US Baptist church buys anti-Islam ad

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Granite City Baptist Church advertGranite City Baptist Church raised some eyebrows this weekend when it bought an ad (pdf) in the St. Cloud Times that questioned whether Muslims are a “threat” to America.

“How do Moslems seek to take control of a nation?” the ad, which features a photo of Pastor Dennis Campbell, asks. “Moslems seek to influence a nation by immigration, reproduction, education, the government, illegal drugs and by supporting the gay agenda.”

The ad is part of a string of incidents in St. Cloud that troubles human rights advocates. Within the last year, pornographic posters depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammed were put up on St. Cloud telephone polls, and Muslim students in St. Cloud area high schools have reported religious harassment.

Last week, MPR reported on several racist Facebook groups that were created by St. Cloud high school students. “I hate the Somalians at Tech High,” was one such group. Kyle Adams, a former student at St. Cloud Technical High School (he was kicked out for repeatedly using racial slurs) told MPR, “I was raised in believing that this country was founded upon a white Christian nation and the belief of racial separation.”

The Granite City Baptist Church ad seems to mirror some of that anti-Muslim sentiment. “What happens when Moslems take over a nation?” asks Campbell in the ad. “They will destroy the constitution and force the Moslem religion on the society, take freedom of religion away, and they will persecute all other religions.”

Minnesota Independent, 25 March 2010

Via LoonWatch

Muslim students call on embassies to lobby City University over prayer room

Posted on by Bob Pitt

City University students at prayer

Muslim students are demanding their embassies lobby City University to overturn a ban on them using their prayer room.

The University, which has students from Muslim countries including Bangladesh, Iran and Pakistan, padlocked the prayer room on Whiskin Street because of security concerns after six Muslim students were attacked in November.

Hundreds of male members of the Islamic Society (ISoc) have been gathering twice a day to pray in Northampton Square in protest. Up to 400 students have been attending sermons in the square during Friday prayers.

In a statement on the Muslim students campaign website it said: “We Muslims are still stranded in the middle of nowhere without a dedicated place to pray, and it seems the university don’t want to change their stance.”

Saleh Patel, president of the City University Islamic Society (ISoc), said: “We have tried dialogue but the University say they are always busy. We are hoping that they will listen to international students. We want them to ask their embassies to contact the University. We also want students’ parents to ring the University, showing character and patience. We hope to resolve this with dialogue if they let us speak to them.”

Patel said they were not currently seeking to take legal action, but in a statement on the campaign website it says: “It may be the case that we need to take further steps if the university do not feel it is necessary to provide for the needs of the Muslims.”

Islington Now, 24 March 2010

Islamophobia is a threat to democracy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The following letter appears in today’s Guardian:

We are concerned by the rise of Islamophobia, the negative coverage of Muslims in the media, the violent street mobilisations of extreme rightwing organisations like the English Defence League, and the rising electoral support for the British National party (The battle for Barking, Weekend, 13 March). Following Channel 4’s recent inflammatory documentary, Britain’s Islamic Republic, which saw concentrated attacks on the East London Mosque, the English Defence League marched through central London with placards including the demand “Close the East London Mosque now”.

The East End of London is not new to having its communities attacked by fascists and the media. The 1930s saw the Battle of Cable Street when Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts attempted to march into the Jewish community in the area. We cannot allow this terrible history to repeat itself. Further, the documentary, and articles since, have attacked the participation in politics by the Muslim community. We cannot stand by and watch this continue without remark or action.

In the runup to the general election, all parts of the population should be actively encouraged to exercise their votes. That is democracy. We welcome the work of organisations who work to this end. We call for solidarity and support for those organisations that work to encourage political participation from all sections of society, including Muslims, and condemn those who seek to undermine it.

Ken Livingstone
Bonnie Greer
Dr Abdul Bari Secretary general, Muslim Council of Britain
Brendan Barber General secretary, TUC
Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC
Dr. Edie Friedman Executive director, Jewish Council for Racial Equality
Diane Abbott MP
Neil Jameson Executive director, London Citizens
Jagtar Singh Sikh Secretariat
Tony Woodley Joint general secretary, Unite the Union
Bruce Kent
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
Professor Eric Hobsbawm
Louise Christian Christian Khan solicitors
Billy Hayes General secretary, Communication Workers Union
Rabbi Lee Wax
Anas Altikriti Spokesperson, British Muslim Initiative
Caroline Lucas MEP
Professor Avi Shlaim
Lord Nazir Ahmed
Kate Hudson Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Andrew Stunell MP
Ismail Patel Co-ordinator, YouElect
Claude Moraes MEP
Rev. Alan Green Chair, Tower Hamlets Interfaith forum
George Galloway MP
Musleh Faradhi Central president, Islamic Forum Europe
Jean Lambert MEP
Salma Yaqoob Leader, Respect party
Jenny Jones AM
Steve Hart Regional secretary, Unite London Region
Andrew Murray Chair, Stop the War
Bell Ribeiro-Addy NUS black students officer
Sabby Dhalu Joint secretary, Unite Against Fascism

Update:   Response from EDL here.

‘Why I was banned in the USA’ – Tariq Ramadan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It’s not the first time America has tried to shield itself from dissenting opinions. During the Cold War, dozens of overseas artists, activists, and intellectuals – including British novelist Doris Lessing, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, and Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez – were denied visas because of their left-leaning ideas. Today, though, the American concept of the ‘other’ has taken on a relatively new and specific form: the Muslim. America must face the reality that, in the West, many adherents to Islam demonstrate loyalty to democratic values through criticism.”

