Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Dutch Muslims concerned by mosque attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MoskNee

An unidentified man wearing a hoodie placed fireworks in the window of the Selimiye Mosque in Enschede, a city in the Netherlands, on December 14. A few seconds later, the fireworks exploded, breaking the window.

The motives of the perpetrator remain unclear – he has not yet been caught – but mosque board member Sezgin Akman said he suspects the attack was inspired by hatred of Islam. “Maybe someone wanted to tell us we are not welcome,” he said, adding the mosque has received several threatening letters in the past.

More than one-third of the Netherlands’ 475 mosques have experienced at least one incident of vandalism, threatening letters, attempted arson, the placement of pigs’ heads, or other aggressive actions in the past 10 years, according to research by Ineke van der Valk, author of the book Islamophobia and Discrimination.

The Kuba Mosque, in the city of IJmuiden, said it has counted more than 40 such incidents since its founding in 1993.

“Lines like ‘go to hell, Muslims’ on the wall, graffiti that contains Nazi symbols, pig heads on the doorstep, Molotov cocktails … A lot has happened,” said Suleyman Celik, a board member of the Kuba Mosque. “Two years ago, a female visitor who left the building was pelted with beer bottles by men driving by in a car. She broke her teeth and had to go to the hospital.”

On June 23, two men shouting racist slogans entered the Kuba Mosque after an argument outside. They threatened to kill those inside, and broke the nose of one of the mosque’s board members. They were arrested two days later by police.

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Swedish marchers denounce Christmas Day arson attack on mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eskilstuna solidarity demo

Several hundred marchers turned out in a Swedish town on Friday to denounce an arson attack on a mosque that injured five people on Christmas Day as the traditionally tolerant country confronts the rising influence of the extreme right.

A firebomb was thrown through a closed window of the mosque in the central city of Eskilstuna on Thursday, injuring five of the nearly 70 worshippers inside, two of whom remained in hospital on Friday.

Answering calls by the “Together for Eskilstuna” Facebook page to denounce the attack, a large group of people converged on the damaged mosque to show their support. “Several hundred people were there to deliver a message of friendship,” a police spokesman, Roland Lindqvist, told AFP.

According to police, windows in a second Eskilstuna mosque were broken overnight on Thursday, though authorities couldn’t say whether the two attacks were linked.

Sweden’s leftist prime minister, Stefan Löfven, denounced the “hateful violence”. “We will never tolerate this kind of crime. Those who want to practise their religion should have the right to do so,” Lofven told SR radio.

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Green MPs warn of growing threat of Islamophobia in Germany

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ozcan Mutlu and Belit Onay

“Islamophobia poses a big problem in Germany, like anti-Semitism,” warns Özcan Mutlu [above, left], a representative of the Green Party in the German parliament in Berlin.

Speaking with The Anadolu Agency on Thursday, Mutlu warned that the rising turnout of the demonstrations was of grave concern for the five million Muslims of Germany. Demonstrations in the East German city of Dresden led by the far right group Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident have attracted thousands.

“Islamophobia has peaked nowadays in Germany, becoming especially widespread in Europe after the 9/11 terror attacks,” he pointed out.

Mutlu blames German media for failing to adequately cover the threat. “German media has not taken its responsibility of warning the people about Islamophobia so far,” Mutlu said.

“The problem is not the large turnout at these demonstrations, but the fact that they propogate racism and Islamophobia,” Mutlu said. Mutlu pointed out the anomaly that a large number of demonstrators turn out in Dresden, yet the city has a relatively small Muslim population.

Nearly 100,000 Turkish entrepreneurs in Germany employ approximately 400,000 people, according to the Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association. “The demonstrators’ concerns are completely irrelevant, because, the immigrants in Germany do not harm the German economy; on the contrary, they make a contribution to the economy.”

The Green Party has demanded the enhancement of new programs and projects for immigrants, as well as additional financing for them. “But the ruling parties do not agree with us, and they have declined all of our demands,” Mutlu complained.

Mutlu also said that paying more attention to education was essential in eliminating Islamophobia, anti-semitism and anti-immigrant feeling. “We have to teach our children to be aware of racism, and we also have to teach that multiculturalism is rich.”

Lower Saxony Green Party Deputy Belit Onay [above, right] drew attention to the rising number of mosque attacks in Germany, saying that the mosque attackers are driven by Islamophobia. “There is no proof that the organized crime syndicates have committed the attacks,” Onay told AA.

