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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In New Zealand, a white supremacist who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at mosques in Christchurch in March 2019 files an appeal against his life sentence, meanwhile in China, Tik-Tokers supported by the Chinese state are using their influencer status to try and refute the growing evidence of genocide occurring against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, and in the UK, the Conservative Party is facing renewed calls to action to tackle Islamophobia within its ranks and within the broader British society, as statistics show anti-Muslim hate crimes rising across the country. Our recommended read of the day is by Alain Gabon for Middle East Eye on far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s victory and what it means for Muslims in Italy and across Europe. This and more below:
International
Meloni's victory in Italy signals the rise of a global anti-Muslim alliance | Recommended Read
The reactions of western governments, elected officials, and media have been strangely muted and accommodating when one considers that two more European Union member states, including one of its original founding members, Italy, have consecutively fallen to the far right, this time putting in power nothing less than, first, a party founded by neo-Nazis in the 1980s, and then the direct descendants of Mussolini’s fascists. Many media outlets thus helped Meloni polish her image and present her as business as usual, often to the point of functioning as her own communications agency. Yet, her efforts to separate herself from her previous statements or Italy’s historical fascism by claiming it is a thing of the past are also not at all convincing. Her party is in direct affiliation with the Italian Social Movement (MSI) created by Mussolini’s own ministers, regime officials, and hard-core partisans. Far from disavowing this affiliation, Meloni has always proudly touted those roots. Her discourses on “God, Family, Country” and rhetoric on minority communities are all fully congruent and in direct continuity with those of historical fascism. Meloni is no new Mussolini, but her party represents a toxic, right-wing ideology. This is evidenced by her support for Eric Zemmour, who is viewed by many as France's "preacher of hate", and the main advocate of the "Great Replacement Theory”. Enthusiastically greeted by the entire European far right from Russia to France (and beyond), Meloni’s accession to power is just the latest evidence of a dramatic political groundswell across the whole continent: the mainstreaming of right-wing forces who not so long ago were fringe, even taboo parties, have in a mere two decades become genuine mass movements increasingly capable of reaching power. This far-right, exclusionary “new Nativism” particularly targets Muslims whose lifestyle and belief system is seen as antithetical to the “national identity” of those European countries. Islamophobia has now become one of the most prominent ideologies shared by all those parties. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Conservatives have broken their promises to British Muslims
Islamophobia Awareness Month is a time to reflect on how far we have come to tackle the scourge of Islamophobia in our society, and whether we are moving in the right direction. Worryingly, for many Muslims, it feels like we are moving backwards – thanks, in no small part, to the Conservative Party. As The Independent reports, the Conservative government is failing to act on Islamophobia, both within its own ranks and in wider society. In addition, the Conservatives have hardly set a shining example for the public. There have been two investigations into Islamophobia in the Conservative Party in recent years. The Singh Investigation into alleged discrimination in the party revealed institutional failures in the handling of complaints. But even that investigation did not consult a single Muslim member. The Conservative Party is also the only political party in the UK to reject the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia. Three years ago, they promised to develop an alternative definition, but now ministers appear to have broken that promise. The person they hired to draw up the definition claims the process “didn’t really start”. Imam Qari Asim says that his letter went unanswered and there was a distinct lack of engagement from the government. A party that cannot even define Islamophobia can hardly be trusted to tackle it. This catalogue of failures has real-world consequences. read the complete article
Conservative Party accused of being in ‘denial’ about ‘Islamophobia’ within its own ranks
Islamophobia Awareness Month is a time to reflect on how far we have come to tackle the scourge of Islamophobia in our society, and whether we are moving in the right direction. Worryingly, for many Muslims, it feels like we are moving backwards – thanks, in no small part, to the Conservative Party. As The Independent reports, the Conservative government is failing to act on Islamophobia, both within its own ranks and in wider society. In addition, the Conservatives have hardly set a shining example for the public. There have been two investigations into Islamophobia in the Conservative Party in recent years. The Singh Investigation into alleged discrimination in the party revealed institutional failures in the handling of complaints. But even that investigation did not consult a single Muslim member. The Conservative Party is also the only political party in the UK to reject the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia. Three years ago, they promised to develop an alternative definition, but now ministers appear to have broken that promise. The person they hired to draw up the definition claims the process “didn’t really start”. Imam Qari Asim says that his letter went unanswered and there was a distinct lack of engagement from the government. A party that cannot even define Islamophobia can hardly be trusted to tackle it. This catalogue of failures has real-world consequences. read the complete article
The sisterhood of Muslim women uniting football and faith in London team
Founded in 2018, Sisterhood has doubled in size to almost 100 players, allowing its members to enjoy playing football without anyone querying their Muslim dress code or asking why they refrain from socialising in a pub after their games. "It's a football club for Muslim women to come and feel free and relaxed and be able to play in their attire," Kamara Davis, 30, said. She converted to Islam at age 17 and felt that she would never play soccer again because it seemed incompatible with the religion's traditional dress. But when she heard about Sisterhood, she jumped at the chance to join. "Honestly, it just feels so good, it's like a release. It feels really nice when I am able to shoot the ball with power," Kamara said. The club also offers a chance to Muslim women to enjoy a break from traditional roles that many say are expected of them. Yasmin Abdullahi, Sisterhood's Somali-British founder, recalled the surprise of many fellow female Muslim students when she told them that she was playing football for London University's Goldsmiths College whilst a student. "They could not believe that they were seeing a girl that wears a hijab and saying that she plays football," Abdullahi, a 30 year-old professional fashion model, said. So she set up the club as a way to reconcile the interest in playing sport among many Muslim women and their adherence to their faith. To underscore the point, Sisterhood's club badge features the image of a hijab, which was barred by soccer's world governing body FIFA on safety grounds in 2007. The ban was only relaxed in 2012, with the hijab fully permitted in 2014. read the complete article