Tariq Ramadan writes in Newsweek, 29 March 2010

Sarkozy promises to ban the veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nicolas_SarkozyFrance is to ban the full Muslim veil to protect the dignity of women, President Sarkozy announced today.

His decision followed months of wavering by politicians of Left and Right and ended a long silence by Mr Sarkozy on what do do about the niqab, burqa and other full face-covering garments.

“The full veil is contrary to the dignity of women,” the President said. “The response is to ban it. The Government will table a draft law prohibiting it.”

He gave no details, but his announcement means that he has come down on the side of members of parliament in his own camp and the opposition who advocate a full ban on the full veil on French territory.

An all-party parliamentary committee recommended lesser measures last month which would require women to expose their faces on public transport and on state-owned premises such as post offices, universities and hospitals.

Until yesterday, Mr Sarkozy had merely said that the full veil symbolised the oppression of women and that it “has no place in France”.

Times, 24 March 2010

Quebec passes law against veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The province of Quebec passed landmark legislation Wednesday that stipulates Muslim women will need to uncover their faces when dealing with Quebec government services.

The bill says people obtaining or delivering services at places such as health or auto insurance offices will need to do so with their faces in plain view. The law covers all garments ranging from the face veil to the burqa, a traditional head-to-toe veil worn by some Muslim women. It says people’s face-coverings will not be tolerated if they hinder communication or visual identification.

Premier Jean Charest told a news conference that the province was drawing a line in defense of gender equality and secular public institutions.

The Muslim Council of Montreal said there may be only around 25 Muslims in Quebec who actually wear face-coverings. Of the more than 118,000 visitors to the health board’s Montreal office in 2008-09 only 10 people – or less than 0.00009 percent of cases – involved women who wear face veils. There were no cases among the 28,000 visitors to the Quebec City service center over the same time period.

Salam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal questioned the need to legislate against such a small minority of the population. “It is a knee-jerk reaction to the opposition and vote-grabbing more than anything else,” he said, adding the law was unlikely to encourage integration of Muslim immigrants.

Associated Press, 25 March 2010

Update:  See comment piece in the National Post by one Barbara Kay, who writes:

“Chapeau, le Quebec! That means, ‘Hats off to you, Quebec.’ With the announcement of Bill 94, barring the niqab in publicly funded spaces, Quebec has dared to tread where the other provinces, feet bolted to the floor in politically correct anguish, cannot bring themselves to go…. Apart from the odd imam crying ‘Islamophobia!’ and a clutch of disgruntled fundamentalist Muslim husbands, all of us – separatists, federalists, left-wingers, right-wingers, Christians, atheists, democratic Muslims, francophones, anglophones, allophones – are happy a line in the sand has been drawn on reasonable accommodation…. It doesn’t matter if there are only 20 women in Quebec wearing the niqab. Even one is too many.”

Polish group uses Swiss poster to protest new mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Europe for the Future poster

A Polish group calling itself “Europe for the Future” has refashioned a Swiss poster against minarets to demand a halt in the construction of a new mosque in the capital of mainly Catholic Poland.

In the posters, seen in several parts of Warsaw Wednesday, the Swiss flag is replaced with a Polish one and wording that translates into “stop the mosque of the radicals”.

Switzerland voted in a referendum in November to ban the construction of new minarets, a move that drew criticisms worldwide including charges of Islamophobia.

The Polish poster called for a demonstration on Saturday at the site of the mosque and cultural centre under construction near the centre of Warsaw, and described as “radical” the Muslim League of Poland building it.

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How Sarkozy boosted the Front National

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The debate over national identity engineered by Sarkozy’s UMP has seen Islamophobia reach a new pitch – at one point the party spokesperson compared the burka to a ‘Mickey Mouse mask’.

“Yet however shrill the scapegoating of Muslims, it has done nothing to obscure the government’s impotence in the face of serious social and economic problems. Moreover, the realisation that Sarkozy is not an enforcer but a rather insecure figure in thrall to wealth and celebrity, has strengthened the claims of Le Pen to be the real authority figure in French politics.

“Le Pen has therefore been able to pick up support from those disenchanted by Sarkozy, his credentials as an authoritarian alternative bolstered by the government’s legitimisation of the racism that dominated the FN campaign. At a time of economic crisis, with Islamophobia on the rise across Europe, the government has had to learn, like all its predecessors, that the far-right is strengthened, not isolated, when mainstream politicians pander to racism.”

Jim Wolfreys at Comment is Free, 24 March 2010

Leeds: police probe as yobs desecrate Muslim graves

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police are investigating claims that a Leeds graveyard wrecking spree which damaged 15 graves could have been racially motivated.

The plots in Harehills cemetery in Leeds were targeted by vandals, who smashed one headstone and damaged many more.

Police are looking into whether the vandalism was the work of racists as all the affected plots are in the Muslim section of the graveyard.

Yorkshire Evening Post, 22 March 2010

Muslim woman sues local leader of Wilders’ party

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim woman from Almere is suing local Freedom Party leader Raymond de Roon for discrimination and inciting hatred.

One of the Freedom Party’s stated aims in Almere is a ban on headscarves in the council house and other publicly-funded institutions.

Ayse Bayrak-de Jager said: “I became a Muslim and I chose to wear a headscarf. My headscarf is part of my identity and I’m not taking it off. I only take my clothes off for one man and that’s my husband.”

Even though the Freedom Party is the largest party in Almere, it is by no means certain that the council will introduce a headscarf ban. Mr De Roon abandoned council talks last week when none of the other political parties was prepared to support his party on this issue.

Radio Netherlands, 22 March 2010