Quebec’s culture clash

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Is it likely that Hérouxville, set in Quebec’s overwhelmingly white and francophone heartland, will ever witness the stoning of a Muslim woman? Not really, mused Gérard Bouchard, the co-chair of a provincial commission looking into the reasonable accommodation of minorities at an October 2007 public hearing in Trois-Rivières, 30 minutes from the town. “We’re pretty far from stoning here,” he said.

Bouchard was speaking to Andre Drouin, a member of the Hérouxville town council which, in January 2007, created a national firestorm by adopting a code of conduct that banned the stoning of women and covering of faces, among other practices. Yet Drouin held his ground in the face of Bouchard’s skepticism. “Stoning takes place, and some of those people will want to come here. It’s important to be preventive.”

Exchanges like these have consumed the province since Premier Jean Charest formed the Bouchard-Taylor commission in February 2007, largely in response to the public firestorm over the Hérouxville news.

CBC News, 21 May 2008

Mosque plan gets go-ahead amid ‘racist’ row

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Controversial plans for a new mosque in Fulwood have finally been given the green light. But at a heated planning meeting, some members were accused of being “bigots” and “racists” for opposing the scheme. Work on the new mosque at the Masjid-E-Salaam site on Watling Street Road in Fulwood will now begin within six months, after a planning saga lasting two years.

An angry Coun John Browne, who backed the plans, said: “The thing should have gone ahead last time, but a number of us differed and we are in the same situation. It was to differ for political reasons – it’s a misuse of the planning application process. They’re bigots, racists – that’s a terrible thing.”

Others spoke in favour of the mosque, such as Coun Terry Cartwright, who described the new mosque as a “beautiful building”. And Coun Alan Hackett said: “We want to recognise the patience of a large number of people who have put forward this application.”

Lancashire Evening Post, 20 May 2008

Quebec report upholds right to wear hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Muslim hijab. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s no real threat to Quebec values. And most women here wear it by choice, not because of coercion. That’s what the Bouchard-Taylor commission has concluded after a year of study costing $5 million.

In the final draft of their report – which was submitted to the provincial government yesterday and is to be made public at a press conference Thursday – scholars Gérard Bouchard and Charles Taylor say Quebec society will have a lot to lose if it restricts the wearing of the Muslim head scarf strictly to the home and outdoors.

Devout Muslim women suffer intimidation and discrimination in the Quebec job market for wearing the hijab the commissioners say, recounting testimony from several Muslims in public hearings last fall. For example: A young hijab-wearing woman studying to be a pharmacist “saw her job applications rejected by 50 pharmacies before she was finally able to land a job with an Arab pharmacist.”

Bouchard and Taylor talk of some Quebecers’ “often irrational” opposition to the hijab. They quote from a brief submitted to them in November by a woman in Longueuil, when their 17-city tour of the province swung through town: “In 2007, in Quebec, when a Muslim women wears the veil, I tremble,” the woman wrote.

It’s wrong to think that all veiled Muslim women are somehow under a man’s thumb, the commissioners also say. “There’s a strong feminist current among Muslim women. It follows an original path and is a model that differs from Quebec feminism. It goes along with the wearing of the head scarf.”

Montreal Gazette, 20 May 2008

Mosque plan gets go-ahead amid ‘racist’ row

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Controversial plans for a new mosque in Fulwood have finally been given the green light. But at a heated planning meeting, some members were accused of being “bigots” and “racists” for opposing the scheme. Work on the new mosque at the Masjid-E-Salaam site on Watling Street Road in Fulwood will now begin within six months, after a planning saga lasting two years.

An angry Coun John Browne, who backed the plans, said: “The thing should have gone ahead last time, but a number of us differed and we are in the same situation. It was to differ for political reasons – it’s a misuse of the planning application process. They’re bigots, racists – that’s a terrible thing.”

Others spoke in favour of the mosque, such as Coun Terry Cartwright, who described the new mosque as a “beautiful building”. And Coun Alan Hackett said: “We want to recognise the patience of a large number of people who have put forward this application.”

Lancashire Evening Post, 20 May 2008

Pat Condell’s fascist friends

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pat CondellIslamophobia Watch has regularly covered the obnoxious anti-Muslim videos produced by Pat Condell.

The National Secularist Society’s favourite “comedian”, Condell has also been embraced by racists on the far right, who have enthusiastically promoted his Islamophobic rants.

Even though it clearly provides many of his admirers, Condell has formally dissociated himself from the fascist British National Party. Or has he? It turns out that many of Condell’s YouTube friends are in fact open supporters of the BNP.

See Why Pat Condell Isn’t Funny, 19 May 2008

‘The closer you get to Islam, the more hateful a personality you develop’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In an article based on the Channel 4 documentary In God’s Name, which examines the influence of right-wing evangelical Christianity, David Modell exposes the role of Andrea Williams and the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship in inciting hatred of Islam:

“Andrea Williams has organised a conference called Understanding Islam. The key speaker is Sam Solomon, whom she describes as an ‘authority on Islam’. She introduces him by explaining how influential he has been to her understanding of the religion. The room is the kind of place you might expect to hear a dry academic seminar, but Mr Solomon delivers nothing of the sort. He’s suddenly saying that Islam is based only on hatred. ‘The closer you get to Islam, the more hateful a personality you develop.’ He goes on to say: ‘You may think I know my [Muslim] neighbours and they are the most loving hospitable people. [But] so they were in Nigeria until the day of jihad came and they slaughtered their neighbours.’ He says Muslims are practising deception and are ‘brainwashed into accepting that we are the enemies and must be liquidated and eradicated’.”

