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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Islamophobia continues to rise in Canada two years after the Quebec mosque killings while in the U.S, activists reject U.S resolution accusing Muslim congresswomen of anti- Semitism. In India, the government asks top court to allow land transfer near Ayodhya, the flash point of the 1992 Hindu- Muslim riots. Our recommended read of the day is by Simran Jeet Singh who writes on Sikh- Muslim relations, and on solidarity in the face of hate. This, and more, below:
Canada
Two years after Québec mosque killings, Islamophobia continues to rise
Statistics Canada show that hate crimes against Muslims in Canada grew 253 per cent from 2012 to 2015. It got even worse: police-reported general hate crimes shot up by 50 per cent in 2017 reaching a new all-time high. These numbers are largely driven by incidents targeting Muslim, Jewish and Black people with the increases being driven mainly by events in Ontario and Québec. read the complete article
Far-Right Group Called Canadian Infidels Staked Out Edmonton Mosque
Members of the anti-Islam groups the Clann and the Canadian Infidels staked outside of the Al-Rashid mosque as members streamed in for their Friday prayers. In total, there were five people at the mosque affiliated with the far-right groups. The group, for the most part, sat outside and questioned people making their way to Friday prayers. However, at one point they made their way into the mosque. read the complete article
Opinion | Searching for answers, two years after the mosque massacre
It took two years for Khadija Thabti, widow of Aboubaker Thabti, to finally win financial compensation from the provincial victims’ compensation board – only granted abruptly late last week. The mother of two, who hasn’t been able to work and still has nightmares, was otherwise scheduled to appeal her case in court on Jan. 29, of all days. While it must be a relief that she now won’t have to, what about other families – who had only two years from the timing of the tragedy to make a claim? Then there’s the reality that minority communities in Canada are increasingly targets of hate; the year of the massacre saw close to a 50per cent rise in hate crimes targeting the Muslim community. Just this past week, worshippers arriving for Friday prayers at Al Rashid mosque in Edmonton were confronted by two men allegedly belonging to an anti-Muslim hate group. One of them was wearing a hat emblazoned with the word ‘Infidel’, a clear hint he wasn’t simply there to use the bathroom, as he later claimed on Facebook, but to intimidate the community at a particularly anxious time. read the complete article
United States
Activists reject US resolution accusing Muslim congresswomen of anti-Semitism
Leading Palestinian- and Muslim-American rights campaigners have decried a proposed US House of Representatives resolution accusing Muslim congresswomen of anti-Semitism due to their criticism of Israeli policies, saying the measure amounts to anti-Muslim bigotry. Robert McCaw, director of the government affairs department at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), denounced the "Islamophobic" resolution for specifically targeting two Muslim members of Congress for their views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Last week, three Republicans introduced a symbolic resolution to condemn the "anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hate infiltrating American politics and the halls of Congress", calling out Omar and Tlaib by name. However, CAIR's McCaw said the congresswomen's diverse backgrounds allows them to bring fresh viewpoints to enrich the debate on foreign policy in Congress. "They're going to bring a new perspective in which we can now have legitimate conversations about human rights abuses in Israeli-controlled Palestinian territories and the stifling of democracies by autocratic regimes, like the kingdom of Saudi Arabia," McCaw said of Tlaib and Omar. read the complete article
Two Years Ago, This Immigration Lawyer Marched on an Airport. Today, He’s Running for State House.
The day after President Donald Trump announced his travel ban two years ago, on January 28, 2017, Hassan Ahmad headed to Dulles International Airport in Virginia hoping to help. A local immigration lawyer, Ahmad says he felt like he had to be there: Not only did he understand immigration law, he was Muslim, just like the men and women targeted by Trump’s policy. Now, two years after he first went to the airport, Ahmad is taking his work a step further and running as a Democrat to represent Virginia’s District 87 in the House of Delegates. read the complete article
Opinion | Why Sikhs don’t throw Muslims under the bus | Recommended Read
Simran Jeet Singh writes on Sikh- Muslim solidarity for RNS: "In response to the misguided messages, I would like to share some thoughts on the anti-Muslim hate Sikhs endure and why I, along with many other Sikhs I know, continue to stand as allies to our Muslim sisters and brothers. First, I will note that although Sikhs aren’t Muslim, we remain frequent targets of anti-Muslim violence. Other scholars and I refer to the process that produces the negative feelings animating this violence as “racialization.” This process ties directly to how people perceive our visible identity, including our beards, turbans, and brown skin. Most people in the world don’t know anything, or not much, about Sikhs, despite the fact that Sikhi is the world’s fifth-largest religion. This general ignorance is a huge problem, especially when coupled with Islamophobic racism". read the complete article
United Kingdom
[CW: child abuse] Man arrested after racist rant about Muslim schoolgirls who 'should have ovaries burnt'
Man in 60s arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offense following video posted online. Footage shows schoolgirls some of whom wearing hijab head coverings w/ male voice on clip providing offensive commentary. Man arrested taken to East London police station read the complete article
Newcastle Islamic school staff 'afraid' after racist vandalism
A racist attack at an Islamic school in Newcastle in which swastikas and anti-Muslim graffiti were spray-painted on walls has left staff fearful about entering the building, the headteacher has said. Principal Muhammed Abdulmuheet saidstaff were afraid to attend Friday prayers at Bahr academy because of the hateful language of the attack. “We don’t know if they want to physically harm us,” he said. “This has happened so many times now, it is only so long until the building is burned down.” read the complete article
Targeting the Muslim 'enemy within': The British government must come clean
The British government has a Muslim problem. And it chooses to address it by spending millions on deceiving the community, spreading propaganda and rendering them all suspects by introducing policies – like Prevent – which target, criminalise and further discriminate against them. While the Prevent agenda has received much attention (and rightly so) as the most visible and repressive aspect of the state’s approach, other more insidious and indirect means are equally worrying. For example, the Research, Informationand Communications Unit (RICU) which sits within the Home Office’s Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT), has been described as a machine for covert propaganda mostly targeting Muslims in Britain. Recently, the work of RICU has come under fire following its strong reluctance to publish information on a project that attempted to use supposedly independent British radio dramas to disseminate so called counter-terrorism messages. read the complete article
India
India Asks Top Court to Allow Land Transfer Near Disputed Ayodhya Site
India's government on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to hand over land to a Hindu trust that wants to build a temple in the northern town of Ayodhya, long a flashpoint for minority Muslims. The move comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling alliance faces a tightening race for an election due by May, with opinion polls suggesting it could fall short of a parliamentary majority. The government, under pressure from its Hindu base to build a temple to the god-king Rama on a site where zealots demolished a 16th century mosque, said land around the disputed site could be given to the trust while the court decided the title suit. read the complete article