See “Hannity and Gabriel grasp at straws to fear monger that Sharia law has invaded US”, Newshounds, 1 July 2010
Racism and the City
James Macintyre reviews Sex and the City 2.
Muslim pupils taken out of music lessons ‘because Islam forbids playing an instrument’
Schools are allowing Muslim families to withdraw their children from music lessons because learning an instrument is forbidden according to some Islamic beliefs.
Hundreds of pupils are thought to have been removed from state school music classes despite the subject forming part of the statutory National Curriculum.
Parents have no automatic right to withdraw their children from subjects such as music, although legal exemptions exist for religious and sex education.
However, in one London primary school about 20 pupils were removed from rehearsals for a Christmas musical and one five-year-old girl remains permanently withdrawn from mainstream music classes.
The details, which emerged after a BBC investigation, provoked concerns from Ofsted and education experts. Some Muslims believe that playing musical instruments is forbidden in the same way that alcohol is banned.
See “Muslim parents ‘banning children from music lessons'”, BBC News, 1 July 2010
So a tiny minority of Muslim parents withdraw their children from music lessons. Is that revelation of such importance as to qualify it to be the lead item on this evening’s BBC London Tonight programme? Viewers were invited to send in their comments, which were of course uniformly negative. You can just imagine the sort of racist opinions the report must have provoked but which were not read out on air. This sort of irresponsible reporting just feeds an Islamophobic narrative that depicts Muslims as an alien presence in British society.
Speak out against spy cameras in Birmingham
On Sunday, there will be a public rally organised by Birmingham Against Spy Cameras (BASC) in opposition to the mass surveillance scheme being implemented in the Sparkbrook and Washwood Heath areas of Birmingham. I will be one of the speakers at the rally, which brings together a diverse range of organisations and individuals who strongly oppose the scheme and are calling for it to be scrapped. Come and find out why, and add your voice to the campaign.
Birmingham Against Spy Cameras
Sunday 4 July
4.30 pm
The Bordesley Centre
(Camp Hill roundabout, Stratford Road, B11 1AR)
The event will be chaired by broadcaster and journalist Adrian Goldberg and speakers confirmed so far include:
SHAMI CHAKRABARTI, Director of Liberty
GARETH PEIRCE, human rights lawyer
SALMA YAQOOB (Leader of the Respect Party and Councillor for Sparkbrook)
ALEX DEANE, (Director, Big Brother Watch)
RAY GASTON (Methodist minister, Inter-faith enabler and author)
JOHN HEMMING (LibDem MP for Birmingham Yardley)
TANVEER CHOUDHRY (Lib Dem councillor, Springfield ward)
EDL rioted at St George’s Day parade, court told
The English Defence League, a far-right anti-Islamic political group, have been blamed for “hijacking” a St George’s Day parade in Ruislip and rioting in the street.
One of the police officers who dealt with the trouble outside The Bell pub in West End Road, on April 23, told a court today (Wednesday) that many of those causing trouble were seen to be wearing polo shirts emblazoned with the English Defence League (EDL).
At the trial of a 24-year-old man, charged with assaulting a police officer and with a public order offence during the incident, Uxbridge Magistrates Court heard that between 70 and 80 people were involved in disrupting the parade from RAF Northolt.
Martyn Harris, 24, from Greenford, pleaded guilty to using threatening and abusive behaviour but denied assaulting PC Williamson. The officer said: “Mr Harris’s behaviour was consistent of the entire crowd. There were a lot of people claiming to be from the English Defence League, that had hijacked the parade.”
Up to 500 people had gathered to enjoy a barbecue, live music and the arrival of the parade outside The Bell when trouble began and a group began fighting. There has not been any violence at the event before and the pub landlord said at the time that “outsiders” were to blame.
Judge Deborah Wright said: “This sounds like it was a riot. A very serious matter where police were struggling to control the crowd.”
It was heard that Mr Harris had been one of the aggressors in the violence. Prosecution lawyer, Nikki Onuma-Elliot, said: “Mr Harris lunged toward PC Williamson, f-ing and shouting. He continued this behaviour and was warned to stand back.
“But he kept pushing the officer and swinging arms, trying to provoke violence. He was pushed back but kept advancing. As he was being arrested Harris was being extremely violent and said ‘f-ing mug’ and ‘I’m f-ing going to do you.'”
Catalan parliament postpones vote on Islamic veil ban
Catalonia’s regional parliament Wednesday postponed a vote on a motion to ban the use of the face-covering Islamic veil in public places, an issue that has sparked a debate throughout Spain.
