Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Thousands march through Montreal to protest Quebec values charter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Montreal protest against PQ charter

Thousands jammed the streets of Montreal on Saturday afternoon to denounce Quebec’s proposed charter of values, calling on Premier Pauline Marois to put an end to “politics of division.” The protest march, billed as an inclusive, multicultural event, drew many members of the Muslim and Sikh communities in particular. Others who claimed no religious allegiance also took part.

A group from a local mosque walked with a large banner that read: “Multi-faith gathering for peace.” “This is a time for all religions to come together for what they believe in,” said Noman Safdar, a 24-year-old engineer who was helping hold up the sign. “We came here for freedom,” said Safdar, originally from Pakistan and wearing a Muslim cap. “You can’t go and impose things on people like this.”

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CAIR to launch new report on Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

CAIR Legislating FearOn Tuesday, September 17, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will hold a press conference to release a groundbreaking report, “Legislating Fear: Islamophobia and its Impact in the United States 2011-2012.”

The 158-page report by CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, includes the following:

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Police face court over refusal to hand over reports on anti-Muslim ‘bias’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Scotland Yard is facing court action next week after refusing to hand over the results of investigations it was ordered to conduct into claims that it used counter-terrorism powers to discriminate against and harass innocent Muslims.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is seeking a high court order against the refusal, which it says amounts to a clear breach of the law.

The IPCC ordered the investigations following complaints from Muslim Britons alleging police discrimination in the use of schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, 2000, which allows stops at airports and ports, even if wrongdoing is not suspected.

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Birmingham Metropolitan College drops controversial Muslim veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Birmingham Metropolitan College logoA college which told pupils to remove facial coverings, including religious veils, for security reasons, has now changed its policy. A city college was forced to drop its controversial ban on Muslim face veils – less than 24 hours before a mass demonstration by hundreds of students.

The astonishing U-turn by Birmingham Metropolitan College came after a protest petition attracted a staggering 8,000 signatures in just 48 hours. Hundreds of students planned to gather outside the Matthew Boulton city-centre campus at 2.30pm on Friday to voice their opposition to the policy, which was criticised by city councillors and MPs.

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NYC claims Muslim surveillance warranted

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The New York Police Department had legitimate reasons to put specific mosques and Muslim worshippers under surveillance as part of its counterterrorism efforts, a city lawyer said Thursday at the first court date in a civil rights lawsuit accusing the NYPD of religious profiling.

Peter Farrell of the city Law Department argued that before the case goes forward, the city should be allowed to present evidence specific to the six plaintiffs that he said would prove police were acting with legitimate law enforcement purposes. If the judge agrees, “then this case is over,” he said.

An American Civil Liberties Union attorney, Hina Shamsi, countered that her clients already had sufficient legal standing to sue the city and that the NYPD should be ordered to begin turning over sensitive reports and documents detailing the alleged spying on Muslims.

U.S. Magistrate Joan Azrack said she would rule at a later date.

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Ad aims to lure Quebec doctors to Ontario, targeting values charter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lakeridge Health adAn Ontario hospital is trying to lure Quebec-trained health care workers by tapping into the controversy surrounding Quebec’s values charter.

Lakeridge Health is planning to run the ad, which features a woman wearing a headscarf, in a McGill University student newspaper. The ad says: “We don’t care what’s on your head. We care what’s in it.”

“We thought, given the controversy that’s going on in Quebec … maybe this would be an opportunity to create some awareness of what Lakeridge Health is,” said Kevin Empey, chief executive of the Oshawa-based hospital.

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Nick Clegg ‘uneasy’ about ban on Muslim veils in school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nick Clegg has backed teachers who feel uncomfortable about pupils wearing full-face Muslim veils, but says he is “uneasy” about a college that has brought in a blanket ban.

The deputy prime minister said he could “totally understand” teachers who did not want full-face veils in the classroom as they needed to make “eye contact and face contact with pupils”. However, Clegg said these were “exceptional circumstances” and he generally supported people’s right to wear whatever religious clothing they liked.

“I’m really quite uneasy about anyone being told what they have to wear,” he said on LBC 97.3. “I think I’ve set the bar very high to justify something like that because one of the things that is great about our country is that we are diverse, we are tolerant.

“People do dress differently, people do have different faiths, people do have different convictions and that is reflected in what they wear, in how they present themselves.”

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