Support within Europe for far right extremism has echoes of a turbulent past

June 20, 2016 Article

By Nafeez Ahmed, on behalf of Tell MAMA

More than half a century after the Second World War, the West is sliding toward a resurgence of far-right political movements.

A new report [i] funded by the German Federal Foreign Office reveals that public support for far-right political parties in Europe has risen exponentially since 1999, resulting in record wins in the European Parliament, as well as levels of influence on national governments unprecedented in the post-war era.

An analysis of the report’s data suggests that far-right parties are poised to take a third of all seats in the next round of European elections in 2019.

The German report coincides with a wide range of new scholarship exploring the similarities between anti-Muslim hatred today, and vitriolic anti-Semitism in the early 20^th century. These new scientific studies by leading experts paint an alarming picture of the rise of xenophobia across the world’s most powerful liberal democracies, with parallels to the toxic climate of the 1930s.

1.1 Far-right tipping point in Europe?

As anti-Muslim sentiment has been mainstreamed in the United States through the xenophobic rhetoric of the leading Republican presidential candidates, far-right parties across the European Union are making dramatic electoral gains.

In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) sent shockwaves throughout the country with its extraordinary success in the presidential elections, a hair’s breadth away from total victory. In March, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party made startling gains in regional elections in three states. The AfD is now Germany’s third most popular [ii] political party according to an opinion poll [iii] conducted in November 2015 by INSA.

This is being mirrored elsewhere, with far-right parties building popular support in Slovakia (People’s Party), Hungary (Jobbik), Greece (Golden Dawn) and France (National Front).

But the new report sponsored by the German Foreign Office shows that these gains are part of an alarming pattern of increasing popular support that is likely to escalate. The report by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, released in February 2016, warned that “far-right parties and movements are on the offensive in many countries worldwide in the wake of the global financial crisis.”

The European elections two years ago, the report concludes, were “the most successful to date for the far-right parties in the EU.” Far right parties have “secured 172 seats in the European Parliament. That corresponds to just under 23 percent of the seats.”

The new report, is authored by Thilo Janssen, a research fellow in the European Parliament. His review of European election data since 1999 reveals that the rate of increase of seats for far-right parties has doubled in each election.

1.2 Exponential growth

Looking closely at the rate of increase, it is clear that this is an exponential trend. In 1999, far-right seats took 11 per cent of the European Parliament. This rose by 1.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent of seats after the 2004 election. In the 2009 election, the number of far-right seats increased by 3 per cent—double the previous rate of increase—to 15 per cent.

Then in the 2014 election, the number of far-right seats rocketed up to 22.9 per cent—an increase of 6.9 per cent, which is more than double the preceding rate of increase.

Janssen Picture Figure 1 Source – Janssen (2016)

If this exponential rate of increase continues, far-right parties could win 37 per cent of seats in the European Parliament in the next election. This happens to be the same percentage of German votes that Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist party won in July 1932, precipitating the rise of the Nazi regime.

That parity should not be assumed to imply that today’s European far-right will at this point automatically acquire the access necessary to cement control of the levers of power in the European Parliament. Even at the point of his party’s entry into government, Hitler still required concessions from the left among other forms of collaboration to assure his rise to power. However, the parallel should be taken seriously as a signal that if current trends continue, the European far-right could be in a formidable position by 2019. If these far-right parties are able to organise coherently as a single voting bloc in the European Parliament from this position with dramatically greater access to EU funding, this could provide a foundation for further consolidation and expansion, both internationally and among their own domestic constituencies.

“Right-wing populist parties in the EU are persistently on the rise, which in some Member States has taken them to the brink of obtaining a majority in parliamentary elections,” observes Janssen in his report, who also points out that their numerical strength in the EU Parliament is “chiefly due to successes in the economically strong Member States in the north and west of the EU”—namely, the UK, France, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland and Belgium.

Despite major differences, these parties share a focus on populist resentments against immigrants, often grouped together as “Muslims”; and unwavering hostility toward the supranational EU, perceived as “the embodiment” of capitulation to the existential threat of Islam.

In November 2015, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn—who chairs the EU’s General Affairs Council in Brussels—warned that the nationalist policy agendas of anti-immigrant far-right parties could catalyse an EU break-up “within months.”

