Farid Hafez, Author at Bridge Initiative

18 Jul 2019 | Individuals

Sarrazin and the German Social Democrats’ stance on Islamophobia

It is the third attempt by the Social Democrats to exclude Thilo Sarrazin from their party on allegations of racism. A chance for the Social Democrats to sharpen their profile? Sarrazin was leading as a... read the complete article

Article

05 Jul 2019 | Individuals

Remembering the Murder of Marwa El-Sherbini: A Symbol of Deadly Anti-Muslim Racism in Germany

It was the 1st of July 2009, 11.07 a.m., when Marwa El-Sherbini was stabbed to death by a white nationalist in the court of the German city of Dresden. The 31 year old observant Muslim... read the complete article

Editorial

01 Jul 2019 | Individuals

The silent murder of Walter Lübcke

On June 2 this year, Walter Lübcke, a regional politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), was found dead in his home. Lübcke was found with a bullet wound in the head, suggesting a sniper... read the complete article

Article

27 Jun 2019 | Politics

Don’t Sell to Muslims!

Recently, a Palestinian family that fled from Gaza and moved to Austria in 2010 made the news. The father, an instructor in English language at the University for Teachers in Gaza , had moved to... read the complete article

Factsheet

03 Jun 2019 | Individuals

Protected: FACTSHEET: Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post. read the complete article

Editorial

20 May 2019 | Individuals

Criminalizing Ramadan: Illiberal tendencies in Western democracies

Ramadan has long turned into a political object in Western politics. When Madeleine Albright first started to organize iftar (fast-breaking) dinners at the White House during the Clinton era, many Western governments in Europe started to follow her newly introduced tradition. Congratulating Muslims on the advent of Ramadan has become a political ritual for leaders of Western governments to show respect not only to the followers of the second largest religion in the world, but also to a growing and contested religious minority in their own lands. read the complete article

Editorial

20 May 2019 | Politics

The Identitarian Austrian Freedom Party

The Identitarian movement has attracted a lot of attention since the white-supremacist terrorist at the Christchurch mosques made headlines, naming his manifesto – "The Great Replacement" – after a famous slogan of this movement. As the world would later get to know, the relationship was even financial. read the complete article

Editorial

20 May 2019 | Politics

Austria’s Islamophobia and the construction of the authoritarian state

The Austrian government has just implemented a Hijab-ban in primary school, pretending to save Muslim women from ‘political Islam’. This measure reveals the structural alteration of the state in the hands of a right-wing government into an ideological state. read the complete article

Article

08 May 2019

The Jew, the Muslim and White Supremacist Terror

John T. Earnest is the name of the latest white supremacist to murder worshipers, this time in a Chabad synagogue in Poway, near San Diego, California. He shot four people, killing one, allegedly to save the white race, honoring Brenton Tarrant, the white supremacist who killed 50 people in two mosques in Christchurch six weeks ago. He also claimed responsibility for an arson attack on a mosque in the nearby town of Escondido. Like New Zealand’s terrorist, Earnest claimed he had left a manifesto for the world, but his ‘manifesto’ was merely a nine-page anti-Semitic and racist rant. read the complete article

Editorial

29 Apr 2019

Muslim organizations disproportionately impacted by Austria’s banning of Muslim Brotherhood symbols

On March 1, 2019 something unprecedented took place in a Western country and it has gone nearly unnoticed. The logo of the Muslim Brotherhood, along with logos of other non-terrorist and terrorist organizations, was added... read the complete article