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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the US, a Muslim woman was forced to remove her hijab for a booking photo at a Tennessee jail, where an intake officer promised that the mugshot wouldn’t be made public — then it was, a federal lawsuit says, meanwhile in India, a new report finds that Muslims hailing from varying regions, castes and classes, and across differing degrees of educational levels are more prone to anxiety and subsequent mental disorders relative to those who identified as Hindu, and in the UK, a group of 25 British lawmakers have written to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper urging her to acknowledge the links between racism and the country’s immigration legislation as the government prepares to introduce new laws on border security, asylum and immigration. Our recommended read of the day is by Canadian Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia Amira Elghawaby for the Toronto Star on the 16th Annual Mosquers Film Festival, which took place last month in Edmonton, and how the medium of storytelling through film is a “powerful antidote” for combating Islamophobia. This and more below:
Canada
The climate of fear around Canadian Muslims needs to go. Here’s one powerful antidote to Islamophobia | Recommended Read
For the past 16 years, filmmakers, producers, comedians, authors and artists have been descending upon Edmonton, Alta., for the annual Mosquers Film Festival to celebrate the power of storytelling. This year, six short films made both in Canada and internationally made the cut and demonstrated the vast range and vibrancy of Muslim experiences. They ranged in topic and genre. There was a comedic take on workplace discrimination; a dramatic representation of the impact of violent police responses to mental health crises; a documentary exploring the challenges and successes of four Syrian refugees in Calgary; and a mixed media portrayal of struggling with culture and Black hair. What was remarkable about the event was how Canadian Muslims continue to reclaim their identities, proudly and unapologetically sharing their stories with local, national and international audiences. Through such storytelling, Muslim cultural producers are either deliberately or inadvertently combatting Islamophobia by showing how unidimensional portrayals of Muslims as monolithic, violent, oppressive, insular, and opposed to Western democratic norms and values, are simply false and detached from reality. Beyond legislation and public policy, storytelling persists as a powerful grassroots antidote to hate. October is Canadian Islamic History Month, so there’s no better time to start challenging assumptions and becoming better acquainted with generations of Canadian Muslims and their stories. read the complete article
United States
Muslim, Arab student organizations say they fear repercussions from others' protests
The past year on campus has included many protests in support of the Palestinian people. Actions began with a series of rallies last fall and recently included a walkout on Sept. 19 where some students vandalized campus buildings. The University administration has responded in a variety of ways, opening a criminal investigation into the vandalism and increasing security on campus on Oct. 7. Some Muslim and Arab students said they face the consequences of these disruptive protests, even when they’re not involved. Though many of them say they believe in the message behind organizing on campus, they worry about their safety because people don't always differentiate between their communities and those protesting. “Anything that happens in the name of Palestine, positive or negative, comes back to the Muslim community,” Mina Bayraktar, vice president of the Muslim Students Association said. Weeks later, on Franklin Street during the weekend of Halloween, a hijabi student said she was attacked by someone wearing an Israeli flag and wielding a knife. The president of the Muslim Student’s Association, Nawfal Mohamad, said he knew the victim personally. He said he thinks about the danger that specifically his hijabi members might face as he makes decisions about the club. read the complete article
Muslim woman forced to remove hijab for mugshot published by sheriff’s office, suit says
A Muslim woman was forced to remove her hijab for a booking photo at a Tennessee jail, where an intake officer promised that the mugshot wouldn’t be made public — then it was, a federal lawsuit says. Layla Soliz had one mugshot taken without her hijab, which she wears every day as part of her Muslim faith, and a second photo taken of her wearing the religious headscarf at the detention facility in Knox County on May 15, 2024, according to a complaint filed Oct. 7. That day, she was arrested on a minor misdemeanor charge during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and was detained for hours with her hands bound inside a van with other demonstrators, the complaint says. After Soliz was booked in jail and had her mugshots taken, a sergeant with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office published the booking photo of Soliz without her hijab online to the sheriff’s office’s website, the complaint says. read the complete article
Some Indian American Democrats see themselves in Harris. Others see the limits
"I think identity politics is a trap,” she says. “It is a trap to think that somebody's shared demographics or community has anything to do with your values.” Enjeti is sitting with Farhana Rahman, remembering 2020. They registered voters and knocked on doors and drove people to the polls. “We were screamed at,” Enjeti says. “We faced very real physical threats. We risked it all for Biden to win in Georgia.” “That same me has done nothing this election cycle,” Rahman adds. Rahman says as a South Asian American Muslim, she believes another Trump presidency is an “existential threat to democracy,” even potentially to her own safety. But she says she doesn’t feel safe now. She says she’s afraid to speak out against the conflict in Gaza and she’s reluctant to tell colleagues and acquaintances that she is Muslim. “I feel like I have to hide my identity,” she says. “It’s unfortunate, but the level of Islamophobia, just making it so prevalent -- people can say horrible things to Muslims, and it's completely okay.” read the complete article
India
Religious nationalism or communalism in India?
