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SearchToday in Islamophobia: As Indian protesters hold interfaith prayers at Shaheen Bagh, the ruling BJP is slammed for an offensive, anti-Muslim tweet. Former Green MEP Magid Magid warns that Brexit will “embolden bigotry towards people of color.” Writing for Daily Beast, Dean Obeidallah profiles Congressional candidate Laura Loomer, who is on record calling Islam a cancer. Our recommended read today is by Jagat Sohail and Apoorv Avram on the ideology of ‘Hindutva’, and how it re-framed exclusion in India. This, and more, below:
India
'Invaders', 'Terrorists' and Now, 'Illegal Immigrants': Hindutva’s Reframing of Exclusion | Recommended Read
The Hindutva ideology has always looked to engage with, and be legible to, Western conceptual frameworks, and the opportunistic decisions, of which of their own beliefs to jettison and which to emphasise in order to aid that engagement, provides valuable insight into their domestic political project. By the 1990s,Hindutva had begun a serious attempt to globalise. Recognising the success of the Zionist project in incorporating global communities as citizens of a nation state and parlaying that into strong political support from the US, strategies that looked to tap the NRI (Hindu) resources in similar ways were implemented. The IDRF became a prominent lobbying and funding institution in the US, and the burgeoning internet was identified as a platform for spreading their revised mythologies and histories. read the complete article
India's BJP slammed for 'offensive' tweet on anti-CAA protesters
A tweet posted by India's governing party has triggered controversy, with the right-wing party accused of mocking a phrase used by anti-citizenship law protesters. The BJP Karnataka unit on Saturday tweeted a video of burqa-clad Muslim women standing in a queue apparently outside a polling station in the Indian capital New Delhi, to cast their votes, with a caption: "Kaagaz Nahi Dikayenge Hum !!!. Keep the documents safe, you will need to show them again during NPR exercise." read the complete article
Are the loudest voices on India's airwaves normalising hate?
This is a political story in which the media are playing a central role. Much of the media has taken to amplifying the nationalistic, pro-Hindu rhetoric of the ruling party, the BJP - labelling protesters "anti-national", implying that Muslims are inclined to spread terror - and, in the process, normalising hate speech and spreading it across their airwaves. read the complete article
Indian protesters hold interfaith prayers at Shaheen Bagh
A Hindu priest lights up a sacred fire and chants from his scriptures, surrounded under a large tent by dozens of Muslim women, some sporting vermillion on their foreheads - a gesture of reverence usually displayed by the Hindus. The priest was participating in an interfaith prayer ceremony held on Thursday at New Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, a Muslim-dominated neighbourhood in India's capital, where an all-women sit-in has turned into the epicentre of nationwide protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). On Thursday, an interfaith prayer ceremony was organised at the site, where priests from India's major religions - Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Christianity - read from their holy books to underscore communal amity. read the complete article
How Modi supporters are trying to cloak an anti-Muslim bill in American law
A recent piece in News18, CNN's Indian news site, dismissed the West's reaction to the CAA as "ill informed" because it "ignored the similarities to the U.S.'s Lautenberg Amendment." Likewise, the HAF (the Hindu American Foundation), a U.S.-based outfit dedicated to fighting Hinduphobia, advises U.S. critics to read the Lautenberg Amendment before criticizing the CAA. Meanwhile, Modi supporters in the Indian-American community are petitioning the Seattle City Council to reject the "severely misguided, misinformed" anti-CAA resolution floated by one of its members because CAA is India's Lautenberg. read the complete article
United States
The Deep Roots of Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Policies
Donald Trump’s recent expansion of the Muslim ban and bid to exclude poor immigrants is further proof that his administration is one of the most anti-immigrant in US history. But it was Trump’s predecessors, Democrats and Republicans, who made his assault on immigrants possible. As with the entirety of Trump’s war on immigrants, this expansive interpretation of the “public charge” rule is both a cruel innovation and also very old, rooted in a long history of racist anti-immigrant policies that, in this particular case, dates to 1882. The travel ban, by contrast, is new in its method but, like the public charge rule, old in its intention: using immigration law to shape racial demographics, attempting to preserve, as modern nativist movement godfather John Tanton once put it, “a European-American majority, and a clear one at that.” read the complete article
