Muslim woman in niqab told “there was no need for al-Qaeda in the area”

May 10, 2019 Article

A group of teenagers threatened a Muslim woman in a niqab and told her she was “not welcome” and that “there was no need for al-Qaeda in the area” in a residential car park in east London.

Speaking to Tell MAMA, the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, described the moment a group of 7 to 8 youths, all in helmets who stood next to their mopeds, threatened her as she returned to her car.

The incident took place on April 26.

The Metropolitan Police investigated the Islamophobic incident but then closed the case, citing a lack of evidence and witnesses.

Tell MAMA has continued to document the often-disproportionate abuse, discrimination and violence directed at Muslim women who wear the niqab, which is an affront to their fundamental right to freely practice their religious beliefs and wear religious clothing, regardless of how conservative some interpret it.

This abuse and acts of discriminatory behaviour have impacted Muslim women at open-days for schools or in their interactions with Transport for London (TfL) staff. One Muslim woman told Tell MAMA that a TfL driver said: “I can’t hear you, I don’t want to speak to you with that thing on your face”, after enquiring if her child could also board the bus despite losing their Oyster card.

Other recent examples include threats or abusive comments following the comments made by the former Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, last year.

You can get advice from our confidential and free helpline on 0800 456 1226. Or through our free iOS or Android apps. Report through our online form. Or contact us via WhatsApp on 0734 184 6086.

The post Muslim woman in niqab told “there was no need for al-Qaeda in the area” appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Al Qaeda, hate crime, London, Metropolitan Police, MPS, News, Niqab

Bacon put through letterbox of a Muslim couple in London

May 8, 2019 Article

A Muslim couple, who were in the process of moving into a new flat, had pieces of bacon put through their letterbox.

The Islamophobic incident took place on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.

Speaking to Tell MAMA, the couple stated that some of their new neighbours had been abusive days earlier, citing ‘noise complaints’ as the couple were furnishing their new apartment which they apologised for. They do, however, feel targeted for their Islamic identity as the woman wears the hijab.

The Metropolitan Police are investigating the incident.

Tell MAMA has documented similar examples where Islamophobic perpetrators have used pork products to target Muslims in their homes, including an incident in 2017, where a Muslim family found pork dumped outside of their property, as part of a sustained campaign of abuse and harassment from a neighbour.

The weaponisation of bacon and other pork products is nothing new and has been used to target mosques and other Islamic institutions.

Some have contacted Tell MAMA to report how an employee at McDonald’s put rashers of bacon in their Fillet-O-Fish.

The racialised language of Islamophobia does sometimes incorporate language around bacon, for example, the high-profile abuse of the Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah, included the hateful statement, “feed the c*nt bacon”.

Allegations of the denial of certain pork-based products underpinned the notorious “Christian child forced into Muslim foster care” story, first published by The Times newspaper. Allegations that foster carers had denied the child such pork-based products was proven untrue.

But the very idea of it, for the apparent distress it caused, taps into a deeper anxiety and conspiracy theories about Muslims. Such thinking can lead to forms of othering and discriminatory acts and behaviours.

The post Bacon put through letterbox of a Muslim couple in London appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: bacon, hate crime, Metropolitan Police, News, pork

Pork Put Through Letterbox of Muslim Family

May 8, 2019 Article

A family who just moved into their new home in London had pork put through the letterbox. The family reported in the abuse and which Tell MAMA actioned.

The pork was put through the letterbox on the first day of Ramadan, a month where Muslims fast and pray. It was therefore meant to be a further insult to the religious identity of the family who moved into the area.

Whilst some suggest that such actions are ‘childish pranks’ and should be ‘disregarded’, individuals who are targeted by such actions have explained to Tell MAMA that being targeted like this makes them feel unwelcome and unwanted. Some have also suggested that it has increased their fear levels and they have always had to remain vigilant when going out, something that has been emotionally and mentally taxing over a period of time.

