found she showed “ingrained attitudes of prejudice and racism”.

On her web page she ranted about Muslims, saying that “they smell of curry and have a stupid religion”.

The childcare worker, manager of Steelrings day care centre for children in Paisley, also posted racist remarks about Italians, Venezuelans and black people, while working at the centre earlier this year.

Scotsman, 3 December 2010

Australian far-right anti-mosque rally draws just four protesters

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Newcastle anti-mosque protestAn anticipated vocal anti-Muslim protest was a non-event when only a handful of protesters turned out to Civic Park yesterday.

Anti-racism protesters overshadowed the rally organised by a right wing nationalist political party in opposition to a proposed mosque in Elermore Vale.

Organiser Nick Folkes denied the Australian Protectionist Party protest was race based. He said the political party was against extremist elements of Islam, not racist. “It is not about racism at all. We are careful about the way we draft policy issues,” he said.

A flyer handed out by the four members of the party at the protest said the mosque would cause traffic and parking problems, 5am wake-ups, cause house values to drop and see many long-term residents leave the suburb as Muslims moved in, a process it termed “white flight”.

Mr Folkes said the party did not support Islamic immigration in Australia. “We are creating problems through multi-culturalism,” he said.

Mr Folkes said he was disappointed with the turnout to the rally but the party would continue to fight the proposed development. “The community action group [EV CARES] think they can achieve results in a non-political manner. The only way to resist is through a political vehicle,” he said.

A small group of anti-racism protesters stood behind the party with signs saying “It’s a cowardly racist who hides behind cars” – referring to the use of traffic issues by the group.

Elermore Vale resident Heidi McDermott, 24, spokeswoman for the anti-racism group, said they were there to promote freedom of religion. “I am proud to be Australian and it upsets me that the Australian flag is being used as a tool of hate,” she said. “The flag does not just represent the white middle class. We are a multi-cultural society.”

Spokeswoman for the Newcastle Muslim Association Diana Rah said the subdued protest was a credit to residents. “As the rally was held by certain individuals who based their opposition to the development on racial and religious bigotry, the poor turnout of support is a credit to the people of Newcastle,” she said. Mrs Rah said the association would be happy to discuss genuine planning concerns with residents.

Newcastle Herald, 4 December 2010

World’s cartoonists thrash Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Wilders Islamophobia(1)

A furore over Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 sparked the idea of a counter-offensive by cartoonists around the world. The international video journalist and cartoonists platform, VJ Movement, asked cartoonists in Islamic and other countries how they saw the increasing criticism of Islam in Europe.

The call produced 30 satirical drawings, most of them featuring Dutch rightwing anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders. According to spokesman Tjeerd Rooyaards of The Hague-based VJ Movement, “Mr Wilders’ face is well-suited to being caricatured”. Next month, VJ movement will launch a separate platform, Cartoon Movement.

RNW, 3 December 2010

Headscarf wearing candidate walks out on France’s anti-capitalist party

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ilham_Moussaid2Twelve activists from Olivier Besancenot’s New Anticapitalist Party (NPA) have walked out on the party in protest.

“The numerous acts of defiance and hostility against us have become intolerable and it was time to put an end to the stigma and the witch hunt.” This is what twelve activists from Avignon have written in an internal statement to explain their departure from Olivier Besancenot’s Anti-Capitalist Party. Among them is Ilham Moussaïd, the recent regional candidate who wears a headscarf.

Her candidacy caused a split within the party due to her wearing of a headscarf and the ongoing debate regarding the veil. She is a practicing Muslim and identifies herself as a pro-choice feminist.

Since that election, the headscarf issue has remained unresolved. Outvoted in a recent internal vote, the activists chose to leave. “We did not want the next Congress to be confrontational. We want to allow for a calm debate. Some were afraid of us, but we did not want to Islamicize the party,” said Abdul Zahir, who had not previously made a public statement.

His statement alludes to the fact that some other members of the party accuse Ilham Moussaïd and others of seeking to Islamicize the NPA.

“Some people are torn between anti-capitalism and the political representation of Muslims, which is not the NPA project. We are a feminist party, emancipatory and secular. The representation of the party should be too,” argued Pierre-François Grond, member of the national executive.

Ingrid Hayes – a national political board member and open opponent of the headscarf who calls it a “sign of oppression of women” – warned: “We’re not an atheist party. But religion divides rather than unite.

She said the debate is progressing. “Their departure is linked to the debate and turmoil that rocked our organization following the candidacy of Ilham Moussaid – a debate on the question of religion, feminism, secularism. That debate will be decided at the national convention,” she added.

Abdul Zahir regretted “the expectation of a conference (which seems never to happen) to decide if we have our place in this party. This is neither right nor worthy of a mass revolutionary party.”

Islam Today, 28 November 2010

Germans less tolerant of Islam than neighbours, study finds

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Germans are more critical of Islam and less tolerant of building mosques than their neighbours in France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Portugal, a new survey has found.

Despite the other European countries’ often fractious relationships with their Muslim communities, people there were relatively positive about Islam and its followers compared to Germany, according to the survey commissioned by a research group based at the University of Münster.

According to weekly Die Zeit, which reported on an advance version of the study on Thursday, four out of 10 Germans in the former west of the country and 50 percent in the former east feel threatened by foreign cultures.

“Compared with the French, Dutch and Danish, a rigid and intolerant grasp of foreign religions predominates in Germany,” said the head of the project, sociologist Detlef Pollack. “The statement that Islam is part of Germany is completely disregarded in the opinions of Germans.”

The polling firm TNS Emnid, on behalf of the Münster researchers, surveyed 1,000 people each in the former west and former east Germany, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Portugal. The study will be officially released later on Thursday in Berlin.

Fewer than 5 percent of Germans, compared with more than 20 percent of Danes, French and Dutch consider Islam to be a tolerant religion, according to the study.

Each of the other countries has had high-profile conflict with their Muslim communities – such as the Prophet Mohammed cartoons in Denmark, head scarf controversies in France and the murder of anti-Islam filmmaker Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands, as well as the rise of far-right politician Geert Wilders.

Nevertheless, a clear majority of people in those countries have a positive view of Muslims. By contrast, just 34 percent of western Germans and 26 percent of eastern Germans are positive about Muslims.

Most Germans saw barely any positive side to Islam, Pollack said. Less than 30 percent in the former west supported the building of mosques, while in the former east the figure was less than 20 percent. The acceptance of minarets or the adoption of Muslim holidays received even less support.

In Denmark, by comparison, more than half of respondents supported the building of mosques, while in France and the Netherlands the figure was about two-thirds and in Portugal it was nearly three quarters.

The Local, 2 December 2010