Two conservative deputies had presented the motion under which Catalonia would “adopt the legal reforms necessary to ban the wearing of clothes that totally cover the face.” The ban would be in place “in public spaces as well as public buildings” throughout the northeastern region.
The motion said Catalan authorities “cannot remain on the sidelines of the European debate,” citing moves in both France and Belgium to ban the full-face Islamic veil.
The vote was on the parliament’s agenda for Wednesday but was postponed to a date that has yet to be announced, apparently due to backlog of business in the chamber.
Hollobone introduces veil ban bill
One Conservative MP, Philip Hollobone, is hoping that Britain will follow Belgium and introduce a repressive ban on the niqab and the burqa. He will present his Private Members Face Coverings (Regulation) Bill in the House of Commons today. The Parliament website describes it as:
A Bill to regulate the wearing of certain face coverings; and for connected purposes.
The bill appears to stop short of calling for a full ban, although it would restrict the wearing of the full-face veil in public places such as banks, post offices and school entrances.
But Hollobone clearly views it as a first step and has previously made his support for a full ban clear. During a Commons debate on International Women’s Day he said:
The phrase that has been given to me time and again is, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” This is Britain; we are not a Muslim country. Covering one’s face in public is strange, and to many people it is intimidating and offensive. I seriously think that a ban on wearing the niqab or the burka in public should be considered.
Like other supporters of an illiberal ban, Hollobone has yet to provide a convincing answer to the point that those who complain that Islamist men tell women how to dress are doing precisely this by calling for a ban. On matters of sexual equality, Muslim women would be better served by the enforcement of existing laws against domestic violence than by the enactment of new laws restricting their dress.
See also “Tory MP launches first legal bid to ban burkha in Britain”, Daily Mail, 30 June 2010
Turkish minister warns against rise of Islamophobia
Turkish State Minister Mehmet Aydin on Tuesday said Europe considered its own culture as “superior” and all other cultures as “enemy”.
“The Europeans should quit seeing themselves the higher culture and get to know Islam better,” Aydin told a “High-level Conference on Tolerance and Non-discrimination” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Aydin said the Western world was under heavy influence of Islamophobia, which he said needed urgent counter-action. “European politicians used Islamophobia as a political chip at times of elections to get more votes. Unless urgent action is taken today, the world would have to tackle tomorrow a difficult and enduring problem just like antisemitism,” Aydin said.
Spain: Amnesty urges politicians to reject veil ban
The regional parliament in Catalonia is due to vote on a ban on the use of the face-covering veil and the burqa in public, fueling debates over the freedom of rights in the country.
The motion was put down by two conservative parliament members demanding that Catalonia “adopt the legal reforms necessary to ban the wearing of clothes that totally cover the face.” The ban is expected to be in effect in all public areas as well as public buildings throughout the northeastern region.
Meanwhile, one day ahead of the vote, human rights group Amnesty International called on Catalonia’s lawmakers to remove the motion.
“Any wide-ranging ban will violate the rights to freedom of expression and religion of those women who choose to wear a full-face veil as an expression of their identity or beliefs,” John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s expert on discrimination in Europe, said. “Women should be free to choose what and what not to wear. This is their right under international human rights law” he added.
The move by Catalonia comes as several other cities, including Barcelona, have approved bans on the use of the Islamic veil in public over the past weeks. Earlier on Monday, Coin – a small town in the southern region of Andalucia – was the first town outside of Catalonia to ban the veil in public buildings.
The banning measures come as the socialist government of Spain argues that the use of such body-covering garments is best opposed through education instead of imposing restrictions. Human rights activists, for their part, maintain that such a ruling would violate the European Convention on Human Rights, which is expected to guarantee the fundamental liberties of individuals.
See also Amnesty news release, 29 June 2010
Strasbourg: 18 Muslim graves desecrated
AFP reports that last night 18 graves in the Muslim section of a cemetery in the Strasbourg suburb of Robertsau were desecrated.
Twelve headstones were overturned, while the perpetrators overturned or damaged plaques and decorations on six other graves.
“Deliberately targeting the Muslim section is unspeakable, it is a barbaric act”, Driss Ayachour president of the regional Muslim Council of Alsace was quoted as saying.
The Socialist mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries, who visited the scene this morning, announced that the municipality would cover the cost of restoring graves.
See also “18 tombes musulmanes profanées à Strasbourg”, L’Express, 29 June 2010
Update: See “Cemeteries desecrated in Strasbourg: three skinheads receive prison sentences”, Islamophobia Watch, 20 June 2012