Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Louboutin wins case against Vlaams Belang, who respond by launching new anti-Islam poster

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anke Van dermeersch with new poster

Belgian anti-Islam campaigners must remove all posters featuring the stilettos of the luxury French footwear designer Christian Louboutin after a court ruled in the company’s favour on Monday.

The poster promoted by the campaign group “women against Islamisation” showed the legs of Anke Vandermeersch, a former Miss Belgium and now a senator for the far-right Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party.

Beside the image of her wearing the shoes, a key showed what it claimed was Islam’s view of a woman, as measured by the length of her skirt, from “sharia compatible” at floor level to “whore” just above the knee and “stoning” at the top of the thigh.

Louboutin said it had not authorised the use of its shoes in the campaign and that their inclusion damaged the company’s image. The group must remove all its posters within 24 hours, the court in Antwerp ruled.

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Mail on Sunday publishes apology to Joel Hayward, has paid ‘substantial’ damages for libelling him

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In August 2011, under the headline “Ayatollah of the RAF: Academic ‘university’ head is Muslim convert who claims Nazi gas chambers were British propaganda and criticises Libya air strikes”, the Mail on Sunday published a disgraceful attack on Joel Hayward, at that time dean of the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell.

Finally, over two years later, the Mail on Sunday has admitted that it libelled Hayward and has published the following apology in today’s paper:

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Sunday Times interviews Stephen Lennon

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tommy Robinson: For you, Tommy, the war isn’t over

By Rosie Kinchen

Sunday Times, 13 October 2013

Tommy Robinson likes getting something for nothing. He walks into the lobby of the hotel and asks if he can have a full English on The Sunday Times. And one, too, for the cameraman who is filming him for a documentary. Having informed me it will cost £20 a head, he unselfconsciously ploughs through his baked beans and bacon until the hotel staff become so agitated by his presence they ask us to leave. Robinson wipes his thin mouth with a napkin, turns to me and brimming with pride says, “Welcome to my world.”

Robinson is a short, frantic man who smells of Lynx, hair gel and bravado. A former tanning salon owner, he seems to have spent the past four years transforming himself into the poster boy for British racism. He founded the English Defence League in 2009 in response to protests by extremist Muslim groups in his home town of Luton, Bedfordshire, and has helped build a base of 25,000-35,000 followers, although the only people who openly associate with the group are skinheads, yobs and opportunistic football hooligans looking for a fight. They march through city centres with large Muslim populations, wearing pig masks, chanting racist anthems and being offensive to Muslims and non-Muslims.

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Quilliam’s real role – witch-hunting and blacklisting Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hasan Lennon Nawaz and Carroll
The Quilliam press conference at which Lennon announced his break with the EDL

An excellent article by Yvonne Ridley exposing the McCarthyite methods of Quilliam, the organisation that got itself into the news last week over its role in promoting former English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon’s fraudulent claim that he has broken with far-right extremism.

Ceasefire, 11 October 2013

School relents over boys’ beards

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two Muslim boys barred from classes because they would not shave off their beards will be allowed to return to school unshaven.

Both 14-year-olds had been placed in “isolation” from the start of the new term at Mount Carmel Roman Catholic high school in Accrington, Lancashire, and this week were sent home as the school maintained they had to be clean shaven.

But the school has now performed a U-turn to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights, it explained.

Governors have taken the decision to only allow Muslim boys permission to grow a beard as a sign of their faith as long as they have started the Hafiz programme at their local mosques, which entails daily prayers and learning the Koran in Arabic.

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Mail backs French journalist accused of slandering CCIF

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nous sommes la nation (2)
Poster for the “We are the nation” campaign launched by the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France in 2012

A French journalist is facing a criminal trial under the country’s strict press laws for remarks made during a radio debate about the influence of Islam.

Ivan Rioufol, 61, believes the way he is being treated is an example of how writers are criminalised when the state is able to control the media. He was summoned to court under strict press laws which date back to the 19th Century following a complaint from a pressure group called the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF).

“In seeking to undermine liberty of expression, a sacred principle of our civilisation, the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) takes the risk of appearing like a menace to democracy,” said Mr Rioufol. “This is essentially what I hope to be able to explain in court, because I will have to appear in a few months before the 17th Criminal Court in Paris.”

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Hundreds vow to fight mosque refusal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Waltham OakHundreds of supporters of a bid to turn a pub building into a mosque vowed to fight a decision to refuse the proposal.

Around 200 people gathered outside a packed council chamber last night as Waltham Forest Council’s planning committee decided on the application from the Faizen-e-Islam organisation for the Waltham Oak in Lea Bridge Road, Walthamstow, which has been closed for a year.

Residents and committee members expressed concern at the loss of a landmark historical pub, which they said has been an important part of the community in that part of Walthamstow. The application was then denied on the grounds of potential disturbance to people living in sheltered housing next door and predicted parking congestion in the area at prayer times.

In emotional scenes outside the town hall, Ghulam Rabbani, Faizan-e-Islam director, announced the committee’s decision and vowed to appeal. He told the crowd: “This is the beginning of our fight. We will be fighting in a democratic and legal way. We are going for appeal. Our intention was to support the local community regardless of race, creed or colour. We are proud of our work.”

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