Somali-American professors angered over repeated searches

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two Somali-American scholars at the University of Minnesota say they’re outraged by what they consider invasive questioning and searches while traveling abroad this summer.

Abdi Samatar chairs the U’s geography department. He’s married to Cawo Abdi, a sociology professor. Since June, the husband and wife say they’ve been pulled aside a total of six times at airports for lengthy interviews that have lasted up to two and a half hours. They believe customs officials targeted them for being Muslim and ethnic Somalis.

Earlier this month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan – the “Brad Pitt of India” – made headlines around the globe when he was stopped at a New Jersey airport. Khan said, at the time, that he believed he was questioned because his Muslim name raised red flags in a post-Sept. 11 world.

But countless Somali-Americans who don’t enjoy Khan’s level of celebrity say they’ve been subjected to similar searches, called secondary inspections, upon re-entering the U.S.

Samatar and his wife are both U.S citizens with American passports. In August, they were returning from South Africa on separate flights and were steered into a waiting room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. “We looked at each other, and we smiled, and we said, ‘OK, let’s see where this takes us,” recalled Cawo Abdi, Samatar’s wife.

But now, Abdi said, she feels indignation. “It’s a very unpleasant experience to be interrogated for two or three hours when you have never committed a crime, when you are doing your job, and you of course care about the security of every American,” she said. “Being a citizen, I expect, and I have a right, for a certain level of protection, and I don’t feel like I’m treated like an American.”

MPR News, 24 August 2009

US pastor uses 10-year-old daughter to promote Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islam is of the Devil T-shirtsGAINESVILLE — A 10-year-old girl was sent home on her first day back to school in Gainesville for wearing a shirt that was deemed offensive.

Faith Sapp wore a shirt to class Monday with the words “Islam Is Of The Devil” printed on it. The words are the same as those at an outreach center where her father serves as the pastor.

The girl’s dad let her wear the shirt, but the school says it is against the dress code. The code states that a child must dress in a way that is not offensive or inappropriate. The school board says that Sapp is not suspended or expelled and can return to school Tuesday, but she must follow the dress code.

WDBO Radio, 25 August 2009

Update:  See also the Gainesville Sun, 26 August 2009

Call for ban on anti-Muslim demonstration in Birmingham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Birmingham protestWest Midlands Police have been urged to step in and ban a far right group from holding a march in Birmingham next month to avoid a repeat of the shocking scenes of violence witnessed earlier this month.

White nationalist organisation The English Defence League (EDL) and an associated group, Casuals United, are due to hold a rally against Islamic extremism in the city on September 5. Their first demonstration on August 8 ended with violence and bloodshed as supporters clashed with anti-racism campaigners.

One of those calling for a ban was Respect councillor Salma Yaqoob, who expected more street violence if EDL returned. “When it comes to public safety we have every right to intervene,” she said. “But the ‘just stay away’ message we are hearing won’t wash with today’s Muslim youngsters who won’t put their heads down and carry on walking when they are subjected to racist taunts – they will react and fight back.”

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Swiss basketball body forbids Muslim headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim woman has been told by Swiss basketball authorities she can’t wear a headscarf when she plays in league games. Sura Al-Shawk, a 19-year-old Swiss citizen of Iraqi origin, is to debut in a regional women’s league when the season starts next month. Her team, STV Luzern, sought permission for her to wear the scarf.

However, the Swiss association ProBasket said Thursday it follows the rules of FIBA, the world governing body. FIBA says the sport has to be neutral, forbidding religious symbols and headcovers. “If basketball is priority No. 1, international rules have to be respected,” ProBasket told the Swiss newspaper Neue Luzerner Zeitung. “If religion is priority No. 1, then you cannot play basketball.” It added that STV Luzern will lose its games by default if Al-Shawk plays with her headscarf.

Al-Shawk says she was surprised by the decision but has not said what she will do. “I really can’t understand what is happening here,” she told the newspaper. “I would not have thought it possible that in a country like Switzerland a headscarf in sport would pose a problem.”

Associated Press, 20 August 2009

Muslims shocked by mosque attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Toul mosque graffiti (1)

Muslims in a town in eastern France were shocked by a racist attack on their mosque which was sprayed with racist graffiti and defaced with pieces of pork.

The attack on the mosque in Toul is believed to have taken place in the early hours of Wednesday. It was daubed with inscriptions saying “France for the French”, “Here it’s Nazi” and “Don’t touch my pig,” along with Nazi swastikas.

“This is an act of cowardice,” said Nurdin Hamza, head of the local Maghrebi association. “Whether it is a mosque or a church, a synagogue, a Buddhist temple, or any other public place, we will always condemn this sort of act.”

Two youths in their 20s were arrested hours after the vandalism, French television said, giving no other information. According to the police, the youths were caught spraying swastikas onto the wall of a kebab restaurant in a nearby town.

