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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Bangladesh sends troops to halt Rohingya refugee drug fighting in camps. In Australia, Uighurs fear retaliation from China for speaking out about ‘ethnic genocide’ in Xinjiang. Our recommended read today is on the global demand for hair products, and how it might be linked to forced labor in Xinjiang. This, and more, below:
China
Black gold: How global demand for hair products is linked to forced labor in Xinjiang | Recommended Read
Now, some of the Chinese factories supplying thousands of kilograms of hair to the American market are under scrutiny by the United States government, which is alleging the use of forced labor in the country’s far western region of Xinjiang -- where rights groups say up to 2 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in internment camps since 2016. Beijing has called the camps “vocational training centers” and says the expansion of factory jobs campaigners have linked to the camps is part of a “poverty alleviation” program. read the complete article
The Xinjiang Data Police
In late 2016, the local Public Security Bureau in his home county of Qitai began recruiting people to become “assistant police” — a type of citizen policing role that the authorities described as a kind of supermarket or mall security guard position. “Since I graduated from Xinjiang Normal University, I was considered very well qualified,” Baimurat remembered. “I had an interview, and I got the job. I was among the first of the people they hired from all over the region.” read the complete article
France
Opinion | It is not Islam that is in crisis. It is Macron and his government
Since early into his term, the president has faced popular fury in the streets and workplaces against labour reforms, rising fuel prices, and wider issues such as unemployment, lack of affordable housing, police violence and more. The coronavirus pandemic was seen as a partial relief for Macron. It meant introducing exceptional laws, repression and a total lockdown in the streets, allowing him to project a sense of “control” as people feared for their lives and those of others. But this period also reinforced the many failures of Macron’s government. From divestment of state funds from welfare and social services, to a crisis of unemployment and poverty, the problems didn’t end under the lockdown; rather, they intensified, as did the anger. read the complete article
Is French President Macron's Proposed Anti-Separatism Bill Islamophobic?
French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed an 'anti-separatism' bill to combat what he calls 'radical Islam.' The president's idea is to foster what he describes as an 'enlightened Islam,' one that will help defeat terrorist threats and preserve the French way of life. But French Muslims fear the bill unfairly singles them out and will contribute to a rise in Islamophobia. So, will Macron's attempt to impose a national identity on a culturally diverse society work? Guests: Denis Franceskin Member of France's National Rally Party Nabila Ramdani Award-Winning French-Algerian Journalist Yasser Louati Human Rights and Civil Liberties Activist. read the complete article
United States
Immigrants make America stronger, and we need them now more than ever
On Sept. 30, the Trump administration announced that it would cap the number of refugees the United States will admit to the lowest number in 40 years. The hard truth is that this hateful policy makes our nation less safe and less equipped to overcome the vicious effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Our nation is facing its worst crisis in more than 100 years. The coronavirus has killed more than 211,000 Americans and 2,100 Minnesotans, and our economy is crippled. We need new Americans — refugees and immigrants — now more than ever to provide essential services, kick-start growth, and keep our country safe. read the complete article
Trump reshaped the US immigration system — but it’s been ignored at the debates
Instead, the candidates have only mentioned immigration in passing. During Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, Sen. Kamala Harris briefly nodded to Trump’s statements about Mexicans coming over the border on the campaign trail in 2016, in which he called them “rapists” and “criminals.” She also briefly mentioned the travel ban he enacted right after taking office, blocking citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and creating chaos in airports across the US before courts forced him to amend the policy, which still remains in effect. Even Trump, who has long used the idea of building a wall on the southern border as a rallying cry among his base, largely ignored the subject in the first debate. He instead tried to shut down discussion of everything, shouting over his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. Yet, in 2016, the wall was one of the defining policies of his campaign and became a symbol of the punitive approach he would later take to immigration enforcement. read the complete article
India
India’s mosque verdict marks a sad day for the world’s democracy
Regarding the Oct. 1 news article “Indian court acquits Hindu nationalist leaders in ’92 destruction of mosque”: The verdict is both shocking and unsurprising. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been systematically taking the Bharatiya Janata Party into overdrive to appeal to the majority-Hindu country and win elections. It is a sad day for the world’s supposed largest democratic country. The attack on the Babri Mosque in 1992 attack was clearly planned and encouraged by Hindu party leaders. In 1947, when India and Pakistan fought for and found independence, the concept of a country based on its religious majority was viewed by Indians as a failed ideology. Indian Muslims, including my husband’s family, stayed, prospered and enacted legislation to protect and preserve the secular system for a true democracy, as did many of their Hindu counterparts. My parents, as with many families, chose to leave, in the hopes of a new start in a new country. They sacrificed property (and some their lives) to create a haven for Muslims against such atrocities that Mr. Modi is now imposing on India and its Muslims. read the complete article
Bangladesh
Bangladesh sends troops to halt Rohingya refugee drug fighting
The seven killed in the past six days include one woman, an official said. Several others have reportedly been injured. "We found four bodies at the Lambasia refugee camp on Tuesday night. Three of them were shot dead and another had stab marks," Rafiqul Islam, deputy police chief of Cox's Bazar district, told AFP. He said hundreds of military and armed police have been deployed since fighting began on October 2, with numbers scaled up after Tuesday's clashes. "The situation is now calm," he added. The camps have for over three years served as a home for nearly one million Muslim Rohingya fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar. read the complete article