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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United States, after seeing State Sen. Greg Dolezal’s 30-second campaign ad demonizing Muslims, Nabilah Parkes, a fellow State sentaor, has decided to run against him for lieutant governor, meanwhile at the UN, Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, said that the world has “given Israel a lisence to torture Palestinians”, and lastly in France, police have launched an investigation into a new case of vandalism targeting a Muslim cemetery in Puy-en-Vau. Our recommended read of the day is by Eloise Alanna and Nadine Yousif for the BBC on the impact of Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21, which, since 2019, has banned civil servants and educators from wearing religious symbols at work. This and more below:
Canada
Isolation or neutrality: The impact of Quebec's secular law | Recommended Read
As Quebec's secularism law, Bill 21, faces a challenge at the Supreme Court of Canada, some women in Quebec say they’ve paid the highest price. The law bans certain public workers from wearing religious symbols, but includes a “grandfather clause,” meaning people already in their roles can keep their jobs, as long as they don’t change positions. For Montreal public pupil support worker Lisa Robicheau, who wears a hijab, that creates uncertainty, she can stay in her current job, but risks losing it if she seeks a promotion or new role. Supporters of the law argue it protects secularism in public life, while critics say it can limit careers and disproportionately affects Muslim women. Read more about the fight over Bill 21 here. read the complete article
People studying to become teachers speak about Islamophobia and anti‑Palestinian racism in Ontario schools
The rise of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian racism is playing out in Ontario schools, widely influenced by broader geopolitical and social issues. Although Muslims are the fastest growing religious minority in Canada, schools are often sites of both forms of racism. While we acknowledge that Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism are two distinct forms of oppression, they often overlap and intersect to produce racial discrimination and violence, such as surveillance and censorship. We recently engaged in a study with people who are studying and practising to become teachers (pre-service teachers). We were interested in how prepared they are to challenge anti-Muslim bias and anti-Palestinian racism in Ontario schools. The findings of our study, which documented gendered Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism in Ontario schools, points to the need for systemic changes in the province’s schools to better reflect the cultural and religious diversity in these spaces. The findings also point to the growing challenges facing teacher education programs in light of increasingly racially and religiously diverse Ontario public schools. read the complete article
'Muslim women are not second-class citizens,' says school board chair challenging Quebec's Bill 21
Joe Ortona, chair of the English Montreal School Board, spoke to media ahead of the hearings over Quebec's secularism law Bill 21 at the Supreme Court of Canada. Ortona said Bill 21's ban of religious symbols for public sector employees is 'a restriction that has no bearing on the quality of education that students receive in the classroom.' read the complete article
United States
Her colleague released an Islamophobic campaign ad. Now this Georgia lawmaker is running against him.
Nabilah Parkes was inside the state Senate chamber in Georgia when she first saw the video. Her Republican colleague, state Sen. Greg Dolezal, had just released a 30-second ad, reportedly made using AI, as part of his campaign for lieutenant governor that depicted Muslims terrorizing White Georgia residents and ended with the message: “Keep Georgia sharia free.” Shariah is the body of Islamic religious law. The caption for the campaign ad, posted on social media earlier this month, said: “London has fallen. Europe is under siege. In America, the invaders who would rather pillage our generosity than assimilate are roaming Minnesota, New York, and LA. As Lt. Governor, I will fight the enemy before they’re within the gates and keep Georgia safe and Sharia free.” Parkes, a Democratic state senator at the time, said she immediately turned around, went over to Dolezal’s desk and asked him, “What is this?” “He refused to look at me and just looked down as if he was in shame,” Parkes said. “It was such a hateful, racist, Islamophobic video that he even came to my desk the next day and said, ‘Feel free to take a shot at me’ — as if he wanted me to even the score.” Parkes took the shot and decided to run against him. If she wins, she would be Georgia’s first Muslim lieutenant governor. “This type of hate, this type of Islamophobia, this type of racism has no place in the state legislature, no place in Georgia politics, no place in general,” Parkes said. read the complete article
Islamophobic defamation at center of suit against GOP, influencers
A land-development company in Indian River County has sued the local Republican Party, conservative media brands and users on social media for defamation for accusing the company and its subsidiaries of conspiring to advance a "radical Islamic agenda." Epic Estates, an investment firm that owns more than 7,100 acres in Indian River County, was falsely accused in January of a "Muslim conspiracy," according to the lawsuit. Some residents claimed a connection between Epic Estates and Epic City — an Islamic-centered community proposed in northern Texas. Both are named "Epic" and are based in Texas. Epic Estates manager Venkatesh Yerramsetty — who is Hindu, not Muslim — denied that association. He and the company are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed March 20 in Circuit Court. The lawsuit alleges a coordinated misinformation campaign and a doctored public notice "triggered widespread fear, public confusion and reputational damage." Yerramsetty and Epic Estates are seeking more than $50,000 in damages, according to the complaint. read the complete article
International
UN expert says world has given Israel ‘licence to torture Palestinians’
A United Nations expert says the world has given Israel a licence to torture Palestinians, with life in the occupied Palestinian territory “a continuum of physical and mental suffering”. Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights situation in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, said on Monday that “torture has effectively become state policy” in Israel. “Israel has effectively been given a licence to torture Palestinians, because most of your governments, your ministers, have allowed it,” she said, as she presented her latest report to the UN Human Rights Council. “What once operated in the shadows is now practiced openly: a regime of organised humiliation, pain and degradation, sanctioned at the highest political levels,” Albanese said in the report, titled “Torture and genocide”. “Torture is not confined to cells and interrogation rooms,” the report outlined. read the complete article
France
France Investigates New Case of Vandalism Targeting Muslim Graves
French police have launched an investigation into a new case of vandalism targeting a Muslim cemetery in Puy-en-Vau. Nine graves in the Muslims section of a cemetery were vandalized, the newspaper Le Parisien reported on Sunday, noting that initial findings indicated the damage dates back a week. A man who had come to pay his respects to his father’s grave noticed the vandalism acts, including on his father’s grave. This is not the first case of Muslim cemeteries and graves being targeted and vandalized in France. The Muslim community in the European country has in recent years seen a marked increase in Islamophobic acts, including the desecration of mosques and Muslim cemeteries. Many Islamophobic acts show vans defacing the Muslim cemetery, including in Moulins in eastern France. read the complete article
Australia
'Depravity': anti-Muslim Invasion Day manifesto slammed
An unemployed man's depraved manifesto inciting people to "reclaim Australia" through lethal violence on Invasion Day sparked community insecurity, a Muslim leader has said. Raymond John Brookes mailed the four-page document to Sydney's largest mosque in Lakemba and independent Western Australia senator Fatima Payman in January. Titled, "V for Vendetta," the often rambling letter called for revenge against Muslims, Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, Labor, the Greens and "socialist" journalists at the ABC, SBS and the Guardian. He sent two letters to Lakemba Mosque, one addressed to the Mullah and the other to the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network. Lebanese Muslim Association secretary Gamel Kheir said the manifesto had created a sense of vulnerability and insecurity for members of the Muslim community in going anywhere in public. read the complete article
India
How Ramadan became a month of terror for Muslims in India
From mob lynchings and hate speeches, to attacks on places of worship and the deliberate intimidation of Muslims in public spaces, the month of Ramadan - spanning from mid-February to mid-March - will be remembered as one of the most distressing periods for Muslims in recent Indian history. Beyond instances of direct violence, Muslims faced institutionalized denial of religious rights, restrictions on their freedom of movement, and coordinated attacks on their livelihoods. read the complete article