Search
SearchToday in Islamophobia: U.S Congresswoman Ilhan Omar condemns anti- Muslim poster linking her to 9/11, even as she is called ‘filth’ by a Trump adviser. New reports suggest that far-right organizations are infiltrating children’s charities in the U.K with anti- Islam agenda, and a aid worker is stranded in Syria after his British citizenship is revoked. Our recommended read of the day is by Christopher Mathias on CPAC, white nationalism, and rise of the far right in America.
United States
At CPAC, Extremists On Stage And Off | Recommended Read
White nationalists, bigots and assorted conspiracy theorists are as commonplace at CPAC, which is organized annually by the American Conservative Union, as Republican senators, U.S. House members and presidents. Sebastian Gorka, a former deputy assistant to Trump, spoke from the main stage Thursday, warning the CPAC crowd about the alleged perils of socialism. Gorka has been a regular contributor to Fox News and The Rebel, a Canadian far-right website. (The Rebel once published a video by Gavin McInnes called “Ten Things I Hate About Jews.”) Gorka is an anti-Muslim extremist, long associating himself with Islamophobic hate groups. He has said that accepting Muslim refugees into America would be a “national suicide.” In 2017, speaking in his capacity as a White House official, Gorka told MSNBC that a bombing of a Minnesota mosque may have been a “fake hate crime.” (It was not.) read the complete article
Trump campaign adviser calls llhan Omar 'filth' amid anti-Semitism controversy
Trump campaign adviser Jeff Ballabon called Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) "filth" Monday amid controversy over some comments from the lawmaker that have been called anti-Semitic. "The problem is that her beliefs are deeply rooted in hatred and anti-Semitism. She is a hater. I'm going to say it, she is filth," Ballabon said on Fox Business. "She has no place in the Congress. She has no place on the Foreign Affairs Committee. It's outrageous that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, the most powerful Democrat in America, appears on Rolling Stone, hand in hand with her smiling this week. It's outrageous." "Yes. She is a filthy, disgusting hater. So what if she's in Congress? That's the problem. The problem is they have now taken anti-Semitism in its worst, most base, disgusting force, and they've mainstreamed it," Ballabon said. read the complete article
New York Muslim community patrol to promote unity and understanding
The patrols, due to begin in a few weeks, are just the most visible part of a programme that will include translation and counselling, mentorship and other services, says Noor Rabah, 31, the vice president of Muslim Community Patrol and Services, who lives near by. The group has trained 60 volunteers with the help of local police. Two cars are equipped and ready. Another eight vehicles are expected within a year. It all comes at a time of heightened anxiety for American Muslims and fears of a growing tide of hate crime. “It is a not just a response to that,” Mr Rabah says after a fund-raising banquet. “Rather it is a dream of many Muslims for decades. We have always tried to have our own community patrol because it gives a sense of unity, a sense of better understanding, a better liaison between us and the NYPD. read the complete article
US congresswoman Ilhan Omar condemns 'anti-Muslim' poster linking her to 9/11 attacks
Ms Omar, who last year became the first Somalian-American and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, took to social media to denounce the display. "No wonder why I am on the 'Hitlist' of a domestic terrorist and 'Assassinate Ilhan Omar' is written on my local gas stations,"Ms Omar tweeted. "Look no further, the GOP's anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist rocks in state capitols and no one is condemning them!" Ms Omar was reportedly among a number of prominent Democrats included in a hit list drafted by US Coast Guard lieutenant Christopher Paul Hasson, who was arrested last month over fears of domestic terrorism. read the complete article
Judge: Muslim man’s suit over border detention can proceed
Government lawyers had asked the judge to toss out the lawsuit filed by Anas Elhady, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Dearborn, Michigan. Elhady sued over his 2015 detention at the Ambassador Bridge border crossing into Detroit. He says he was put in a freezing holding cell for hours, causing him to shake uncontrollably and his lips to turn blue. He was eventually taken to a hospital for treatment. read the complete article
Indiana Doesn't Deal With Hate Crimes Well, Say Muslim Advocates
