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SearchToday in Islamophobia: A new guide from CAIR seeks to help Muslims who experience bullying, as a U.S court dismisses Laura Loomer’s complaints against a Florida advocacy group. A Australian-Uyghur child finds themselves caught up in “hostage diplomacy”, as the UN warns of recurring genocide risk in Myanmar. Our recommended read today is by Leila Ettachfini on religious freedom in the U.S. This, and more, below:
United States
Freedom of Religion Doesn't Exist If People Are Afraid to Wear Symbols of Their Faith | Recommended
Fears like this are common among Muslim Americans, who have been the consistent targets of verbal and physical Islamophobic attacks since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks nearly two decades ago. During Donald Trump’s presidential campaign —which included the then-candidate advocating for both a Muslim registry and ban—the rate of hate crimes against Muslim Americans rose to levels not seen in this country since the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks. This heightened Islamophobia has resulted in some Muslims, particularly Muslim women who wear the hijab, avoiding being visibly Muslim following both 9/11 and the election of Donald Trump. read the complete article
Number of Muslim students bullied for the faith declines but rate is still double the average, study finds
Forty percent of Muslim students in California have been bullied at school because of their faith, according to a report released this month by the Anaheim-based Council on American-Islamic Relations California. Though a sharp decline from the previous year, that’s more than twice the national average for school bullying. The study, which was conducted by the state chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim American civil rights and advocacy group , surveyed about 1,500 Muslim students ages 11 to 18 in public and private schools statewide. Nearly 30% reported teachers and administrators making offensive comments about Islam and Muslims, while 35% said they had seen offensive comments or posts on social media. read the complete article
New Guide Helps Muslims Who Experience Bullying
CAIR's guide, titled "Bias and Bullying: Empowering Muslim Children in the Age of Islamophobia," gives recommendations for families and communities to help stop the spread of bigotry, hate and Islamophobia in schools. read the complete article
Court Dismisses Laura Loomer's Complaints Against Florida Muslim Advocacy Group
Loomer, the self-proclaimed "most banned woman in the world," filed the suit after she was banned from Twitter in November 2018 for attacking the faith of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress. Loomer's lawsuit claimed Florida's Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its national headquarters in Washington, D.C., forced Twitter to remove her account from the social media site. In his decision, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz cited the fact that Loomer offered no proof of any wrongdoing by CAIR. read the complete article
Myanmar
UN mission head says risk of genocide recurring in Myanmar
The head of a U.N. fact-finding mission on Myanmar warned Tuesday that "there is a serious risk of genocide recurring" against the estimated 600,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority still living in the country. Marzuki Darusman told the General Assembly's human rights committee that "if anything, the situation of the Rohingya in Rakhine state has worsened," citing continued discrimination, segregation, restricted movement, insecurity and a lack of access to land, jobs, education and health care. The government of Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority nation, has refused to recognize Rohingya as citizens or even as one of its ethnic groups, rendering the vast majority stateless. read the complete article
United Kingdom
How it feels to be branded a “letterbox” in the street because of Boris Johnson
“One of them looked at me and said, ‘you’re a letterbox’, straight into my face.” Speaking to me over the phone more than a year later, the molecular geneticist from Cardiff is recalling details of the incident after appearing in Channel 5’s documentary on Monday, Hate Crime: Uncensored, which includes grim testimonies from a variety of hate crime victims. “It shocked me to the core,” she says of the incident. “I didn’t realise it can happen that quickly. Sadly, this kind of verbal abuse has become part of my life, but I’m used to ‘terrorist’ or ‘bomber’, I’m used to things like ‘go back to your country’, but ‘letterbox’ – that was completely new to be added to the dictionary of hate.” read the complete article
International
Tragedies deepen Jewish-Muslim bonds to fight hate crimes
Muslim groups helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue recover after a gunman killed 11 people there, one year ago this week. The Jewish congregation mounted its own fundraiser for New Zealand’s Muslims after a white supremacist shooter killed 51 people at two mosques there in March. Such outreach between Jews and Muslims often draws widespread attention only in the immediate wake of tragedy. But as both faiths grapple with a rise in reported hate crimes and fears within their communities of being attacked for their beliefs, Jews and Muslims are forging bonds that rely on shared personal values to help combat anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. read the complete article
Australian-Uyghur child caught up in China's 'hostage diplomacy'
The Australian government has been lobbying to try and unite a young Australian-Uyghur family who have been separated by China's unprecedented crackdown on Muslim citizens in Xinjiang province. But so far there has been no success, raising concerns a two-year-old Australian citizen is now caught up in what experts call a growing use of 'hostage diplomacy' by Beijing. read the complete article
India
Not Everyone Has a Vote in the World’s Largest Democracy
Azam is among the thousands of people who found themselves unable to participate in Monday’s state elections in Maharashtra, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to win handily when the results are announced on Oct. 24. An officer appointed by the election authorities had come to enquire about Azam’s documents, said the volunteer who filed his application, but his case never got approved—despite Azam producing valid identification papers. The same thing happened in the country’s general elections in May. read the complete article