German doctor gets rap on knuckles over anti-Muslim surgery sign

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rainer_Peters_noticeA German public health agency disciplined a doctor Thursday for hanging a sign in his surgery that demanded Muslim women remove their headscarves.

The sign made headlines in September, at the same time as a bestselling book was attacking German Muslims for their alleged unwillingness to adopt German ways and learn to speak German.

A demerit notice will be attached to the doctor’s name for the next five years in the German medical register, said Cornelia Kur, a spokeswoman for the agency that oversees medical practices in the Frankfurt region.

The penalty was one harsher than the mildest disciplinary measure. He was convicted of breaching his duty to treat all patients regardless of sex, age, origin or creed. Kur said the doctor from the small town of Waechtersbach escaped a tougher penalty, such as a fine or being struck off the register, because he took the sign down, met with a Muslim group and publicly apologized.

The “rules” sign in his waiting room had said head-scarves were banned, very large families were not welcome and all patients had to speak German. He said later he never seriously meant to turn any patients away.

DPA, 25 November 2010

Turin: official calls for veil-wearing mothers to be banned from picking up their children from school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A government official in industrial northern Italian city of Turin has asked the local school board to stop fully-veiled women from picking up their children at school because it makes it difficult to identify them as the students’ true parents.

The request by Maurizio Marrone – a member of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative People of Liberty party – was prompted after Marrone and other mothers had seen some women dressed in full burqas picking up their children from an elementary school in Turin’s Barriera di Milano working class neighbourhood.

“Some mothers with children enrolled in the Albert Sabin elementary school in Turin have seen Islamic women wearing the full burqa picking up their children, and I have seen this as well,” Marrone said, adding that the burqa made it impossible for teachers to “verify the identity” of those picking up minors.

Marrone went on to call the wearing of the burqa, the traditional dress of fundamentalist Islamic women, “damaging to the dignity of women.” Marrone also claims the burqa “slows down the process of integration” for immigrants.

AKI, 24 November 2010

Preston: anti-fascists angry at police handling of racist protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Socialist Worker reports that anti-fascists in Preston are complaining that police intervention has allowed the English Defence League to hold its anti-Muslim demonstration in the Flag Market in the centre of the town, close to where the majority of Preston’s Asian community live, and despite Unite Against Fascism having already booked that area for its own anti-EDL protest. Socialist Worker earlier reported that police told Preston councillors that the EDL is a peaceful, non-racist organisation and that the real threat of public disorder came from UAF.

BBC feeds Islamophobic propaganda in the right-wing press

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sharia lessons for pupilsFive Chinese Crackers takes up John Ware’s Panorama documentary “British Schools, Islamic Rules”, pointing out that the programme relied on insinuation and general accusations that were not backed up by any precise facts or figures.

It fed into an anti-Muslim climate promoted by the right-wing press, who seized on the programme in order to claim that children “as young as six” are taught material that appears in textbooks used by fifteen-year-olds and invent scenarios of “ranting fanatics preaching at them”.

5cc concludes that Ware’s progamme “leaves far too much to the imagination, which is easily influenced by creepy music and shaky hidden camera footage, and far too much goes unexplained. When we’re being warned that right wing extremism is feeding Islamic extremism (which – along with exaggerated and alarmist coverage of ordinary Muslims – is feeding right wing extremism and on and on and on) we need an investigation like this to be thorough and authoritative.

“Instead we have vague claims and infuriating ‘aha! Found you out!’ style finger pointing followed by scary music and hidden cameras recording someone picking up a book that might have said something nasty and antisemitic and might have been taught alongside some other books that might have said something else and might have been used to poison children’s minds.”

Girl, 15, arrested over ‘Facebook Koran burning video’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of inciting religious hatred after allegedly burning an English language version of the Koran.

The 15-year-old, who lives in the West Midlands, allegedly posted the video, filmed two weeks ago on her school premises, on Facebook. The video was reported to the school and subsequently removed, police said. A 14-year-old boy was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of making threats. Both have been released on police bail.

It is thought the girl, who lives in the Sandwell Council area, was allegedly filmed setting the booklet alight while other pupils watched. Two Facebook profiles have also been removed from the site, police added.

It is understood that the group who published that version of the Koran have since been to the school to talk to pupils.

Catherine Heseltine, chief executive officer of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, said burning the Koran was one of the most offensive acts to Muslims that she could imagine.

She said: “The Koran is the most sacred thing to over a billion Muslims worldwide. You can see that in the way Muslims treat the Koran, washing before touching it and in many Muslim homes you will find it on the top shelf above all other books and we will never destroy the Koranic texts.”

“We believe it is the word of God. God’s guidance for us in this life,” she added.

