Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Ukip Leader Nigel Farage: ‘Muslims responsible for rising anti-Semitism in UK’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nigel Farage suggested Muslims were to blame for a disturbing increase in anti-Semitism in Britain. Speaking on LBC radio, the Ukip leader condemned anti-Jewish attacks and claimed a sharp increase was down to Muslims that oppose Israel’s right to exist.

Figures from the Mayor of London’s office this week revealed hate crime against Jews have rocketed by almost 100% over the past year.

Farage said: “I have detected quite a sharp rise in anti-Semitism in Britain and across the EU. What’s fueling it is there are many more Muslim voices and some of them are deeply critical of Israel and some of them question Israel’s right to exist. We’ve got this counter voice which is deeply critical. This is one of the challenges we face; when you’ve got more groups [to deal with].”

Political correctness may also play in a role in fueling anti-Semitism, claimed the leader of Ukip – which now has MPs following by-election victories in recent months. Farage said public figures and politicians are reluctant to condemn anti-Jewish actions for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities.

“There’s a lot of people in politics who would be nervous about speaking up about anti-Semitism. I feel we’ve not being doing enough in defending the Jewish right to have a homeland because we are worried of offending another group” he said.

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Men fined £600 for threatening to ‘torch’ and ‘blow up’ Astley Bridge mosque on Facebook

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stop the Astley Bridge Mosque Bolton

Two men have been convicted of making Facebook threats to “torch” and “blow up” a proposed new mosque in Astley Bridge. Police arrested both men for posting offensive messages on the Stop The Astley Bridge Mosque Facebook page, which has since been taken down.

Leon Richmond, aged 18, wrote on the page that he would not be bothered if the mosque was built as he would “blow it up” himself. 23-year-old Darren Hubble posted: “Bolton people say no, Wigan says not a chance, I’ll torch the place if I get half the chance”.

The posts related to the plan to build a large new mosque building in Blackburn Road, Astley Bridge. The plans, submitted by Taiyabah Islamic Centre, include a dome, minaret tower and 19 classrooms. They have prompted protests by objectors in the lead-up to the planning meeting on July 3, and protestors shouted abuse at councillors as the proposals were approved.

Det Insp Charlotte Cadden said: “These messages were not only extremely offensive but made very serious threats to cause damage. It is becoming a regular trend for people to think they can make racially offensive comments online and get away with it – but they can’t, and these convictions show that.

“Everyone has a right to protest lawfully, but these were abusive and caused great upset to the local community. I would warn anyone that making vile comments on social media carries just as much a risk of conviction as sending an abusive letter. We will pursue anyone posting such threats and work to bring them to justice.”

Richmond, of Whalley Avenue, Bolton, and Hubble, of Orrell Hall Close, Wigan, both pleaded guilty to the charges, which related to the period between May 19 and June 19 this year. They admitted making Facebook entries to the Stop The Astley Bridge Mosque page, which were indecent or grossly offensive for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety.

Both men were fined £600 when they appeared before magistrates in Bolton on Wednesday, as well as being ordered to pay £145 costs.

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Teacher accused of anti-Muslim remarks to resign, get 3 months’ pay

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Angela BoxA third-grade HISD teacher accused of making profane and anti-Muslim remarks on a public access television show will resign immediately and receive three months’ pay under a deal approved by the school board Thursday.

Angela Box, a teacher at Daily Elementary in west Houston, had remained in the classroom since controversy over her comments surfaced in mid-November. Her annual salary is $50,100.

Box has taught in HISD since July 2013 and previously taught in Spring Branch ISD. She was a regular guest on the conservative political show “Tommy’s Garage.”

Trustees of the Houston Independent School District did not discuss the settlement publicly before their 6-0 vote to approve the deal.

In a statement Thursday, Box said she would miss her students and treasure the time she spent with them. She said “character assassination” by community activist Quanell X, who had accused Box of using a racial slur, made it impossible for her to remain in her job.

“As I have said before, opposing President Obama and sounding the alarm about radical Islam does not make me a racist,” the statement said, adding that she did not utter the racial epithets Quanell X had attributed to her.

“I am considering all my legal options regarding the conduct from Mr. X and others. I expect to have an announcement as early as next Monday regarding my future steps.”