'Hijabi clout': the women of color unknowingly used by 2020 campaigns
Sabirah Mahmud, a high school student and the national logistics director for the US Youth Climate Strike was surprised on 2 February when she came across footage of herself in a video ad for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, after a friend texted her. But the main shock was that it happened despite the fact she is a vocal Bernie Sanders supporter. Mahmud tweeted a screenshot of herself from the ad, adding: “was just used as hijabi clout for the @JoeBiden campaign, too bad i’m #hotgirIsforbernie.” read the complete article
Muslim State Department ex-employee sues Pompeo for discrimination
Azza Zaki, 62, says she asked to telecommute twice a week during the Muslim holiday in 2017, according to the federal lawsuit she filed in June in Washington, D.C., seeking $500,000. Zaki, who worked in the department responsible for handling complaints from foreign au pairs working in the United States, said she routinely made the request during Ramadan and had not had any issue for the previous seven years. read the complete article
Ohio woman arrested for racist tirade and assault on Muslim Uber driver after she asks him about Trump
“I’m an American and this is what I pay for all the time! Do you not realize that?” Melissa Lovins could be heard screaming on the 911 dispatch. “You’re not from here, and I’ll f**k you up!” The driver said that Lovins demanded to know his opinion on President Donald Trump while the car was stopped at a railroad crossing, and when the driver said company policy prohibited him from discussing politics, Lovins began to scream racist insults and hit the seats and console of the vehicle, before striking the driver himself. read the complete article
Speaking to the young people impacted by Donald Trump’s racist travel ban
The sanctions will only result in more pain and suffering for countless families who will be banned from reuniting, resettling or seeking work and education opportunities in America. In the wake of this week’s chaotic Iowa caucus, at a time when the future of the US has never felt so critical, we spoke to the young people affected by the devastating, callous travel ban. BASMA ALLOUSH, 31: “I’m Syrian, my mum is originally from Aleppo and my dad is from Hema. I've been living in the US for 13 and a half years after coming here for my undergrad. I haven’t gone back to Syria because of the situation there, and I’ve been working here, and my parents had been visiting. Last summer is when it (the travel ban) really kicked in: my mother had a visa, and she was actually in the US when the Supreme Court decided to allow the ban, so she still had a year left on that visa. read the complete article
Opinion | Laura Loomer, Trumpy Bigot Embraced by the Florida GOP, Could Actually Get to Congress
It’s clear though that regardless of how long Trump remains in the White House, he and many in his base want Trumpism—a celebration of cruelty, bigotry, and sexism—to continue long after he’s gone. That helps explain Trump’s support for anti-Muslim bigot Laura Loomer, who is running for Congress in Florida’s 21st District—and, incredibly, is increasingly the likely GOP nominee. After all, anti-Muslim bigotry is one of the cornerstones of Trumpism. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Brexit will 'embolden bigotry' towards people of colour, warns former Green MEP Magid Magid
The UK's departure from the European Union has "emboldened bigotry" against people of colour, says outgoing Green MEP Magid Magid. But he said the "fight for a better democracy, a better Europe and a better UK, doesn't stop with an election or a referendum." His plan now is to raise certain issues, including the existence of anti-Muslim rhetoric, with some of the EU's highest echelons of power. He spoke to The New Arab in Brussels on the eve before the UK's exit from the European Union. In the aftermath of the UK's departure from the EU, with British MEPs leaving their roles at 23:00 GMT on January 31, he said he will write to the College of Commissioners to raise some of the issues he witnessed during his seven months in office. He told The New Arab he will demand "real action" in response to the anti-Muslim rhetoric he witnessed in the media and political landscapes. read the complete article
Myanmar
Opinion | Why the ICJ's public rebuke of Myanmar matters
On January 23, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague imposed emergency "provisional measures" on Myanmar regarding its actions against and treatment of the Rohingya minority - my people. To the average person this may sound like incomprehensible legalese. But for many Rohingya, who had long been waiting for the international community to take meaningful action to end their suffering, this was some of the best news they had ever received. read the complete article