United States
A Muslim family is suing Delta Air Lines over their 'unjust' removal from a flight from Atlanta to Baltimore
A Muslim family is suing Delta Air Lines over their "unjust" removal from a flight in 2019, per documents filed in the District Court of Maryland. Hisham Kassab asserts that Delta staff and passengers made false claims against him, which resulted in him and his young children being removed from the flight. The family argue that the action was "wrongful, unfair, unjust, malicious, and callous." Kassab and his sons Ibrahim and Karim, then aged 7 and 11, were traveling home from Rome, Italy, in August 2019 to Baltimore with a layover in Atlanta. While waiting to board the Baltimore flight, Kassab entered into a discussion with a Delta gate agent, who he said was "being cantankerous." The family were initially permitted to board the plane, but shortly after taking their seats they were removed from the flight. The Kassabs say they received no explanation of their removal and were asked to collect their possessions and follow a flight attendant off the plane. After doing so its door was "promptly closed", leaving the Kassabs behind. read the complete article
Young Muslim woman joins several progressives in the fight to turn Delaware a deeper blue
Madinah Wilson-Anton is one of several progressive in Delaware's state legislature who has ousted establishment Democratic incumbents and is now working to push through progressive policies. As the daughter of two African-American Muslim converts in Newark, Delaware, she grew up in an international environment in a community with Muslim immigrants from different parts of the world. Her diverse upbringing led to her wanting to work for the United Nations. She studied languages (Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and French), and then turned to international relations. Her interest in policy eventually led her to turn to local politics. Her language skills would prove useful when she ended up running for office and doing grassroots campaigning. "It was definitely awkward," she says about running against her former boss. But once she'd decided to run, she didn't think about turning back. Seeing the process up close made her think about the movie The Wizard of Oz, when the curtain is pulled back to show a regular man. "If it's a Republican or a Democrat, they're people just like you and me," she says. "If it can be him, it can be me. It should be the person with energy and drive." "One thing I try to remind people of is that it's bigger than our personal relationships. It's a duty. Whoever's doing it should be doing it a hundred percent," she says. read the complete article
France
Racist slur in parliament shows how far France has fallen
A French parliament session was thrown into “turmoil” after a far-right MP’s off-microphone comment apparently directed at a Black colleague – “back to Africa!” – during a debate on immigration. It is still unclear whether the MP was speaking pointedly about his Black colleague or whether it was a broader outburst aimed at all Africans. But what is clear is that France and the French have become a very problematic nation, besieged with insecurities and identity foibles which often manifest in racist upsurges. A study last year found that nearly 12,500 racist crimes were registered by the police and the gendarmerie. Of these, 6,300 offences were found to be in the high- or medium-level crime category. The total number of incidents jumped 16 percent compared to 2020. France has quite a problem with its own identity and place in the world. And this racism is growing, fuelled by growing numbers of French who have lost confidence in the political system and have turned to the far-right and anti-immigration Marin Le Pen’s party to 'Make France Great Again'. And Macron has felt the pulse of the masses and himself shifted towards the far-right ground to keep voters happy, which has not only manifested itself in blocking all Moroccans from entering the Republic but also dehumanising the migrants waiting at the Calais jungle to make their way to the UK. read the complete article
New Zealand
New Zealand mosque shooter files appeal against life sentence
A white supremacist who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at mosques in Christchurch in March 2019, the worst mass shooting in New Zealand's history, has filed an appeal against his life sentence, a court spokesperson said on Tuesday. No hearing date has been set at this stage, Chris Abraham, a spokesperson for the Court of Appeal, told Reuters. Brenton Tarrant was sentenced in 2020 to jail for life without parole for the murder of 51 people and attempted murder of 40 others at two mosques in Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand. It was the first time a New Zealand court had sentenced a person to prison for the rest of their life. read the complete article
China
Tik-Tok, time is running out: CCP-backed influencers are winning the social media battle in Xinjiang
"Genocide?!" Social media "influencer" Xinjiang Guli (Alice) is furious with former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. She derides his campaign to discredit China on her YouTube channel. "You are simply nonsense!" She scoffs. The young, twenty-something Uyghur university student is outraged by Western accusations of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity against her people and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and lashes out for the benefit of her 53,000 followers. She greeted America's former Secretary of State's verdict on the so-called atrocities in Xinjiang with "outrage" and "hilarity." As a resident of Xinjiang, she said, she could not stand these "falsehoods". Here, with her bevvy of Xinjiang "beauties" all Uyghurs are free to enjoy the good life, she trumpeted. "Eat your heart out Pompeo, your accusations bear no relation to the reality of our carefree lives." Beijing's determination to counter growing opposition over the treatment of the so-called minority Turkic peoples on its North Western flank, has seen every stop pulled out since 2018 to boost its popularity, massage negative satellite imagery and discredit shocking camp survivor testimonies. Prodigious social media campaigns have seen thousands of fake Twitter accounts go to war against anti-Beijing narratives; accounts whose Tweets, re-tweeted tens of thousands of times have created a "fiction of popularity" and a "mirage of broad support," for its actions. read the complete article