If you are targeted in this manner, please do get in touch with us and our work and engagement with police forces across England and Wales can be a source of support for people and families who feel vulnerable at such times.

The post Pork Put Through Letterbox of Muslim Family appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Hate Crimes, Muslim Family, News, pork

Why Tommy Robinson and others on the far-right seek out celebrity ‘endorsements’

May 7, 2019 Article

Ederson Moraes, the Manchester City goalkeeper, rejection of the views of the far-right extremist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) points to a wider and odd cultural phenomenon: how far-right figures seek out and exploit the legitimacy from mainstream celebrity figures, in opposition to the “corrupt” political establishment, in the hope of boosting their “authenticity” to an imagined and homogeneous view of working-class communities.

Some academics have diagnosed this phenomenon as a form of “entrepreneurial populism”, which, exists in a paradox: where a person running in opposition to the establishment, does not need to be trustworthy, or even demonstrate a strong moral core, due to the apparent “corruption” of their political opposition.

To “play a system whose institutions one does not trust but whose ideals and intentions are still trusted,” the untrustworthy are granted a degree of trust.

It’s within this framework that Yaxley-Lennon has morphed from a “journalist” into an Independent candidate in the upcoming European Elections.

But the tactic is nothing new.

In the embryonic months of the English Defence League, Yaxley-Lennon posed for a photograph with the media personality, Katie Price in 2010. In October 2010, in response to the photo circulating on social media, Ms Price tweeted: “that’s the trouble when I do pics I don’t know where they end up NO I don’t support such group report it.”

A year later, the disgraced former footballer, Joey Barton, then of Queens Park Rangers, was photographed with Yaxley-Lennon, and the photo soon appeared on the EDL’s Facebook page, with the caption, “Joey Barton joins the EDL”. Barton, like Price, used social media to deny any links to the group.

The EDL did enjoy some broad sympathy and support, but a clear majority were put off by their propensity for street violence. Its appeal, therefore, had hit a glass ceiling, given how many saw it as an innately Islamophobic, racist, and violent movement.

This decline, which owes to the mainstreaming of such ideological talking points, is also a product of what academics argue is the “reputational shields hypothesis.” In a broader sense, within this framework, political parties like the British National Party, could not reject accusations of racism and extremism, since their history provided “no evidence to support such a contention.” It’s why the EDL tried and often failed to appeal to religious minorities, like the Jewish and Sikh communities.

Its leadership, however, had bigger aspirations. Hence Robinson’s “rejection” of the movement he founded via the Quilliam Foundation, to his pivot towards the leadership of Pegida UK, demonstrate how Robinson, who remained unapologetic, never considered himself in need of ‘de-radicalisation’, as he saw himself as “correct” all along.

Yaxley-Lennon has even used his Telegram account to suggest that he has a “Muslim supporter” under the hashtag “#VoteTommy”, which runs counter to his history of Islamophobia and criminal convictions.

Credit: Telegram

In a further example of abstract “authenticity”, Yaxley-Lennon shared a meme of a milkshake with a burnt rasher of bacon inside, captioned with a lyric from the Kelis song “Milkshake”.

Credit: Telegram

A Muslim man who dowsed Yaxley-Lennon with one such milkshake has spoken of the death threats he has been sent since the video of the incident went viral.

Britain First, the street defence movement and far-right political party, has borrowed a similar tactic. In 2016, a photograph of the group’s leadership, Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen with the BBC presenter Evan Davis, with the caption: “Paul and Jayda out campaigning today in London with Evan Davis, Britain First supporter and Dragons’ Den/Newsnight presenter!”.

Davis clarified on Twitter that he was asked to pose for a photograph with the individuals, unaware of their intentions or extreme political views.

The BBC’s former political editor, Nick Robinson, had posed for a photograph with Jayda Fransen, during the Rochester and Strood by-election in 2014, where she had gained just 56 votes, used the photograph to mask this failure and present a false example of mainstream credibility.

