Is Europe’s Islamophobia following the path of 19th century anti-Semitism? Sara R Farris sees some clear parallels.
Category Archives: Right wing
How the right exploits Christianity and secularism to attack Muslims
The European right is advocating a Christian identity for Europe not because it wants to promote Christianity but because it wants to push back against Islam and the integration of Muslims – or what the National Front calls “the Islamization of Europe.”
Public spaces have become a major battleground. There are bans on “head scarves and other signs of religious affiliation” in schools (in France) and on full-face veils on the streets (in France and Belgium), and efforts to block the construction of mosques (throughout Europe) or just minarets (in Switzerland, mosques are allowed but without their distinctive towers, the latter being considered the “expression of an intolerant culture”). The pushback against Islam also concerns the individual body, with, for example, campaigns to prohibit circumcision and halal food in Norway.
Notably, these measures are being advocated in the name of protecting not Christianity but liberal secularism. The hijab is said to offend women’s rights; circumcision, children’s rights; ritual slaughter, animal rights. Oriana Fallaci and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, two radical spokespersons for the feminist resistance to Islam, became darlings of the conservative right in Italy (Fallaci) and the Netherlands and America (Hirsi Ali).
This anti-Islam rhetoric is spreading to the mainstream. The coalition government of the Netherlands requires would-be immigrants to accept progressive values before they are given a residency visa. Applicants are asked whether they tolerate the mixing of boys and girls in school, gender equality, nudity in public and gay rights. Although all applicants must take these tests, given the concerns revealed in these questions and the demographics of migration into Europe, there can be little doubt that the exams are designed to challenge adherents to Islam. Such measures are unfair to Muslims, and they violate European states’ professed commitment to multiculturalism and the separation of church and state.
Olivier Roy condemns the hijacking of Christianity and secularism by right-wing Islamophobes.
Bowe Bergdahl and the resurgence of conservative Islamophobia
The debate over the prisoner-swap deal spotlights how anti-Muslim sentiment on the right has actually grown in the last decade, argues Peter Beinart.
Michael Gove accused of using ‘Trojan Horse’ row to push anti-Islam agenda
Michael Gove has been accused of cynically using the “Trojan Horse” schools row to push an ideological anti-Islamic agenda within the Government.
Whitehall sources revealed that behind the scenes the Education Secretary has been pressing David Cameron for months to widen the Government’s definition of Muslim “extremism”. And they suggested that he has used allegations of a plot to “take over” a number of schools in Birmingham to press the Prime Minister to agree tough new measures to secularise schools in Muslim areas.
One said: “Michael Gove’s views are so incredibly black and white. It’s either his way or no way. He seems to think that anybody who strictly follows Islam is not really integrated. And he thinks anybody who holds conservative Muslim views is a bit of an extremist. He has been using Birmingham to pursue an ideological agenda that he’s had for many years.”
Tories admit convicted racists into European parliamentary group
Two anti-immigration politicians with criminal convictions for inciting ethnic tension were admitted on Wednesday night to David Cameron’s eurosceptic alliance in the European parliament.
The situation is the result of an unexpected move that defied the reservations of some in Downing Street in which Tory MEPs overwhelmingly voted to join forces with the Danish People’s party and True Finns. The two parties are former allies of Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence party.
The decision helps take the European Conservatives and Reformists group [ECR], established by Mr Cameron in 2009, to 55 seats, making it the fourth biggest group. A planned vote on also admitting the anti-euro Alternative für Deutschland was postponed after Mr Cameron warned that this would sour relations with Berlin.
Morten Messerschmidt, a senior DPP figure and a rising star in Danish politics, was convicted in 2002 for publishing material that appeared to link a multiethnic society to rape, violence and forced marriages. Jussi Halla-aho, a newly elected True Finn MEP, was convicted in 2012 of stirring ethnic tensions after writing a blog on freedom of speech that claimed Islam “reveres paedophilia”.
When did Michael Gove become the government’s expert on Muslims or extremism?
“Michael Gove believes there has been a plot by extremist Muslims to take over schools in Birmingham and is preparing to drive them out,” reports the Times on its front page. “The education secretary is convinced that a small group of extremists has infiltrated schools in the city with tactics similar to those used by the Militant Tendency in the Labour Party in the 1980s, a senior source has said.”
Here’s the kicker: “Mr Gove blames their influence on a reluctance within Whitehall, especially in the Home Office, to confront extremism unless it develops into terrorism and believes that a robust response is needed to ‘drain the swamp’.”
Since when, however, did Michael Gove become an expert on counter-extremism strategies? Robust or otherwise?
Mehdi Hasan questions the credentials of the politician responsible for the “Trojan Horse” witch-hunt.
Murfreesboro mosque fight laid to rest after Supreme Court ruling
For years, opponents of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro vowed to take their legal fight to shut down the mosque all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. That fight ended Monday (June 2), when the nation’s highest court declined to hear their case.