“This false nationalism can lead to a real war,” he told the Germany press agency, DPA.

1.3 Islamophobia as cover for far-right ideology

Although these groups portray Muslims as ‘the enemy’, and some advocate support for Israel, new research confirms that this is a tactical shift to provide cover for their far-right origins and sympathies.

A peer-reviewed study published in early April in the Routledge journal Israel Affairs finds that anti-Muslim hatred is increasingly being used by far-right extremists as a proxy for longstanding racist and anti-Semitic ideologies.[iv]

The paper, authored by Professor Amikam Nachmani—chair of the Department of Political Science at Bar-Ilan University—highlights semantic parallels in the way Jews and Muslims have been targeted by historic and contemporary fascists:

“Like today’s Muslim immigrants who are described as preferring ghettoization and parallel societies, Jews were said to emphasise their separate existence, exclusiveness and rejection of universalism since Biblical times… Nazi-style rhetoric employed against the Jews is now targeted against Muslims.”

Whereas the Nazis cited the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Hitler’s Mein Kampf to ‘prove’ that all Jews are agents of an international conspiracy to control the world, today selective cherry-picking of Islamic texts is used to claim that Islam commands “every Muslim to fight an uncompromising holy war against non-Muslims.”

Muslims in the West are “perceived as the spearhead of the campaign to Islamise Europe,” explains Nachmani, while Muslim population growth is presented as a covert strategy to conquer Europe:

“Since the mass migration of the presently 30-40 million unemployed or refugee Arabs will be heading to Western Europe, Armageddon will be fought out on European soil.”

Professor Nachmani’s most alarming argument is that many of the most popular far-right groups are using the banner of Israel to conceal their neo-Nazi sympathies, and garner political legitimacy:

“Right-wing Europeans, among them Holocaust deniers and ardent anti-Semites, frequently decry Arab and Muslim migrants… But these very circles also consider it ‘natural’ to show sympathy for Israel, perceived by them as a staunch enemy of the Arab nation and Muslims…

European right-wingers, nationalists and fascists are presently engaging in a freakish turn: they aim to gain legitimacy by courting Israel. They hope to brush aside their hatred of Jews and the anti-Semitic past of their countries, thanks to the support they grant to the Israeli cause in the Arab-Israeli/Palestinian-Israeli conflict…”

Yet Nachmani writes that the same far-right groups have backed “proposals to limit Jewish religious freedoms.” He highlights their “proposed bans on circumcision, ritual slaughtering and distinctive religious attire” aimed primarily at Muslims:

“Jewish law, however, prescribes similar practices. The result is that anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment amounts to anti-Semitism or, more accurately, anti-Judaism.”

1.4 From anti-Semitism to anti-Muslim hatred

The tactical shift in xenophobic discourse is possible because there are important structural parallels between the targeting of Jews and the demonisation of Muslims.

A new peer-reviewed paper published in The Anthology of Migration and Social Transformation finds that “the structure and function of anti-Muslim racism and anti-Semitism are actually similar in terms of the ways in which they operate especially in times of social-economic and political turmoil.”[v]

The anthology, published by science publisher Springer, is part of IMISCOE (International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion), the largest academic network on migration in the world. Study author Professor Ayhan Kaya of the European University Institute in Florence is currently funded by the European Commission to research identity, pluralism and tolerance in the EU.

Professor Kaya’s paper argues that although anti-Muslim racism and anti-Semitism cannot be lumped together due to fundamental historical differences, there are important commonalities: “Both anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim racism focus on belief in religious law to render Jews and Muslims as threats to the nation.”

While anti-Semitism encompasses views that racialise Jews “as an assimilated threat to national interests emerging at moments of crisis”, this is now happening to Muslims:

“Muslims are now being represented as a different kind of folk devil, a social group that is openly and aggressively trying to impose its religion on national culture… Muslims have become global ‘scapegoats’, blamed for all negative social phenomena such as illegality, crime, violence, drug abuse, radicalism, fundamentalism, conflict and financial burdens… There is a growing fear in the United States, Europe and even in Russia and the post-Soviet countries that Muslims will demographically take over sooner or later.”