Robinson denied any affiliation to the group, writing: “I had no idea who this was. Asked for a selfie by someone I wrongly assumed was a worker at the count. My mistake,” despite Ms Fransen wearing a visible candidate badge.

Britain First gained its biggest endorsement (and free media attention) when Donald Trump retweeted their Twitter accounts in 2017.

The post Why Tommy Robinson and others on the far-right seek out celebrity ‘endorsements’ appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: celebrity endorsements, Far Right groups, News, Tommy Robinson

Poway synagogue shooting: suspect John T Earnest linked to mosque arson last month

April 29, 2019 Article

The 19-year-old man detained by police following an antisemitic-inspired mass shooting at a California synagogue ‘took inspiration’ from the Islamophobic terror attack in New Zealand last month.

Police named the suspect as John T Earnest and said he entered the synagogue in northern California during Passover celebrations and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing one person and injuring three others, including the rabbi.

An antisemitic and racist manifesto attributed to Mr Earnest was uploaded to 8Chan, a website popular with neo-Nazis and white supremacists before the shootings took place, came a bold claim: that John T Earnest had attempted to burn down a local mosque days after the terroristic mass shootings which left 50 Muslims dead in New Zealand.

Police have confirmed that John T Earnest is a suspect in the attempted arson of a mosque in Escondido, California, on March 25.

CCTV footage from the mosque captured the moment when an individual had poured petrol against a side door and started a fire, which was soon extinguished by worshippers, who were inside the mosque for Fajr (morning) prayers.

Details from the alleged manifesto of John T Earnest reference the mosque arson and take ownership of it – including the praise of Brenton Tarrant, which appeared in the car park. The manifesto states, however, that the message was spray-painted.

The manifesto used the racist epithet “Sandn******” to describe Muslims praying inside of the Escondido mosque, which furthers how any understanding of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred must factor how racialisation impacts on Muslims. This understanding departs from traditional understandings transcends the “black-white divide” and welds Muslim with a singular racial category, often Asian or Arab, despite the racial diversity of Muslims in the United States (with notable numbers of Muslims identifying as black or Latinx).

Such “othering” works to further the dehumanising idea that Muslims are a cultural menace or securitised threat, which, in turn, helps to pre-empt empathy.

The synagogue shooting came six months after a white supremacist murdered 11 people inside of a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Robert Bowers, the main suspect, faces the prospect of the death penalty if convicted. Bowers’s name appeared in the manifesto attributed to John T Earnest.

Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch terror suspect, is ‘credited’ with inspiring this latest act of antisemitic violence, which, if true, demonstrates how emboldened white supremacists and white nationalist feel to act upon the violence which underpins their ideologies.

White supremacist attacks on other faith groups remain in the headlines in the United States, as weeks earlier, a 21-year-old man, who once ‘joked’ about white power online, was charged with hate crime offences, following several arson attacks on black churches in Louisiana.

The post Poway synagogue shooting: suspect John T Earnest linked to mosque arson last month appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Antisemitism, California, Far Right groups, mosques, News, terrorism

Why was a far-right activist ‘invited’ onto a Counter Terrorism Advisory Group panel?

April 15, 2019 Article

A political candidate for the far-right For Britain party was pictured making the “okay” hand gesture, which depending on the context, has been used by white supremacists like terror suspect Brenton Tarrant and so-called ‘alt-right’ trolls, at a far-right event last year, a Tell MAMA investigation can reveal.

The wide-ranging investigation of Frankie Rufolo’s social media usage raises further questions about his suitability to sit on the Government’s Counter Terrorism Advisory Group for young people.

There’s another immediate concern: why was an individual, whose views on the For Britain group are traceable in 2017, who has been referred to Prevent, was able to secure such an invitation.

