Search
SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister attended an iftar event in Parliament, and noted that it was a “difficult time for Muslims in the UK,” citing the rise in hate crimes, meanwhile in Australia, following a threat to a mosque in southwest Sydney, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that “racism and Islamophobia will not be tolerated” and that “there is no place for this in Australia”, and in the U.S., President Donald Trump said he wanted to cut the federal funding of colleges that allow what he called “illegal protests” in a social media post that civil rights groups called an attack on the freedoms of speech and assembly. Our recommended read of the day is by Mike Ludwig for Truthout, who writes on a new lawsuit filed by the ACLU against the Trump Administration alleging that Trump’s Guantánamo transfers aim to “instill fear” in immigrants. This and more below:
United States
Lawsuit Alleges Trump’s Guantánamo Transfers Aim to “Instill Fear” in Immigrants | Recommended Read
The Trump administration transfers of immigrant detainees from mainland jails to the notorious Guantánamo Bay offshore naval base is part of a larger effort to generate headlines and “instill fear in the immigrant population,” all while wasting government resources, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court by civil rights groups this week. The transfers to Guantánamo Bay are part of an all-of-government crackdown on immigration that is intensifying as President Donald Trump and his allies push to weaponize unrelated federal agencies against immigrants, access private tax records to surveil suspects, and rapidly expand the prison industry’s capacity to detain tens of thousands of people, including entire families facing deportation. The lawsuit seeks to block the potential transfer of 10 immigration defendants from jails in the U.S. to Guantánamo Bay, where other detainees were paraded in front of cameras last month and cut off from attorneys and family members until courts stepped in. Civil rights groups filed a previous lawsuit last month on behalf of family members and attorneys seeking to communicate with the men already transferred to Guantánamo without notice. read the complete article
Third student expelled from Columbia's Barnard College for pro-Palestinian activism
A third student was expelled from Columbia's Barnard College on Friday for pro-Palestinian activism that took place on campus last year - ten months after disciplinary proceedings started against them. The student was expelled from the New York City women's college for “allegedly protesting the University’s investments in genocide and for allegedly participating in the occupation of Hind’s Hall”, according to a statement released by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (Cuad) Defense Working Group. Barnard is part of Columbia. This is the first Columbia student targeted for their alleged participation in the protests which erupted last spring. The expulsion comes a week after two other students were expelled for staging a protest during a class in January, making Barnard the first university to expel students over the Gaza war. The surprise third expulsion came the day after the office of public affairs notified Columbia University that a federal taskforce would be visiting it, as well as nine other universities, because it was “aware of allegations that the schools may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination, in potential violation of federal law”. read the complete article
CAIR to Release Annual Civil Rights Report Showing New Trends, Ongoing Rise in Islamophobia
On Tuesday, March 11, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, plans to release its annual civil rights report during a news conference at its Capitol Hill headquarters in Washington, D.C. Titled “Unconstitutional Crackdowns,” the report documents a continued rise in complaints of Islamophobia, as well as new trends never documented in the organization’s 30-year history. The report details dozens of specific incidents of bias and offers recommendations for public officials to consider in light of new data findings. read the complete article
Musk’s Attack on the Arab American Institute and Other Groups Is Irresponsibly Dangerous
This past week began on a deeply disturbing note. Elon Musk reposted on X (formerly Twitter) a dangerously false attack on more than a dozen American entities who had received USAID or State Department grants over the past decade. The original post referred to the groups as “terrorist-linked.” In his repost Musk commented, “As many people have said, why pay terrorist organizations and certain countries to hate us when they’re perfectly willing to do it for free?” The groups listed in the original post had apparently been compiled by an individual with an anti-Arab or anti-Muslim bias. He appears to have gone through a list of grant recipients and randomly culled out entities with “Arab” or “Muslim” in their name or who had done work in the Middle East. I don’t know all of the groups mentioned, but those I do know—for example, American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA)—have been in the forefront of providing lifesaving support to refugees or victims of war or natural disasters, and, in the process, building better ties between the U.S. and affected communities in need across the Middle East. Other groups I recognized had equally important, impressive records of service. What was obviously most troubling to me was that my organization, the Arab American Institute, was second on the list. This was upsetting for two reasons: The charge was profoundly off-base and irresponsibly dangerous. For an individual infected by an anti-Arab or anti-Muslim bias to identify these people-to-people efforts with support for terrorism is so wrong that it defies understanding. And for a person of Mr. Musk’s standing in this administration to have amplified this message with a repost and comment is irresponsibly dangerous. read the complete article
