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SearchToday in Islamophobia: YouTube terminates account of Austrian far right activist Martin Sellner. In the U.S, Trump announces intent to appoint former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka to be a member of the National Security Education Board. Our recommended read today is by Mark Silk on the Trump Administrations lack of action to Uighur Muslim persecution in China. This, and more, below:
International
Trump’s limp response to Uighur persecution | Recommended Read
Over the past four years, the Chinese government has made a concerted effort to destroy these communities, sending more than a million Xinjiang Muslims to internment camps and subjecting them to torture and sexual abuse as part of their “reeducation.” Outside the camps, security forces oppress the rest of the population, including by forced sterilization and separation of children from parents. From the internal Chinese government documents published last November by The New York Times, we know that all this has taken place under the direct orders of President Xi Jinping. On May 27, a virtually unanimous Congress completed action on the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which requires U.S. intelligence agencies to report on Chinese abuses and gives the president 180 days to identify Chinese officials responsible for the oppression and sanction them with asset blocking, visa revocation and ineligibility for entry into the United States. Did President Donald Trump immediately conduct a signing ceremony applauding the bill’s sponsors and making a statement denouncing China’s appalling human rights abuses? By no means. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on the evening of the 17th, Trump called Bolton a liar and denied giving Xi the green light to build the camps. Four days later, he told Axios’ Jonathan Swan that he’d declined to impose sanctions against Chinese officials proposed by the Treasury Department in September of 2018 because “we were in the middle of a major trade deal.” Fast-forward to last week, when the State and Treasury departments announced that they were imposing sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the Xinjiang persecution and the Xinjiang security agency. These invoke the Global Magnitsky Act, under which the U.S. blocks financial transactions involving property owned by the sanctioned individuals. On Monday, the Chinese government responded by announcing its own sanctions on Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Chris Smith, the Republicans who pushed hardest for the Uighur bill in Congress, and on Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom. Thus far, not a word from Trump himself on this exchange of sanctions. The president, who is not shy about expressing outrage, has thus far emitted nary a tweet on behalf of the Uighurs. Xi will understand that the leader of the free world couldn’t care less about China’s human rights abuses — as if Xi had any doubt about that. read the complete article
United States
In Linda Sarsour's new memoir, all activism is personal
In "We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders," the new memoir by the Women's March organizer and Muslim rights activist Linda Sarsour, it's the quiet, sometimes desperate moments that bring home what grounds her commitment. Reading her 13-year-old son’s application to a magnet high school, she comes upon his story about his classmate's comment, “You Muslims are good at math because you need to know how to make bombs.” Readers of "We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders," to be clear, aren't spared the whirlwind of Sarsour's seemingly superhuman accomplishments, or the controversial spot she occupies in the national spotlight, but the book gets at what this paradoxical and passionate justice leader truly values, precisely because she's willing to relate the incidents that cut her most deeply. The last time we were together in person, we were backstage after a screening of “Same God,” a new documentary that follows the story of former Wheaton College professor Larycia Hawkins, who lost her job with the evangelical Christian school after she asserted that Muslims and Christians worshipped the same God and wore a hijab as an expression of solidarity. When the film ended, Hawkins, Sarsour and I were asked to come on stage for the panel discussion. As soon as we got on stage, while still hidden from the audience’s view behind the curtain, Sarsour embraced Hawkins and began sobbing, saying repeatedly, “Thank you, sister. Thank you.” We let our emotions loose for a few moments before regaining our composure. Then we walked onto the stage as if nothing had happened. Sarsour's empathy for those who have been oppressed or marginalized is not performative. Nor is her toughness a mask. Her conflicting currents of grit and compassion can make things awkward for those who care about her as a person: her personal politic of being steadfastly unapologetic makes one feel apologetic instead when she shows tenderness. read the complete article
New Jersey Civil Rights Groups Condemn ADL for ‘Smearing’ Muslim Leader Who Expressed Black-Palestinian Solidarity Against Racist Police Brutality
A coalition of New Jersey civil rights organizations today condemned the New York / New Jersey chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for attempting to smear a local Muslim leader who expressed solidarity between Black and Palestinian communities against similar and connected forms of racist police brutality. During a protest against Israel’s plan to illegally annex Palestinian land, CAIR-New Jersey Executive Director Selaedin Maksut noted the similarities and connections between chokeholds and other acts of police brutality commonly perpetrated against people of color by American and Israeli law enforcement, which often engage in joint training together. In response, the ADL New York/New Jersey (ADL-NY/NJ) publicly accused Maksut of furthering “anti-Semitic” conspiracies. read the complete article