Bob Badham, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council cabinet member for education, said he had visited the school and believed the atmosphere was generally good among pupils.

He added that he did not believe there was a “deeper problem” in the area.

BBC News, 25 November 2014

Posted in UK

All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia is launched

Posted on by Bob Pitt

LAUNCH OF ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP ON ISLAMOPHOBIA

An All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia has been launched in the House of Commons.

At its inaugural Annual General Meeting, members elected Keighley and Ilkley Conservative MP Kris Hopkins to serve as its Chair with Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Simon Hughes and Labour peer Lord Janner of Braunstone as Vice-Chairs. The Group has so far attracted the interest of more than 20 MPs and peers from across both Houses of Parliament.

Mr Hopkins thanked attendees for being part of what he described as a “momentous occasion.” He said: “Whilst challenges will undoubtedly arise in the weeks and months ahead, my colleagues and I are hugely committed to the task in hand. I believe there is already a very strong resolve amongst members to better understand the complex issues involved, and to propose considered, evidence-based policies to tackle Islamophobia wherever it exists.”

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader and Bermondsey and Old Southwark MP Simon Hughes said: “Hatred of Islam and pandering to prejudice has been one of the dark spots of the last 20 years not just in this country but in other parts of the world. All great world faiths have sadly included bigoted and prejudiced fanatics. This is never a justification for whipping up hate and fear against people who are the followers of Islam.

“In a multifaith country and an increasingly multifaith Parliament it is important that politicians of all parties work together to tackle and educate against prejudice wherever it occurs. I am honoured to be one of the inaugural officers of the new All Party Group on Islamophobia.”

Labour MP for Blackburn and former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: “The establishment of this Group is an important development in our collective efforts to provide a wider understanding of the essentials of the Muslim faith, and protection not least for the millions of devout and law-abiding members of the Muslim faith in the UK who have had to put up with the peddling of myths and worse about their beliefs. I therefore greatly welcome the initiative, and will do all I can to make the Group a success.”

ENGAGE will serve as the secretariat to the Group. Its CEO, Mohammed Asif, said: “There are many Muslim organisations which have worked for many months to see this project come to fruition. It’s been a long, hard struggle but the work now begins in earnest with parliamentarians taking the reins and leading the way. There will be many challenges moving forward but we intend to travel to all parts of the UK to take evidence and record experiences to ensure members hear the voices of the Muslim community.”

For further information, please email info@iengage.org.uk

We’re doomed – evil Islamists have ‘established a bridgehead in Parliament’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Andrew-Gilligan“After a series of reverses in the political arena, Islamist sympathisers yesterday established a key bridgehead in Parliament.” Yes, it’s Andrew Gilligan – who else? – responding to the launch this week of an All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia.

Gilligan claims that members of the APPG are being “used” by ENGAGE, who he describes as “an organisation of Islamist sympathisers which has consistently defended fundamentalist organisations such as the East London Mosque and the Islamic Forum of Europe”. By that reasoning, of course, London Assembly member Andrew Boff qualifies as a fundamentalist sympathiser. And, in view of his friendly relations with the East London Mosque, Boris Johnson probably does too.

Gilligan complains that ENGAGE not only defended the East London Mosque against his hysterical witch-hunting, but it also opposed the Home Office’s ban on Zakir Naik entering the UK, failed to endorse Gilligan’s criticisms of an iERA report on Islamophobia and defended Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, against Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s attack on her support for the right to wear the face-veil.

If Gilligan wants to convince anyone that ENGAGE are a gang of dangerous Islamist extremists intent on subverting the mother of parliaments he’ll have to come up with something more damning than that. Unfortunately, given Gilligan’s long record of inventing fraudulent accusations against those he wants to discredit, he probably will.

Update:  See “A response to Andrew Gilligan’s smears about ENGAGE”, ENGAGE, 26 November 2010

Complaint lodged over Sydney burqa mural

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Say no to burqas mural2

It has become a lightning rod in the public debate about the right of Muslim women to wear the burqa, attracting protests, the censure of a mayor and messages of support from talkback radio. But now the Newtown mural of a woman in a full-face Muslim covering with a strike symbol over her face and the words ”Say No to the Burqa” is the subject of an anti-discrimination complaint.

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Temecula city officials recommend planning approval for mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Temecula mosque protest

Temecula city officials are recommending the Planning Commission approve a proposed mosque that has divided the city and thrust it into the national debate over Islam.

A report issued Wednesday comes as the five-member commission prepares to hear an application for the 24,943-square-foot, two-story mosque sought by the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley. The public hearing is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 43200 Business Park Drive, Temecula.

Planned for the southwest corner of Nicolas Road and Calle Colibri, the mosque with Mediterranean architecture and two minarets is one of several across the nation that have encountered strong opposition.

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