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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the US, a first ever photograph of a “war on terror” detainee from a CIA black site has been published by The Guardian thanks to the lawyers of Guantánamo Bay detainee Ammar al-Baluchi, meanwhile in the UK, the British government is set to hold an emergency COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) meeting today after a weekend of violent far-right riots and attacks on Muslims and ethnic minorities across the country, following a right-wing misinformation campaign, and the Deputy Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, Arieh King, has reshared an illustration referencing the far-right riots that have swept across the UK, which activists and commentators have decried as Islamophobic. Our recommended read of the day is by Al Jazeera‘s Explainer column on the context behind the continuing far-right, anti-Muslim and xenophobic riots occurring across the UK this week. This and more below.
United Kingdom
UK riots: Why are far-right groups attacking immigrants and Muslims? | Recommended Read
As riots continue to rage in the United Kingdom, hotels housing asylum seekers have been torched by far-right agitators. The Holiday Inn Express hotel in Tamworth, in northern England, was set alight. Rioters also gathered near the Holiday Inn Express hotel used to house asylum seekers in Rotherham. Both incidents took place on Sunday. Protests led by far-right groups have escalated into clashes with police in multiple towns, as a wave of unrest, fuelled by xenophobia and misinformation surrounding the tragic killing of three young girls in a stabbing incident, sweeps across the country. About 400 people have been arrested. Those rioting are vocal about their hatred of immigrants. But there is also a sense of underlying xenophobia against minority communities in the UK, especially Muslims, said analysts. Rosa Freedman, a professor at the University of Reading, told Al Jazeera that the riots were a result of the former Conservative government’s complicity with such “racist” far-right groups. “Instead of hiding their faces, they have now been coming out … we cannot blame a Labour Party that has [only] been in government [for] the past four weeks,” she said. Meanwhile, agitators like Tommy Robinson are stoking tensions. read the complete article
Far-Right Riots: ‘We’re Avoiding Public Transport, Leaving Towns And Calling In Sick. We’re Terrified’
Being a visibly Muslim woman in Britain has always felt like living with a target on my back - or on my head in the form of my hijab. We exist at the crossroads of violent misogyny and systemic Islamophobia - constantly being told we are either a victim or a threat - and all the while our actual voices are drowned out. Since race riots have erupted across the UK in recent days, following the horrific killings in Southport, this contradiction and uncertainty has morphed into something more sinister. Immigrants, asylum seekers and minority communities are being specifically targetted and scapegoated for everything that's wrong with the country. Being visibly Muslim is physically dangerous - a red flag to those who view my existence as un-British even if it’s the only home country I’ve ever known. In the last week, mosques have been attacked and partially destroyed, hotels housing asylum seekers have been set alight and shops owned by those perceived to be Muslim have been looted. There have been reports of rioters dragging people out of cars, beating up those who look foreign and hurling abuse at Muslim passers-by. I’ve seen videos of worshippers being accused of paedophilia, grooming and terrorism whilst simply trying to get inside their mosques and there have been chants of 'English till I die', 'who the f*ck is Allah' and 'send them home' across countless British towns and cities. It feels like an understatement to say that in this climate, the entire Muslim community feels precarious and unsafe. Look at the horrific details of the violence erupting over the last few days and you’ll see a common theme of crowds targeting Muslim women: a hijab-wearing mother and her baby assaulted in public, of head coverings being ripped off. These riots are petrifying and potentially deadly for many - for Muslim women there is an additional layer of vulnerability. read the complete article
Islamophobia behind some of the violence on UK streets, says Yvette Cooper
Yvette Cooper has used the term “Islamophobia” to describe the actions of some rioters behind the current violence on Britain’s streets for the first time. The Home Secretary condemned far-Right rioters who have targeted mosques. They did so despite there being no evidence that the suspect in the Southport killings was linked to the Muslim community. It follows a backlash from Labour MPs who had criticised Ms Cooper and Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, for not having already described the unrest as Islamophobic. Ms Cooper was asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain why Islamophobia had not already been used by the Government when discussing the violence. She replied: “You’re right that there has been a range of different things driving this, including far-Right extremism. We have certainly seen some targeted attacks on mosques, and that clearly reflects Islamophobia, and people shouldn’t be targeted for their faith or for the colour of their skin. “We’ve also seen some looting, some response of local criminals just getting involved at the periphery on streets as well. None of these people speak for Britain.” On Sunday, the Home Office announced that extra police and security forces will be deployed to protect mosques under new emergency security measures. read the complete article
Who is 'Tommy Robinson', the far-right figurehead of Britain's anti-Muslim riots?