The four-year conflict over construction of the mosque, which opened in 2012, brought national attention to this Bible Belt city of 112,000 about 30 miles south of Nashville. Hundreds marched in protest after Rutherford County officials approved plans for the mosque in 2010. Televangelist Pat Robertson labeled the Islamic center a “mega mosque” and claimed Muslims were taking over Murfreesboro. An arsonist set fire to construction equipment on the building site.
Mosque opponents eventually filed a suit against Rutherford County, seeking to block construction of the worship space. On the surface, the fight was over the minutiae of Tennessee’s sunshine, or public notice, laws. Mosque foes claimed local officials failed to give adequate notice of a meeting where plans for the mosque’s construction were approved.
But a thriving anti-Muslim movement in Tennessee fueled the fight. Mosque foes asserted that the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom did not apply to the mosque. In court, Joe Brandon Jr., a lawyer for mosque foes, said Islam is not a religion, and he argued that the mosque was a threat to the community.
Initially, a local judge ruled for the mosque foes and ordered a halt to mosque construction. But a federal court quickly overruled that decision, paving the way for the mosque to open in 2012. A state appeals court also later overturned the lower court decision.
Local Muslims, many of whom had worshipped in the community for years, found themselves having to defend their faith and their status as American citizens at the trial.
Education experts voice fury over Ofsted’s ‘Trojan Horse’ schools inquiry
An ideology “at odds with traditional British values” has taken hold at the schools inspectorate Ofsted, a group of leading educationalists and Muslim leaders have warned.
Led by Sir Tim Brighouse, a former chief education officer in Birmingham, the 20 experts – unhappy at the way Ofsted has conducted inspections into schools allegedly infiltrated by conservative Muslims – say in a letter to the Guardian that it is at risk of compromising political independence by producing “tarnished reports”.
Their intervention comes days before Ofsted publishes results of an inspection of 21 schools ordered by education secretary, Michael Gove, after claims conservative Muslims were trying to infiltrate the governing bodies of Birmingham schools in a plot dubbed Operation Trojan Horse.
On Tuesday, further evidence also emerged of abrupt shifts in Ofsted’s inspection results, with a leaked inspection report showing that a second secondary school in the city that had been previously rated as good or outstanding in November 2013 is expected to be downgraded to inadequate when its new report is published next week.
Describing the mass inspection as “a landmark in the history of education in these islands”, Brighouse and the other signatories argue: “First-hand accounts of the Ofsted inspections that have emerged are disturbing. They suggest that inspectors were poorly prepared and had an agenda that calls into question Ofsted’s claim to be objective and professional in its appraisal of standards in schools serving predominantly Muslim pupils.
“It is beyond belief that schools which were judged less than a year ago to be outstanding are now widely reported as ‘inadequate’, despite having the same curriculum, the same students, the same leadership team and the same governing body. This is uncharted territory, with Ofsted being guided by an ideology at odds with the traditional British values which schools are meant to espouse, particularly fairness, justice and respect for others.”
Islam row: Peter Robinson makes public apology for causing offence to Muslims after meeting in Belfast
First Minister Peter Robinson has publicly apologised for offence caused to Muslims following comments he made in defence of a firebrand pastor who denounced Islam as “satanic”.
Speaking outside the Islamic Centre in Belfast following a meeting with Muslim leaders, Mr Robinson said he had made a “face-to-face, man-to-man” apology.
“I have had a very welcoming visit to the Belfast Islamic Centre. I have been received in friendship, and respect,” he said. “I came here to make it very clear that the members of the Islamic community are a very important and valued part of our society in Northern Ireland. I know many of you centre on an issue of an issue of an apology – I apologise to these gentlemen, if anything I said had caused them hurt. I can see in many cases, it has. I say I apologise, face-to-face, man-to-man. The way it should be done.”
Last week the DUP leader came under fire for defending the Pastor James McConnell’s remarks, telling the Irish News he would not trust Muslims involved in violence or those devoted to sharia law, which covers everything from public executions to what adherents should do if colleagues invite them to the pub after work or college. Mr Robinson said he would “trust them to go to the shops” for him. He later clarified his own remarks and met Muslim leaders in Belfast to apologise privately.
But despite offering a public apology to Muslims, this evening Mr Robinson fell short of condemning comments made by Pastor McConnell during a sermon last month. After addressing the waiting media, one man – who had earlier visited the Islamic Centre – brought up the issue of Mr Robinson’s defence of the controversial pastor’s remarks.
“It is not the role of any politician to give give doctrinal opinions,” Mr Robinson said tonight. “I am not a theologian, I am not in a position to give the view of doctrine. People have a right to free speech, but everyone who has that right…they must exercise that right with responsibility, and care.”
Texas school board official sorry for freaking out about Muslim getting elected as her colleague
A newly elected school district trustee in Texas is under fire after she posted comments on Facebook disparaging registered voters who didn’t go to the polls for allowing a Muslim to be elected.
According to WFAA, Place 5 representative Jo Lynn Haussmann posted the following on her Facebook page last week: “Do you realize because SO FEW voters took the time and responsibility to VOTE in the municipal elections – YOU NOW HAVE A ‘MUSLIM’ on the City Council!!! What A SHAME!!!!”