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SearchToday in Islamophobia: India builds detention camps for up to 1.9 million people stripped of citizenship in Assam as Bangladesh puts bans multiple aid agencies from Rohingya camps. Our recommended read of the day is by Omer Aziz titled “The World 9/11 Took From Us.” This, and more, below:
United States
Opinion | The World 9/11 Took From Us | Recommended Read
When the Sept. 11 attacks happened, I was an 11-year-old Muslim boy suddenly confused about the world and unsure of my place in it. Despite my general ignorance — I did not know what the words “hijacking” or “terrorist” meant — I still realized that this major attack had something to do with my people. When I got home from school, I had questions for my parents: Why had this happened? Why were people looking at us differently? And did this mean that we were also bad people because we prayed to the same God as the attackers? Questions that no parent could adequately answer. My life from that point forward was shaped by this great crime; I tried to distance myself from people who brought destruction to America’s cities, and came up against the twisted perceptions Americans had of brown people. Sept. 11 marked the loss of innocence, the abrupt recognition that I was different, would always be viewed as different, and that the stakes of this difference could be life and death. read the complete article
Opinion | Applying 9/11 laws to domestic terrorism could hurt minorities more than white supremacists
Applying the “terrorism” label to white nationalist violence is appropriate: It acknowledges the systemic and political nature of the threat and the need for a concerted response. Even so, proposals to expand federal law enforcement powers are misguided and dangerous. Moreover, if history is any guide, activists of color and marginalized communities might bear the brunt of that expansion, instead of the white supremacists who prompted it. read the complete article
Trump axes Bolton, the hawk he brought to the White House
The move capped months of whispered speculation that Bolton had fallen far out of favor with Trump and that his grip on the job was slipping. A news conference later in the day Tuesday with a grinning Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — who is reportedly “not on speaking terms” with Bolton — and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin illustrated how unperturbed other senior Trump aides seemed to be by the move. read the complete article
Trump’s Acting National Security Adviser Once Tied to Group Known for Anti-Muslim Stance
Kupperman served on the board of directors for the Center for Security Policy from 2001 through 2010, according to the group’s tax records obtained by ProPublica. Frank Gaffney Jr., an anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist, founded the center in 1988 and serves as its executive chairman. The Southern Poverty Law Center first designated the center a hate group in 2015, five years after Kupperman left the board. But while Kupperman was on the board, Gaffney and the center trafficked in anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and rhetoric, including questioning whether President Barack Obama was a Muslim. read the complete article
Echoing Trump, speaker at 9/11 ceremony questions Muslim congresswoman's patriotism
The speaker’s remarks were an unusual deviation into partisan politics and religious division at the sombre annual ceremony held at the lower Manhattan site where Islamist al Qaeda hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Center in 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. Called up to read some of the names of the victims, Nicholas Haros, whose mother, Frances Haros, was killed in the attack, falsely suggested Omar was confused about the nature of the attack. Echoing Trump, Haros also questioned the Minnesota congresswoman’s patriotism. read the complete article
India
As they build India's first camp for illegals, some workers fear detention there
Across a river in a remote part of India's northeast, labourers have cleared dense forest in an area equivalent to about seven soccer fields and are building the first mass detention centre for illegal immigrants. The camp in the lush, tea-growing state of Assam is intended for at least 3,000 detainees. It will also have a school, a hospital, a recreation area and quarters for security forces - as well as a high boundary wall and watchtowers, according to Reuters interviews with workers and contractors at the site and a review of copies of its layout plans. Some of the workers building the camp said they were not on a citizenship list Assam released last week as part of a drive to detect illegal immigrants. That means the workers could themselves end up in detention. "Assam is on the brink of a crisis which would not only lead to a loss of nationality and liberty of a large group of people but also erosion of their basic rights - severely affecting the lives of generations to come," Amnesty said in a statement. read the complete article
India builds detention camps for up to 1.9m people ‘stripped of citizenship’ in Assam
The Indian government is building mass detention camps after almost two million people were told they could be effectively stripped of citizenship. Around 1.9m people in the north-eastern state of Assam were excluded when India published the state’s final National Register of Citizens (NRC) list in August. Those excluded from the register will have to appeal to prove they are citizens. The UN and other international rights groups have expressed concern that many could be rendered stateless. read the complete article
International
From India to China, the world's Muslims are being put into concentration camps
India is now building 10 mass detention centres, according to local media. It is important to remember that the “illegals” are people who have lived in India for decades and have now been stripped of their identity for petty political gain. The result is that India now joins a contemptible list of nations which have no qualms about repeating the horrors of the 20th century and putting large groups of people into concentration camps or detention centres or “re-education” camps, as China has done to Uighur Muslims. Or as Donald Trump’s version of the USA has done with all illegals, but mainly Hispanic. For those who find it acceptable to round up some humans and incarcerate them for their religion or the colour of their skin in times of war, one need not look further than the Holocaust. To do it in peacetime in the 21st century speaks only to the worst sort of regressive authoritarian bigotry and cruelty. read the complete article
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, growing tired of hosting Rohingya refugees, puts new squeeze on the teeming camps
Bangladesh took in 750,000 Rohingya expelled from Myanmar in a military-led crackdown. Two years on, facing simmering conflict between natives and the recent arrivals, and after failed attempts to persuade some refugees to return, the host country is running out of patience for the Rohingya. Authorities have blamed Rohingya militants for the killing of a ruling-party politician last month and accused refugees of smuggling drugs from Myanmar — a trade that activists say entices some for want of opportunities in refugee camps. Several Rohingya are reported to have been killed in recent shootouts with police. read the complete article