The photograph of Mr Rufolo and others making the “okay” hand gesture appeared on the social storytelling website Wattpad last year, in a poem titled “Union Flag” where he recalled attending a far-right rally. Without context or explanation, the photograph in question appeared at the end of the poem.

During a pro-Brexit protest in Exeter with well-known Islamophobe Katie Hopkins, Frankie Rufolo was pictured in an “Anti-Communist Action” t-shirt, the logo on this shirt, however, is closer to the neo-Nazi “anticom” front, which differs from the version sold by the US-based ‘Liberty Hangout’.

Credit:Twitter/KTHopkins

Mr Rufolo, however, has liked the Facebook page of the former. The page has engaged in Holocaust revisionism, including placing the number of Jewish Holocaust victims in quotation marks. Anticom helped to organise a neo-Nazi rally in Shelbyville in 2017 under the ‘White Lives Matter’ hashtag and provided security for the neo-Nazi Richard Spencer. The anticom Facebook page continues to post violent memes which target the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which mirrors the authoritarian violence of General Pinochet in Chile. Violently Islamophobic memes have also appeared on the Anticom Twitter account.

News of the Exeter bridge protest went viral after a man threatened to throw Mr Rufolo and a woman off the bridge.

Credit:DevonLive

Frankie Rufolo made headlines again after he burnt a copy of the Holy Quran in an Exeter pub following a ‘heated’ political debate.

Writing for “Make Britain Great Again”, the website of Luke Nash-Jones in 2017, an individual linked to the far-right storming of a left-wing bookshop in central London last year, Rufolo attempted to push the racialised idea of ‘Muslim-on-Muslim violence’, echoing a similar mythologised trope of ‘black-on-black violence’.

Frankie Rufolo has lionised Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson), and the Mussolini-praising Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Salvini, on Twitter.

Credit:RufoloFrancesco/Twitter.

Credit:@RufoloFrancesco/Twitter.

On January 25, Rufolo tweeted, “Islam is evil and the sooner it dies out, the better.” Other notable tweets include a reference to a “Muslim rape gang” and following news of a stabbing in London, made a crude reference to London’s first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, with the phrase “Khanage”’.

Other controversial ‘likes’ on the Facebook of Mr Rufolo includes the extremist Hindu nationalist Tapan Ghosh, who once claimed that “backwardsness is the most ‘powerful’ weapon of Islam,” was invited into parliament by Conservative MP Bob Blackman. Tell MAMA wrote a formal complaint to parliament following the appearances of Ghosh in 2017.

Photographs with the leader of For Britain, Anne Marie Waters, who expressed a desire to close mosques, end immigration from Muslim-majority countries, and for deportations, when standing for Ukip in 2015, appear on his social media.

Anne Marie Waters has sat on the leadership committee of Pegida UK, alongside Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and Paul Weston. In 2014, Ms Waters shared a platform with Lars Hedegaard, an individual who forms part of the wider ‘counter-Jihad’ network.

Mr Rufolo called David Lammy a “racist hypocrite” following the Labour MP’s criticism of Stacey Dooley, for perpetuating “tired and unhelpful stereotypes” about Africa, following her campaign work with Comic Relief.

He gave the Facebook page of Carl Benjamin (aka Sargon of Akkad) a 5-star review, adding that he was an “absolute lad”. Mr Benjamin, who intends to run as a candidate for Ukip at the upcoming European elections, was back in the news after their rape tweet to Labour MP Jess Phillips in 2016, was defended by Ukip leader Gerrard Batten, as “satire” during his appearance on the Andrew Marr Show. Following that tweet, Jess Phillips received over 600 rape threats.

A pro-refugee and pro-migrant group called “Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants-Bristol” was also given a 1-star review on Facebook by Mr Rufolo.

This Tell MAMA investigation raises further questions about Frankie Rufolo’s supposed involvement with any previous and future involvement in the Counter-Terrorism Advisory Group for young people.

