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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Uyghur exiles urge US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to demand China close Xinjiang camps ahead of talks. Writing for The Diplomat, Omer Kanat assesses evidence of mass atrocities in China and asks “If Xinjiang isn’t genocide, then what is?” Our recommended read today is by Rim-Sarah Alouane on the “spectre of Islamo-leftism” in France, where a long history of free thought and expression currently being undercut by an administration uncovering limits to speech that are not readily found in other Western countries. This, and more, below:
France
A Spectre in France’s Public Debate: Islamo-Leftism | Recommended Read
Legislators are targeting speech by academics and activists that they consider to be a threat to national security, and in this case are categorizing it as a specific phenomenon: the so-called “spread of Islamo-leftism”, a term rapidly gaining traction among right-wing critics of a more visible Muslim citizenry continuing to strain against increasing legal limitations on the public practice of their faith and the academic class that makes the case for their rights. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Tommy Robinson and the making of a far-right ‘propaganda’ video
Tommy Robinson is staring down the camera, warning viewers about the “readiness in which migrants will attack”. It is March 2018, and the far-right activist has just returned from a trip to Italy, where he claims a migrant attacked his producer and threatened to kill him. “These kind of crimes taking place across Europe are beginning to resemble those that are more commonplace in places like the Middle East and South Africa,” Robinson says. “Politicians brought this upon their own country.” read the complete article
China
Beijing's crackdown in Xinjiang has separated thousands of children from their parents, new report claims. CNN found two of them
It was supposed to be a routine trip home to Xinjiang for Mamutjan Abdurehim's wife and two children. That was five years ago. He says he hasn't seen them since. Mamutjan's wife Muherrem took their daughter and son from Malaysia back to the region in western China to get a new passport in December 2015. They remain trapped there, he said, caught up in the sweeping government crackdown against Muslim minorities that has reportedly seen up to 2 million people arbitrarily detained in vast camps across Xinjiang. read the complete article
If China’s Anti-Uyghur Campaign Isn’t Genocide, What Is?
The last four years have brought one terrifying revelation after another about the “Strike First” policy launched in earnest in 2017. Arbitrary ethnic internment camps have been built to a huge scale across our entire homeland. Among the other tools of silent terror used against my people: hi-tech surveillance, forcible family separation, coerced labor programs, forced sterilizations, and long prison sentences for intellectuals. In February, a months-long BBC investigation confirmed what Uyghurs had already heard from the handful of survivors: harrowing accounts of systemic rape. A survivor told BBC: “Their goal is to destroy everyone.” read the complete article
India
The Decay of Indian Democracy
India’s drop in the democracy league tables has less to do with the nature of its elections—which are largely free and fair—than with the shrinking democratic space between them. These grim assessments point to several troubling political developments in the country: the consolidation of a Hindu-majoritarian brand of politics, the excessive concentration of power in the hands of the executive, and the clampdown on political dissent and on the media. Much of that change is bound up in the figure of the prime minister, whose electoral appeal rests on his stated ambition to break with politics as usual. But despite numerous controversies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains immensely popular. His hold over the public imagination has not waned—and for Indian democracy, the implications are momentous. read the complete article
United States
Cops called me anti-Muslim slur during traffic stop, N.J. man claims in lawsuit
A Bergen County man is suing a New Jersey police department, claiming police officers called him a “Muslim terrorist” during a 2019 traffic stop. In January, Peter Malak, of Elmwood Park, filed a lawsuit in Bergen County Superior Court against Elmwood Park Police Department, alleging that two police officers discriminated against him when they used anti-Muslim rhetoric during a 2019 traffic stop and that the department tampered with recordings of the interaction, purposely cutting out sections where the racist remarks would have been heard. read the complete article