According to Kaya, public opinion poll data demonstrates sharp increases in negative attitudes toward Muslim minorities across the West, in some cases reaching close to 50 per cent of each national population. This has manifested in “increasing numbers of attacks and instances of discrimination against Muslims, as well as rallies and gatherings touting anti-Muslim messages.”

1.5 Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish hatred: Possibly two sides of the same racism?

Kaya’s findings are corroborated [vi] by a 2015 Pew Global Attitudes poll of European public opinion, which found that negative opinions toward Muslims was more than twice the rate of negative opinions towards Jews.

The percentage of Europeans who viewed Jews unfavourably was just 13 per cent, compared to 33 per cent who viewed Muslims unfavourably—a third of the Europeans surveyed. The poll also showed that half or more of the public in six of the European countries surveyed believed that the emergence of far-right ‘Eurosceptic’ parties is a good thing.

These complexities are reflected in recent hate crime data. In London [vii], a total of 483 incidents against Jewish people and properties was recorded for the year 2014 to 2015, an increase of 61 per cent from the preceding year. In the same period, 818 Islamophobic hate crimes were recorded, nearly double the number of anti-Semitic attacks, and an increase of 63.9 per cent from the previous year.

In France [viii], anti-Semitic attacks continued to outnumber anti-Muslim hate crimes. Although anti-Semitic incidents dropped by 5 per cent in 2015, their total number was 806. While attacks against Muslim people and properties tripled in volume, their total number was 400—half the number of attacks committed against Jews.

In testimony earlier this month before an OSCE session on hate crimes, Susan Corke—Director of Anti-Semitism and Extremism for Human Rights First—said that the prevalence of anti-Semitism in France was occurring “within the context of broader and interrelated phenomena including the ascendancy of the far-right National Front party, mounting anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment, the spread of Islamist extremism, and the increasing alienation of many Muslims in France.”

In other words, anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred, despite varying degrees, remain closely interrelated and are both at record levels.

1.6 Europe’s perpetual Jewish-Muslim problem

The waxing and waning of anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred is no coincidence, but part of their complex interrelationship in the context of the tortured evolution of European nationalism.

A paper released late last year by Professor Ethan B. Katz, a historian at the University of Cincinnati, in the Wiley journal Cross Currents, illustrates how both forms of xenophobia emerged directly from Europe’s colonial-era civilising missions.[ix]

Colonialism, writes Professor Katz, “shaped, utilised, and manifested itself in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century.”

During the mid-to-late nineteenth century, Katz says, “Islamophobia became much more pronounced in the colonial venture than anti-Semitism. Although Jews’ position was never entirely secure, in certain instances they even benefited from colonial rule.”

After the First World War, however, at the height of the colonial venture, anti-Muslim hatred was rapidly overtaken by anti-Semitism across Europe:

“Both Jews and Muslims were frequently depicted with highly racialised imagery and in many instances faced significant legal and social discrimination. At the same time, Muslims in particular were often the target of propaganda campaigns meant to win their loyalty for one European power or another, as well as provocations meant to turn them against Jews.”

During the Second World War, Europe’s increasingly violent anti-Semitism “crystallised in the horrors of the Holocaust.” Europe’s colonial powers and other political forces “saw in Muslims a possible constituency for their wartime aims,” elevating their position considerably.

In ensuing decades, Katz argues, far-right parties have made “Islamophobic anti-immigrant sentiment far more central to their politics than anti-Semitism.”

For Katz, this grim history provides evidence that anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are “inseparable hatreds” that have fluctuated in the context of geopolitical and nationalistic trends within Europe.

“At no time were anti-Semitism or Islamophobia entirely separate from one another,” he points out. “Rather, they were often mutually reinforcing, either through policies of divide-and-rule or through the heightened fears they produced about both Jews and Muslims.”

He closes with the following words of caution: “… when the rhetoric of either anti-Semitism or Islamophobia is invoked, whichever remains unmentioned is often present in the uncomfortable silence.”