The most recent mosque attack occurred in Dormagen city in the federal state of Northern Rhein-Westphalia on Saturday. Neo-Nazis attacked the Turkish-Islamic Union’s Suleymaniye Mosque by painting swastikas on its walls.

“The mosque attack in Dormagen is unfortunately a common type of attack,” Onay said. “After the 9/11 terror attacks, an average of one mosque attack every two weeks has been carried out in Germany from 2001 to 2011.”

The Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Committee issued a report in November on the arson attacks targeting the mosques in Germany. The conclusion of the report was that the attacks had become frequent, and that suspects could not be arrested.

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Tel Aviv bus driver verbally assaults Arab women wearing hijabs

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two female Arab students were insulted and verbally abused Wednesday afternoon by a Dan bus driver for wearing their traditional hijabs. When they got on the bus near Tel Aviv University, the driver reportedly said to them: “What is this disgusting Islamist look? You look like IS.”

Another passenger who was on the bus with them turned to the driver and expressed her shock and dismay. “I told him he should be ashamed of himself”, she told Channel 2 News, “and that his job is to drive people and not to make hurtful comments about how they dress.”

The students themselves did not respond and went to take their seats. When they got off they phoned Dan’s service center to complain, and also reported the incident to the bus conductor at the station by the university.

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Britain still grappling with controversial review of the Muslim Brotherhood

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Supporters of Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood wave Egyptian flags during a rally in protest against the recent violence in Egypt, outside of the Eminonu New mosque in IstanbulDon’t hold your breath if you are waiting to read the British government’s controversial review of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It could be months yet before this sees the light of day – a reflection of difficulties over how to handle an extremely sensitive topic as well as wider confusion about the role of political Islam after the disappointments of the Arab spring.

Downing Street is still refusing to say when or how it will release the review, which was ordered by David Cameron in April amidst accusations that he had bowed to pressure from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt – all viscerally hostile to Islamists as well as heavyweight allies and trading partners for the UK. But the word in Whitehall is that it is still not imminent. And if it has not appeared by March it may then be too close for constitutional comfort to May’s general election – which means it might never surface at all.

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President praises Germans on refugees amid rallies

Posted on by Bob Pitt

PEGIDA (2)

Germany’s president on Wednesday praised his compatriots’ willingness to take in refugees and said he is glad that most people don’t want to “seal Germany off,” a message that comes as growing anti-Islam demonstrations in an eastern city have worried many.

President Joachim Gauck’s Christmas message didn’t mention directly the rallies in Dresden organized by a group calling itself Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West, or PEGIDA. But he said society “needs its citizens to respect each other and to heed each other, day in, day out.”

Mainstream German politicians have been divided between outright condemnation of the rallies and saying that demonstrators’ concerns should be taken seriously. Immigration has emerged as a contentious topic lately in Germany, partly due to a sharp rise in asylum applications, particularly from Syrians.

Gauck said he wanted to tell those “worried by developments in the world” not to be afraid. “Taking fears seriously does not mean giving in to them,” he said.

He praised Germans’ “great willingness … to take in refugees” and said it was encouraging “that the vast majority of us do not share the views of those who want to seal Germany off.”

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Melbourne Muslim woman Nasrin’s justice ordeal after being attacked twice in two days

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nasrin pulled on her long black abaya and pinned her hijab in place. She did it despite knowing that this day, more than ever, her Islamic dress would make her a target.

It was the Tuesday morning after the Sydney siege at the Lindt cafe in Martin Place and Australia had woken to horror headlines of the death of two hostages. While Nasrin grieved for the victims, she also steeled herself for the worst.

As she left her house in the outer Melbourne suburb of Fawkner, she decided that she would remove the password lock from her mobile, to save her a few seconds if she needed to call police.

Sure enough, the mother-of-three would later dial triple zero after a man allegedly began shouting expletives at her as she travelled into the city to work. More than a week later, the police investigation remains ongoing after a 40-year-old Merlynston man was spoken to and released.

Since October, the IT professional says she has been abused three times by strangers who have taken offence to her Islamic dress.

Two of the episodes took place on the Upfield train line during or shortly after the fatal cafe siege. The other was in October, when Nasrin, who wished to use just her first name, said some politicians were advocating banning the burqa in Australia, fuelling anti-Islamic sentiment.

