A “peaceful multicultural celebration” is to be held on the same day as the English Defence League is planning a protest in Sheffield.
The EDL is holding a demonstration at Sheffield Lane Top on Saturday, September 21, about plans to convert The Pheasant pub into a mosque – even though the proposals have been withdrawn.
A conference on Islamophobia focusing on the topics of law and media will be held on Sept. 12 and 13 in Istanbul. The conference, titled “International Conference on Islamophobia: Law & Media,” which is organized by the Directorate General of Press and Information (BYEGM) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), will gather Turkish and international contributors to talk about the fear of Islam.
At around the same time the nation paused to remember those lost on 9/11, John Jamason, a Public Information Officer with Palm Beach County, posted on his personal Facebook page:
“Never forget. There is no such thing as radical Islam. All Islam is radical. There may be Muslims who don’t practice their religion, much like others. The Quran is a book that preaches hate.”
“It was just my opinion on this day about that specific event and that religion,” said Jamason. “There weren’t any fundamentalist Christians on planes, flying into buildings on this particular day. Have Christians committed atrocities? Of course.”
Jameson says his comments are OK because he didn’t post them to a public Facebook page. “The point is, the people that are attacking our embassy in Libya, and attacking our soldiers, and doing things to us all around the world, are Muslims,” said Jamason.
Students at Birmingham Metropolitan College are organising a protest after the college banned its students from wearing the niqab. Muslim women are being stopped from entering the college if they are wearing the niqab, the face veil that some Muslim women choose to wear.
A Birmingham MP has attacked a city college’s controversial decision to ban students from wearing Muslim veils.
Shabana Mahmood, MP for Ladywood, said she was “shocked” and “deeply concerned” at the policy introduced at Birmingham Metropolitan College. She spoke after the Mail revealed students had been banned from wearing all face coverings, including the niqab – which leaves only the eyes visible. Ms Mahmood is now demanding an urgent meeting with college leaders about the decision, which has sparked a furious backlash from some Muslim girls.
“For those that chose to wear the full veil, it is an important article of faith,” Ms Mahmood said. “I would like to know how many students are affected and a full explanation as to why the compromise suggested by students at the College, that the veil is removed for security staff to check and verify identity before being put back on, was not accepted by the College.
“I am deeply concerned that other colleges may follow suit, as a result of which increasing numbers of women will be locked out of education and skills training. We must not allow this to happen.”
Writing in the Montreal Gazette, Don Macpherson carries out a thorough demolition of the Parti Québécois government’s proposed “Charter of Quebec Values”.
Amanda Kelly of Global News has interviewed Alan Sked, the founder and former leader of UKIP, to get his perspective on Quebec’s Charter of Values.
Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer (recently banned from the UK because of their record of inciting hatred) are due to visit Toronto next week to address a meeting organised by the far-right Kahanists of the Jewish Defence League.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims has issued an action alert calling on concerned citizens to contact the federal Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney to urge him to review whether these anti-Muslim extremists should be allowed into the country.
Update: See “Canadian Muslim leaders worried U.S. speakers will spread ‘hate’ about Islam”, Canadian Press, 13 September 2013
Poland’s Muslim community on Tuesday said a controversial nationwide ban on halal and kosher slaughter, which has spurred intense debate at home and abroad, was invalid under European law.
The EU directive “applies in Poland and in this case it supersedes national law,” Poland’s top Muslim leader, Mufti Tomasz Miskiewicz, said, quoting an expert legal analysis commissioned by the Muslim community and the meat industry.
Animal rights activists have hailed the ban, but Jewish and Muslim leaders in overwhelmingly Catholic Poland argue that it violates their religious freedom and Israel has called it “unacceptable”.
Farmers and exporters of meat to Israel and Muslim countries, who exported up to 350 million euros ($460 million) worth of kosher and halal meat a year before the ban, have also condemned it.
Alf Gunvald Nilsen argues that the advances made in Norway’s general election by the anti-migrant Progress Party, which looks set to become a junior partner in a right-wing coalition government, shows the country has not dealt with the roots of Anders Breivik’s crimes.