Mobashra Tazamal, Author at Bridge Initiative

23 Nov 2022 | Policy/Law

On the Politicization of Muslim Women’s Bodies

The politicization of women’s bodies has been a fixture in nation-building. Throughout history, women’s bodies have been used as political and ideological battlegrounds, upon which ruling elites debate and issue laws aimed at defining a... read the complete article

Article

31 May 2022 | Policy/Law

The Misappropriation of Islamic Terminology

Phrases such as “Christian Sharia Law” and “election jihad” do two things: 1) use Islam and Muslims as a point of reference for all things bad, evil, and unjust, and 2) acknowledge the negative connotations around Islamic terminology in the post-9/11 world and misappropriate these terms to manufacture a threat. Both scenarios are successful because the association of Islam and Muslims with danger is already ingrained in the public’s mind. It’s not only a replay of age-old orientalist thinking — everything “over there” is bad/uncivilized, and “we” are not “them” — but it’s also a sort of linguistic Islamophobia, instrumentalizing Islamic terminology to connect Muslims with danger, violence, and oppression. read the complete article

Article

28 Apr 2022 | Individuals

The Criminalization of Muslim Civil Society

Writing in The Times this week, Cameron claimed that organizations critical of the government’s PREVENT strategy are advocating for a “separate system [that] threatens the very cohesion we need to foster.” He further accused those critical of counterterrorism of “enabling terrorism.” The distinctive part of the entire article is that the critics he points to are exclusively British Muslim organizations who have spent years highlighting the devastating role PREVENT has had on the community. read the complete article

Editorial

11 Jan 2022 | Law Enforcement

20 years of Guantánamo: a symbol of injustice, abuse, and disregard for the rule of law

On January 11, 2002, the first individuals arrived at the Guantánamo Bay Military Prison. In the twenty years since the establishment of the prison, a total of 780 Muslim men and boys have passed through the prison, with over 98% never being charged with a crime. In the two decades since its founding, only two prisoners have ever been convicted. read the complete article

Editorial

08 Feb 2021 | Policy/Law

For Sri Lanka’s Muslims, discrimination even in death

It’s been over a year since the first strain of COVID-19 was discovered in Wuhan, China. Since then, the novel coronavirus has wreaked havoc across the world with over two million individuals losing their lives,... read the complete article

Editorial

22 Dec 2020 | Organizations

Islamophobia in 2020: COVID-19 and conspiracy theories

2020 will be remembered as the year a novel coronavirus circulated all corners of the earth resulting in death, widespread panic, and the near shutdown of the international community. The global pandemic waged havoc across... read the complete article

Article

02 Nov 2020 | Individuals

Election 2020: Where do the candidates stand on key issues?

We are fast approaching the November 3, 2020 U.S. Presidential elections, where President Donald Trump seeks re-election and former Vice-President Joe Biden aims to “Build America Back Better.” For an overview of where the candidates... read the complete article

Editorial

26 Oct 2020 | Individuals

Macron’s policies will further stigmatize French Muslims

Under the banner of protecting the state from “Islamic terrorism,” French authorities launched a crackdown on the country’s nearly six million Muslims. On Monday, October 19th, the government carried out raids targeting Muslim civil society,... read the complete article

Editorial

31 Aug 2020 | Individuals

Facebook’s failure to tackle hate speech online has real world consequences

An August 14th article in the Wall Street Journal revealed that top Facebook policy executives in India failed to remove hate speech promoted by Hindu nationalists despite the content being “flagged internally for promoting violence.”... read the complete article

Article

27 Jul 2020 | Military

Concentration camps, police state, and now forced birth control: How China is committing genocide against Uighur Muslims

China’s decades-long repression of Uighur and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang (referred to by many Uighurs as East Turkestan) drastically increased in its brutality and reach in 2017. Since then, Beijing has transformed the region... read the complete article