Over at her Patheos blog Love, Joy, Feminism Libby Anne takes on those fellow atheists who have dismissed as a harmless prank the desecration of Edinburgh Central Mosque by far-right activists Chelsea Lambie and Douglas Cruikshank.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Putting Birmingham School Kids First hold meeting to refute ‘Trojan horse’ witch-hunt
A campaign group formed in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal is holding a public meeting tonight. The Putting Birmingham School Kids First group is meeting at 6pm at the Bordesley Centre in Camp Hill.
Speakers will include the former leader of the Respect Party Salma Yaqoob, former Birmingham chief education officer Sir Tim Brighouse, MP Shabana Mahmood (Ladywood, Lab), vicar of Small Heath Fr Oliver Coss and NUT deputy general secretary Kevin Courtney.
A campaign spokesman said: “Workable solutions will not appear overnight. Trust has broken down between those who should be working together. Our role in the journey is to provide parents, staff, pupils and governors a strong forum within which to voice their opinions about the issues raised over the last few months.”
The group said in a letter to a national newspaper that the campaign aimed to “challenge the false and divisive allegation that this is a problem of systematic radicalisation, extremism or terrorism”.
It added: “The Muslim community is no different to any other faith community in having a spectrum of opinions, from liberal to conservative, on what is the correct balance between secular and religious values in the provision of education. Instead of debating these issues openly, the government has taken the completely inappropriate approach of linking this with the prevention of terrorism.”
‘Trojan horse’ witch-hunt: letters to the Guardian
The Guardian has published two important statements on the witch-hunt against Birmingham schools launched by education secretary Michael Gove and Ofsted on the basis of the transparently fraudulent “Trojan horse” letter.
The first explains the basis on which the Putting Birmingham School Kids First campaign has been formed. The second warns against the exploitation of LGBT equality and rights to smear Muslims.
Myriam Francois-Cerrah on extremists and conservatism
The Bendigo Mosque: exporting hate to regional Victoria
The Online Hate Prevention Institute has just published a useful report into the abuse of Facebook by the Stop the Mosque in Bendigo campaign to whip up anti-Muslim hatred, including explicit threats of violence.
US Muslims hail ‘no-fly’ list ruling
A ruling by a federal judge that found US “no-fly list” violating the constitutional rights of American Muslims has been praised by the Muslim community and civil rights groups who have been arguing for years to scrap of the “unfair” code.
“We welcome Judge [Anna] Brown’s ruling as a strong affirmation of the constitutional principle that rights, such as the right to travel freely, cannot be curtailed without due process of law,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net.
Awad’s praise followed a Tuesday’s decision by Anna Brown, an Oregon district judge, that 13 American Muslims who were placed on no-fly list were denied their constitutional right to due process. The landmark ruling ordered the government to redraft the procedures “that allow people on the no-fly list to challenge that designation”, considering the current code “wholly ineffective”.
The 65-page opinion handed a victory to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of 13 Americans, mostly Muslims, who have been banned from boarding flights since 2010 over alleged terrorism links.
“Without proper notice and an opportunity to be heard, an individual could be doomed to indefinite placement on the No-Fly List,” US District Judge Brown said in Tuesday’s ruling that was cited by ACLU. “The absence of any meaningful procedures to afford Plaintiffs the opportunity to contest their placement on the No-Fly List violates Plaintiffs’ rights to procedural due process.”
Established in 2003 and administrated by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, the “no-fly” list includes some 20,000 people deemed by the agency as known to have, or reasonably suspected of having, ties to terrorism. About 500 of them are US citizens, according to an agency spokesman.
Last January, a Muslims Malaysian professor was removed from the no-fly list, marking the first victory against the much criticized American list. A 2006 law suit alleged that the government violated Dr. Rahinah Ibrahim’s due process rights when it placed her on the “no-fly” list.
The Muslim plaintiffs cheered the long-awaited decision by the federal court on Tuesday.
“Finally I will be able to challenge whatever incorrect information the government has been using to stigmatize me and keep me from flying,” Sheikh Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, who is the imam of Portland’s largest Mosque, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said.
“I have been prevented by the government from traveling to visit my family members and fulfill religious obligations for years, and it has had a devastating impact on all of us. After all this time, I look forward to a fair process that allows me to clear my name in court,” the imam added.
Obama’s Supreme Court nominee wants to introduce Sharia law into the US – and the Washington Times has the photo to prove it
From Media Matters:
The Washington Times printed a doctored photo of Elena Kagan wearing a turban to accompany a column by Frank Gaffney making the absurd charge that Elena Kagan is “enabling efforts to insinuate” Shariah law in the United States. The Washington Times‘ print edition gave no indication that the photo had been doctored (while online, the photo bore a caption stating “Illustration: Kagan and Shariah.”)
Rainbow balloons torn down at Bendigo shop
Members of the local Muslim community, a Bendigo business and a city councillor are among those to have received supposed threats from anti-Islamic protesters in recent days.
Jimmy Possum’s Margot Spalding believes rainbow balloons, which were hung on her shop-front in support of diversity, were torn down by mosque protesters on Monday. She said it seemed like a concerted effort because four concrete beams bolted to the wall had been pulled out.
“In 18 months these flags haven’t once been targeted by vandals and the timing of this doesn’t seem like a coincidence,” Ms Spalding said. “It’s disappointing that people feel the need to be disrespectful. These things make you feel pretty threatened.”
And Ms Spalding says she isn’t the only one to be targeted – with many of her Muslim friends feeling the brunt of the protests.
“I know some Muslims living in Bendigo who feel fearful in town at the moment,” she said. “They feel like they can’t speak out from fear of reprisal in their own country and also what’s going on locally. And when there is a whole group in town that don’t like you, who are saying hateful, insidious things about you, you can understand why.”
Reading, writing and allegations: Muslim school at center of debate
The New York Times profiles Park View School in Birmingham.
Guildford Four: Muslims ‘could face repeat’ of IRA bomb miscarriage of justice
Miscarriages of justice, similar to the Guildford Four case, could be repeated with Muslims as the new victims, a high-profile barrister has warned. Michael Mansfield QC said Muslims were being “criminalised” in the UK in the same way as the Irish community living in Great Britain in the 1970s.
He was speaking after the death of one of the Guildford Four, Gerry Conlon. Mr Conlon and his three co-accused spent 15 years in jail after they were wrongly convicted of IRA pub bombings. Their convictions were quashed in 1989, following a long campaign for justice. Mr Conlon, 60, died at the weekend after an illness. His family said his fight for justice had “forced the world’s closed eyes to be opened to injustice”.