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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In India, a Muslim man being beaten and threatened to be thrown from a train and an anti-Muslim mobs harassing Muslim home buyers is nothing new as violence and threats against Indian Muslims continues to rise, meanwhile in Australia, the government is seeking to create some distance from its new special envoys on antisemitism and Islamophobia, suggesting they do not “characterize their comments” as official government policy, and in the UK, the newly formed UK pro-Palestine parliamentary bloc has hit back against an “Islamophobic slur” by Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch who said on Monday that the five members were elected due in part to “sectarian Islamist politics”. Our recommended read of the day is by Andreas Krieg for Middle East Eye who writes that in today’s Germany, the “other” is the migrant, or more specifically, those with Muslim backgrounds, who are routinely demonized by the government and media. This and more below:
Germany
How Germany is manufacturing the Islamist bogeyman | Recommended Read
Germany finds itself at a historic turning point that could redefine what it stands for and what it wants to project to the world. As the far right makes significant electoral inroads, the country is in a deep identity crisis, facing serious structural economic and societal challenges. German angst is spreading, and like so many times in the nation’s history, a bogeyman has quickly been found.While in the Weimar Republic a century ago, demagogues and populists thrived on “othering” German Jews, today this “other” is the migrant - more specifically, those with Muslim backgrounds. A decade of toxic discourse about migration and Islam pushed by the far-right agitators of the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party has normalised and mainstreamed narratives and iconography that in other democracies would be considered hate speech. A particularly shocking example was an official video posted by Bavaria’s interior ministry under the headline “The Salafism Trap”. The meme-style animation, which has since been deleted, showed a man in Muslim attire speaking to a young woman on social media about makeup. The video then took a sinister turn, zooming in on the man’s evil laughter as his devilish mouth crushed the young woman, who was shown moving from dancing in a nightclub, to wearing a headscarf in public, to wearing a niqab and doing chores around the house, controlled by her husband in the background. Her face can be seen turning from happy to sad. Such iconography resembles the antisemitic caricatures published by the Nazi pamphlet Der Sturmer in the 1920s and 1930s. The wicked smile, satanic gulp and sinister laugh stigmatises the “other” as evil. The young Muslim woman, meanwhile, is shown as innocent, gullible and dependent - unable to make decisions for herself, as she is under the spell of the man, who forces her to cover up, thus reinforcing Islamophobic stereotypes. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Grenfell inquiry: Muslim survivors were 'denied halal food' while being rehoused
Muslim survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire in West London were denied their right to halal food, including during the month of Ramadan, while being rehoused in hotels in the aftermath of the tragedy. The failure was revealed among several other findings in the Grenfell Inquiry's long-awaited final report that was published on Wednesday. The fire on 14 June 2017 burned for 60 hours in the tower block in North Kensington, killing 72 people. The 1,700-page inquiry, which took six years, found that the blaze occurred as a result of "decades of failure" by the government and by the construction industry to act on the dangers associated with flammable cladding. Among the conclusions was that the local authority, Kensington and Chelsea Council, should have done more to take care of people from different backgrounds, including Muslims. read the complete article
Corbyn's new pro-Gaza UK parliamentary bloc slams Kemi Badenoch's 'Islamophobic slur'
The newly formed UK pro-Palestine parliamentary bloc have hit back against an "Islamophobic slur" by Conservative MP Kemi Badenoch. The Independent Alliance, formed of five left-wing MPs, was announced Monday, including Jeremy Corbyn, Adnan Hussain, Ayoub Khan, Iqbal Mohamed and Shockat Adam. They issued a collective statement on Monday after Badernoch claimed the five independents were elected on the "back of sectarian Islamist politics; alien ideas that have no place here" after they won seats from Labour candidates, largely on a pro-Gaza platform. "Kemi Badenoch's outrageous slur is an attack on democracy," they said. "By describing these demands as 'sectarian Islamist politics', Badenoch maligns thousands of voters and peace campaigners. Her smear should be called out for what it is: Islamophobia." read the complete article
Tory wants Government action to tackle Stoke-on-Trent Islamophobia
A call is being made for the Government to adopt a 'particular definition of Islamophobia'. Two Stoke-on-Trent Tories - Faisal Hussain and Tabrase Din - are calling for the Government action in a motion to today's Stoke-on-Trent City Council meeting. They believe an agreed definition would 'aid initiatives to tackle Islamophobia'. It comes as Stoke-on-Trent City Council already accepts the Runnymede Trust definition that 'Islamophobia is anti-Muslim racism'. read the complete article
India
Muslims in the new India: How one week showcases their escalating persecution
In recent years, India has witnessed a disturbing rise in communal violence, reflecting deepening religious divides that threaten the country’s secular fabric. While communal tensions have long simmered beneath the surface, a series of violent incidents over the course of just one week, from August 28 to September 1, has brought these tensions into sharp focus. This wave of violence, marked by attacks on the Muslim communities across the length and breadth of India, has not only raised concerns about the safety and security of Muslims, but has also underscored the growing complicity of state machinery in perpetuating communal hatred. read the complete article
Hatred And Violence Against Muslims Have Spread Like an Epidemic in India
An elderly Muslim man is beaten up by Hindu youths in a train, who threaten to throw him out of the train. The train keeps moving. They film their feat. A Muslim labourer is beaten to death by some Hindus in front of everyone. Administration rushing bulldozers to demolish the house or shop of a Muslims the minute he or she is accused of any crime. In a reflex move. Bajrang Dal goons enter school and attack Muslim girls. People of the locality demonstrate against construction of a Mosque and launch an agitation demanding its demolition. Residents of a locality protest against a Muslim buying a house in their lane. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA threatens to enter mosques and kill Muslims. There is nothing new when we report or say that that violence is being perpetrated against Muslims in India. Hatred is being spread against them. Does saying this once or twice end the matter or do people comprehend its seriousness? Especially Hindus? Administration and police? When this violence is perpetrated every day in different parts of India in different ways, should it not be talked about? read the complete article
United States
Fellow Muslims keep asking me why I support Kamala Harris. Here’s what I say.
