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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Trump ousts John Bolton as National Security Adviser, as the DOC continues its investigation of deputy warden who posted anti-Muslim content. New reports suggest Myanmar is building camps atop razed Rohingya villages. Our recommended read of the day is by Aysha Khan on JMC’s visual timeline of Islamophobia in the war on terror. This, and more, below:
United States
Visual timeline project traces ‘underlying Islamophobia’ in war on terror | Recommended Read
On the 18-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that set off the ongoing global war on terror, a new visual timeline seeks to document the U.S. policies and programs that Muslim and civil rights activists say have resulted in major encroachments on human rights. “The goal is to really underscore how the war on terror is so rooted in Islamophobia and to really lift up the story of the ways that Muslims have been impacted,” said Maha Hilal, a researcher on the war on terror and co-director of the Justice for Muslims Collective who directed the yearlong effort to produce the timeline. read the complete article
Trump Ousts John Bolton as National Security Adviser
The departure ended a 17-month partnership that had grown so tense that the two men even disagreed over how they parted ways, as Mr. Trump announced on Twitter that he had fired the adviser only to be rebutted by Mr. Bolton, who insisted he had resigned of his own accord. The tension between Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolton was aggravated in recent months by the president’s decisions to call off a planned airstrike on Iran in retaliation for the downing of an American surveillance drone and to meet with Mr. Kim at the Demilitarized Zone and cross over into North Korea. read the complete article
Baptist church cancels 9/11 anti-Islam event after backlash from legislators, Christian scholars
Bloomfield Hills Baptist Church had planned to host a two-day event starting Wednesday about what it calls the threat of Islam, labeled “9/11 Forgotten? Is Michigan Surrendering to Islam?” Last week, Donald McKay, pastor of the church, told Fox 2 that, “Islam is a growing threat in the United States of America,” without offering any evidence for his conclusion. State and congressional leaders have come out to denounce the Islamophobic event as one that doesn’t belong in the state or the country, while religious scholars say the event is grounded in a lack of biblical understanding and a growing need to assuage unfounded fears. read the complete article
Lindsey Graham under pressure to apologize for posing with anti-Islam politician
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is under pressure to apologize publicly for posing for a photograph over the weekend with Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician known widely for his hostility towards immigrants and Islam. “The vile anti-Muslim bigotry spewed by Mr. Wilders stands at odds with the values of religious freedom and pluralism that Senator Graham took an oath to defend,” Robert McCaw, the government affairs director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement Monday evening. read the complete article
Myanmar
Video | Myanmar camps built on destroyed Rohingya villages
Two years after more than 700,000 Muslim Rohingya fled from a savage military operation, they remain stuck in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh. A second attempt to start repatriating the refugees failed last month. The government of Myanmar says it is committed to bringing them back, and recently brought a group of journalists to northern Rakhine state, which is usually off-limits, to see their preparations. However, our correspondent Jonathan Head was able to find evidence that, far from welcoming the Rohingya back, the authorities In Rakhine state have been erasing all trace of their villages. read the complete article
Bangladesh
Bangladesh Imposes Mobile Phone Blackout on Rohingya Refugees
Bangladesh has imposed a mobile phone blackout on Rohingya refugees, further isolating up to a million displaced people living in refugee camps. By order of the Bangladeshi telecommunications minister, only residents with national identity cards will be allowed to possess local cellphone SIM cards. The order also bars the sale of cellphones in Rohingya refugee camps and will fine telecom companies that violate the order. Two years ago, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh from Burma’s Rakhine State after Burmese authorities launched a campaign that the U.N. has described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” read the complete article
India
Fear among Muslims over planned nationwide citizens list
On August 31, India excluded nearly 2 million people from a citizenship list in the northeastern state of Assam, and the ruling Hindu nationalist government's plan to replicate it at a national level has left many in the Muslim community worried. Many Muslims Al Jazeera spoke to believe the BJP has used the citizenship issue to target the community, which forms 14 percent of India's 1.3 billion population. Mohammad Yehya, a student at New Delhi's Jamia Millia University, said due to the growing concerns, Muslim scholars and community leaders have advised the minority community to properly maintain all the documents that support citizenship. read the complete article
United Kingdom
Opinion | I’m A Muslim Mum. This Is What It’s Like To Explain 9/11 And Islamophobia To My Son
My son doesn’t yet know that there are evil so-called Muslims who have committed acts of terrorism. In fact, he does not even know the word terrorism. He doesn’t know that there are people who associate all Muslims with these people, or that when a black or Muslim person commits a crime, they are seen to represent his whole community. He doesn’t know that there is a rise in right-wing nationalism across Europe and the world. He has never read hateful online comments. Do I really want him to know this now? I decided I will not say any more to him on the subject, especially as every time I spoke I seemed to dig a deeper hole for myself. I don’t want him to be self-conscious and worry what people will think of him because of his background or his faith. I don’t want to burden him with an understanding beyond his years. read the complete article
France
Opinion | No, We Don’t Have the “Right to Be Islamophobic”
The controversy came thanks to a talk by Henri Peña-Ruiz on laïcité — France’s brand of state secularism. The philosophy professor’s statement that “one has the right to be Islamophobic” had a truly explosive effect, sparking sharp criticisms against Peña-Ruiz and the fact that he had been allowed to speak at the France Insoumise event without there being anyone to debate — and challenge — him. This line of argument poses two problems. The first is, quite simply, its systematic refusal to recognize that the various definitions of “Islamophobia” do not refer to or invoke the “infallibility” of the Muslim religion in any way, but rather point to racism that targets Muslims on account of their (actual or supposed) faith. read the complete article
International
Opinion | Things We lost to the Fire
The news set the tone early on. Hundreds were missing, hundreds were feared dead. Over and again, on loop, planes crashed into the towers and made America gasp in unison. Deep into the night in Dhaka, airwaves brought fear home. Over the next few weeks, I learnt of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. I heard stories of men who had read the Quran and somehow found in it all that I had not. And I learnt about the FBI, the CIA, the Army; about an impending war in a part of the world that had reduced two towers to rubble. In New York, my cousins were also learning new things. They were not to appear ‘too Muslim’, or frequent the halal aisle at the grocery store. Going to the mosque was out of the question. Across the city, Muslim establishments were being vandalized, hijabs were being torn from the bodies of women, the NYPD was ramping up surveillance. Overnight, Muslim had become a bad thing to be. read the complete article