The anti-Muslim backlash following the recent Paris atrocities is creating its own acts of solidarity. In Toronto, Canada, four high profile anti-Muslim incidents have made headline news. A Muslim woman was assaulted as she went to collect her children from school on Monday. According to police, two males pulled at her hijab and stole her mobile phone. The brother of the victim said she was punched in the stomach and face, called a “terrorist” and told to “go back home” during the assault. Metrolinx staff found anti-Muslim graffiti inside a bathroom of a busy train station. On November 19, a Muslim student at the University of Toronto, named Osama Omar, 21, was spat at as he waited for a streetcar in downtown Toronto. Omar wears a topi, or Muslim prayer cap. The perpetrator told Omar to take his “turban” off and attempted to punch him twice. In a Facebook post, he described how an elderly woman who saw the incident from across the street came over to ‘apologise on behalf of the man’. She told Omar not to see him as a ‘generalized representation’ of what society has become. At around 6pm on Wednesday, two Muslim women faced verbal abuse [...]
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Continue ReadingOver the last 36 hours we have seen a number of cases come into Tell MAMA and the following incident shows, once again, how street based anti-Muslim hatred is also gender specific, with perpetrators mainly being white males and the victims mainly being visible Muslim females. This was reported in by an Asian female who
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Continue ReadingAre British Muslims, as Nigel Farage argues, “conflicted in their loyalties” to Britain? It is a statement that drew wide political condemnation; but somewhat misses the point. The statement has two clear aims: to suture the wounds of embarrassing financial revelations and reassure supporters that Farage shares their anxieties towards Muslims, their faith, cultural identity and immigration. In a speech to a eurosceptic rally in Hampshire, Farage again referenced a “fifth column in this country”. In the fallout of the Paris atrocities in January, Farage warned of a “fifth column” operating within Britain. Rhetoric that mirrors the language of Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik. Farage repeated the “fifth column” claim in March 2015. That Hampshire speech again reinforced the idea of a “Judeo-Christian” culture – a statement Farage also made after the first Paris atrocities in January. Yet the idea of this shared religious and cultural experience owes more to myth than fact. Farage also wants all faiths institutions to declare their funding in an effort to root out radicalisation. On November 16, Farage tweeted “It is deeply worrying that after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, 27% of British Muslims in a poll found some sympathy with the killers.” Perhaps, a reflection [...]
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Continue ReadingAfter the shock and horror of so many innocent lives lost, the faces of young people stare back at us reminding us that the brutality of IS was spread into the heart of Paris. The whole of our nation stood still and reflected and mourned with the people of France. At this time, we must
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Continue ReadingLetters have been sent by West Yorkshire Police to mosques and community centres highlighting the march of the far right extremist group, the English Defence League, in Bradford on Saturday the 14th of November 2015. As the extremist group plan to march in West Yorkshire, we highlight the impacts of their sympathisers and their activists
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Continue ReadingTwo Asian males were assaulted in the grounds of the Asda supermarket in the Dalton area of Rotherham yesterday. The attack was particularly violent and Tell MAMA has spoken to one of the victims today as he made his way to the hospital after a brutal assault on the young man as he simply walked
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Continue ReadingThis October marks two years since Tommy Robinson departed from the English Defence League (EDL). The Quilliam Foundation had called it “a huge success for community relations in the United Kingdom” and urged others, within far-right and Islamist circles to follow suit. Their staff “facilitated” both Robinson’s departure, and that of the EDL’s co-founder, Kevin Carroll. Quilliam had also offered both men education on Islam and training in lobbying. Robinson aimed to tackle Islamist ideologies “not with violence but with better, democratic ideas”. He later told BBC Radio 5’s Nicky Campbell “I want to lead the revolution against Islamist ideology, I don’t want to lead the revolution against Muslims“. When asked if he had regrets, he replied “I apologise if what I have said and represented has not resonated individually with Muslims”. Beyond these pristine, mineralised and rehearsed statements, the cracks sat in plain sight. Days before the announcement, Robinson’s Twitter feed continued to pump out anti-Islam content. Two days before Quilliam’s press conference Robinson had tweeted “Muslims created Islamophobia themselves… Go figure!!! They don’t challenge the extremists so we will!!!” Days earlier he tweeted that “Global war/holocaust on Christians… We all know it’s #Islam fueling it…“ Robinson retweeted an [...]
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Continue ReadingWe have been working with a trans-Muslim convert to Islam who has also been homeless and who regularly suffers anti-Muslim hate at a street level. Wearing the Niqab, she has consistently documented the threats, abuse and hatred that she has suffered. The hatred has had its toll on her health and one of the most
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Continue ReadingRecently, we posted up an article on our Facebook page for communities to collectively tackle hate, intolerance and prejudice. The picture showed some visibly Muslim females and it also highlighted the need to report in anti-Muslim prejudice. The responses we received are sadly not really shocking anymore and highlight how far right and anti-Muslim sympathisers
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Continue ReadingThis is a case that came into Tell MAMA a few days go. Nazleen (the identity has been altered), wears a Niqab and an Abaya, (the black body over-garment) worn by more socially conservative Muslim women. Nazleen is 22 years old and she was travelling on a bus when a white female, aged around 40
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