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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Florida, an anti-Muslim activist launches her campaign for Congress, as activists scramble to prevent a Uighur from deportation to China. An op-ed points out the racism and privilege inherent in “Making America Great Again”, while another asks “What induces men to imitate the Christchurch massacre?” Our recommended read of the day is an op-ed by Dr. Kathleen Belew on the interconnectedness between White Nationalist ideology and domestic terrorism. This, and more, below:
United States
Op-ed | The Right Way to Understand White Nationalist Terrorism | Recommended Read
While authorities are still working to verify that this document explicitly was indeed written by the attacker, the evidence seems clear: It was posted to 8Chan minutes before the attack, by someone with the same name. By manifesto, I mean a document laying out political and ideological reasons for the violence and connecting it to other acts of violence. read the complete article
Even if he isn’t encouraging violent attacks on immigrants, Trump may be uniquely unwilling to curtail them
All of the following statements are true. - President Trump condemns racist language and actions when pressed to do so, but often backtracks from that condemnation. He has echoed white supremacist rhetoric in the past and made racist comments. - Trump frequently attacks immigrants to the United States from Mexico, Central America or predominantly Muslim countries in terms that suggest they are dangerous criminalsor undeserving of being here. - Trump supports the ability of civilians to buy weapons such as the AR-15 that are largely similar to the rifles carried by American combat troops. read the complete article
Op-ed | We Have a White Nationalist Terrorist Problem
Even a casual observer today can figure out what is going on. The world, and the West in particular, has a serious white nationalist terrorist problem that has been ignored or excused for far too long. As President George W. Bush declared in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, we must be a country “awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution.” read the complete article
FBI's haunting warning about 'lone offenders' paints a grim picture
The week before three lone gunmen cut bloody swaths through three American cities, FBI Director Christopher Wray sounded a prescient alarm about the growing threat within. Wray described the risk posed by domestic violent extremism, animated by racial tension, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other unrest, as nearly on par with the once all-consuming threat posed by international terrorism. read the complete article
Anti-Muslim Activist Laura Loomer to Run for Congress
Loomer registered to run as a Republican against Rep. Lois Frankel (D) in Florida’s 21st Congressional District, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission. Loomer, a pro-Trump internet personality, has become notorious both for her attention-seeking stunts and vicious rhetoric against Muslim-Americans. After being banned from Twitter last year, Loomer made headlines by donning a yellow Star of David and handcuffing herself to a door at one of the social media giant’s New York headquarters—but only to one part of the entryway, meaning she had failed to actually block the door. read the complete article
Op-ed | Racism and the privilege to 'Make America Great Again'
More importantly Trump saw not only himself, but all of his electorate, entitled to voice and become representatives of this critique. Hence, the question has to be raised as to why some people are entitled to voice their critique toward the United States, while others are not. read the complete article
China
Wounds that fester: Histories of Chinese Islamophobia
The Great Northwestern Muslim Rebellion was complex, messy and extremely violent. It began with a series of local feuds that mostly were not about religion but which escalated when Qing officials took the side of Han disputants against the Muslims and garrisons across the two provinces mutinied, producing a domino effect. Rumour, banditry and socioeconomic distress did the rest: by the end of the rebellion, the populations of Shaanxi and Gansu had fallen by half, with millions dead or having fled to make new lives elsewhere. read the complete article
Activists scramble to prevent Uighur man's deportation to China
Ablikim Yusuf, 53, who has been living in Pakistan, posted a desperate video on Facebook asking for help from the overseas Uighur community. He says in the video, translated and circulated by activists on Saturday: “I am currently being held in Doha airport, about to be deported to Beijing, China. I need the world’s help. I am originally from Hotan.” read the complete article
Myanmar
Rohingya activists slam ASEAN's call for dialogue with Myanmar
Efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to encourage "dialogue" between Rohingya refugees and theMyanmar government have sparked fierce criticism from Rohingya activists, who accuse the bloc of whitewashing the Myanmar military's crimes and legitimising deeply flawed repatriation plans. read the complete article
North Korea, China and Russia are arming Myanmar’s military despite genocide accusations, U.N. report finds
The most extensive study on the military’s financing to date also found that dozens of Myanmar companies — some of which spent years on a United States blacklist before sanctions were lifted in 2016 — donated more than $10 million to the military, responding to a call to fund the Rohingya campaign in 2017. After the army expelled some 700,000 Rohingya from Myanmar, these companies have helped to build infrastructure over the site of massacres. read the complete article
‘The land where we lived has gone' – the life story of a Rohingya refugee
There has been much written about the Rohingya people of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The Muslim ethnic group has been persecuted for generations, most recently from 2017, when 800,000 picked up whatever they could carry to flee to Bangladesh. But little has been written from the point of view of a Rohingya growing up in Myanmar – the daily humiliations, the struggle for survival, the fear, the stories whispered through generations to ensure they are not lost. Habiburahman, known as Habib, was born in a village in the west of the country around 1979 – he is not quite sure of the year. He has written his life story, and through that, the story of his people. read the complete article
India
Op-ed | India’s cruel exercise in exclusion could leave millions stateless
In the northeastern Indian state of Assam, as many as 4 million people may soon be excluded from Indian citizenship. This all stems from the “National Register of Citizens" (NRC), a log that is supposed to contain the names of all Indian citizens in Assam. The list, based on the 1951 census, was created to determine who were Indian citizens and who were migrants from neighboring East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The government is now seeking to update it, deciding that all those who can prove they were Indian residents before midnight on March 24, 1971 — just before Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan — will be considered citizens, as will their descendants. read the complete article
United Kingdom
New Tory chair appears to renege on promise of Islamophobia inquiry
The new Conservative chair, James Cleverly, has been strongly criticised after apparently reneging on a promise given for an independent inquiry focusing on Islamophobia in the party. In an interview on Sunday, Cleverly said there would be an independent inquiry but he did not explicitly confirm that it would be be specific to Islamophobia rather than a general inquiry into racism. read the complete article
International
175 people killed worldwide in last eight years in white nationalist-linked attacks
In the past eight years, more than 175 people around the world have been killed in at least 16 high-profile attacks motivated, or apparently motivated, by white nationalist conspiracy theories, including the far-right racist belief that nonwhite immigrants and refugees are “invaders” who pose an existential threat to the white race. The targets of deadly attacks have included Muslim worshippers at mosques in Canada, Britain and New Zealand; black Americans in church, including during Bible study at a historic black church in South Carolina; Jewish Americans in synagogues across the United States; and leftwing politicians and activists in the US, UK, Greece and Norway. read the complete article
Op-ed | What induces men to imitate the Christchurch massacre?
What might induce people to imitate the Christchurch massacre, an atrocity in which a self-identified fascist allegedly murdered 51 innocents in cold blood? To answer that question, we must grasp the historical evolution of fascism in the 21st century. The ongoing War on Terror normalised an anti-Muslim rhetoric that replicated, almost exactly, all the traditional tropes of antisemitism. Yet, in the English-speaking world, the main beneficiaries of the new racism were not fascists but rightwing populists. read the complete article
Op-ed | The Dutch ‘burqa ban’ collides with reality, and should make governments think again about policing dress
Muslim women have endured all manner of law makers, politicians, and the public, giving them fashion tips. They think they’re trying to empower us. The former leader of the Commons, Jack Straw, claimed that community relations would be improved if they ditched the veil; former prime minister David Cameron commented that Muslim women were “traditionally submissive”. Both white male politicians faced a backlash from the very Muslim women they thought they were liberating from enslavement. read the complete article