The first Muslims to arrive in what became the United States of America were Black like me. They were brought here via the trans-Atlantic slave trade. These enslaved Africans were faithful Muslims praying in the U.S. colonies before Thomas Jefferson was even born. And they suffered, as all enslaved Africans suffered, through genocide and brutal and deadly oppression. Although there’s a mistaken belief that Muslims first arrived en masse in the United States with an influx of Arab and Pakistani immigrants in the 1960s, the history of Black Muslims, who were here before there was a country, is a reminder that while we may share the same faith as Muslims from the Middle East and South Asia, we have a different experience of America. These Black Muslim ancestors left rich histories and a legacy of fighting for what’s right. I am proud to have carried on this legacy throughout my career, most recently by founding the Black Muslim Leadership Council — a first-of-its-kind nonprofit dedicated to advancing justice and equity for Black American Muslims through policy advocacy, civic education, voter mobilization and leadership development. Our advocacy wing, the Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, and I, in my personal capacity, am doing the same. Despite my consistent calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, and despite my history of working with the Palestinian community in my native Philadelphia, my support of the vice president’s candidacy has led to accusations that I am ignoring the human rights catastrophe in Gaza and undermining the Palestinian cause. Despite my leadership in the Uncommitted Pennsylvania campaign, which led to more than 60,000 voters using the write-in vote to protest President Joe Biden’s leadership; and despite my directly telling President Biden about the history of solidarity between Black Americans and Palestinians and the moral dilemma his candidacy presented, I have been repeatedly asked by other Muslims to defend my vote for Harris. My goal in my career is to advance policy for the American Muslim community at large, but with a focus on Black American Muslims. read the complete article
A ship from Guantanamo
In December 2001, a Yemeni citizen named Moath al-Alwi was captured by Pakistani forces near the country’s border with Afghanistan, turned over to the US government and detained at the infamous Guantánamo Bay detention camp at the southeastern tip of Cuba. Al-Alwi was originally thought to have been one of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards. However, in 2021, US officials wrote that al-Alwi lacked any ‘leadership position in Al-Qaeda or the Taliban’ and, acknowledging that he didn’t represent a threat to US security and had participated in rehabilitation programmes, approved his transfer from the prison. Yet, as of this writing, al-Alwi remains at Guantánamo Bay, with no release date in sight, despite never being charged with a crime. The short documentary A Ship from Guantánamo offers viewers a rare glimpse into al-Alwi’s life at Guantánamo Bay, where he’s been able to find a small escape in creating intricate model ships built from found objects like dental floss, prayer beads and cardboard. Collaborating on the film with al-Alwi despite not being able to meet him, the South African filmmaker Dara Kell and the US filmmaker Veena Rao explore how his artworks have helped him preserve his humanity amid the dehumanising conditions of his imprisonment. read the complete article
Australia
Australian government won’t back public views of special envoys on antisemitism and Islamophobia
The Australian government is seeking to create some distance from its new special envoys on antisemitism and Islamophobia, suggesting they do not characterise their comments as official government policy. Documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal the instructions the government has given its new special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, including the need to highlight “diverse Jewish Australian identities”. Similar guidance has been prepared for the yet-to-be-named special envoy to combat Islamophobia, although the government has struggled to make that appointment amid concerns in the Islamic community about its purpose. Segal, a former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry who said last year “there can be no ceasefire [in Gaza] until every hostage has been released”, was appointed by Anthony Albanese in July. According to the terms of reference for both positions, obtained under freedom of information laws, the Department of Home Affairs will provide “strategic communications and policy support” but not back their public commentary. read the complete article
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Ghaith Krayem on Muslim votes mattering
It is almost been a year since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Since then, the conflict in the Middle East has increasingly impinged on our domestic politics, despite Australia having no direct role in it. The horrific death toll in Gaza and the increase in both antisemitism and Islamophobia in Australia have focused the attention of the Albanese government. Both Muslim and Jewish communities have criticised the government for its responses to the conflict, as it tries to maintain a sense of social cohesion. Australian Muslims are one of the fastest-growing minority groups in the country. They are important to Labor in some heartland seats. The recently-formed group Muslim Votes Matter aims to amplify the Muslim voice. The group plans to back candidates who support the issues it says Muslims care about. Today we’re joined on the podcast by Ghaith Krayem, a spokesman for the group. He is a past president of the Islamic Council of Victoria and formerly CEO of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. Krayem says the Muslim community is frustrated over the government’s consultative process in relation to appointing an envoy to combat Islamophobia. There is still no announcement, despite the envoy to combat antiseminitism being in place for some time. read the complete article