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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, the Houston chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations alleges that three Afghan girls were attacked in the Paul Revere Middle School lunchroom by at least 20 students who beat them and stabbed them with pencils, while far-right activist Laura Loomer has spoken with Trump administration officials about utilizing her opposition research firm to assist in “vetting operations” of White House personnel, and in Australia, Muslim and Palestinian advocacy groups have called for the term dehumanization to be used by Australian universities, instead of two distinct terms: antisemitism and Islamophobia. Our recommended read of the day is by Rishabh Jain for TRT Global on how, in India, radical right-wing organizations are sparking communal tensions across the country by reclaiming Islamic sites arguing they were originally Hindu temples. This and more below:
India
Temple run: How fringe Hindutva groups are redrawing India’s religious map | Recommended Read
In the ancient, winding gullies of Varanasi, a new strain of religious nationalism is unfolding. It moves in silence and spectacle, in sandalwood and saffron, through alleys once devoted to quiet devotion. Now, it is tearing apart India’s religious and social fabric. Right-wing Hindutva groups, such as the Sanatan Raksha Dal (SRD) and The Group for Protection Of Santan, have taken it upon themselves to ‘reclaim’ what they believe were once Hindu temples, allegedly destroyed or converted into mosques by the Muslim Mughal rulers. Such groups have appointed themselves custodians of a restoration campaign. Dressed in saffron robes and bearing the sacred chandan (sandalwood) marks on their foreheads, members of these groups traverse ancient cities, armed with unproven historical claims and local folklore. Their mission? To unearth and restore traces of Hindu temples they claim were demolished or repurposed by the Mughal leaders, who ruled most of India between the 16th and 19th centuries. For Hindu nationalists, these claims are part of a broader effort to restore Hindu supremacy and “decolonise” India from its Muslim and British past. This, however, seems to have been spiraling out of control. The RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP, has voiced concern over escalating mosque- temple disputes, with the leadership urging restraint and questioning the logic of targeting thousands of mosques. The current tenor of messaging reflects RSS’s growing loss of control over the fringe groups it once supported. read the complete article
United States
Opinion: Mills’ response to prayer room vandalism highlights failure to address Islamophobia
On the night of Thursday, April 3, photos of the desecration of a prayer room in Bobst Library used by members of NYU’s Muslim community began to circulate. The perpetrators who vandalized the prayer room urinated on prayer mats and etched inappropriate images onto the walls. Students, rightfully outraged by this act of hate, quickly took to social media, and the Black Muslim Initiative and Muslim Student Association posted a joint statement about the incident on Instagram — which is where I first heard of the vandalism. After scrolling through numerous posts, I immediately checked my email to see if NYU had issued a statement or posted on social media responding to this incident, but found nothing. The following morning, students received an email from Campus Safety head Fountain Walker condemning the attack, stating that an investigation was underway and resources had been offered to affected students. The university also reposted a six-sentence-long statement issued by NYU spokesperson John Beckman to its Instagram story. Though the etched phallus was signed with the letters “AEPI” — a reference to the unaffiliated Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi — all university communications failed to mention it or indicate they would investigate that aspect of it. An instance like this calls for President Linda Mills to issue an immediate statement, given that this hate crime affected a significant portion of the greater NYU community. National news outlets even got to covering the incident before Mills released a statement on Sunday afternoon — nearly three days after the incident. The university’s response to this hate crime was both frail and delayed. What NYU at large has demonstrated through its delayed communication regarding the act of Islamophobia at Bobst is that there is a distinctly different protocol for responding to things that affect different groups of students. read the complete article
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer is pitching her new opposition research firm to White House officials in contract bid: report
Far-right activist Laura Loomer has spoken with Trump administration officials about utilizing her opposition research firm to assist in “vetting operations” of White House personnel – a task she recently undertook to recommend President Donald Trump fire several National Security Council officials. Loomer, a conspiracy theorist and close Trump ally, launched her research firm, Loomered Strategies, just last month, offering opposition investigation, “executive level vetting” and rapid response. The conservative media personality pitched her new endeavor to officials in the Presidential Personnel Office in a bid to obtain a contract to vet Trump administration staffers and officials, two people familiar with the matter told Politico. Loomer confirmed to Politico Playbook that she has had conversations with officials about her firm, claiming that the Trump administration has a “clear deficiency” in “vetting operations.” read the complete article
She organised the screening of an anti-Zionist film. Then Emerson College fired her