1.7 Minorities at risk

This growing body of research raises urgent issues. Firstly, it demonstrates that the new far-right are perfectly capable of switching racialised loyalties for tactical reasons, demonstrating that Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe are very much in the same boat, regardless of public far-right overtures to Israel.

Assumptions that these overtures imply a real reduction in anti-Semitic ideology are misleading. As this investigation will show in due course, this concern applies equally to far-right overtures to other minorities traditionally discriminated against by fascist parties, including black and ethnic minorities, religious groups like Sikhs and Hindus, LGBTQI+ people, and even those with disabilities.

Secondly, political trends over the last 15 years suggest that a coalition of far-right parties—many with documented neo-Nazi sympathies—are poised to win shocking political victories across Europe over the next few years in national, regional and EU elections: and possibly as much as a third of seats in the European Parliament in 2019.

Thirdly, this prospect calls into question the stability of the entire security architecture of the postwar international system. Whatever the flaws of this system—and they are real—it has permitted peace within Europe for 66 years.

The potential fragility of intra-European cooperation and peace under a far-right resurgence should not be underestimated.

[i] Thilo Janssen, A love-hate relationship: Far-right parties and the European Union (Brussels, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, 2016) https://www.rosalux.de/publication/42151/a-love-hate-relationship.html. Report funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

[ii] Jorg Luyken, ‘Hard-right AfD now 3rd biggest German party’, The Local.de (17 November 2015) http://www.thelocal.de/20151117/hard-right-afd-now-3rd-biggest-party-says-polling

[iii] INSA survey data, http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/insa.htm

[iv] Amikam Nachmani, ‘The past as a yardstick: Europeans, Muslim migrants and the onus of European-Jewish histories’, Israel Affairs (Vol. 22, No. 2, April 2016)

[v] Ayhan Kaya, ‘“Islamophobism” as an Ideology in the West: Scapegoating Migrants of Muslim Origin’, in Anna Amelina, Kenneth Horvath, Bruno Meeus (eds.), An Anthology of Migration and Social Transformation, IMISCOE Research Series (Geneva: Springer, 2016) pp. 281-294

[vi] Bruce Stokes, Faith in European Project Reviving: Bust Most Say Rise of Eurosceptic Parties is a Good Thing (Pew Research Center, June 2015) http://www.pewglobal.org/files/2015/06/Pew-Research-Center-European-Union-Report-FINAL-June-2-20151.pdf

[vii] Anil Dawar, ‘Jewish and Muslim communities both see race hate crimes rocket’, Daily Express (30 December 2015) http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/630446/Jewish-Muslim-hate-crimes-London

[viii] ‘Anti-Semitic incidents in France down by 5 percent in 2015’, Jewish Telegraph Agency (20 January 2016) http://www.jta.org/2016/01/20/news-opinion/world/anti-semitic-incidents-for-2015-decrease-in-france-by-5-percent-over-previous-year

[ix] Ethan Katz, ‘Shifting hierarchies of exclusion: colonialism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia in European history’, Cross Currents (Vol. 65, No. 3, September 2015) pp. 357-370

Tell MAMA independently and separately commissioned Insurge-Intelligence to look at networks of far right extremism within Europe with a view to assessing the impacts of far right extremism in Europe. The views and opinions in the reports do not necessarily represent views and opinions of Tell MAMA.

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Categories: AfD, Alternative for Germany, anti-Muslim hatred, Antisemitism, Europe, far right extremism, Far Right groups, Freedom Party, Israel, Muslim, Nafeez Ahmed, Opinions, Professor Amikam Nachman

Muslim women swabbed for explosives at Italian airport ‘because of their hijabs’

June 17, 2016 Article

British Muslim women were subject to an explosives search for at Florence airport earlier this month.

The woman had travelled with family members for a weekend break on June 3. A majority of whom were women in hijabs. She confirmed to Tell MAMA staff that they had no issues entering Florence. But searches were carried out under their hijabs before they could return home.

A video of the incident was also passed to our staff confirms the allegations. We learn from the video that airport security

“This is Italy. This is policy. But this is how they teach us how to do it. And we have to do it. It is nothing personal”.

The women were informed that they could complain about the policy. Despite their upset, they did not object to the search, they only sought to establish its justification.

