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SearchToday in Islamophobia: The crackdown on Uighurs spreads to Beijing & Shanghai, as cameras linked to the Chinese government raise alarms in the UK. A day after Canada bans white nationalists, some find a way back, and an op-ed looks at Herman Cain- the ‘godfather of anti- Muslim hate speech’. Our recommended read of the day is by Luke Darby who argues that Stephen Miller should be called what he is: a white supremacist. This, and more, below:
United States
Opinion | There’s Nothing Controversial About Calling Stephen Miller What He Is | Recommended Read
Even those close to Miller have made the same observation. Miller's own uncle has said his draconian policies would have doomed their Jewish refugee ancestors to death in pogroms. And actual neo-Nazis see him as advancing their goals: Andrew Anglin of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer called Miller "the last person in the White House that has any sense," referring specifically to Miller's anti-immigrant agenda. That's been apparent to those who have worked with him, as well. A White House adviser, referring to images of families being split apart at the border, told Vanity Fairthat "Stephen actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border. He’s a twisted guy, the way he was raised and picked on. There’s always been a way he’s gone about this. He’s Waffen-SS." Miller has a long history of singling out minorities for ostracism and vilification, starting at a young age. Before high school, according to The Atlantic, he informed one friend that they could no longer be friends, citing his "Latino heritage" as one of the reasons. As a college student at Duke, he started a program he called the "Terrorism Awareness Project." In his words, it was meant "to make our fellow students aware of the Islamic jihad and the terrorist threat, and to mobilize support for the defense of America and the civilization of the West." read the complete article
Read the Best Parts of Alex Jones's 159-Page Deposition About Pepe the Frog
“[Pepe the Frog] is a symbol of free speech,” Jones said. “There’s now a movement to try to then control and own symbols that have entered the public domain and public use….and so now I see it as basically a tombstone of free speech and fair use in the Western world. So I see it for what it is, from the perspective of the corporate fascists.” Last year, Jones was sued by Pepe the Frog artist Matt Furie for allegedly infringing Furie’s copyright on the cartoon frog by putting Pepe on a poster that Infowars was selling. Jones is fighting the case. The court documents are part of a 159- page deposition given on December 18,2018 as part of the case, and is embedded below. read the complete article
Tlaib: Colleagues feeding 'fear mongering' in questioning of Muslim-American father of slain children
"What a horrible display from some of my colleagues. This is a father who testified about losing his daughters killed b/c of hate & what do they do? Feed into hateful, fear-mongering & racist tactics regarding Islam," the Michigan lawmaker tweeted. "Shame on them. This is not okay & beyond disrespectful." Tlaib was referring to the questioning of Mohammad Abu-Salha during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on hate crimes and the rise of white nationalism.During Tuesday's hearing Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Sheila Jackson (D-Texas) both asked whether Islam taught hate. They did not seem to be insinuating that they believed those sentiments, but wanted Abu-Salha to have a chance to respond to comments from Zionist Organization of America President Mort Klein, who spoke during the hearing. Klein said during the hearing that Muslim-driven anti-Semitism is a large problem. read the complete article
Rep. Ilhan Omar called Stephen Miller a ‘white nationalist.’ GOP critics accused her of anti-Semitism
“Stephen Miller is a white nationalist,” she tweeted Monday afternoon. “The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage.” But because Miller, Trump’s senior policy adviser, is Jewish, Omar’s fervent detractors on the right viewed her comments not as incendiary criticism of Miller’s hard-line immigration policies but instead as part of a pattern of targeting Jews. In early afternoon tweets, Trump quoted Ballabon lambasting Omar and then sent out a clip from his morning appearance on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.,” in which he argued that Omar is “more dangerous” than white nationalist and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. “Jews are the most victimized minority in this country, far more than blacks, Muslims and women, which is what Ilhan Omar keeps on being characterized as though she’s being attacked,” Ballabon said during the segment. read the complete article
Opinion | Parents, we need to teach our children about the dangers of hate-laced speech against Muslims