As far-right riots have continued to wreak havoc across parts of the UK, fingers have pointed in many directions to apportion blame. For some, the fault lies with a political and media class who have been too willing to play up to fears of immigration and Islamism. For others it is a social media landscape that is prone to misinformation and scaremongering. One name that has regularly featured in chants by the far-right agitators as they torch libraries, attack mosques and smash windows, however, has been "Tommy Robinson". The nom-de-guerre of former tanning salon owner Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, Robinson has over the past two decades built a violent street movement focused on intimidating the British Muslim community and stoking fears of an Islamic takeover of the UK. read the complete article
UK Riots Today | UK’s Long Running Islamophobia Problem Has Led To Riots By The Far-Right
Ugly scenes have been unfolding on UK’s streets, as police continue to grapple with a wave of far-right disorder across the country. Cities in England and Northern Ireland saw violence perpetrated by anti-immigration rioters with police officers injured as objects such as bricks, chairs and bottles were thrown at them. The far-right has drawn condemnation from MPs across the political spectrum after race riots in London, Manchester, Southport, Hartlepool and Sunderland over the past week, many of which have seen mosques and other Muslim religious buildings targeted. With more marches planned in the coming days, experts have warned such demonstrations are being driven by deep-rooted Islamophobic sentiment among some sections of the population. There has been an upsurge in Islamophobic incidents and rhetoric in recent years. According to Home Office data, race and religious hate crimes are high with Muslims being the most targeted religious group. read the complete article
THE HATEFUL ISLAMOPHOBIA OF THE “WAR ON TERROR” IS ECHOING THROUGH TODAY’S RIOTS
The outbreak of rioting by fascist and far-right mobs should not be dignified by the term ‘protest’. Despite the flimsy pretext that they are in sympathy with the victims of the atrocious killings in Southport, they are nothing of the sort. They are using the issue to launch vicious attacks on mosques, hotels housing refugees, and other buildings, and on Muslims and other ethnic minority individuals unlucky enough to cross their path. In this they are the echo of the pogroms and lynchings which litter the history of racism and which were designed to keep whole populations in subjugation and fear. The fascists want to create this kind of climate again. Their targets are above all Muslims, and they have been able to grow because there is a fertile ground for them in the Islamophobia and racism spouted daily by mainstream ‘respectable’ politicians and the media which dutifully repeats and embellishes their racist lies. It is important to recognise that Islamophobia in Britain has been significantly aggravated since the outset of the “war on terror” in 2001. The hateful propaganda against Muslims used to justify the failed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is still echoing to this very day. It should also be noted that some of those being attacked in hotels housing asylum seekers have most likely fled the chaos left behind by those wars. They are here because we were there – this must not be forgotten. read the complete article
'Islamophobia driving far-right riots in UK': Muslim Council leader
Speaking to TRT World, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain Zara Mohammed says the situation is tense for Muslims in the UK. “The anxiety and fear is palpable. Muslims had nothing to do with the murders in Southport, but they’re still attacking mosques. How does that make sense? I think it’s the hierarchy of racism where Muslims are not seen as important, and I think that’s the challenge,” she says. Yet the misinformation campaigns linking the attacks to Muslims continued, and conservative talk show guests complained about the ‘Islamification of Britain,’ even after the suspect’s identity was revealed. Some of the posts shared by these far-right groups and individuals on social media included slogans like: “We need our country back”, and “Enough is enough.” “It’s both Islamophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric because they’re linked,” says Mohammed. “They’re saying [Muslims] are not British. That we’re not part of this community, we’re coming from the outside to take over, creating criminality and threats. I think what's missing in some of the reporting on the riots is calling these attacks ‘Islamophobic’...Many Muslims feel that just because they're Muslim, nobody cares.” read the complete article
UK government to hold emergency meeting over far-right Islamophobic riots as dozens are arrested
The UK government is set to hold an emergency COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) meeting today after a weekend of violent far-right riots and attacks on People of Colour across the country, which follows misinformation about the identity of an alleged child killer in Stockport last week. The emergency meeting will see ministers, civil servants, police and intelligence officers discuss emergency response plans to the riots that have swept across the country and saw mobs break into businesses and mosques with scores arrested. The ministers and police will discuss how to respond to the riots in the coming days with fears they could spread to other towns and cities. read the complete article
