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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Austrian state intimidates Muslim academic for Islamophobia research. At Bengal rally, India’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alludes to the Hindu-nationalist bogeyman of “love jihad.” Our recommended read today is by Nathan Vanderklippe on new documents showing that thousands of Uyghur workers in China are being relocated in an effort to assimilate Muslims. This, and more, below:
China
Thousands of Uyghur workers in China are being relocated in an effort to assimilate Muslims, documents show | Recommended Read
Relocating Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minority groups to industrial workplaces “not only reduces Uyghur population density in Xinjiang, but also is an important method to influence, fuse and assimilate Uyghur minorities,” researchers with the China Institute of Wealth and Economics at Nankai University wrote in a detailed report submitted to senior levels of the Chinese government and subsequently obtained by The Globe and Mail. It provides a new understanding of the transfer of Uyghur labour from Xinjiang’s Hotan prefecture in recent years. read the complete article
'If the others go I'll go': Inside China's scheme to transfer Uighurs into work
China's policy of transferring hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang to new jobs often far from home is leading to a thinning out of their populations, according to a high-level Chinese study seen by the BBC. Although it was broadcast in 2017, around the time the policy began to be intensified, the video has not featured in international news reporting until now. read the complete article
Uighur author tells of imprisonment and China attacks
Gulbahar Haitiwaji knew that China would not be happy about her book describing nearly three years of imprisonment, brainwashing and harassment at the hands of the authorities simply because she is Uighur. But the ferocity with which Beijing has lashed out at the 54-year-old author exceeded her worst expectations. read the complete article
Austria
Austrian state intimidates Muslim academic for Islamophobia research
The Austrian government has seemingly taken notice and is now on a mission to silence Hafez, who works at the University of Salzburg and is a senior research fellow at Georgetown University in the US. Hafez has not been charged with any crimes by the Austrian government, leading some to believe that the government is deliberately harassing the academic in a bid to muzzle his research. One academic called Hafez's treatment by the Austrian state "a gross miscarriage of justice." Whereas another called it a "chilling...witchhunt against a Muslim academic." read the complete article
Austria: Outrage after authorities target academic as part of 'terrorism' crackdown
An Austrian academic's account of being interrogated at gunpoint over alleged "terrorist" sympathies and opposing the Egyptian government has provoked outrage, raising fears about rising Islamophobia in the country. Farid Hafez, a professor at the University of Salzburg, detailed in a video and a series of posts on Twitter how his house had been raided early on the morning of 9 November 2020, with police pointing guns at him and his family. read the complete article
International
Why Erdogan Has Abandoned the Uyghurs
Uyghur repression didn’t start with the camps. Even when Erdogan was in Xinjiang, many Uyghurs were trying to get out. They saw Erdogan’s visit as a gesture of solidarity. The Uyghurs are an ethnically Turkic people, and our language is closely related to Turkish. So moving to Turkey made sense, especially considering how the country offered Uyghurs asylum as early as 1952. read the complete article
India
At Bengal Rally, UP CM Adityanath Raises Bogey of 'Love Jihad'
In the state as part of the BJP’s campaign ahead of the West Bengal election, Adityanath made several claims, including that incidents of “love jihad” had been happening in the state, unchecked by the TMC government. Under Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh has brought a controversial law that focuses ostensibly on criminalising forcible religious conversions but in reality gives legal credence to the Hindutva rightwing’s bogey of ‘love jihad‘ – an imagined conspiracy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women by marriage. The Union home ministry and the Uttar Pradesh police have both been unable to offer concrete evidence of ‘love jihad’. In several situations, the new law has been used to harass couples and Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, with fatal consequences. read the complete article
Sri Lanka
Rights of Sri Lankan Muslims Need International Protection
The Sri Lankan government’s announcement that it would finally end its medically baseless policy of “forced cremation” of people who die with Covid-19 was welcomed by Muslim families, who for religious reasons bury their dead. But the government then added a gratuitous requirement that burials take place on the small northwestern island of Iranaitivu, which is principally inhabited by Catholic Tamils who have struggled to reoccupy their land for decades after the Sri Lankan navy seized it in 1992. read the complete article
Covid-19: Sri Lanka chooses remote island for burials
Iranathivu island in the Gulf of Mannar is the designated site for burials. It lies some 300km (186 miles) away from the capital, Colombo, and was chosen, the government says, because it is thinly populated. Muslims were angered by the ban, introduced last April, and said there was no scientific basis to it. Muslims make up nearly 10% of the population. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, and the United Nations had also raised objections. Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said a plot of land had been set aside on the island, according to the Colombo Gazette. read the complete article