One victim told security, “In London we check under the hair – they put their hand under the hair and touch,” in reference to a drug test.

A member of the security staff then replied: “This is not a drug test. This is for bombs”.

When asked “what is the problem now?” One of the Muslim women replied “My problem? Is that you guys are racist”.

It’s clear from the video that frustrations grew when staff did not address the complaint of racial profiling. The woman who sent this video to Tell MAMA had to delete the video before she was allowed to fly. She emailed it to a family member before deletion.

Tell MAMA will raise the issue further on behalf of the victim with the Italian Embassy.

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Categories: airport, discrimination, Hijab, Italy, News

Police investigate possible hate crime against Al-Huda Islamic Centre in Sheffield

June 17, 2016 Article

Police are investigating a possible hate crime against the Al-Huda Islamic Centre in Sheffield. The building is on Hanover Street.

Muhbeen Hussain, the founder of British Muslim Youth, contacted Tell MAMA about this incident this morning.

Reports coming in that a mosque in Sheffield has been attacked. Quran's and items inside have been decimated. @TellMamaUK

— Muhbeen Hussain (@MuhbeenH) June 17, 2016

. Report confirmed. The mosque attacked was Al-Huda Islamic Centre in Sheffield. Potential hate crime, yet this unconfirmed. @TellMamaUK

— Muhbeen Hussain (@MuhbeenH) June 17, 2016

British Muslim Youth posted at 4:12am this morning:”Confirmed reports that Al-Huda Islamic Centre in Sheffield has been attacked. It may be a possible hate crime but at the moment, it is unconfirmed.

Sources are suggesting that Quran’s have been decimated and other horrible acts have been committed.”

The group also tweeted: “Al Huda Islamic Centre, Sheffield has been attacked. Qurans decimated. #risinghate”.
Photos were also attached.

Our staff are trying to contact the Islamic Centre to offer support and security advice.

The BBC’s Sheffield and South Yorkshire live blog also picked up the story.

A video from the scene has now appeared online:

We extend our gratitude to Muhbeen Hussain and British Muslim Youth for reporting this incident to Tell MAMA. It’s important to remember that every report matters.

Did you witness the incident? You can contact Tell MAMA in confidence on 0800 456 1226. Or email info@tellmamauk.org

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Categories: crime, hate crime, Islamic centre, News, Quran, vandalism

Omar Seddique Mateen. Synonymous of Homophobic Bigotry We Must Overcome

June 12, 2016 Article

About two years ago, we stood up against some of the homophobia that we were coming across not only in wider society but also within some small sections of Muslim communities. The wide majority of Muslims in the UK get on with their lives and worship piously and without any harm or hindrance to anyone. Some of these law-abiding citizens suffer prejudice, and some on a weekly basis and with much of it being targeted at visible Muslim women.

Yet, even though we have been at the front lines of tackling anti-Muslim hatred in the UK, the minute we stood up in solidarity with LGBTQ communities against homophobia targeted at these communities and against gay Muslims, we had Whatsapp campaigns targeted at us, sometimes by the very groups purporting to tackle Islamophobia. In other words, they were willing to tackle one form of hate, but because a man loved a man or a woman a woman, they were not willing to tackle prejudice against these communities and instead turned their fire on groups like us who stood in solidarity with LGBTQ communities and against hatred and intolerance.

No doubt, you will hear the usual platitudes about how IS (Daesh) are terrible and how evil they are. We know that, that is not the point. The point here is that the gay community in the US was specifically targeted and murdered in cold blood. So, we are sure that some will be asking the following questions.

“Is this what God wants? Is this what life is about? Is this what religion is about?” We believe the answer to all of these questions is a firm ‘no’.

Let us also be clear. We will give no quarter to anti-Muslim bigotry, as we will give no quarter to LGBTQ hate or to anti-Semitism. We will continue to work with partners to tackle such intolerance and bigotry and if we come across it within some small sections of Muslim communities, we will actively and robustly challenge it. If groups choose to campaign against us on this, then we say, you will not win. You will not win because of the hatred and prejudice you promote and you will not frame the lives of people who are different and unique within the borders of hatred and intolerance.