“The government isn’t doing anything to address these issues and I’m an innocent victim of their ignorant bigoted comments by the parliament members,” she said. “We need to hold people accountable from the top.”

There has recently been a surge in reports of violence and harassment against Australian Muslims. In the six days to Tuesday there were 27 reports made to the Islamophobia Register, including at least three in Victoria.

The register’s spokeswoman, Lydia Shelly, suspects there may be many other cases that have gone unreported. She said the majority of public attacks were against women and often in the presence of children.

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German business slams growing anti-Islam rallies

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ulrich-GrilloA powerful German business leader slammed a growing anti-Islam movement in the country on Tuesday, saying Europe’s top economy needed more immigration to remain competitive and should take in more asylum seekers.

The president of the German Federation of Industry, Ulrich Grillo, said the emergence of the group “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident” or PEGIDA, which has been holding weekly marches, was undermining the country’s interests and values.

“We have long been a land of immigration and we must remain so,” he told German news agency DPA. “As a prosperous country, and also out of Christian love for our fellow man, our country should take in more refugees.”

Grillo blasted the PEGIDA protests, which organisers have billed as a grassroots movement, calling participants “neo-Nazis and xenophobes”. He said the group was trying to harness fears of Islamist terrorism “to smear a whole religion” which he called “unacceptable”.

Grillo’s federation represents the political interests of more than 100,000 companies employing around eight million people.

He said Germany’s rapidly ageing population needed a strong influx of qualified newcomers to support the economy and the social welfare system. “Considering our demographic development, immigration ensures growth and prosperity,” he said.

He urged political leaders to do more to stand up to PEGIDA. “The political class has got to try harder to make citizens see the opportunities and diminish their fears,” he said.

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Online hate campaign forces garage owner to hit back

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Boars Head Service StationWigan garage staff have been subjected to a social media hate campaign after being wrongly accused of turning away a customer for wearing a Help for Heroes top.

The Muslim boss of the Boars Head Service Station in Standish today emphatically denied the claim, saying they refused to serve the young customer only because he was unable to provide proof-of-age ID when trying to buy cigarettes.

And police have since supported his version of events saying there is no evidence from film footage of discrimination.

But the allegation about the Help for Heroes top, which was apparently made first on Facebook by the young man’s mother, has led to a torrent of abuse for the owner and his staff. One diatribe accused the staff of being “Taliban supporters” and several called for folk to boycott the business.

The owner, who does not wish to be identified for fear of reprisals, reported the social media comments to the police who have reviewed CCTV footage of the shop encounter.

The young customer went into the garage, which stands at the corner of Wigan Road and Chorley Road, at around 9.50pm last Wednesday evening but was turned away. A short time later a woman put on Facebook that her son had been refused custom because the people serving behind the counter had taken offence at his top which was publicising the charity which raises money for injured soldiers.

One man, who described himself as an ex-soldier, posted he would have taken matters into his own hands if there wasn’t a danger of his getting caught. But he called on people to avoid the filling station, claiming it supported the Taliban and making reference to the outlawed movement’s recent massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar, Pakistan.

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Online hate campaign forces garage owner to hit back

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Boars Head Service StationWigan garage staff have been subjected to a social media hate campaign after being wrongly accused of turning away a customer for wearing a Help for Heroes top.

The Muslim boss of the Boars Head Service Station in Standish today emphatically denied the claim, saying they refused to serve the young customer only because he was unable to provide proof-of-age ID when trying to buy cigarettes.

And police have since supported his version of events saying there is no evidence from film footage of discrimination.

But the allegation about the Help for Heroes top, which was apparently made first on Facebook by the young man’s mother, has led to a torrent of abuse for the owner and his staff. One diatribe accused the staff of being “Taliban supporters” and several called for folk to boycott the business.

The owner, who does not wish to be identified for fear of reprisals, reported the social media comments to the police who have reviewed CCTV footage of the shop encounter.

The young customer went into the garage, which stands at the corner of Wigan Road and Chorley Road, at around 9.50pm last Wednesday evening but was turned away. A short time later a woman put on Facebook that her son had been refused custom because the people serving behind the counter had taken offence at his top which was publicising the charity which raises money for injured soldiers.

One man, who described himself as an ex-soldier, posted he would have taken matters into his own hands if there wasn’t a danger of his getting caught. But he called on people to avoid the filling station, claiming it supported the Taliban and making reference to the outlawed movement’s recent massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar, Pakistan.

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