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SearchToday in Islamophobia: UN approves global conference on protecting religious sites. In India, Muslims continue to be singled out by virulent Hindu-nationalist. Our recommended read today is by Wardah Khalid titled “Why Muslim Americans demand more from Biden than simply not being Trump.” This, and more, below:
United States
American Muslims Demand More of Biden Than Simply Not Being Trump | Recommended Read
On Inauguration Day, I breathed out a sigh of relief that I had been holding in for over four years. Every single day of the Trump presidency was a nightmare for American Muslims, and I was grateful to finally witness the end of his overtly racist and discriminatory administration and Biden’s immediate repeal of Trump’s Muslim travel ban. And while I was glad to support President Biden’s bid to elect Trump out of office, I am also cognizant of the fact that the work to overcome our community’s challenges will continue under his administration as well. Currently, numerous refugees are still separated from loved ones and stuck in “administrative processing” limbo, immigrant visas are backlogged from formerly banned countries, and there will no doubt be an influx of new visas to process. The Biden administration will need to increase capacity to handle these challenges and improve the visa process that was already discriminatory toward applicants from Muslim majority countries (even before Trump’s ban). It will also need to work with Congress to pass the NO BAN Act in the Senate and then into law to prevent future discriminatory travel bans based on religion or ethnicity. read the complete article
Finally, a President Acknowledges White Supremacy
If the United States’ failure to anticipate the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was one of imagination, missing the terrorist attack of Jan. 6, 2021, was a failure of perception — a persistent refusal at the highest levels of our government to acknowledge the empirical reality of the threat posed by right-wing terrorists. Terrorism in the United States is overwhelmingly domestic and motivated by far-right ideologies, often racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant. read the complete article
Biden repealed the Muslim Ban. That’s nowhere near enough.
Today, President Biden issued an executive order repealing the Muslim ban. This is obviously great news.The Muslim Ban has kept thousands of families apart, and denied people life-saving medical treatment as well as educational or professional opportunities. This September will mark 20 years since George W. Bush launched the War on Terror, which led to the U.S. invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as drone strikes against countries from Somalia to Yemen to Pakistan. The Obama-Biden administration continued and expanded these drone strikes and air wars, even after they declared the end of the War on Terror in 2013. In Obama’s last year in office, the U.S. dropped 26,172 bombs in seven countries, all Muslim-majority. read the complete article
Muslims like me know the evil power of Trump's dead 'Muslim ban'
Within a week of his inauguration, Trump had signed Executive Order 13679, banning entry to foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including refugees from war-torn Syria. Within six months, and after multiple lower court challenges to the first two versions of Trump’s travel ban, the Supreme Court had signed off on a third iteration of it. “Wow,” exclaimed a jubilant Trump on Twitter. On June 28, 2018, in a 5-4 opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court decided that Trump’s ban fell “squarely” within the president’s authority, rejecting arguments that the ban was motivated by anti-Muslim animus. read the complete article
Canada
Stranger verbally attacks Winnipeg teen in hijab during curbside pickup
A Winnipeg teen who wears a hijab and was recently subjected to a verbal attack wants people in the city to know Islamophobia is real and take steps to combat hate when they see it. The teenager, who CBC News is calling Helen to protect her identity, said she was doing a curbside pickup with her sister recently when she was accosted by a woman who used a number of slurs and told her she was going to burn in hell. This isn't the first time something like this has happened to Helen, but it was for her sister. read the complete article
Not designating Jan. 29 as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia is a decision
On Jan. 29, 2017, the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City was viciously attacked by Alexandre Bissonette, who ruthlessly gunned down Muslim worshippers during their evening prayers. Six worshippers were killed and 19 were left seriously injured. This year marks the sombre fourth anniversary of one of the worst acts of domestic terrorism on Canadian soil. The outcome of the trial for Bissonnette, in April 2018, came as a second blow for Muslims across the nation. Unbelievably, Bissonnette was not charged under the terrorism provision of the Criminal Code, and while he initially received a life sentence with no hope of parole for 40 years, that was recently reduced to 25 years — a judicial move met with immediate backlash and criticism because it failed to acknowledge the severity of this hate crime. Canadian Muslims remain haunted by the idea that they could be targeted in the most sacrosanct of places. The world around them provides them neither solace nor hope. read the complete article
International
UN approves global conference on protecting religious sites
The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution Thursday condemning damage and destruction of religious sites and asking the secretary-general to convene a global conference to spearhead public support for safeguarding places of religious heritage. The resolution condemns the increasing targeting of "cultural property, including religious sites and ritual objects ... by terrorist attacks and outlawed militias," often resulting in destruction as well as theft and illicit trafficking of stolen items. It strongly deplores "all attacks on and in religious places, sites and shrines ... including any deliberate destruction of relics and monuments" which violate international law. And it condemns all threats to attack, damage or destroy religious sites, "and denounces any moves to obliterate or forcibly convert any religious sites." read the complete article
The right condemns China over its Uighur abuses. The left must do so too
In the dying days of the Trump administration, outgoing secretary of state Mike Pompeo declared that China was committing genocide against the Uighur Muslims. Yet there is no reason to believe he was sincere in his solidarity or his repugnance at state-sanctioned violence. That’s because, given Pompeo’s record, he’s clearly no friend of Muslims and no champion of human rights. For Pompeo, the oppressed are mere chess pieces in a global power struggle – China is due to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy before this decade is over. read the complete article
India
"Hindutva Politicians Attempting What Jinnah Tried with Muslims"
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statements during the raging protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, he says Modi has displayed to the world the “blatant discrimination in his mind” against one particular community. Describing the rise of young leaders from the Indian Muslim community as “heart-warming”, Salam says they are not ready to play to the tune of entrenched politicians, or willing to “reiterate usual platitudes”. Salam observes that “what Jinnah had tried to do with Muslims is what Hindutva politicians are attempting to do with the majority community”. read the complete article