Tommy Robinson not welcome here
Demonstrate outside the Oxford Union
7 pm Wednesday 26 November
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Mareeba, Queensland: Islamic school meeting draws hostile crowd
Emotions were running high on Saturday at the first public meeting of the proposed Standard Bearers Academy, a $70 million multi-denominational boarding college to be built near Mareeba.
Proponents of the 1200 all-male student Academy held the information session at Mareeba Bowls Club to gauge public support after media reports described the planned broad-based curriculum as having an “Islamic world view.”
The school hopes to attract students from around Australia, including Far North Queensland taking in Cape York Peninsula and the Torres Strait.
The SBA plans to offer Agricultural courses on its 96 acre Tinaroo Creek Rd site with an emphasis on equestrian studies, environmental awareness, sports centre, Olympic-sized swimming pool, tartan running track, an orchard and a training farm.
More than 100 residents were told by Academy education advisor Dylan Chown that rather than focus on Islam, the Academy planned to offer students of all religions entry in an attempt to allay the perception of a fundamental Islamic school.
In reply to a question from the floor, Mr Chown said although “students from another faith could be enrolled, Islamic values will be taught.” This response brought a mercurial reply of derision from the audience with claims of Islamic indoctrination. Another member of the audience asked why Mareeba was chosen for the Academy and could the community expect rural areas in the north to be “infiltrated with students trying to convert others?”
Anti-bigotry response team established to clean anti-Muslim graffiti from places of worship
A group of volunteers has come together to support Perth’s Muslim community after a spate of recent graffiti attacks on places of worship.
The Anti-Bigotry Response Team has gathered outside a Sikh Temple that was mistaken for a mosque and spray painted with anti-Muslim messages three weeks ago.
That incident followed incidents at two Perth mosques and an Islamic school which were painted with slogans including “ban Islam”.
Diane Abbott major speech: The age of intolerance
THE AGE OF INTOLERANCE
The Fight Against Racism, Anti-Semitism & Islamophobia in a Time of Austerity
Speech by Diane Abbott MP
Tuesday 25th November 2014
6.30-8.00pm
The School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), The Brunei Gallery, Thornhaugh St, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG
As one of London’s longest serving MPs who has campaigned against racism and discrimination in all its forms her entire adult life, Diane Abbott MP is giving a major speech about racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at the School of African and Oriental Studies.
Her speech is taking place against the backdrop of a surge in support for far-right parties across Europe and even in Britain as the nakedly anti-immigrant UK Independence Party is experiencing a growth in popularity.
Diane will highlight how throughout history we always witness a rise in racism during troubled economic times but she will argue that the important thing is not to give way to xenophobia and bigotry but to come together to campaign against it.
The speech is being supported by Operation Black Vote which supports Black communities further their position in politics.
Please note that the event is not ticketed and seats will be allocated on the day on a first come first served basis.
Update: Here is the video of Diane’s speech:
Tackling Islamophobia – Roundtable event at Parliament
UAF and Mend held a joint event to discuss how to combat the rise in Islamophobia in Parliament. The event was hosted by Diane Abbott MP and featured Muslim community groups. It was part of the annual Islamophobia Awareness Month programme of events in November.
This Thursday’s round table featured an in depth analysis of the concerning rise in Islamophobia and identified key areas where Government should make improvements if it is to be effectively challenged.
Diane Abbott MP highlighted how Islamophobia has reinforced and increased racism and outlined how the past decade has seen the mainstream media attack Muslims and migrants. Diane exposed the so-called debate of UKIP, which claims to talk about Europe but is actually a code for immigration, which in turn impacts on non-migrant settled black communities. She said that the debate ends up benefiting the far right because if people have been convinced that immigration is the problem, you cant move far right enough for them. Diane called for all communities to stand together and be united in the face of the rising racism and Islamophobia.
Tucson: Eviction notices served on students after beer and liquor bottles thrown at Islamic Center
Four residents of the Level – a high-rise apartment that primarily houses University of Arizona students – were served eviction notices after management concluded objects were thrown from their balcony onto the Islamic Center of Tucson.
