Islamophobia Watch

"All those who have complained about the racist site Blog Cochon will be pleased to know that Blogger has decided to ban the site from public viewing on the basis that it is in contravention of its Contents Policy. Blogger is to be congratulated and supported in its exemplary actions."

Chimes of Freedom reports on a successful campaign against an Islamophobic French-language website.

The president of the Union for Reform Judaism accused American media, politicians and religious groups on Friday of demonizing Islam. Addressing the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America, Rabbi Eric Yoffie said Muslims have been turned into "satanic figures."

"There exists in this country among all Americans, whether Jews, Christians, or non-believers, a huge and profound ignorance about Islam ... there is no shortage of voices prepared to tell us that fanaticism and intolerance are fundamental to Islamic religion, and that violence and even suicide bombing have deep Koranic roots," he said.

Yoffie said his organization is discussing with Muslim leaders a dialogue and education program in the near future to increase understanding between the two faiths. He said Americans need to know "how far removed Islam is from the perverse distortions of the terrorists who too often dominate the media, subverting Islam's image by professing to speak in its name."

Ha'aretz, 1 September 2007

Concerns have been raised over whether a groundbreaking Arabic-themed school in New York, due to open next week, will be a model of coexistence or a conduit for extremism. Education Department officials have said that religion will not be taught at the Khalil Gibran International Academy, which is set to open on September 4 and will focus on Arab language and Arabic culture.

Such specialised schools are common in New York, and the city's Department of Education has continued to insist that the school will be no different from Chinese- or Hispanic-oriented public schools. But others fear that the academy may teach students extremist Islamic beliefs.

One local politician, State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, alleged that the school had been endorsed by "radical" groups. "Establishment of an Arab school is a misguided and dangerous idea," the Democratic politician – who represents a large Jewish constituency – told the JC. "It will not, as suggested, be a hope for peace; it is a blueprint for anti-Israel and anti-US extremism."

Conservative commentator Daniel Pipes has slammed the project as "a Public Jihad School" where "imbuing pan-Arabism and anti-Zionism, proselytising for Islam, and promoting Islamist sympathies will predictably make up the school's true curriculum".

Supporters of the school – named after a Lebanese Christian poet – have vigorously denied such allegations. In a recent demonstration supporting the school, a mix of Jews and Muslims carried signs that read "NYC needs multi-cultural education" and "The Torah and the Koran both teach peace". Speaking at the rally, Rabbi Michael Feinberg of the Greater NY Labour-Religion Coalition said elected officials should come forward to defend the school.

Jewish Chronicle, 31 August 2007

In many Western cities, plans to erect mosques often stir more passion than any other local issue – and politicians are leaping into the fray. The Economist reports.

In the US earlier this week a controversy broke out over the decision by the Washington Post not to publish (at least in its printed edition) Sunday's instalment of the cartoon strip "Opus," in which a character appears in a headscarf and explains to her boyfriend that she wants to become a radical Islamist. Reports have pointed out that a recent episode of the same cartoon strip ridiculed the late right-wing Christian fundamentalist Jerry Falwell, yet no attempt was made to ban it. Predictably, the right-wing blogosphere has leapt on this issue, accusing the media of applying double standards and discriminating in favour of Muslims ("Christians are fair game, Muslims aren't").

Whether the Washington Post was correct to spike the cartoon is a matter of debate (see for example Sheila Musaji's comments at The American Muslim). But what should be rejected outright is the stupid notion that reinforcing stereotypes about a minority ethno-religious community which is already the object of a poisonous right-wing propaganda campaign is the same as taking the piss out of a white Christian evangelist like Jerry Falwell.

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NAIROBI – Kenyan Muslims marched on police headquarters in Nairobi on Thursday in protest against what they called the illegal detention and torture of fellow Muslims in an anti-terrorist drive urged on by the United States. The protest involving a few dozen people followed months of simmering tensions between the east African nation's Muslim community and authorities they accuse of persecuting and arresting them on U.S. government orders.

Reuters, 30 August 2007

A woman felt "violated" when a man pulled off her religious headscarf – hijab – as she walked along a north Wales street pushing a pushchair.

BBC News report

"The biggest risk to David Cameron's leadership to date has been his appointment of Sayeeda Warsi as the shadow minister for community cohesion.

"Warsi's rise makes Cameron's ascent from freshman MP to leader in four years look almost sedate. In just two years she has gone from failed parliamentary candidate to being responsible for, perhaps, the most sensitive portfolio in opposition politics. Add in her history of making injudicious statements about anti-terror laws, talking to extremists, and Iraq – combined with some distinctly unCameroon views on homosexuality – and you have a pretty volatile cocktail. Especially as having staked his reputation on her judgment, Cameron cannot sack her.

"Even among those who are normally sympathetic to the Cameron project, Warsi's appointment was viewed as a stunt too far. After all, she has observed that the government's anti-terror proposals were 'enough to tip any normal young man into the realms of a radicalised fanatic' and said that if 'terrorism is the use of violence against civilians, then where does that leave us in Iraq?' These concerns were assuaged, to an extent, by the naming of Paul Goodman as the Commons spokesman for her brief. Goodman, a former comment editor of the Daily Telegraph, has developed robust views on the need for the political class to wake up to the threat posed by extremist Islamist ideology."

Spectator, 1 September 2007

Actually "the shadow minister for militant Islam" refers to Goodman rather than Sayeeda Warsi ... I think.

The question is posed by the Christian Science Monitor. There's an informed article by Jocelyne Cesari, professor of Islamic studies at Harvard, who points out that "recent polls show that Muslims praise democracy as the best political system. At the same time, they acknowledge the importance that sharia, or Islamic law, plays in their lives. This is where misunderstanding often occurs. Sharia does not refer to actual laws but to a set of moral principles and norms that guide Muslims in their personal and social choices." However, in the interests of "balance" we also treated to the thoughts of one Bill Warner, director of the Center for the Study of Political Islam, who tells us that "Islam has two sets of ethics. One set is for Muslims and the other set is for kafirs; this is dualistic ethics. A Muslim should not harm another Muslim, but the kafir can be robbed, killed, or cheated to advance Islam."

On Radio 4's "The Message" last Friday there was yet another example of the media's incapacity to provide a balanced discussion of their own unbalanced depiction of Islam.

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