Sunday Telegraph, 18 May 2008

Update:  Watch video here. The whole programme can be viewed here. See also the end of part 4 which covers the protest organised by Christian Voice last year against the proposed so-called mega-mosque at Abbey Mills in East London.

US soldier uses Quran for target practice

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A soldier used the Quran – Islam’s holy book – for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday. Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, flanked by leaders from Radhwaniya in the western outskirts of Baghdad, apologized for the staff sergeant who was a sniper section leader assigned to the headquarters of the 64th Armored Regiment.

The soldier, whose name was not released, shot at a Quran on May 9, villagers said. The Quran used in the incident was discovered two days later, according to the military. A tribal leader said “the criminal act by U.S. forces” took place at a shooting range at the Radhwaniya police station. After the shooters left, an Iraqi policeman found a target marked in the middle of the bullet-riddled Quran. Copies of the pictures of the Quran obtained by CNN show multiple bullet holes and an expletive scrawled on one of its pages.

CNN, 18 May 2008

Posted in USA

Goodman hits out at Cordoba Foundation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Paul Goodman 2Paul Goodman, Tory shadow minister for communities, speaking in the House of Commons debate on antisemitism:

“We believe that it is wrong for institutions to participate in events that are hosted by anti-Semitic parties such as the British National party. It therefore follows that it is also wrong for them to participate in events hosted by other anti-Semitic organisations, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir. I make that point because it was reported this week that John Holmwood, a sociology professor at Birmingham university, which is an excellent institution, spoke at a local debate that was organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir.

“It should also be unacceptable for local authorities to support groups that are willing to engage actively with Hizb ut-Tahrir, such as the Cordoba Foundation; we understand that that is the case in Tower Hamlets. The Cordoba Foundation appears to be involved in Campusalam – a Government-sponsored programme to tackle extremism on campus – so we would welcome clarification from the Minister on that.”

Hansard, 15 May 2008

The Cordoba Foundation in fact organised a public debate (see here, here and here) at the London Muslim Centre in which Osama Saeed and Lord Ahmed argued against the HT view that Muslims should not participate in electoral politics in Britain. Goodman, along with David Cameron, evidently prefers that such views should be left unchallenged – and, moreover, that organisations like the Cordoba Foundation that do challenge these views should be denied government support.

We already know that Cameron wants to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir and, if he wins the next general election, will no doubt proceed to do so. Of course, the double standards that allow the racist thugs of the BNP to operate legally while a peaceful Islamist organisation like HT is banned can only strengthen the arguments of the real extremists who preach the futility of non-violence.

The stupidity and irresponsibility of the Tories evidently knows no bounds.

Danish government introduces headscarf ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

DF niqabi judge posterJudges in the nation’s courts will be banned from wearing headscarves and other religious apparel under a proposal put forward by the government on Wednesday.

The bill, which also stated that judges in all courts would be required to wear robes, has the support of a vast majority in parliament, including the Social Democrats, the largest opposition party.

The proposal comes after nearly a month of debate unleashed by a Court Administration decision that it had no legal grounds to exclude Muslim women who wore headscarves from becoming judges.

“Judges that make decisions in court cases, probate courts and county courts need to appear fair and neutral. And we are ready to pass legislation to ensure that,” Lene Espersen, the justice minister, said.

In a commentary in Politiken newspaper on Wednesday, Birthe Rønn Hornbeck, who serves as both immigration minister and minister for ecclesiastical affairs, stated her opposition to a ban, suggesting that doing so would put Denmark on the path towards a “dictatorship”. She also criticised “fanatic anti-Muslims” who had launched a misleading advertising campaign warning against permitting judges to wear headscarves.

Copenhagen Post, 15 May 2008

Via Islam in Europe

See also Associated Press, which reports: “The new legislation … was prompted by discussions over a set of dress code guidelines issued last year by the court administration, which noted that Danish law does not bar judges from wearing head scarves. The guidelines went largely unnoticed until the government’s ally, the nationalist Danish People’s Party, decided to politicize the issue last month. The party, known for its anti-Muslim rhetoric, created a poster showing a woman wearing an all-encompassing burqa and holding a judge’s gavel. The party urged the government to introduce legislation ensuring that courts remain ‘neutral instances in the Danish judiciary’.”

Update:  See also BBC News, 19 May 2008

Nativism vs integration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

IRR report cover“Islamophobia is intrinsically tied up with the loss of civil rights and the erosion of democracy. Hence the fight for civil liberties must incur the fight against Islamophobia. Conversely the fight against Islamophobia must incur the fight for civil liberties and democracy. There are no separate struggles here, but there are on the ground. That is why, whatever the particular struggle we are involved in – whether against war or poverty or Islamophobia or anti-Semitism – we must not lose sight of the larger struggle. And it is only then, in the process of coming together as communities of resistance, that we arrive at community cohesion. Integration and community cohesion cannot be imposed from above. They must grow from below.”

A. Sivanandan contextualises the Institute of Race Relations’ new report, Integration, Islamophobia and civil rights in Europe.

IRR website, 15 May 2008