The post Why was a far-right activist ‘invited’ onto a Counter Terrorism Advisory Group panel? appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Anne Marie Waters, For Britain, Frankie Rufolo, News

McDonald’s employee put bacon in Muslim man’s Filet-O-Fish

April 9, 2019 Article

A Muslim man received an apology from McDonald’s after a staff member at a Staffordshire branch of the fast food chain placed rashers of bacon in their Filet-O-Fish burger.

The apology, both from the staff member responsible and management, came after the man and others returned to complain.

The incident took place on April 8.

Speaking to Tell MAMA, the man wanted to share their experience anonymously to raise awareness.

He added that the staff and management were adamant that it was a misunderstanding, which they contested since none of their orders would ordinarily contain bacon, nor would they request it. Therefore, the only explanation for such an act was Islamophobia and anti-Muslim prejudice.

The rashers of bacon went unnoticed until they returned home and a family member brought it to their attention.

Despite the apology, the McDonald’s staff member could ‘not explain’ their actions.

The staff member was said to have been ‘annoyed’ when asked by the Muslim man and other customers about how long the food would take to prepare as the restaurant was not overly busy at around 2 pm GMT.

McDonald’s made headlines in 2017 after a security guard told a Muslim woman to remove her hijab for “security reasons”. The company then suspended the security guard and issued an apology, to which the woman affected had rejected when speaking to the BBC Asian Network.

Other examples of such discriminatory practices which viewed Muslim women through a ‘securitised lens’ appeared in Tell MAMA’s annual report for 2017.

Tell MAMA has seen verified reports of discrimination increase by 111.76 per cent in just two years, with 34 verified reports of discrimination in 2015, compared to 72 reports in 2017.

Others have described how Islamophobes have ‘weaponised’ pork products.

Tell MAMA documents such cases under the broader ‘vandalism’ category code which includes Islamophobic graffiti, damage to property motivated by anti-Muslim prejudice, or the dumping of pork products at an Islamic institution or close to Muslim families or households.

The post McDonald’s employee put bacon in Muslim man’s Filet-O-Fish appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: bacon, McDonald's, News

Man Facing Jail After Admitting Planning Bomb Attack On South London Mosque

April 8, 2019 Article

A man is facing jail after admitting planning a bomb attack on a south London mosque.

Steven Bishop, 41, admitted buying fireworks and possessing instructions on how to make an explosive at Kingston Crown Court on Monday.

Bishop, of Thornton Heath, is believed to have been planning to target Morden Mosque before his home was raided on October 29 last year.

He initially denied one count of possession of an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or cause damage to property contrary to the Explosives Substance Act 1883, but changed his plea to guilty on the first day of his trial.

Bishop previously pleaded guilty to possession of information likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism, specifically a handwritten note on how to make explosives.

The court heard that Bishop has a history of mental health problems and a number of psychiatric reports had been prepared ahead of his trial.

Judge Peter Lodder QC adjourned Bishop’s sentence until 10.15am on Wednesday.

He was remanded in custody until that date.

Bishop appeared in the dock in a white shirt and spoke only to confirm his identity and enter his guilty plea.

The post Man Facing Jail After Admitting Planning Bomb Attack On South London Mosque appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Kingston Crown Court, Morden mosque, Mosque Attack, News, South London Mosque

Amazon “declines to comment” on Islamophobic t-shirt sold online

April 4, 2019 Article

The online retail giant Amazon has “declined to comment” to Tell MAMA after members of the public raised concerns about an Islamophobic t-shirt listed for sale on the website.

The custom t-shirt has the text “Religion of Peace My Ass” printed on the front and the description claims that the product is not Islamophobic in nature, and targets all religions, despite referring to religion as a singular, not plural.

Amazon first listed the product on February 19, 2019, and is “dispatched from and sold by Amazon.”

Credit: Amazon.co.uk

The product also appears on custom t-shirt websites in the United States and Canada.

A product listing on the website Desert Cart, however, was more explicit: listing the product as an “Anti Islam” t-shirt.