The notices were served Thursday after video from the center and mosque shows objects thrown from a balcony that all four male residents share, said City Councilman Steve Kozachik, who is working to make sure the rowdy behavior stops. “I am less concerned with the sensitivity of these kids than people on the ground dodging a whiskey bottle,” Kozachik said.
For more than a year, the mosque and center’s property has been pelted by beer and liquor bottles, among other objects, thrown off balconies of three high-rise apartment complexes by intoxicated students, Kamel Didan, vice chairman of the board of the Islamic center, has said in earlier interviews.
The mosque is at 901 E. First Street, east of North Tyndall Avenue and south of East Speedway. A total of about 1,200 to 1,500 tenants live in the three complexes situated around the mosque.
EDL protest in Luton draws around 400
Today’s English Defence League (EDL) march in Luton passed without incident this afternoon (Saturday).
This was down to a high police presence and both the EDL march and protest being kept at a distance from a counter protest organised by groups such as United Against Fascism. Officers from police forces all over the country were brought in, from as far afield as the East Midlands and Essex, to contain the protest.
There was a small incident when speeches were being given by EDL members in the centre of Luton, when some members of the counter protest appeared, with a small number of EDL members trying to confront them, but swift action by the police prevented any violence.
Around 400 members of the EDL, with over a hundred present at the counter demonstration. Six were arrested for breach of the peace in Inkerman Street. One of those arrested, a 43-year-old Luton woman was found in possession of an offensive weapon.
Hate crime surge caused by media misrepresentation of Muslims
A friend of Salford terror victim Alan Henning has blamed the media and far-right political parties for the upward trend in hate crime against Muslims.
Speaking ahead of an anti-Islamaphobia event hosted by MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development) in the city yesterday, Doctor Shameela Islam-Zulfiqar explained that the religion was being negatively portrayed in the UK.
She was a close friend to Henning, the 47-year-old taxi driver from Salford beheaded by the Muslim extremist group ISIS (Islamic State).
She told MM: “Irresponsible journalism, mainly tabloid sensationalism around a minority of extreme individuals seems to have become the focus of the mainstream media spotlight in recent months that unfortunately all Muslims are tarnished with and inevitably bear the brunt of.”
“This gradual but constant negative media focus serves to exacerbate the issues through groups such as the Far Right who feel justified in vilifying all things Islamic because the media in a sense legitimises and reinforces their stereotyping.
“The actions of a criminal that happens to be Muslim is immediately related back to the religion of Islam. This is not the case in other religious groups.”
The 36-year-old believes that the presence of ISIS has increased negative stereotyping of Islam as a whole, which she says is unjustified.
How ‘free speech’ is used to justify Islamophobia
Over at the London Review of Books Adam Shatz has an interesting review of two books – A Norwegian Tragedy: Anders Behring Breivik and the Massacre on Utøya by Aage Borchgrevink, and Anders Breivik and the Rise of Islamophobia by Sindre Bangstad.
Shatz places against the atrocities committed by Breivik against a background of rising Islamophobia in Norway. He concludes with some good points about how anti-Muslim bigotry has gone mainstream, justified by an appeal to the principle of free speech.
Fired Muslim workers reach settlement with DHL
HEBRON, Ohio — DHL Global Mail has reached an agreement with Somali Muslims who say they were fired from the company’s Hebron facility in 2013 because they took a break for evening prayer, The Enquirer has learned.
The Cincinnati chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Cincinnati) on Thursday announced the settlement with DHL over religious accommodation complaints brought by 23 Muslim workers in October 2013.
Booker Washington, staff attorney for CAIR-Cincinnati, said the agreement “brings the case to a satisfactory close and recognizes the needs and rights of all parties.”
CAIR-Cincinnati officials said they could not reveal details of the settlement or answer whether workers had regained their jobs or received a financial settlement.
Muslim workers who sorted mail DHL said management reversed a policy that had allowed flexible break time for workers to say required evening prayers. Fired workers, three of them full-time employees of DHL and the others part-time who help through two temporary service agencies, said they had been allowed to pray by previous supervisors. The prayers took about five minutes, workers said.
The workers filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleged DHL Global Mail fired the group for exercising their legally protected religious rights.
“We welcome this settlement, which represents a mutually agreeable resolution of this case,” CAIR attorney Washington said.