Today, young lives were lost because of the hatred of Omar Seddique Mateen. Tomorrow, let us get up with righteousness on our side and counter those who hate people because they are gay, or Muslims or Jews. That is the righteous struggle ahead and there is still more work to be done.

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Categories: hate crime, hatred, LGBTQ, News, Omar Seddique Mateen, Opinions, Orlando, US

U.S. Army reserve major threatened North Carolina mosque

June 12, 2016 Article

A North Carolina man faces ethnic intimidation charges after leaving bacon at a mosque and making death threats to its members as they prepared for worship in observance of Ramadan, Islam’s holy month, authorities said on Friday.

Russell Thomas Langford of Fayetteville was arrested late on Thursday, the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office said. He is a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, WTVD-TV in Raleigh said, quoting officials at Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina.

Maj. Russell Thomas Langford, 36, made death threats against members of the Masjid Al Madina mosque in Raeford about 20 miles southwest of Fayetteville, US. (Picture Courtesy of New York Daily News).

On Thursday afternoon, members of the Masjid Al Madina in Raeford found two packages of bacon at the mosque entrance, the sheriff’s office said.

Observant Muslims are prohibited from consuming pork products. Ramadan is Islam’s holy month, during which believers abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours.

Langford is charged with ethnic intimidation, assault with a deadly weapon, going armed to the terror of the public, communicating threats, stalking and disorderly conduct, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Officials with the sheriff’s office and Fort Bragg military base could not be reached for comment on Friday.

“We have called for stepped-up police presence not only for that mosque but others in that state,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group.

“Every mosque all over the country has nightly Ramadan activities, so they’re vulnerable,” he said.

A Chevy Tahoe was in the parking lot when the bacon was found, and the driver of the Tahoe, later identified as Langford, followed one of the members home, the sheriff’s statement said.

The suspect returned in the evening, showed a gun to one of the members, a retired Army captain and Muslim chaplain at Fort Bragg, and threatened to kill him, according to a report by WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C.

The chaplain invited him inside to talk, but the man left, the report said. Later, the man returned in his SUV and tried to run over a group of people who were going inside the mosque for evening Ramadan prayers, the report said.

Investigators found firearms, ammunition and other weapons inside Langford’s vehicle, according to the sheriff’s statement.

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Categories: anti-Muslim hatred, bacon, mosque, mosques, News, North Caroline, Ramadhan, US

Anti-Muslim Hatred Should Not Be Used to Divide Communities

June 11, 2016 Article

Organisations and agencies working on tackling hatred and prejudice have a duty to highlight the reality of such issues, whilst carefully balancing the community impacts of the information that is disseminated.

In undertaking this work, whilst anti-Muslim hatred may be an issue that is sadly growing, it should not be the over-riding issue through which communities view each other and neither should it be become the all-encompassing issue through which Muslims see non-Muslims. This is neither healthy nor realistic since so many people who work and engage with us are people who are not Muslims and who care that such hatred should not take root in our country.

Yet, there are groups who work on countering anti-Muslim prejudice or Islamophobia who constantly promote the view of ‘them and us‘. This is not only inaccurate, it is dangerous and does not highlight the large number of people in our country who actively tackle such hatred and who stand up against anti-Muslim prejudice. Such organisations add fuel to those extremist groups who believe that Muslims and non-Muslims cannot live together. This is far from responsible and puts us all at risk.

Lastly, anti-Muslim hatred is an issue that is being tackled. It will continue to be and we will do so with vigour and with drive and determination. Yet, we do this with many who are of no faith and who are not Muslim. That is the strength of our country – that at points when we need to stand together, we do. That is the unique nature of the set of values that we must all hang onto.

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Categories: anti-Muslim hatred, communities, non-Muslims, Opinions

Crawley Ahmaddiya Mosque Suffers a Hate Crime

June 6, 2016 Article

Once again, a peaceful law-abiding community suffers the injustice of being targeted for hate graffiti and is targeted on the basis that some Muslims regard it as being heretical. So what do these moral guardians of faith do, they decide to promote intra-Muslim sectarianism by scrawling the following on the Noor Mosque in Crawley.