The longtime head of a film series at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, is suing the institution for firing her last year, citing her "legally guaranteed right to freedom of speech and expression" after she screened a film critical of Israel. Anna Feder, who worked at the famed arts institution for 17 years, told Middle East Eye that the Bright Lights Cinema Series, which she founded 12 years ago, had often shown boundary-pushing films, many of them made by former students. "There were alumni making these really critical social justice films... No one ever told me that I couldn't show this. I couldn't show that," she said. "This was the first time internally I heard anything from anyone negative." Emerson's student newspaper, the Berkeley Beacon, called the festival a "pillar of the community in large part due to the work put in by Head of Film Exhibition and Festival Programming Anna Feder". The article said the festival "introduced three generations of Emerson students to hundreds of independent films, highlighting social issues and marginalized perspectives". The documentary in question is 2023's Israelism, which follows two young Jewish Americans as they travel to the occupied West Bank and witness the segregation and subjugation of Palestinians. The protagonists begin a journey to disavow the loyalty to Israel that is expected of them, questioning their Zionist Jewish identity. read the complete article
US intensifies crackdown on peaceful protest under Trump
Anti-protest bills that seek to expand criminal punishments for constitutionally protected peaceful protests – especially targeting those speaking out on the US-backed war in Gaza and the climate crisis – have spiked since Trump’s inauguration. Forty-one new anti-protest bills across 22 states have been introduced since the start of the year – compared with a full-year total of 52 in 2024 and 26 in 2023, according to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) tracker. This year’s tally includes 32 bills across 16 states since Trump returned to the White House, with five federal bills targeting college students, anti-war protesters and climate activists with harsh prison sentences and hefty fines – a crackdown that experts warn threaten to erode first amendment rights to freedom of speech, assembly and petition. read the complete article
Germany
On 21 April, Germany will deport me – an EU citizen convicted of no crime – for standing with Palestine
In the first week of January, I received a letter from the Berlin Immigration Office, informing me that I had lost my right of freedom of movement in Germany, due to allegations around my involvement in the pro-Palestine movement. Since I’m a Polish citizen living in Berlin, I knew that deporting an EU national from another EU country is practically impossible. I contacted a lawyer and, given the lack of substantial legal reasoning behind the order, we filed a lawsuit against it, after which I didn’t think much of it. I later found out that three other people active in the Palestine movement in Berlin, Roberta Murray, Shane O’Brien and Cooper Longbottom, received the same letters. Murray and O’Brien are Irish nationals, Longbottom is American. We understood this as yet another intimidation tactic from the state, which has also violently suppressed protests and arrested activists, and expected a long and dreary but not at all urgent process of fighting our deportation orders. The letters cite charges arising from our involvement in protests against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. None of the charges have yet led to a court hearing, yet the deportation letters conclude that we are a threat to public order and national security. There has been no legal process for this decision, and none of us have a criminal record. The reasoning in the letters continues with vague and unfounded accusations of “antisemitism” and supporting “terrorist organisations” – referring to Hamas – as well as its supposed “front organisations in Germany and Europe”. This is not the first instance of Germany weaponising migration law. These extreme measures are not a sudden shift or solely a fringe rightwing position. They are the result of a more than year-long campaign by the liberal Ampel coalition – the Social Democratic party (SPD), the Free Democratic party (FDP) and the Greens – and the German media, calling for mass deportations, widely seen as a response to the growing pro-Palestinian movement, and targeted predominantly at the Arab and Muslim German population. read the complete article
Australia
What is dehumanisation? Some want it to replace definitions of antisemitism and Islamophobia
Muslim and Palestinian advocacy groups have called for the term dehumanisation to be used by Australian universities, instead of two distinct terms: antisemitism and Islamophobia. In February, Australian universities agreed to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Now, they are developing a corresponding definition of Islamophobia. Eight Muslim and Palestinian organisations argue separate definitions would pit groups against each other and risk “suppressing legitimate criticism”. But what is dehumanisation? Dehumanisation involves seeing certain groups as inhuman or subhuman, so undeserving of equal treatment. It can attribute evil, machine-like or animal features to them. There are two broad forms of dehumanisation. In the first, groups are denied uniquely human traits, such as cognitive aptitude, refinement and civility. This is called animalistic dehumanisation. In the second, groups are denied traits fundamental – but not necessarily unique – to humans (such as warmth and being emotional). This typically means groups are likened to robots or self-operating machines. This is called mechanistic dehumanisation. Both kinds of dehumanisation strip people of intrinsic human qualities and dignity, while morally justifying discrimination and violence against them. It is an outcome of racism, xenophobia, misogyny and religious intolerance. Compared to group-based terms like “Islamophobia” or “antisemitism”, dehumanisation is a broader and more inclusive definition of hate. It applies to hate directed at the disabled and homeless, as well as racial, religious and sexual minorities. It also includes everyday hate, with no historical or political backdrop. read the complete article