Teen Muslims say they fear for safety over riots
Young Muslims have said they feel increasingly "unsafe" following violent attacks and riots targeting minority communities. Mahaboob Basha from Sketty Mosque in Swansea said the community was "deeply unsettled" but has received strong local support. Uzo Iwobi of Race Council Cymru condemned the "shocking" racist violence. At Sketty Mosque, 14-year-old Jana said she usually felt protected in her city, but "after what’s happened, I feel like I can’t go out alone". She added: "Especially because as a woman, I wear the hijab. It’s very easy to tell that I’m a Muslim." Violence, including attacks on mosques, erupted across England and Northern Ireland after three girls were killed in Southport last week. False information online incorrectly claimed that the accused, Axel Rudakubana, 17, from Cardiff, was an asylum seeker. read the complete article
United States
Revealed: first picture of war on terror detainee in CIA black site
The man is very slight of build, his hair shorn but his beard full. He is naked except for the handcuffs shackling his wrists in a clinically bright room. This photo is the first published image of a “war on terror” detainee in a CIA black site. The man staring at the camera is Ammar al-Baluchi, one of five men at Guantánamo Bay accused by the US government of plotting the 9/11 attacks. (On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that three of the five men, but not Baluchi, had agreed to plead guilty to all charges and would avoid possible death sentences.) Baluchi was first arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, in April 2003 and then secretly shuffled between five black sites from May 2003 to September 2006. Since then, he has been held at Guantánamo, though he has not been convicted of a crime. This photograph, shared with the Guardian by Baluchi’s lawyers, is believed to be from early 2004, when he was 26 years old, and was probably taken at the CIA’s black site in Bucharest, Romania, known in US government communications both as Location No 7 and by the color-coded name of Detention Site Black. In the picture, Baluchi, whose story formed the basis for a character in the film Zero Dark Thirty, is probably being readied for transit to another black site. The black bar visible across his midsection has been added by his attorneys to preserve Baluchi’s dignity. Between 2002 and 2008, at least 119 Muslim men were hidden, housed, and interrogated at these secret CIA prisons around the world, with 39 of them subjected to what the Bush administration euphemistically labeled “enhanced interrogation techniques”. In 2014, the US government admitted these practices constituted torture, when Barack Obama stated: “We tortured some folks.” No one at the CIA has ever been held accountable for the torture. read the complete article
France
The Paris Olympics may look fair and inclusive on TV. The truth is much darker
A few days before the ceremony, Sounkamba Sylla, a French Muslim relay runner, was told that she would be banned from the event if she wore her headscarf. A compromise was finally found: she was allowed to wear a cap for the parade on the Seine – but her situation echoes a larger exclusion. France is the only Olympic participating country in the world to prohibit its female athletes from wearing hijabs. France’s sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra wrongly invoked the principle of laïcité (secularism) in defence of the hijab ban, implying that French athletes are supposed to embody the public sector’s neutrality in matters of worship. “There is an essential principle in secularism: the neutrality of public service … Our athletes embody public service,” she said. In fact laïcité obliges the state and its agents to be secular, and the state guarantees our freedom of belief. The government’s dishonest misinterpretation of the secularism principle leaves French Muslim athletes in a unique position: they are the only Muslims who cannot compete in these Olympics with their heads covered – in their own country. read the complete article
International
Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, pro-Israel accounts amplify far-right messaging on UK riots
The Deputy Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, Arieh King, has reshared an illustration referencing the far-right riots that have swept across the UK, which activists and commentators have decried as Islamophobic and further fuelling violence against minorities. The illustration which seems to be an AI generated image, shows a UK policeman hugging an Imam with the speech bubble above the policeman stating "together we will make this country yours" and the Imam's stating "thank you for being so weak". The image =was posted with the caption "goodbye #england". The New Arab found that the original image had been shared on X by Paul Golding, the co-leader of far-right organisation Britain First. The video had originated on Tik Tok from the user @defendbritain02. The post comes amid far-right and Islamophobic riots that have gripped the UK in recent days, following an attack that killed three girls in Southport last week, after misinformation online suggesting the perpetrator was Muslim and an immigrant. read the complete article