However, nationalist forces, particularly religious nationalists, had also been growing in parallel since the 1920s. Present-day India under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s rule is more significantly under the spell of communalism than that of religious nationalism. The systemic marginalisation of minorities including Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs demonstrates that India is growing on communal fault lines. The Indian officials often threaten to wipe Muslims out, who are portrayed to be aliens to Hindu land. One such incident came to light when Karnell Singh, a BJP leader, threatened to slaughter 200,000 Muslims when a cow’s head was found near a Temple in Delhi. Christians also face neglect, such as in Manipur with the Centre taking no interest in resolving the conflict between Hindus and Christians. Although the terms ‘religious nationalism’ and ‘communalism’ are often used interchangeably, there is a slight difference in their implications. Shashi Tharoor quotes Ernest Gellner, one of the major proponents of defining nationalism, stating, ‘nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness but rather the invention of nations where they did not exist.’ On the other hand, Harbans Mukhia describes communalism as ‘organizing an exclusive religious group on the basis of hostility to one or more of the others at the social level.’ Currently, under Prime Minister Modi, Muslims are socio-politically and economically marginalised in the Hindu-dominant society. read the complete article
The “Othering” Of Indian Muslims And Their Withering Mental Health
Owing to the historical roots of oppression, violence and threatened citizenship, the mental health of Indian Muslims is depleting, leading to loss of employment opportunities, financial constraints and mounting hostility. In the report entitled “Social Suffering in a World without Support,” (December 2022) by Bebaak Collective, Muslims hailing from varying regions, castes and classes, across differing degrees of educational levels were interviewed to analyse the detrimental effects of a polarised environment on the mental and emotional health and well-being of the Muslims of India. According to the study entitled “Caste, Religion and Mental Health in India” by Ashish Gupta and Diane Coffey, Muslims are more prone to anxiety and subsequent mental disorders relative to upper-caste Hindus, even if the variables of income, educational level, age, expenditure, rural/urban residence are not accounted for. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Look at this photo of Ursula von der Leyen’s new team – and tell me the EU doesn’t have a diversity problem
As Ursula von der Leyen sweet-talked and bullied EU leaders to send more women to Brussels over recent weeks, I kept hoping she would also make her incoming team of European commissioners more racially diverse. Thanks to an unexpected twist of fate involving (very) complicated Belgian politics, Hadja Lahbib, Belgium’s foreign minister, could soon make history as the first ever EU commissioner who is also a person of colour. If she gets the parliamentary thumbs up, Lahbib and the incoming EU Council president, Portugal’s former prime minister António Costa, who is of Goan and Mozambican heritage, will give a much-needed reputational tweak to an EU that boasts about being “united in diversity” but whose institutions still keep no data on their staff’s ethnicity and are visibly and notoriously “all-white”. But it is far from enough. Making EU institutions truly inclusive is not about changing the optics or accidental, albeit fortuitous, political appointments. It is not about tokenism and diversity washing. Having tracked the systemic underrepresentation of racial minorities and structural racism within EU institutions, I know that change requires revising staff recruitment policies and eliminating outdated anti-diversity mindsets. None of that can happen unless senior EU policymakers give racial inclusion the same attention that they are, quite correctly, paying to gender equality and, more recently, to welcoming LGBTQ+ people. read the complete article
British MPs demand Home Secretary address racism in new immigration laws
A group of British lawmakers have written to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper urging her to acknowledge the links between racism and the country’s immigration legislation as the government prepares to introduce new laws on border security, asylum and immigration. The 25 Black, Asian and ethnic minority members of parliament (MPs) highlighted concerns that Britain’s immigration framework "cannot be uncoupled from racism and the exclusion of people of color." Their letter written on Tuesday came in response to the recent release of a previously suppressed Home Office report on the origins of the Windrush scandal. The report revealed that immigration legislation from 1950 to 1981 was "designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK." This report, titled "The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal," was buried by the Home Office but has now resurfaced, prompting calls for a significant reassessment of how immigration policy is framed. read the complete article