Nearly half of those held under Schedule 7 of UK’s terrorism laws are of Asian or Asian British origin, Imran Awan points out.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Tunisia’s Amina quits Femen, accuses group of Islamophobia
Amina Sboui, a Tunisian activist who was detained for nearly three months, said on Tuesday she had left the radical women’s protest group Femen, accusing it of Islamophobia.
“I do not want my name to be associated with an Islamophobic organisation,” she told the Maghreb edition of the Huffington Post. “I did not appreciate the action taken by the girls shouting ‘Amina Akbar, Femen Akbar’ in front of the Tunisian embassy in Paris,” Sboui said.
Those chants were a parody of Allahu akbar (God is greatest), a phrase frequently used by Muslims to express their allegiance to and praise of God.
Amina also criticised the burning of the black Tawhid flag, which affirms the oneness of God, in front of a mosque in Paris. “That offends many Muslims and many friends of mine. We must respect everyone’s religion,” she added.
Queensland parliamentary candidate in call to ‘eradicate mosques’
Ipswich Muslims have defended their faith in the wake of Rise Up Australia Party candidate Anthony Mackin’s calls to eradicate mosques and ban the burka.
Mr Mackin, a bible teacher, is the Blair candidate for a party that has banning the burka as one of its key policies. In an interview with The QT yesterday, Mr Mackin explained why he was opposed to burkas.
“Part of the problem is the obvious one, that you can’t identify who is underneath it,” he said. “I’ve seen recently on the internet that there have been suicide bombers disguising themselves in burkas.
“When we go into a petrol station the first thing a motorcyclist is asked to do is remove the helmet before the cashier will receive payment for the bill, for security purposes. Everybody is required to do this…but the people who are not assimilating to our laws and customs are not.”
Rupert Murdoch attacked for ‘irresponsible’ tweet about Muslims
Rupert Murdoch has backed comments from Britain’s chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, who says multiculturalism has “had its day”, with the media mogul adding that “societies have to integrate. Muslims find it hardest.”
The News Corp chief took to Twitter to make his remarks, which have caused anger among diversity campaigners in Australia. He tweeted: “Good for UK Chief Rabbi Sacks! ‘Let’s put multiculturalism behind us’. Societies have to integrate. Muslims find it hardest.”
Muslim woman ‘intimidated, humiliated’ when mall guard asked her to remove veil, lawsuit says
A Muslim woman who was asked to remove a traditional face covering, or niqab, by a shopping mall guard, has filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination against the guard and the mall’s owners.
Wakeelah Salaam, of Elizabeth, has filed a lawsuit against Bridgewater Commons mall, its owner, General Growth Properties, its mall security vendor, IPC International Corporation, and Marc Krause, a former mall guard.
Headscarf protest after pregnant Muslim woman attacked in Stockholm
A pregnant woman wearing a headscarf was harassed and assaulted in a south Stockholm suburb at the weekend, prompting a call on Monday urging woman to bear headscarves in show of support, regardless of their religious affiliation.
The woman was hospitalized with a concussion late on Friday night after having her head slammed into a car and passing out, she told Sveriges Television (SVT). “She was wearing a headscarf and she thinks her faith is the reason she was assaulted,” Klas Jensgård of Stockholm’s southern district police told the TT news agency.
No arrests have been made in the attack, which took place shortly before midnight in the south Stockholm suburb of Farsta.
Speaking with Sveriges Radio (SR), a friend of the pregnant woman explained that the victim had her headscarf ripped off during the incident. Several other women have since come forward with their own accounts of being harassed because they wear headscarves.
The incident, which also involved racist taunts, has sparked a call for all women to don headscarves in a show of solidarity with the pregnant woman.
Call for ban on EDL marches after thuggery in Hull
Calls have been made to ban any future English Defence League (EDL) protests in East Yorkshire. It comes after a man was injured in front of horrified shoppers and families at St Stephen’s in Ferensway.
A member of the 300-strong EDL protest broke free from police and hit the man yards from where children were on a funfair roundabout. The man was injured moments after unfurling a banner promoting multicultural Hull.
Today, Daren Hale, deputy leader of Hull City Council, said he would be seeking a meeting with police to discuss having these marches banned from the city. He said:
“It is completely unacceptable and this is the sort of thing we were worried about. I think these should be banned now. I will always want to defend people’s freedom of speech but, in my opinion, the intention of this march was to cause distress and upset in our community and that is exactly what happened. They would not have had the opportunity to do this had the march not proceeded.”
Mélenchon accuses Valls of adopting ideology of far right
Le Monde reports that in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Parti de Gauche candidate in last year’s French presidential election, has attacked interior minister Manuel Valls.
Endorsing a description of Valls as representing the “extreme right” of the socialist movement, Mélenchon accused him of falling under the influence of Marine Le Pen and trying to compete with the Front National in appealing to anti-Muslim bigotry. Mélenchon stated:
“Madame Le Pen is on the verge of winning her bet. Not only has she seduced most of the right but she has also contaminated Manuel Valls. And it is he who sets the tone for the government. See how he has polluted part of the summer over the question of the veil. Muslims in our country are the object of unbearable stigmatisation.”
Mélenchon added: “He decided cynically to use this unhealthy situation to establish his personality as a hard and violent man who is hunting on the territory of Madame Le Pen.”
Illinois: Police anti-terrorism class cancelled following protest by CAIR
Police training officials have called off a local anti-terrorism class for officers after protests from a Muslim civil liberties group called the course’s instructor “notorious(ly) anti-Muslim.”
Officers from various local departments had been scheduled to attend instructor Sam Kharoba’s class, “Islamic Awareness as a Counter-Terrorist Strategy,” Monday at Lombard Village Hall. But late last week the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for the training’s cancellation.
Scottish Defence League heavily outnumbered by anti-fascists in Edinburgh
Supporters of an organisation that says it wants “to stop the Islamisation of the United Kingdom” were met by counter-protesters as they marched through Edinburgh.
Around 130 supporters of the Scottish Defence League took part in the march from East Market Street down the Royal Mile and on to the Scottish Parliament on Saturday afternoon, according to police.
Some carried flags adorned with the St George’s Cross and bearing the words ‘Blackburn’ and ‘Sunderland Division’ while others held placards reading ‘Never forget Glasgow Airport’.
Meanwhile, a counter-protest of organisations and individuals including members of the Unite Against Fascism group was said to be 350 strong.
See also “Hundreds of anti-fascism campaigners see off Scottish Defence League in Edinburgh counter-protest”, The Herald, 17 August 2013
Update: See “Edinburgh UAF report on the successful countering of the SDL last weekend”, UAF news, 23 August 2013