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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the U.K, Quilliam founder Maajid Nawaz’s fascination with conspiracies raises alarm. A new report analyzes the impact of France’s separatism law on Muslim working-class women. Facebook designates Myanmar a ‘temporary high-risk location’ after coup. Our recommended read today is by Alain Gabon titled “Macron’s Islamic charter is an unprecedented attack on French secularism.” This, and more, below:
France
Macron's Islamic charter is an unprecedented attack on French secularism | Recommended Read
The unprecedented charter can thus be seen as a clear assertion that Islam is indeed compatible with secular democracies in general, and with the French republic in particular. It condemns “excessive proselytism” and attests to the superiority of and obligation for all Muslims to recognise France’s laws, constitution, republican principles and “public order”. Article two proclaims an obligation for Muslims to “conform to the common rules” of France, which “must prevail over any other rules and convictions, including those of our own faith”. Article eight recognises the French principle of laicite, or secularism. But article six, the longest, is also the most loaded. It proclaims that no mosques or other Islamic places can have “political agendas” or engage in political and ideological discourse or activity; these are described as “an instrumentalisation” and “perversion of Islam”, whose sole and “true purpose is prayers and the transmission of values”. read the complete article
Macron may not like it, but U.S. ‘multiculturalism’ has some lessons for France
For years, an ongoing academic and public debate has examined whether Islamist extremism has any relation to Islam or whether it’s a function of social and economic alienation. It seems clear that Macron leans on the side of Gilles Kepel, a French political scientist who argues the former, that the attacks France has endured since 2012 are evidence of a deeply rooted Salafism that sees European civilization as the enemy. But Macron has also gone further than any French president before him in acknowledging the culpability of the French state in fostering this “separatism.” He commissioned a report examining France’s colonial crimes in Algeria. And he said in October, just before the beheading of Paty, that part of the reason France loses so many young people to radical Islamism is that public discourse is too harsh toward them: “If our language is reductive, we’ll be sending a simple message to all young people in these neighborhoods: ‘We don’t love you. You have no place in the Republic.’” read the complete article
Myanmar
‘Serious Threats’ Ahead: Human Rights Experts Voice Concern for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar Following Military Coup (
The military’s return to power poses a particular threat for Rohingya Muslims, whom the Buddhist nation of Myanmar — also known as Burma — has largely viewed as illegal immigrants since a 1982 law stripped them of citizenship. In the ensuing decades, the military has systemically dismantled their rights, enabling widespread violence that both the U.N. and the United States have called “ethnic cleansing.” “The military didn’t fade into background with the start of the democratization process,” Bauchner said. “It held on to its levers of power … with provisions in place to allow for exactly this sort of takeover. Serious threats lay ahead for activists, journalists, ethnic minorities and others who have long been targets of the military’s oppressive campaigns.” read the complete article
Myanmar lodges objections in Rohingya genocide case
The filing did not elaborate on the nature of the objections, but legal experts say they are likely to include whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case and whether The Gambia has the appropriate standing to bring the suit. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s former civilian leader raised similar issues during preliminary hearings in December 2019 when she travelled to The Hague to defend her country’s treatment of a minority group that has been described as among the world’s most persecuted. read the complete article
India
The End of the Indian Idea
For the past several years, warnings have been sounded about democracy in India—whether they be about the fate of the country’s minorities, its courts, its intellectuals. These worries steadily build, before erupting into some major protest, taking over the popular consciousness, both domestically and abroad. For the past several years, India’s government has steadily chipped away at the edifice of its free press and, over the past week, once again gone too far. This was the week my government attacked my home. Home for me is in a multistory building in the center of New Delhi, on the edge of a sprawling park, a short walk from the markets of Karol Bagh and the upscale shops of Connaught Place. I have not visited in some time, but it is where my heart is. This is where you can find the offices of The Caravan. The Caravan is a small magazine—it has a staff of just a few dozen people—and its readership pales in comparison with other members of India’s English-language printed press. Yet its diminutive size masks its power: The publication is read by government ministers and opposition leaders, and larger outlets regularly follow up on its stories. Its team of talented staff writers is supported by a glittering list of contributors, all of whom see the magazine’s strengths as standing apart from India’s larger mainstream publications. read the complete article
Why Modi won’t listen to India’s farmers
The agricultural laws, which favor private traders and large industrial conglomerates, were rammed through Parliament without considering the interests and opinions of the farmers. This has been standard procedure for Modi and his regime — they push laws through their party-controlled Parliament and the pliant judiciary and bureaucracy stamps its approval without any checks or balances. Modi certainly didn’t expect the farm laws to generate resistance, but the country’s farmers have reignited a spirit of dissent that many thought (or hoped) had faded for good. read the complete article
International
U.S. 'deeply disturbed' by reports of systematic rape of Muslims in China camps
A BBC report earlier on Wednesday said women in the camps were subject to rape, sexual abuse and torture. The British broadcaster said "several former detainees and a guard have told the BBC they experienced or saw evidence of an organized system of mass rape, sexual abuse and torture." Asked to comment, a State Department spokeswoman said: "We are deeply disturbed by reports, including first-hand testimony, of systematic rape and sexual abuse against women in internment camps for ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang." read the complete article
United States
Omar slams GOP 'whitewashing,' false equivalency with Greene
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Wednesday slammed the push by a handful of GOP lawmakers to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee as a racist and misogynistic attempt to draw false equivalency with the controversies surrounding first-term Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). "Republicans will do anything to distract from the fact that they have not only allowed but elevated members of their own caucus who encourage violence. It’s time to stop whitewashing the actions of the violent conspiracy theorists, who pose a direct and immediate threat to their fellow Members of Congress and our most fundamental democratic processes," Omar said in a statement. read the complete article
"I don't yet trust him": 5 Muslims reflect on Biden's record of surveilling their communities
Throughout his campaign, Biden tried appealing to Muslims as a voting bloc by positioning himself as the solution to the virulent Islamophobia demonstrated by the Trump administration. His campaign launched platforms for both Muslim and Arab American communities, where Biden promised to end Trump's infamous travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, as well as the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention program. TVTP, an "evolution" of the Obama-era Countering Violent Extremism program — which Vice President Kamala Harris publicly expressed support for during her presidential campaign — draws from CVE's debunked framework and planned to distribute $10 million in grants that, given CVE's history, would likely be used to surveil Muslim youth. read the complete article