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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In Delaware, Democrat Madinah Wilson-Anton becomes the first practicing Muslim elected to the general assembly, as social media giant TikTok denies allegations that its parent company is supplying China’s authoritarian state with surveillance equipment to persecute Uighur Muslims. Ahead of Myanmar’s second democratic election hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims remain deprived of a vote. Our recommended read of the day is by Peter Allen of The Independent on recent comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron concerning French Muslims. This and more below:
France
French leader Emmanuel Macron accused of spreading ‘fake news’ about Muslim girls
French president Emmanuel Macron has been accused of spreading “fake news” after claiming that Muslim girls as young as three are being forced into full-face veils while being “raised in hatred of France’s values”. The French head of state painted a picture of lawless suburbs in which abused infants are kept away from children of the opposite sex. read the complete article
Horrified by deadly attacks, French Muslims protect church
A self-described man of peace and pragmatism, Benferhat and a friend gathered a group of young Muslim men to stand guard outside their town’s cathedral for the All Saints’ holiday weekend, to symbolically protect it and show solidarity with Catholic churchgoers. read the complete article
United States
Madinah Wilson-Anton wins election, to become Delaware's first Muslim legislator
History will be made when Delaware swears in its newly-elected assembly. Democrat Madinah Wilson-Anton became the first practicing Muslim elected to the general assembly, winning 71 percent of the vote. read the complete article
Muslim and Arab Voters May Have Secured Biden's Michigan Win
Emgage Action, a Muslim civic advocacy organization that endorsed Biden, said that approximately 81,000 Muslim Americans cast early and absentee votes in the state. (The exact number of votes cast by Muslim Americans in Michigan is not yet known.) Biden beat President Donald Trump by roughly 150,000 votes in Michigan, where Hillary Clinton lost by just 11,000 votes in 2016. read the complete article
Feds, Connecticut city settle over rejection of mosque plans
The U.S. Justice Department and federal prosecutors said Thursday that they have reached an agreement with Meriden, Connecticut, to resolve allegations the city illegally rejected an application for a proposed mosque. read the complete article
China
China’s poverty-busting policy goes global; Europe holds the line against Huawei
Lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty is the party-state’s strongest claim to legitimacy — and has drawn plaudits from outsiders. But it also involves erasure of minority cultures (especially Tibetan and Uyghur), forced labor and political indoctrination. read the complete article
TikTok denies parent company helps Chinese government spy on and persecute Uighur Muslims
Social media giant TikTok has denied allegations that its parent company is supplying the China's authoritarian state with surveillance equipment to persecute Uighur Muslims. Reports dating back to last year accused ByteDance of working with authorities in Xinjiang after it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. read the complete article
Chinese cinema’s push to produce the ideal Uyghur citizen
Despite the public outrage, Beijing’s efforts to maintain an appearance of normality in Xinjiang continue. Recently, a number of Chinese films have been produced in the region, promoting a rigid nationalist ideology and presenting state-sanctioned images of the region and its people. read the complete article
Myanmar
‘We don’t matter’: Rohingya deprived of vote in Myanmar elections
When Myanmar holds on Sunday its second democratic election after decades of military rule, Yusuf will be among hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya deprived of a vote – leading the United Nations to warn that the polls will not be free or fair. “Not being able to vote makes me feel really sad. It feels as though we are dead and we don’t matter,” Yusuf, 65, who lives in the world’s largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. read the complete article
As Suu Kyi denies genocide, opponents up anti-Rohingya rhetoric
As Aung San Suu Kyi is vilified internationally for denying genocide against the Rohingya, her opponents in Sunday's Myanmar election are ramping up the rhetoric against the Muslim minority. There was global revulsion at military-backed operations in 2017 that saw hundreds of thousands of people flee burning villages into the squalor of refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh. read the complete article
International
France condemns Erdogan over Islam row, threatens sanctions
France on Thursday condemned what it said were “declarations of violence” by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and raised the possibility of new sanctions against Ankara. Erdogan has been feuding bitterly with French President Emmanuel Macron on a number of geopolitical flashpoints and, more recently, France’s fight against what it calls “radical” Islam. read the complete article
Is it correct to identify terrorism with 'Islamism'?
In an increasing trend, some Western leaders and intellectuals have looked to identify Islamism, which is a contentious term in its own right, with terrorism, particularly, in the wake of the recent attacks in France and Austria. While most Westerners and their allies in the Islamic world have increasingly used the term Islamism to define a violent movement with a religious identity, most Muslim intellectuals and scholars find it incorrect to conflate Islamism with religious extremism, violence or terrorism. read the complete article
Boohoo, H&M and Nike deny Uighur forced labour allegations
Fashion brands including Boohoo, H&M and Nike have denied using products made with the forced labour of Uighur Muslims in China. The brands, which included The North Face, were speaking to MPs conducting an inquiry. The House of Commons business committee questioned whether Boohoo was on top of its supply chain. read the complete article