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SearchToday in Islamophobia: As women lead anti-government protests in India, the country’s top court deems the internet shutdown in Kashmir illegal. On the eighteenth anniversary of its opening, protestors rally to call for Guantanamo to be shut down. Our recommended read today is an interview from PBS with the Chinese dissident who leaked official documents depicting the CCP’s brutal treatment of Uighurs. This, and more, below:
China
This dissident leaked explosive documents depicting China’s brutal treatment of Uighurs | Recommended Read
The U.S. says more than a million Uighur Muslims are in detention or camps in China’s vast northwest Xinjiang province. The Chinese government counters that it is focused on the “re-education” of extremists. But in her first television interview, a Uighur dissident describes this Chinese repression as a repeat of the Holocaust. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant sits down with Asiye Abdulahat. Asiye Abdulahat admits leaking Chinese government documents published in international media that revealed details of the campaign against the Uighurs. And she recently met with special correspondent Malcolm Brabant. read the complete article
China's attempt to change the Quran
According to the Committee for Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which oversees ethnic and religious matters in China, an order was given to rewrite religious texts to build "a religious system with Chinese characteristics." Foundational texts of religions should "reflect socialist values" and should be rewritten so that they do not contain any content that goes against the beliefs of the Communist Party, the committee concluded. Hence, some paragraphs of religious texts would be amended or re-translated. The Committee said there would be a "comprehensive evaluation of the existing religious classics aiming at contents which do not conform to the progress of the times." The move was met by a harsh response from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who accused the Chinese government of repressing Muslims and other religious minorities. read the complete article
United States
The Trump Administration Has Been Preparing To Expand The Travel Ban, Documents Reveal
The Trump administration has been preparing to expand its travel ban — which bars individuals from seven countries from entering the US — to restrict certain immigrants from several more nations around the world, according to internal government documents obtained by BuzzFeed News. The draft materials obtained by BuzzFeed News do not contain the names of the countries being considered, but the proclamation includes seven slots that contain descriptors for each nation and varied restrictions. The move would represent just the latest in a series of unprecedented efforts by the Trump administration to tighten immigration — and could pointedly come in a reelection year. read the complete article
Texas governor to reject new refugees under Trump order
The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has said the state will not accept new refugees under the US government's resettlement programme. The decision means Texas will become the first state known to do so. Last year US President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing states to opt out of the programme. On Friday, Mr Abbott said Texas had done "more than its share in assisting the refugee resettlement process". Refugee agencies have criticised the move, with one calling it "deeply disappointing". read the complete article
'Close Guantanamo': Protesters rally in Washington on anniversary of prison opening
On the 18th anniversary of the opening of the prison, organisers and demonstrators rallied on Saturday, led by Witness Against Torture, a group calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay's detention facilities. James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the facility, described it as "the gulag of our time". Yee, who served as Guantanamo's Muslim chaplain from 2002 to 2003, talked about some of the abuses faced by prisoners, including prolonged solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, subjection to freezing cold temperatures, brutal beatings and even sexual assault by female interrogators. "A legal black hole, a place that leaders around the globe have denounced, a place that leaders in our country, the United States, have created and continued to allow to exist," Yee said, referring to the prison. read the complete article
How a Jewish New Yorker documented Muslim life under Trump
In his new documentary “American Muslim,” filmmaker Adam Zucker, whose previous documentaries include “The Return” (2014), about young Poles rediscovering their Jewish roots and “Greensboro: Closer to the Truth” (2007), about the 1979 Greensboro Massacre, takes an intimate look at the diverse and lively Muslim communities in New York City. Zucker put his Metrocard to good use, trekking to Sunset Park to film Mohamed Bahi, an Algerian-American running a charity for Muslim refugees; to the Bronx to film a speech delivered by educator and activist Debbie Almontaser, a Yemeni-American rallying youth in protest of the Executive Order; and Bay Ridge to track the activities of Aber Kawas a young, Palestinian-American community organizer. read the complete article
India
India is cracking down on university protests. Here’s what you need to know.
The Indian government’s crackdown on protesters across the country has resulted in 25 deaths in recent weeks — a stark contrast to the two confirmed deaths in the Hong Kong protests over six months. The crackdown has been particularly harsh against peaceful protests at three of India’s leading universities: Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). What’s going on at India’s universities? And what has been the public’s response? read the complete article
India's road-block women vow to fight on against citizenship law
For nearly four weeks, Noornissa and more than 200 other women have sat and slept across the four-lane road between Delhi and the satellite city Noida, gaining nationwide attention as protests erupted across India over a controversial citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim. Men stand guard as the women, from the mainly Muslim area of Shaheen Bagh, sing the US civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" and chant against the Citizenship Amendment Act, passed last month by Modi's Hindu nationalist government. read the complete article
Opinion | I Have Been Made To Feel That If I Am A Muslim, I Am Not Indian Enough
he Muslims population makes up approximately 14% of the Indian population. Back in 1947, this population had the option to move to Pakistan and live with their own community. They were the ones who, by choice, did not leave their motherland, they did not accept Jinnah’s invitation; they chose to stay. Our grandfathers and great grandfathers, honest to the Indian soil, couldn’t move away. People moved due to various reasons, but their one single reason was the love and respect they bore in their hearts for their native land, the land they had been calling their own. read the complete article
Modi is resurrecting the most horrifying episode of his career to crush dissent
When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to bring his Gujarat Model to the rest of the country, everyone thought he meant the pro-growth reforms that had allegedly done wonders for the economy of his home state. But the events of last week suggest that the real Gujarat Model that Modi had in mind was something else entirely: Government looking the other way as private militants violently attack disfavored groups. It's a model that infamously resulted in the slaughter of more than 1,000 men, women, and children, mostly Muslims, over the course of a few days in 2002 when Modi was its chief minister. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Opinion | Britain has left Islamophobia to fester – I’ve never seen it this bad in my life
As a British Muslim hijab-wearing woman who has experienced Islamophobia in the past, I have no faith that Johnson will put it higher up on his agenda. The prospect of a (now-abandoned) Conservative Party inquiry into anti-Muslim hate was almost laughable considering the prime minister's previous remarks about Muslims over the years. He has even gone as far as to say that “Islam is the problem”. read the complete article