Almost half of American Muslim kids experience bullying or discrimination in school, according to nationally representative data published in 2017 by the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding. And, as analysts point out, if this is what is being reported, in all likelihood the numbers are higher. I regularly hear alarming stories of Muslim girls getting their hijabs yanked off. Muslim kids are being singled out and harassed for their faith by fellow students and sometimes even teachers and administrators. In one case that made national news last year, an elementary-aged child received sloppily handwritten death threats in her cubby, of all places. There is a very disturbing trend in schools that is not getting enough attention, perhaps because it is not quantified: hate-laced speech against Muslims that is being normalized and accepted by children. A couple of summers ago, I was invited to lead a writing workshop at a summer camp for Muslim kids in nearby Bethesda. At one point, we discussed microaggressions, and whether the kids had experienced them. A tween in a hijab, born and raised in America, said she often has people compliment her English. Another said she was tired of people asking her where she was from. And then a boy said, “All of us hear things like ‘terrorist,’ ‘ISIS,’ and ‘Allahu akbar . . . boom,’ all the time.” The rest of the kids nodded in agreement while I was stunned into silence. read the complete article
Opinion | Before Trump, Herman Cain Was the Godfather of Anti-Muslim Ravings
Cain was truly the godfather of utilizing anti-Muslim hate at the national level for political gain when he shot to the top of the Republican field in 2012. Somehow , that not-so-ancient history has hardly been mentioned as Cain has emerged as Trump’s reported pick for a seat on the board of the Federal Reserve. Cain had shot to the top of the polls amidst a crusade of bigotry that began in March of2011, when he told a reporter that there would be no place for a Muslim American in his administration. Why? In Cain’s view the goal of every Muslim is to impose Islamic law in our nation: "There is this creeping attempt to gradually ease Sharia law and the Muslim faith into our government.” Cain then baselessly added that there are Muslims in America who “try to force their Sharia law on the rest of us." Days later Cain doubled down, telling Fox News’s Neil Cavuto that “many of the Muslims, they’re not totally dedicated to this country." The dual-loyalty smear is one of the vilest tropes out there. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Facebook posts about Sajid Javid deepen Tory Islamophobia row
Tory supporters who claim to be members of the party have attacked the home secretary online for his Muslim background and pledged to back another candidate to prevent any potential leadership bid he might make. The social media posts, reported by Buzzfeed News, prompted the chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum to call on the party to do more to promote inclusivity. read the complete article
Cameras linked to Chinese government stir alarm in U.K
It is a Chinese state-owned company that is implicated in disturbing human rights violations. But that has not stopped Hikvision from gaining a major foothold in the United Kingdom. Through a network of corporate partners, the Hangzhou-based security firm has supplied its surveillance cameras for use on the British parliamentary estate, as well as to police, hospitals, schools, and universities throughout the country, according to sources and procurement records. Hikvision, whose technology the U.S. government recently banned federal agencies from purchasing, is generating millions of dollars in annual revenue selling its technology to British companies and organizations. At the same time, it has been helping to establish an oppressive surveillance state in the Xinjiang region of China, where the Uighur ethnic minorities have been held in secret internment camps. read the complete article
China
Uighur Muslim crackdown expands to Beijing and Shanghai
Pakistani expatriate Khan told me he has lived in China for the past four years, relocating there to complete his Masters of Business Administration, but staying there to manage the business he and his Han Chinese wife operate together, along with their Uighur Muslim business partner who holds a 50 percent stake in the company. "I've seen your many reports on China's crackdown on Uighur in Xinjiang, and I have also read many others, but no one is talking about what the government is doing to them in Beijing and other cities outside of Xinjiang," he explained in his initial messages. "My very good [Uighur Muslim] friends [Beijing] live each day, under fear from weekly checking of their house by a bunch of [government] officers… They are not even allowed to book a hotel room anywhere in China. It's disturbing because they are graduates from Peking University," Khan told me. "Their only sin is that [their] ethnicity is mentioned on their ID card." read the complete article