Muslim leaders: Vandals smashed out windows at new Warren mosque
The Al Ihsaan Islamic Center, also known as Ideal Islamic Center, opened a few months ago in what was previously a Lutheran church. On Friday afternoon, someone smashed several windows of the mosque with a hammer, according to the imam, Muhammad Islam. A piece of the hammer broke off and fell inside the mosque, Islam told the Free Press on Monday. He speculated that if the hammer had not broken, more of the mosque might have been vandalized. He said that a neighbor has video footage showing the person who attacked the structure driving in a car outside the mosque. Warren police did not comment on the incident. A police lieutenant referred phone calls to Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer; a message left with Dwyer's office was not returned Monday. Islam and the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) expressed concern that the vandalism may have been a hate crime. read the complete article
Trump, in Incoherent Rant, Says Democrats ‘Wouldn’t Mind’ if Terrorists Blew Up Their Cities
In a rambling and incoherent diatribe from the Rose Garden riddled with misinformation, President Donald Trump accused Democrats of wanting terrorists to blow up their own cities. The speech was presented as a press conference on China, but quickly devolved into a campaign speech railing against presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Trump, who mentioned Biden more than 30 times during his speech, accused the former vice president of pursuing a radical agenda. At one point, Trump railed against Biden’s call to end his travel bans from “jihadist regions.” The travel ban, pitched as a “Muslim ban” during the 2016 campaign and eventually limited to Muslim-majority countries when Trump became president, faced challenges in the courts but was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court. “We don’t want people that are going to come in and blow up our cities,” Trump said. “And frankly with the liberal Democrats running the cities that we do have, where they do have problems, maybe they wouldn’t mind. But I would mind. And the people of this country mind.” read the complete article
Trump to appoint Sebastian Gorka to the National Security Education Board
The White House announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump plans to appoint former White House adviser Sebastian Gorka to be a member of the National Security Education Board. The 14-member board oversees a government program that awards scholarships and fellowships to students and offers grants to colleges and universities to address "the national need for experts in critical languages and regions." In its mission statement, NSEP says one of its goals is to "produce an increased pool of applicants for work in the departments and agencies of the United States Government with national security responsibilities." The board is made up of six presidential appointees and a number of other representatives from across the administration. Gorka, a former deputy assistant to the president, left the administration in 2017 after then-White House chief of staff John Kelly took over and cleaned house. At the time, the White House put out an unattributed statement saying that Gorka did not resign, but no longer was on staff and no longer had access to the White House grounds. In 2017, CNN interviewed a dozen international security and terrorism experts and scholars who said Gorka's experience in their field is limited. They pointed out that Gorka does not speak Arabic, has done very little traveling in Muslim countries and has never worked in any official leadership or management role in foreign policy, intelligence or the military. read the complete article
Austria
Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner's YouTube account 'terminated'
The leader of the far-right organization Identitarian Movement contravened YouTube's hate speech policies, according to Google, the platform's owner. Martin Sellner also had his Twitter account suspended last week. Martin Sellner is the head of the Identitarian Movement Austria, an organization described by the Austrian intelligence services as "agents of modern right-wing extremism." The movement has been given the same label in Germany by its intelligence services. The 31-year-old's Facebook and Instagram accounts were shut down in 2018, while Twitter hauled down his account last week on grounds of promoting violent extremism. "Google/YouTube can confirm that the channels by Martin Sellner were terminated in line with our Hate Speech policies," Google said in a statement sent to news agency AFP. Last year, Sellner admitted he had been in contact with Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist who killed 51 Muslims in a terrorist attack at a New Zealand mosque. Tarrant made a €1,500 ($1,700) donation to Sellner in January 2018, just over a year before the Christchurch attack. Sellner and the Identitarian movement are proponents of the far-right "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory that states white Europeans are being deliberately supplanted by non-white immigrants. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Anti-terror scheme 'reinforcing stereotypes of Muslims'