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Damage found at Islamic faith centers in St. Cloud

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Central Minnesota Islamic Center vandalismIslamic leaders in St. Cloud are speaking out after saying their faith centers and worshipers’ property were targets of vandalism.

The latest case was discovered Wednesday morning by an imam, a religious leader, making his way into the Central Minnesota Islamic Center. The building is located just north of St. Cloud State University on Fourth Avenue South. Ten starburst cracks pepper a window about the size of a door frame.

Spokesperson for the center, Mohamoud Mohamed, said this is the third time the building has been vandalized over the last few weeks. Each case involved a damaged window. “At the beginning we were thinking it was isolated – a student or drunk person. But it isn’t,” he said. “It is some person or persons who are causing damage and targeting our faith facilities.”

It’s not just their building being targeted. Mohamed says vehicle windows are also being smashed as people attend morning prayer. This week, several worshipers reported damage done to vehicles outside the Islamic Center of St. Cloud, the mosque on Fifth Avenue South.

“(The vandals) know we pray before the sun rises and it is still dark,” he said. “They are coming to those parked cars and then disappearing,” he said.

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‘Anti-fascist’ and ‘anti-immigration’ groups face off in Dresden

Posted on by Bob Pitt

PEGIDA

For the past seven weeks, activists protesting Germany’s immigration policy and the spread of Islam in the West have been marching each Monday in Dresden, a city in eastern Germany. In response, counter-protests have been organised to denounce rampant xenophobia. As tensions between the two groups increase, the situation is quickly heading towards a face-off. Read more…

Only about a hundred participants came to the first protest organised seven weeks ago by the group calling itself “European Patriots against the Islamisation of the West” (or PEGIDA). Since then, the movement has quickly gained momentum, with an estimated 7,000 people attending the protest held on Monday. However, the opposition to these far right gatherings has also been gaining in numbers. On the same day, 1,200 people, most of them left-wing activists, joined a counter-protest.

In the past year, there have been numerous protests against the influence of Islam on German society. On October 26, about 4000 “hooligans” and far -right activists joined a protest called “Hooligans against Salafists,” which was organised in Cologne by an Islamophobic group.

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Coalition formed in Portsmouth to fight against the rise of Ukip

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Portsmouth anti-UKIP coalitionYou’re not welcome here – that was is the message to Ukip from a newly-formed coalition. Last night, around 40 members of various political parties and concerned residents met to discuss ways they could fight what they describe as a ‘racist’ party. Three police officers manned the doors of the meeting in Southsea.

In May, Ukip won six seats on Portsmouth City Council, including that of the long-standing Fratton councillor Mike Hancock. And its leader Nigel Farage said in The News his party was hoping to clinch the Portsmouth South seat at next year’s general election.

Issues including recession, austerity, a lack of social housing and poverty were given as potential reasons for the rise in support for the party. Speakers said they believe Ukip and its members across the country are blaming people’s concerns around issues such as strains on the NHS, housing and schools on immigrants.

Jon Woods, chairman of Portsmouth Trades’ Council, was one of the speakers. He said: “People can unite around the need to stand up to Ukip. Farage is a con artist. We’re legitimising them through parties working with them on Portsmouth City Council.”

Zuber Hatia, a prominent figure in Portsmouth’s Muslim community and a community activist, said he and mosques in the city had been targeted by racists in the past. “We’ve seen the mosques targeted by the English Defence League, the British National Party and Britain First,” he said.

“What Ukip try to project to ordinary people is they are not racist. Ukip are liars. We need people to come together who have an anti-Ukip voice and challenge them. We will carry this momentum over the coming weeks and months and hopefully we can develop a coalition to stand up against them.”

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Kennesaw, Georgia: City Council rejects mosque application

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kennesaw anti-mosque protest

The City Council denied a request by Muslim residents to use space in a retail shopping center as a prayer center by a 4-1 vote Monday night, with Councilwoman Cris Eaton-Welsh voting in favor.

Doug Dillard, the attorney representing the applicant, Suffa Dawat Center at Kennesaw, said the council’s denial was a blatant attack on the applicant’s First Amendment rights to practice religion freely.

Dillard said the applicant, Mufti Islam, will fight back, and he has plans to bring a lawsuit against the city. “We think it’s discriminatory, and it violates equal terms,” Dillard said. “They had no reason to deny this.”