The comments listed on the door of the mosque are simply an affront to all of the community who use the mosque and sends out a signal that they are not valued or accepted.

This case highlights how hatred and intolerance impacts on wider communities and where the perpetrator has no sense of morality in targeting a place of worship.

Judging by the language on the mosque, we believe that it has been written by someone with some local knowledge and who may reside in the area. It may also have been written by a Muslim given the language used.

We have passed this case onto Sussex Police who have confirmed that they are looking into this matter. If requested by the police, we would also be happy to provide a community impact statement if someone is arrested on suspicion of the offence. Such actions are unacceptable and we will do all we can to ensure that any perpetrator who is charged, knows that the full weight of the law will come down on them for such actions which target all users of that mosque.

Noor Mosque 2

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Categories: Ahmaddiya, Crawley, intra-Muslim, News, Noor mosque

Shot Allegedly Fired at Young Female Muslim in the Rotherham Area. Police Find No Evidence

May 27, 2016 Article

We received notice of an incident in the Rotherham area yesterday evening which according to the victim was said to have involved a firearm, (possibly a pellet gun), which was allegedly fired at a young Hijab wearing driver in the area and this was mentioned by relatives in the initial instance after the incident. The incident led to the rear side window of the vehicle that the 24 year old Muslim female was driving, to shatter.

South Yorkshire police have interviewed the victim and having reviewed the damage to the vehicle, have concluded that a shot was not fired and they have checked the vehicle. It seems that the victim heard a loud bang which could have been due to the damage to the rear side vehicle which was broken.

Rotherham has sadly become synonymous with the grooming scandal that affected over 1,000 young girls and we have previously written about the anti-Muslim hate incidents that have taken place in the town since late 2014. Tensions also recently rose between members of the local Muslim community and South Yorkshire police where a short-lived boycott on non-emergency police engagement took place because of strong feelings in the local British Muslim population that little was being done to tackle anti-Muslim hate crimes.

Yesterday evening a Facebook post by the aunt of the victim highlighted her frustration about people whom she regarded as being Islamophobic. She stated:

“Wanna know how I feel?!……..angry is not the word!!!!! *#¥*#!!!

Alhamdulillah (thanks to God) my niece wasn’t killed today after two men on a motorbike shouted Islamaphobic and racist abuse at her whilst she was driving and then shot at her with a gun, thankfully she managed to speed away and narrowly avoided being hit, Alhamdulillah she is ok.”

More details have also emerged about the incident where the victim was clearly identifiable as a Muslim female since she wears the Hijab. This incident, seems to have been targeted and particularly malicious given the fact that the victim received anti-Muslim abuse as she was driving before a firearm was allegedly pulled out by the perpetrators. The victim also stated that she heard what seemed to be a loud gunshot type noise, with the rear window then shattering into pieces. However, as suggested before, after an investigation of the vehicle by the police, the rear window may well have been shattered by an item striking it other than a pellet or a live round and the victim is adamant that she saw a handgun.

We are in the process of engaging with the family concerned and given the seriousness of what seems to be an anti-Muslim hate crime. Given the fact that community tensions have risen and fallen with some intensity in Rotherham in the last 24 months, the latest incident will do nothing to reduce tensions and perceptions within local communities.

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Categories: anti-Muslim hate crime, Hijab, News, Shots, South Yorkshire police

‘This is America’ air traveler says guilty of yanking Muslim’s scarf

May 13, 2016 Article

Individual Pleads Guilty to Islamophobic Assault on Muslim Woman Wearing the Hijab

A North Carolina man admitted on Friday that he ripped off a Muslim woman’s head scarf during a flight to New Mexico last December after saying, “Take it off! This is America!”

Gill Payne, 37, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in New Mexico to one count of using force to intentionally obstruct the woman from freely exercising her religious beliefs, prosecutors said.

“No matter one’s faith, all Americans are entitled to peacefully exercise their religious beliefs free from discrimination and violence,” said Vanita Gupta, head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

An attorney for Payne did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Payne admitted that on a flight last December, he approached the aisle where the Muslim woman was seated shortly before landing in Albuquerque, and stopped next to her seat, Prosecutors said.