Trump threatens funding cut to colleges allowing ‘illegal protests’
US President Donald Trump said he wanted to cut the federal funding of colleges that allow what he called “illegal protests” in a social media post that civil rights groups called an attack on the freedoms of speech and assembly. The post on Tuesday appeared to repeat some of the ideas of executive orders he issued during his first term, in 2019, and on January 29, which described the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that swept college campuses last year as antisemitic. “All federal funding will STOP for any College, School or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump wrote on social media. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!“ A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to questions about how the White House would define an illegal protest or how the government would imprison protesters. The US Constitution’s First Amendment protects the freedom of speech and assembly. read the complete article
During Ramadan, Southern California Muslims come together in prayer amid political turmoil
At mosques over the weekend, Muslims began the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. It’s a time to fast from sunup to sundown, read and study the Quran, practice charitable deeds, gather together to break the daily fast, and reflect on the importance of a spiritual relationship with Allah. From social dinners and events, to local school efforts for students who are fasting, Southern California Muslims are finding ways to observe Ramadan — which this year began late Friday, Feb. 28 — and come together in prayer. Many community members said it was their way of upholding religious customs and celebrating diversity amid political turmoil, citing the Trump administration’s recent efforts to move away from DEI initiatives, and the fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Despite anti-DEI sentiment in the White House, Rahman said he didn’t think the holy month would be affected by current politics — unless immigration officials were to raid mosques. "So far, we are not seeing anything that will be some kind of problem,” Rahman said. read the complete article
Canada
Muslims break fast for Ramadan in Canada's 'little mosque in the tundra'
The Muslim community of Canada's Inuvik comes together to pray and break fast on the third day of Ramadan at the Midnight Sun Mosque, one of the world's northernmost, in the Northwest Territories, above the Arctic Circle. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Prime Minister marks Ramadan at ‘difficult time for Muslims in the UK’
The Prime Minister has celebrated Ramadan at what he called a “difficult time for Muslims in the UK” at an iftar event in Parliament. Sir Keir Starmer attended “the big iftar” hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims to observe Ramadan, which began on Friday and will go on until March 30. Speaking at the event on Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister thanked British Muslims for their contributions in “every community in Britain” and reflected on the “pain of the conflict in Gaza” and how conflict abroad “affects communities here at home”. He said: “I know (this) has been a very difficult time for Muslims here in the UK with the pain of the conflict in Gaza and the suffering of the Palestinians. “I am absolutely clear that the Palestinian must be allowed to rebuild, and we should stand alongside them in this effort on the road to a two-state solution – the only way to get lasting peace in my opinion.” Sir Keir also said that he was “horrified” by the “wave of hatred we have seen directed towards British Muslims” which he said was “whipped up by far-right rhetoric and disinformation”, particularly in the wake of the riots after three young girls were murdered in Southport last summer. “It is shocking – absolutely shocking – that 2024 was the worst year for anti-Muslim hate crime since the Home Office began collecting data,” the Prime Minister said. read the complete article
Australia
Australian premier condemns Islamophobia after threat to Sydney mosque
Following a threat to a mosque in southwest Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that "racism and Islamophobia will not be tolerated." Albanese confirmed on Instagram that he has been warned that "there has been a threat of violence against a mosque in Sydney's southwest." “This is abhorrent, and there is no place for this in Australia,” he said, denouncing both Islamophobia and violence. He expressed support for authorities and law enforcement investigating the threat, emphasizing that “those responsible must face the full force of the law.” read the complete article
International
US offered to resettle Uyghurs that Thailand deported to China, sources say
Canada and the US offered to resettle 48 ethnic Uyghurs held in detention in Thailand over the past decade, sources have said, but Bangkok took no action for fear of upsetting China, where most of them were covertly deported last week. Thailand has defended the deportation, which came despite calls from United Nations human rights experts, saying that it acted in accordance with laws and human rights obligations. Human rights groups accuse China of widespread abuses of Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority numbering about 10 million in its north-western region of Xinjiang. Beijing denies any abuses. The Thai deputy prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai said on Monday that no country made any concrete offer to resettle the 48 Uyghurs. read the complete article