Nayyer Islam, who represents the mosque, said they will continue to fight for their right to worship in the retail center. “We’ll follow all the legal ways to continue to get the permit,” Islam said.

Eaton-Welsh said the applicant did everything he could. “I’m saddened,” Eaton-Welsh said. “The amount of anger that has come out of this was not something I ever thought Kennesaw was all about.”

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Britain First are still using fake stories to peddle their ‘message’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain First exposes Star City logo
Britain First exposes the Islamification of Star City earlier this year

Britain First are still peddling propaganda videos of their Birmingham branch protesting a ‘Muslim only’ cinema despite the story being rubbished months ago.

Vue Cinema in the Star City entertainment complex was accused of turning away customers based on religion back in July. Leon Jennings claimed he and his friends were denied entry because they “did not look like they celebrated Eid”, a story which was picked up in the Mirror and Daily Mail.

The centre’s manager, however, denied the allegations stating the men had been turned away simply because it was too busy. Local police soon confirmed they had received no complaints into the alleged incident either.

This didn’t stop Britain First leader and self-appointed defender of all things British, Paul Golding, from storming down their with some heavies to confront the manager. In the video, re-posted again on Monday on their Facebook page, the group are allowed into the building with absolutely no incident but they don’t let this little fact get in the way of their mission.

Despite repeatedly denying the incident ever happened, the hapless manager is forced to listen to Golding issue a threat if it ever happens again. After sufficiently intimidating the man the burly group then set about handing out their leaflets to both Muslims and non-Muslims alike who are all quite happily enjoying their day in the centre.

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Answering the attacks on Lutfur Rahman’s administration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lutfur Rahman banner

NEW TORY WAR ON LUTFUR

Stephen Beckett, expelled from Labour for supporting internal party democracy, responds to the attacks on independent Mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman

On 4th November 2014 Eric Pickles, the Tory Communities Secretary, made a statement in the House of Commons regarding Tower Hamlets. His com­ments, using parliamentary privilege, went beyond the findings of the Price Waterhouse Cooper’s (PwC) best value report that was published at the same time. The report, based upon an extend­ed six month intensive audit, found no evidence of fraud or criminality – a bit­ter disappointment to those local politi­cians who have conspired to degrade Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s legitimate democratic mandate.

An episode of Panorama, “The Mayor and Your Money”, was broadcast on 31st March, just a few weeks before the local elections in May. Local Labour and Tory politicians collaborated with the programme-makers hoping it would be able to inflict a fatal blow to Mayor Rahman’s re-election campaign. To strengthen the blow, Eric Pickles commissioned the PwC audit (at a cost of £1.3m to the Council’s already hard hit budget). The blow was the reverse of fatal: Mayor Rahman was re-elected.

In Parliament Eric Pickles conjured up an image of Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman presiding over corrup­tion and pursuing divisive community politics (it was disappointing that Labour MPs joined in). This is not the Tower Hamlets I know. The PwC report has raised questions which deserve to be answered, so let’s get stuck in with some facts.

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Danish online ‘newspaper’ is vehicle for anti‑migrant, anti‑Muslim propaganda

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Den Korte Avis pie chart

The Danish online newspaper Den Korte Avis (DKA) has gained a substantial readership since its launch in January 2012. It has also attracted sharp criticism for the right-wing, anti-migrant line promoted by its owners and editors Karen Jespersen and Ralf Pittelkow.

The English-language Danish monthly The Murmur has published a revealing analysis by Elías Thórsson of the content of DKA’s so-called journalism. The Murmur surveyed of all the articles on DKA’s website on a random day (22 October), and placed them according to subject matter in one of five categories. The findings, summarised in the above pie chart, are extremely disturbing. Thórsson writes:

There were 45 stories on the website when we made our survey. 21 were negative stories about Muslims or immigrants, with topics ranging from Muslim gang members in Denmark to a woman in France who was thrown out of the opera for unwittingly breaking the country’s niqab ban. Ten stories were general interest, and five were critiques of left-wing politicians. Of the seven video articles, three were negative stories about Muslims or immigrants. The two remaining articles insinuated that Muslims or immigrants were responsible for criminal acts by specifying that the criminal acts took place in neighbourhoods with large immigrant populations.

In total, 26 of the 45 articles (58 percent) either directly or indirectly cast a negative light on Muslims and immigrants in Denmark.

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