Prevent was set up by the Home Office in response to the 2005 terror attacks in London, and the aim was to stop vulnerable people being turned into terrorists by radicals. Part of the scheme has involved monitoring university campuses to watch out for people at risk of being radicalised. Now, however, academics from around England have carried out a survey of students and concluded the Prevent scheme should be scrapped. That decision has been welcomed by Ibrahim Mogra, a leading Leicester imam who works with both the University of Leicester and De Montfort University supporting Muslim students. The authors of the new report, which was led by the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, concluded Prevent encouraged “a culture of mutual suspicion and surveillance” and “reinforced negative stereotypes of Muslims”. They also accused it of failing in its aim to help students avoid being radicalised. Mr Mogra, speaking during an online panel discussion about the report yesterday, said: "I wish to thank those that produced the report for helping make my resolve not to support Prevent even stronger. “I feel it has wholesale stigmatised an entire faith community. read the complete article
Prevent reinforces stereotypes and leads Muslim students to self-censor: Report
According to a study published on Monday by SOAS University of London along with the universities of Lancaster, Durham and Coventry, students who supported Prevent were almost three times more likely to see Islam as intolerant towards non-Muslims than those who believed Prevent was damaging university life. The study also found that students who saw radicalisation as a problem on campus were four times more likely to believe that Muslims had not made a valuable contribution to British life. Forty-three percent of the 2,000 students surveyed thought that Islam was a religion that discriminated against women. "It appears that Prevent has become strongly associated with the presumed dangers of radical Islam and with a perception that Muslims are dogmatic, intolerant and prone to violence," Mathew Guest, one of the report's authors, wrote in an op-ed for Open Democracy. The research found that students and staff at universities self-censored themselves during discussions on Islam to avoid becoming the object of suspicion. Only a quarter of respondents said they felt entirely free to express their views on Islam within a university context. "Our research suggests that universities could do much more to tackle the roots of Islamophobia and ensure that they are not complicit in maintaining racism," Guest said. "As centres of critical thinking, universities have the capacity and the moral obligation to take a lead in addressing our latest 'acceptable' prejudice." read the complete article
Man who wrote racist 'Muslim scum' signs directed at neighbour was found to have Nazi memorabilia
A man who left racist signs directed at his neighbour telling him ‘we don’t want Muslims here', was found to be in possession of Nazi memorabilia. Andrew Howard, 51, left the offensive signs and markings near to the man’s house after he moved in nearby. Some of the messages read ‘you Muslim scum’ and ‘go back to your own country’, Manchester Magistrates Court heard. Howard, of Newton Heath, was then found to have Nazi memorabilia around his house including pictures of Adolf Hitler and swastikas. Today, Howard pleaded guilty to one charge of racially aggravated harassment. He will be sentenced next month following the preparation of pre-sentence reports. 5) Muslim leaders: Vandals smashed out windows at new Warren mosque (United States) The Al Ihsaan Islamic Center, also known as Ideal Islamic Center, opened a few months ago in what was previously a Lutheran church. On Friday afternoon, someone smashed several windows of the mosque with a hammer, according to the imam, Muhammad Islam. A piece of the hammer broke off and fell inside the mosque, Islam told the Free Press on Monday. He speculated that if the hammer had not broken, more of the mosque might have been vandalized. He said that a neighbor has video footage showing the person who attacked the structure driving in a car outside the mosque. Warren police did not comment on the incident. A police lieutenant referred phone calls to Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer; a message left with Dwyer's office was not returned Monday. Islam and the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) expressed concern that the vandalism may have been a hate crime. read the complete article
Australia
Melbourne Muslims feel 'unfairly tarnished' by reports linking them to rising COVID-19 cases
The Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) has warned against scapegoating the Muslim community for the rising number of coronavirus cases in Melbourne while backing calls from AFL star Bachar Houli for more people to get tested. The call comes as Melbourne's Islamic Al-Taqwa College remains the state's biggest cluster with 144 cases and after recent media reports have linked other clusters to Eid celebrations, which marked the end of the fasting month in May. ICV vice-president Adel Salman told the ABC that some media reports had "unfairly tarnished" the Muslim community as being irresponsible and the cause of the current increase of cases, even if the articles did not explicitly call out Muslims. "There's sort of an undertone and innuendo [in] some of the reporting that would lead the reader or the consumer of the media to think 'Well, the Muslims are being irresponsible and Muslims [are] putting us all in danger,'" Mr Salman said. He added that while a lot of Muslims had been "sadly impacted" by coronavirus or detected with the virus — including Houli's mother who is battling COVID-19 in intensive care — he did not think the Muslim community was over-represented in the numbers of cases in Melbourne. read the complete article