RFI, 20 August 2009

See also “Mosquée taguée : trois skinheads mis en examen”, Le Nouvel Observateur, 21 August 2009

Three skinheads aged between 19 and 20 with alleged far-right links have been arrested in connection with the mosque desecration. Two of them were apprehended while spraying swastikas and other Nazi symbols on a kebab restaurant in the nearby town of Liverdun. A third individual has been charged with assisting in the preparation of the attacks.

Update:  See “Mosquée profanée : dix-huit mois avec sursis”, La Républicain Lorrain, 17 May 2011

Maxime Rouvet and Sébastien Winwa each received 18-month suspended prison sentences for the attacks on the mosque and kebab restaurant, and were ordered to pay €25,000 in damages to the victims, of which €18,200 will go to the Muslim Association of Toul. A third man, Ludovic Bel, who bought paint used to spray the graffiti but did not participate in the actual attacks, was given a 6-month suspended sentence.

Toul mosque graffiti (2)

Toul mosque graffiti (3)

‘It’s time to end the cultural appeasement’ says Paul Richards

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Paul RichardsAt Progress Online the dreadful Paul Richards, former advisor to the no less appalling Hazel Blears, offers his take on the Jim Fitzpatrick affair.

No surprises here – Richards hails the “courage” of the MP for Poplar & Canning Town who walked out of his constituents’ wedding. Those of us who condemned Fitzpatrick’s boorish behaviour are, as you might expect, guilty of “cultural relativism”.

Equally predictably, Richards takes an ignorant swipe at Iqbal Sacranie: “He has served on this board and that, advised our Labour government, was secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), and has been knighted by the Queen. But looking at the CV, you are hard-pressed to find any evidence of having been elected by anyone to anything.”

And how does Richards suppose that Iqbal Sacranie got to be secretary-general of the MCB – through a military coup?

Richards claims to see a parallel between Fitzpatrick and, of all people, George Lansbury. He notes that in 1912 Lansbury resigned his East London seat to fight a by-election in support of women’s rights: “He lost the seat, but placed himself on the right side of decency, progress and equality for women, just like the Fitzpatricks when they walked away from the London Muslim Centre last weekend.”

The only parallel I can see here is that Fitzpatrick looks likely to lose his seat too.

Still, Richards sees hope for the future: “It is entirely reasonable, based on the evidence, that those sections of Britain’s Muslim communities … whose culture is tainted by medieval prejudice and abuse of power, will change.”

Update:  Read ENGAGE’s response to Richards here.

Update 2:  See “Sir Iqbal Sacranie: Correction and Apology”, Progress Online, 21 October 2009

Fears of further violence by EDL prompt march ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Luton riotThe Home Office has issued a ban on any unofficial marches taking place in Luton for the next three months. The ban was granted to Beds Police and Luton Borough Council, who feared a planned “anti-extremism” march on September 19 would mean a repeat of violent scenes from earlier in the year.

Several “marches” have taken place in Luton in response to disruption caused by Islamic extremists at the homecoming parade for the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment, nicknamed the Poachers, on March 10. The most recent, in May, saw protestors clash with police and cause damage to cars and a takeaway shop. A man was also assaulted.

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Tariq Ramadan still welcome in Oxford

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tariq Ramadan, the Islamic scholar sacked by Rotterdam city council and Erasmus University, will take up the job of professor of contemporary Islam studies at Oxford University in Britain from September 1, the Telegraaf reports.

Ramadan was fired because of his refusal to stop working for an Iranian-backed tv channel. The city and university said this could not be combined with his other roles as academic and advisor on integration.

Ramadan has been attached to Oxford as a researcher and lecturer for the past four years. “Freedom of expression is a fundamental right which will be respected,” a spokesman for the British university told the paper.

Dutch News, 21 August 2009

EDL plans provocation in Harrow on September 11

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Harrow_Central_MosqueA Harrow mosque leader says he is “sad” about plans for a 9/11 far-right protest outside its building.

The English Defence League (EDL) has organised a demonstration in front of the building, in Station Road, on September 11, and plans to make it a memorial event for the 2001 terrorist attacks. The event will take place on a Friday, the Islamic holy day.

Ghulam Rabbani, general secretary of the mosque, said: “We also believe that September 11 wasn’t right. We have a policy of anti-extremism. If people have something against us, they probably don’t know us. If you are Christian or Muslim we can still be friends. We hope the local community and our friends and the local government and police will be there to try seriously to defend everybody.”

Members of EDL clashed with anti-fascist campaigners in Birmingham on August 10 with police in riot gear struggling to control the situation. Officers made 35 arrests.

The original protest outside Harrow Central Mosque was organised for August 29 on the back of claims there were plans to hold Sharia court meetings in its new building. Mr Rabbani says there are no such plans but a statement on the website of the far-right coalition the British Defence Leagues says they do not believe him and do not “want any more mosques in this country”.

The statement reads: “It has now been rescheduled to September 11th, which is a Friday, but will incorporate a 9/11 anniversary commemoration. This is now being organised by the EDL.”

Mr Rabbani said: “We have worked very hard with the local government and the local police to keep community cohesion and partnership. All of the community can live together peacefully. Most of the community is happy with us. This group is coming from outside.”

Harrow Times, 20 August 2009

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