Payne then told the woman, a stranger identified in court documents as K.A., to take off her hijab, saying something to the effect of “Take it off! This is America!” prosecutors said.

Payne then grabbed the back of the hijab and “pulled it all the way off,” leaving her head exposed.

“As a result, K.A. felt violated and quickly pulled the hijab back up and covered her head again,” prosecutors said in a statement.

A sentencing hearing for Payne has not yet been set, prosecutors said.

The guilty plea comes in the wake of a number of anti-Muslim incidents in the United States.

Earlier this week, a Muslim advocacy group said a California student was embarrassed and distressed after her name was incorrectly listed as Isis, the abbreviated name of the Islamic militant group.

In late April, a New Jersey school board member resigned after drawing fire over anti-Muslim Facebook posts, including one saying, “America needs to get rid of people like you.”

In the wake of deadly attacks by Islamist militants in Paris and California last year, Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican White House nominee, called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.

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Categories: abuse, Air travel, Donald Trump, Gill Payne, Hijab, Muslim, Muslim woman, New Mexico, News, North Carolina, Plane, This is America

How a MailOnline article distorted a video from 2014 to highlight ‘racist’ Muslim women

May 13, 2016 Article

A recent story published by MailOnline and The Sun reposted an argument between TfL passengers from December 14, 2014.

The respective headlines gave weight to the ‘You white sl*g!’ and ‘Don’t call me a white b***h!’ comments. We are then informed that ‘Two white women and two women wearing hijabs fired insults at each other while a horrified onlooker filmed the whole thing’. And ‘Shocking moment ‘racist’ Muslim women face off with white women in vicious confrontation on a London train’.

Both journalists make efforts to transcribe the argument, its insults and abuses. Yet the MailOnline copy makes little effort to highlight the abusive comments directed at the Muslim women. It acknowledges that they experience a ‘torrent of racist and Islamophobic abuse’; but does little to provide readers with statements until the end of the article.

Missing from the MailOnline copy are these statements:

“I don’t care if that’s your family or not or one of yous (sic), I don’t give a s**t she’s sitting there with her headscarf on being racist.”

“She’s sitting there with a headscarf on like I’m going to be threatened.”

“You’re a Muslim p***k, with that s**t round your head.”

To the Sun’s credit, the journalist did acknowledge that the argument was not quite so one-sided. But the accusation of racism remains directed solely at the Muslim women, abusive statements directed at the Muslim women are not afforded the same scrutiny, even when the MailOnline article acknowledges that the Muslim women experienced racist and Islamophobic abuse.

The MailOnline copy did acknowledge that the video surfaced in December 2014; but you’d need to read further down the article to learn this fact. The Sun, however, made the odd claim that ‘an eyewitness filmed the altercation in March but the footage has only just surfaced online’. This may owe to the fact the article appeared a day after the MailOnline version appeared online.

In a heated and unpleasant argument where neither side comes across well, the context of what triggered the argument eludes both articles. That context does appear in the original video description.

YouTube user Jo Hip wrote that the argument had started ten minutes before they hit record. According to Jo Hip, “it all started when the white girl noticed the somalian girls steering at her and making comments under their breaths, after a while the white girl asked them, ‘Why do you keep on looking at me?. The Somalian girls responded by saying, ‘We’re free to look at whoever we want’”.

The description then adds:”After a while the white girl said ‘ I’ve dealt with many people like you and I won’t be intimidated’. When the Somalian girls heard the White girl say ‘People like you’, they assumed she was talking about their religion or race, they then said’ What do you mean people like us? Somalian? Muslim?? Well you’re nothing but a ‘White Slag’.”

Only after hearing the utterance of ‘white slag’ did the video record. The justification for filming was “to show the ignorance of people. Ignorance knows no colour or religion.”

This distorted framing of the article perhaps influenced some the comments from MailOnline readers. It reflected their own anxieties towards multiculturalism. Others recycled myths that the police would favour the Muslim women. It also captured their pessimism and fatalism. Soon it became clear that the comments focused less on the content and more on their own broader concerns and biases.

A bigger question, however, remains: why was a video uploaded in December 2014 reposted in 2016?

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Categories: Daily Mail, MailOnline, Muslim, News, the Sun