Today in Islamophobia

Today in Islamophobia: In Australia, Muslim children are increasingly experiencing Islamophobia in schools and public spaces, meanwhile in the US, a Vermont jury found Jason Eaton guilty of attempted murder for shooting three Palestinian students in 2023, and lastly, in Austria, the Constitutional Court said it will rule in the first half of 2027 on the legality of a new ban on Muslim headscarves for girls under 14. Our recommended read of the day is by Cate Charron for The Indianapolis Star, who writes about how mosques in Indiana are increasing security in response to rising Islamophobia while also stepping up outreach and community engagement. This and more below:

United States

'Our daily reality': Amid rising Islamophobia, mosques up outreach – and security | Recommended Read

The immersion of security into the mosque's services is a reflection of the spike in Islamophobia seen nationally. These surges of discrimination are cyclical, aligning with geopolitical conflicts and elections, and each time causing well-founded fear within Muslim communities. In Indiana, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, a pastor from Noblesville, has repeatedly called Islam a "demonic death cult" and said the call to prayer should be banned in public. For the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Beckwith posted eight times on social media, blaming Islam as a whole for the attacks, despite the hijackers being part of the radical terrorist organization al-Qaida. In response, Muslims continue to combat misinformation and fears about their faith by opening their doors while also ramping up security. Congregants say their faith hasn't wavered, but they've had to take more precautions to ensure their safety and religious expression. Indiana is home to about 45 mosques and an estimated 40,000 Muslims, which amounts to less than a percentage point of the state's total population. Communities are extremely scared, said Azhar Azeez, leader of the Islamic Society of North America based in Plainfield. He specifically mentioned young girls and women who wear the hijab and men who grow beards as people who are especially at risk of being targeted. Mosques and Islamic schools across the country have been targeted with vandalism, harassment, and in some cases, violence. read the complete article

Man guilty of attempted murder for shooting three men of Palestinian descent in Vermont

A man has been convicted of attempted murder for shooting three students of Palestinian descent in the US state of Vermont nearly three years ago, with the jury rejecting his insanity claims. Lawyers for Jason Eaton, 51, said he believed he heard instructions from the CIA and Mossad over the radio to shoot someone before he attacked Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Aliahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid near the University of Vermont. Eaton never denied being the shooter but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He now awaits sentencing, where he could be given life in prison. The November 2023 attack left Awartani paralysed from the waist down, and wounded the two others. The week-long trial included testimony from the three students, who are now all aged 23, and from psychiatrists called by both the defence and prosecution. read the complete article

CODEPINK on 25 Years of Fighting the War Machine

In the aftermath of 9/11, as the Bush administration prepared to invade Iraq, activists Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin helped found CODEPINK: a feminist anti-war organization known for its bright-pink protests, confrontations with members of Congress, and opposition to U.S. militarism around the world. Nearly 25 years later, Evans and Benjamin are joined by a younger generation of organizers, including national co-director Danaka Katovich, as the group campaigns against U.S. involvement in wars from Gaza and Iran to Yemen and challenges the growing Pentagon budget. They spoke with Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson about the lessons of the post-9/11 anti-war movement, the politics of fear and propaganda, what it takes to dissent when doing so is unpopular, and why community and collective action remain their antidote to despair. read the complete article

Australia

Muslim children are not the exception to Islamophobia, they are growing up inside it

Earlier this month, 13-year-old Janna was travelling home from school on a Sydney bus. Dressed in her school uniform and wearing a hijab, she became the target of a stranger’s Islamophobic abuse. She was verbally taunted for being Muslim. The man called her an “immigrant dog” and “a f***ing terrorist”, among other expletives, and told her to go back to her country. For adult Muslims, such encounters are disturbingly familiar. They are part of the everyday hostility they endure on public transport, in shopping centres and on the streets. When this level of dehumanisation, disgust and intolerance are directed at a child merely because she is visibly Muslim, the question necessarily arises: What are the social conditions that create such a climate of hate? Since the Islamophobia Register began in 2014, threats against unaccompanied children have risen across the reporting years: from around six per cent of cases in 2014 to fifteen per cent by 2019. Two in ten children in reported incidents were physically attacked. read the complete article

International

Europe’s far right is no longer on the margins

European politics has had yet another wake-up call. The startling success of Alternative for Germany in Saxony-Anhalt, where the far-right party this month received 43.8 percent of the vote and came within three seats of an outright majority, represents a harbinger of what is to come. This is the closest a far-right party has come to winning power in a German state since the Second World War. The impact will be felt across the continent, representing a huge threat to immigrants, particularly Muslims. Germany is the largest, richest and most powerful EU state. Understanding how Alternative for Germany has prospered matters. Firstly, it is about the collapse of the mainstream parties. Secondly, these parties tap into widespread anti-immigration sentiment. Thirdly, the Alternative for Germany’s anti-Muslim positions are as hostile as they can get, indulging in the most turbocharged of culture wars. read the complete article

India

Criminalising ‘Inshallah’: Deepening Threats to Muslim Dignity & Safety

While Islamophobia and attacks on Muslim dignity and security have been normalised during the BJP’s time in power, incidents reported in September point to a troubling continuation and, in some cases, deepening of that erosion. The transfer of IPS officer Bushra Bano for saying “Inshallah”, the three-month-long detention of Jalil Akhtar before the court noted his valid Indian documents, sent a frightening message: Muslim identity carries professional and personal consequences that can disrupt lives, sometimes in ways that cannot be undone. read the complete article

Austria

Austrian Constitutional Court will rule on headscarf ban next year, it says

Austria’s Constitutional Court expects to rule on a newly introduced ban on Muslim headscarves for under-14s in schools in the first half of next year, it said on Monday. The ban, proposed by Austria’s ruling coalition of ‌three centrist parties, was ‌passed in the lower house of ‌parliament ⁠in December with the ⁠support of the far-right Freedom Party. Only the opposition Greens, the smallest party in parliament, did not back the legislation. However, it is unclear whether the ban that took effect on September 1 will survive a review by the court. In 2020 it struck down a ⁠similar ban that applied to under-10s ‌in schools, ruling that it ‌discriminated against Muslims and that the state has a duty to ‌be religiously neutral. read the complete article

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