The phraseology “Religion of Peace” has appeared several times in Tell MAMA data sets, with notable examples of hateful, snarling, and ironic forms of speech occurred on social media. For example, following the Islamophobic terror attack which killed 50 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, a Twitter user attempted to blame Muslims for the tragedy, “NZ was an answer to the massacre of an innocent Swedish girl and the raping of so many at Rotherham by members of the Religion of Peace.” Twitter removed this content following a report from Tell MAMA.

Credit: Twitter.

In more liberal spaces, however, the phraseology of this term finds acceptance in mainstream circles. Richard Dawkins, the famed evolutionary biologist, author, and atheist, is one such example of this. Between 2012 and 2015, he tweeted the phrase “Religion of Peace” fourteen times. The final example was of an image taken from a protest against the Islamophobic film “The Innocence of Muslims” which took place in Kolkata, India in October 2012, but Dawkins tweet captioned the decontextualised image: “Good to see young children taught the religion of peace. And look at those little faces, shining with sincerity” on July 22, 2015. This tweet alone gained over one thousand retweets.

Despite the degrees of difference in language, both examples are guilty of perpetuating harmful and dehumanising stereotypes about Islam and Muslims, with the latter gaining far more mainstream credence.

Nor are algorithms immune from such problems, as searches for terms like ‘Sharia’ took Google users to websites like thereligionofpeace.com, which purport to be neutral sources of information, but promote anti-Muslim conspiracy theories like ‘taqiyya’.

Amazon prohibits the sale of items “that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance” and reserves the right to remove such items from sale. Hence why Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) has his co-authored book on Islam removed from sale.

The company has removed other examples of Islamophobic items, but when Tell MAMA cited the above policy in its correspondence, Amazon’s press office declined to comment.

The post Amazon “declines to comment” on Islamophobic t-shirt sold online appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: Amazon, News, online

Children told Muslim classmate “I’m going to burn your Holy Quran in front of you” on Xbox Live

April 2, 2019 Article

A school in the Yorkshire area involved the police after students targeted their Muslim classmate over Xbox Live with Islamophobic abuse and threats, Tell MAMA can reveal.

Comments directed at the Muslim student included references to burning a copy of the Holy Quran, Islamophobic and homophobic comments about the student’s parents, and other threats.

Following the intervention of the police and the school, the parents have since relocated their child to a different school due to ongoing racist bullying.

The incident took place on March 23.

During the gameplay, four of the abusive students joined their game online and made comments which included, “I’m going to burn your Holy Quran in front of you.”

When the abuse was challenged the students replied with hateful comments about the Muslim child’s parents which included that their father was a “terrorist” who wears a “suicide vest”, and the homophobic slur that their mother is “gay”.

Others suggested that the young child should “kill themselves because that’s what Muslims do”. And if they failed to kill themselves with pork, they would do it for them.

One of the parents involved in the case consented for Tell MAMA to share this story anonymously.

The nature of online abuse showcases how the realities of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred continue to have an online element, though a clear majority of such cases occur on social media platforms.

A network analysis of social media perpetrators reported to Tell MAMA during the interim of last year revealed the influence of high-profile media personalities and political figures who contribute to toxic and discursive communities which allow Islamophobic speech to fester.

Over on Reddit, the popular /r/Games, a subreddit, with 1.7million subscribers was temporarily closed by moderators in protest at the Islamophobic, transphobic, racist, and misogynistic comments of some its subscriber base, according to Kotaku.

Academics have noted how linguistic profiling harms women of colour on Xbox Live, opening them up to misogynistic and racist abuse.

In 2017, Tell MAMA published a video to raise awareness of Islamophobia and other forms of abuse in online gaming spheres.

The post Children told Muslim classmate “I’m going to burn your Holy Quran in front of you” on Xbox Live appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Categories: bullying, gaming, News, Xbox Live