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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Twitter Locks Out Chinese embassy in U.S. over post on Uighurs. President Biden ends the Muslim Ban on the first day of his administration. In the city of Ayodhya in India, Muslims live in fear amid temple funding drive. Our recommended read today is by Isa Gutierrez on the lasting psychological impacts left by the now rescinded Muslim Ban. This, and more, below:
United States
'Psychological trauma and stress': The lasting impact of the 'Muslim ban' | Recommended Read
Haya Bitar was in high school when the travel order went into effect. "I remember watching it on TV, you know, him being inaugurated, him saying those words, 'I'm blocking Muslims and primarily Syrians from coming,'" said Bitar, 20. "Just absolute shock. It's definitely changed my life." Bitar's family was hoping to leave the Middle East for a better life. She was born in the U.S. and is an American citizen, but her parents and her sister are Syrian. "We couldn't go anywhere. We can't go back to Syria because of the war. We can't go to America," Bitar said. "It was definitely very, very stressful, extremely anxiety-inducing for all of us as a family." After a three-year process, Bitar's family was able to immigrate to Canada. In the future, she hopes to reunite with her grandparents, her aunts, her uncles and her cousins who all live in the U.S. "I do have hope that the Biden administration is going to rescind the ban and make that a priority. There are millions of people just on edge, waiting," Bitar said. "Those four years, the amount of psychological trauma and stress that caused us, it's going to stay with us." read the complete article
Steve Bannon scores last-minute Trump pardon — but could still face state criminal charges
Bannon, who served as Trump's top campaign strategist and later as a top adviser in the White House, was arrested last year by U.S. Postal Police on a 150-foot yacht belonging to fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and charged alongside three others with defrauding donors of a private border wall project out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Prosecutors alleged that Bannon used nearly $1 million of the $25 million the group raised on personal expenses. He was still awaiting trial when he received a full pardon. read the complete article
Opinion | Biden ends the ‘Muslim ban’ on day one of his presidency but its legacy will linger
The latest version of the ban came from a September 2017 proclamation that was expanded in January 2020. It excluded certain nationals from thirteen countries: Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Burma, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, and Venezuela. In a 5-4 decision in June 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States in Trump v. Hawaii upheld the legality of the Muslim ban on both statutory and constitutional grounds. read the complete article
'Historic moment': Biden reverses Muslim ban during first hours of presidency
Hours after US President Joe Biden was sworn into office on Wednesday, he signed an executive order to repeal the Trump-era Muslim Ban, a move analysts say sets the tone for his administration's first term. "I'm going to start by keeping the promises I made to the American people," Biden said, before tackling a stack of executive orders, including the Muslim Ban. His administration had earlier described former President Donald Trump's most controversial policy as "xenophobia and religious animus." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell both issued statements on Wednesday welcoming the Muslim Ban reversal, as did 81 civil rights, faith and community groups that had been working to overturn the measure. read the complete article
International
Twitter Locks Out Chinese Embassy in U.S. Over Post on Uighurs
The tweet, which said Uighur women were no longer “baby-making machines,” was originally shared on Jan. 7, but wasn’t removed by Twitter until more than 24 hours later. It has been replaced by a label saying, “This tweet is no longer available.” Even though Twitter hides tweets that violate its rules, it still requires the account owner to manually delete the post in order to regain access to the account. The account is still locked, a Twitter spokesman confirmed, meaning the Chinese Embassy has not deleted the tweet. The Chinese Embassy account, @ChineseEmbinUS, has not posted since Jan. 8, having published at least a dozen more tweets after the one breaking Twitter’s rules. read the complete article
Religious Freedom in India is deteriorating. Will Biden help?
Though religious intolerance in India has continued to intensify under Modi, the Trump administration has largely stayed silent. For example, in December 2019, India passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which prioritized citizenship for non-Muslims from the Muslim-majority countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan — a law many critics said targeted Muslims, the largest minority religion in India. In the last six years, the government has also heavily come down on Christian missionary organizations, accusing them of using foreign funds for mass proselytization, which violates Indian laws. read the complete article
What Does Calling Something a Genocide Actually Mean?
On his last day in office, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a “determination” accusing China of committing “atrocities” against its Uighur minority in the country’s Xinjiang region. He alleged the government and Chinese Communist Party were responsible for crimes against humanity similar to those prosecuted at the Nuremburg Trials after World War II. He also leveled the charge of genocide, which he said was ongoing and described as “the systematic attempt to destroy” the Uighurs by the Chinese party-state. The practical impact of the determination is unclear. What are crimes against humanity? The origin of the term is unclear but the concept first arose in the context of the slave trade and abuses under European colonialism in Africa. The 1998 Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute such offenses defines it as crimes including murder, rape, torture and enslavement “when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” The U.S. signed the Rome Statute in 2000 but no president has submitted it to the Senate for ratification. China didn’t sign it. read the complete article
France
French Muslim groups deal blow to Macron's anti-extremism charter
French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), a body set up almost 20 years ago to enable dialogue between the government and the Muslim community, broadly welcomed the charter and five of its eight federations signed on Sunday. However, the other three groups said on Wednesday they could not join their colleagues. "We believe that certain passages and formulations in the text submitted are likely to weaken the bonds of trust between the Muslims of France and the nation," the three groups said in a statement. "Furthermore, some statements are prejudicial to the honour of Muslims, with an accusatory and marginalising tone." read the complete article