Search
SearchToday in Islamophobia: Reports allege that Chinese detention is ‘leaving thousands of Uighur children without parents.’ In Canada, University of Waterloo student’s hijab business addresses lack of Muslim representation in fashion. Our recommended read today is part three of The Intercept’s election special on Donald Trump. Part Three is titled “The Neo-Confederate Chief.” This, and more, below:
United States
The Neo-Confederate Chief | Recommended Read
As he campaigns for reelection, Trump is hedging on many of his 2016 tactics but now is backed by the extraordinary power of the executive branch. The Justice Department, virtually privatized by Trump, appears to be coordinating its official functions with his reelection effort. Trump is intensifying his voter disenfranchisement operation, and he has threatened to remain in office regardless of the election results. We dig deep into Trump, race, and the wars at home. read the complete article
'I need him home': Families hit by Donald Trump's 'Muslim ban' speak out ahead of US election
In June 2018, the Supreme Court upheld Donald Trump's third travel ban, which focuses its most restrictive measures on citizens of five Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen - as well as North Korea and Venezuela. An analyst at the Cato Institute estimated that as of October 2019, more than 15,000 spouses and adopted minor children of US citizens were impacted, a figure that could be far higher now. But the numbers don't tell the story of the families torn apart and lives uprooted because of a president who once declared "Islam hates us". read the complete article
The Perfect Phrase for This Relentless Year
When Joseph R. Biden Jr. dropped the Arabic phrase “inshallah” in the first presidential debate last month, Muslim Twitter lost it. Inshallah, which means “if god wills,” can be a double-edged sword, equal parts sincere and savage. I grew up with a Muslim Iranian mother, and having spent time in Iran, where Farsi speakers also use the term handily, I recognized Mr. Biden’s deployment as a mockery of his opponent, President Donald J. Trump. On both occasions, Muslim and Arab Americans responded. Some criticized Mr. Biden for tactically employing the term to appeal to Muslim voters, despite his history of endorsing American military interference in the Middle East as a senator and vice president. Others loved to see it, especially after years of anti-Muslim rhetoric and policy coming from top government officials, including at the White House. read the complete article
International
H&M, Amazon and Boohoo among retailers to be quizzed by MPs over Uyghur slave labour links
The bosses of retail giants including H&M, Amazon and Boohoo have been summoned to give evidence to a committee of MPs investigating the use of slave labour in the supply chains of UK companies. The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) committee is probing the extent to which businesses in the UK are exploiting the forced labour of persecuted Uyghur Muslims at work camps in the Xinjiang region of China. The committee has written to 14 firms to question them over potential supply chain links to slave labour in the region, including Gap, Ikea, Zara and M&S. It has also asked sportswear brands Adidas, Nike and Puma to give evidence, as well as upmarket brands Victoria’s Secret, Stella McCartney and the North Face. Tiktok and the Walt Disney Company are also among the companies that have been summoned to be quizzed by the committee over slave labour at a public hearing on 5 November. read the complete article
More questions on human rights for Beijing Winter Olympics
Zumretay Arkin posed a question in a recent on-line meeting with Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., the prominent International Olympic Committee member who oversees preparations for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing “Why should China a country running concentration camps with at least 1 million Muslim Uighurs being detained, be allowed to hold the Olympics?" she asked. Arkin, a spokeswoman for the World Uyghur Congress, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the response was disappointing. Instead, the IOC repeated its stance: It’s not a political body and doesn’t take a position on human-rights issues. It simply organizes sports events. read the complete article
UN refugee agency’s Rohingya fund half a billion dollars short
Less than half the $1bn in aid meant for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh this year has been raised and the lack of money has made it difficult for them to provide the food, basic healthcare and other support the Rohingya need, the UN refugee agency or UNHCR said on Thursday as it announced plans for a large donor conference next week. The online event will take place on October 22 in an effort to close a “significant funding gap”, the UNHCR said. read the complete article
Canada
University of Waterloo student's hijab business addresses lack of Muslim representation in fashion
"There's rarely any [local] stores that cater to our needs in terms of what we want to wear or how we want to dress and that's definitely something that a lot of Muslim women have recognized as a problem," Majeed said. The accounting and finance student had been mulling over the idea of starting her own business for two years. On Oct. 31, 2019, she launched Eight Stories of Modesty. read the complete article
Germany
Man denied German citizenship for refusing to shake woman's hand
A German court ruled on Friday that a Muslim man who refused to shake the hand of a woman should not receive German citizenship. The 40-year-old Lebanese doctor, who came to Germany in 2002, said he refuses to shake women's hands for religious reasons. The Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg (VGH) ruled that someone who rejects a handshake due to a "fundamentalist conception of culture and values" because they see women as "a danger of sexual temptation" was thereby rejecting "integration into German living conditions." read the complete article
France
Macron promotes anti-Muslim “free speech” hypocrisy after terrorist killing
The horrific murder of Paty has immediately been exploited by the administration of Emmanuel Macron to intensify its anti-Muslim campaign. The government has declared that the attack demonstrates the necessity for its already-proposed law on Islamic “separatism,” which will be introduced before parliament on December 9, and may now be further strengthened. It includes a ban on Islamic schools where girls wear the headscarf, but no similar restrictions on Christian educational institutions, and gives the state vast powers to dissolve any association which does not adhere to “Republican values,” as determined by the prime minister. read the complete article