Indiana is not doing enough to address hate and bias violence, said Muslim Advocates. The civil rights advocacy group sent a letter Monday to both Gov. Holcomb and the Indiana General Assembly, urging them to pass a hate crimes law more like the one passed by 45 other states, the federal government, and the District of Columbia. "There's always going to be an element of discretion when sentencing is taking place," said Madihha Ahussain, special counsel for Anti-Muslim Bigotry, at Muslim Advocates. "But, I think having a law would streamline the process and make it clear that Indiana is taking a stand against hate violence." read the complete article
Opinion | The disgusting Ilhan Omar poster is just part of a wider campaign of American Islamophobia
Accusing one of Congress’s first Muslim women of anti-Semitism is a deeply unpleasant line of attack. But the attack on Omar has taken an even darker turn, evidenced by a poster that appeared at an event sponsored by the West Virginia GOP. At the top of the poster is a photograph of the 9/11 terrorist attack, with the caption “‘Never forget’, you said”. Beneath that is a picture of Omar, with the caption “I am proof you have forgotten.” Over the past few years, according to an investigation by Al Jazeera, the size of the “Islamophobia industry” – groups funded with dark money that portray Islam as a threat – has more than tripled. According to a 2016 report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the University of California, Berkeley, more than $200m was spent by 74 groups promoting “hatred” of Muslims between 2008 and 2013. And it’s not a phenomenon limited to the political right. “A diverse and eclectic litany of prominent Islamophobes occupies the left,” law professor Khaled Beydoun wrote in the Guardian last year. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Aid worker stranded in Syria after British citizenship revoked
Tauqir Sharif, 31, from Walthamstow, who lives and works in Idlib alongside his British wife, Racquell Hayden-Best, had his citizenship revoked in May 2017. Speaking to the Guardian this week, he called on the UK government to review its revocation policy for those engaged in humanitarian work in conflict zones. Sharif is appealing against the UK government’s decision and has asked for a fair hearing in an open court where evidence against him can be tested by a judge and jury. Sharif founded the organisation Live Updates from Syria in 2012, providing support and assistance for families there, and raising awareness about the devastating situation on the ground. “We have 41 projects running, with 170 staff. We are a well-established organisation on the ground. Syrian people see the value in our work and love us." read the complete article
Far right ‘infiltrating children’s charities with anti-Islam agenda’
Officers from Prevent said far-right figures were using voluntary groups to stir up tension in towns with historical problems of child sexual exploitation. In Rochdale, a community group for child sexual abuse survivors, Shatter Boys, said it had been approached repeatedly by seniorUkip figures including Lord Pearson, who offered to introduce them to millionaire donors and fund an open-top bus to raise the alarm about grooming gangs. read the complete article
China
US lawmakers say Trump has taken 'no meaningful action' over China's treatment of Muslims
"The administration has taken no meaningful action in response to the situation in (Xinjiang)," lawmakers wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, four months after they originally called on him to take action on this issue. In their letter Monday, the US lawmakers, led by House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, said that "over a million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities have been interned in 'political re-education camps' without due process as part of a broader attempt to wipe out their separate identity, language, and history." read the complete article
International
Opinion | The West Needs to Take the Politics of Women in ISIS Seriously
The persistent appeal and shock value of the “beautiful but deadly” female fighter depends on an assumption that women have no politics and that their only natural role in times of conflict is to play the (usually sexualized) victim. Media coverage and rhetoric that reduces conflict-affected women to rape victims, sex slaves, or, most recently, “ISIS brides” lends itself to policy responses that have terrible consequences for innocent people. Women’s presumed victimhood has been deployed to justify military intervention, to excuse or obscure widespread human rights abuses of civilians, and to privilege the judgment of external actors or local male elites over the perspectives of local women about what they need in the aftermath of war. Over-simplified victimization narratives are so entrenched that evidence of women’s political agency in wartime reads as either false consciousness (“ISIS lures women with kittens, Nutella”) or as a monstrous upending of femininity and the natural order. read the complete article