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** MONITORING ISLAMOPHOBIA, RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM IN FRANCE **
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French govt. separating Muslim children from parents
With increasing attacks on Muslims in France, Muslim children are now being taken away from their parents. The French media, especially, tends to focus on “radicalism” and “extremism” within the Muslim community and hardly touches on issues such as Islamophobia, racism and foreign policy.
The French authorities, which are in the midst of hysteria following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January, took the children away from their mother in Bourgoin Jallieu near Lyon last Thursday.
At the time the father, Meher Msakni, was in Tunisia but he immediately returned home to France upon hearing the news.
Msakni told 5Pillars editor Roshan Muhammed Salih that his wife was told by the authorities that he was suspected of radicalism and of having the intention of going to fight jihad in Syria.
Msakni said he never had any such intention and was in Tunisia preparing to bring his family back there as he felt he could no longer "practise Islam in France" saying also that repeated requests to see his children were denied and is unaware of their location. The children are aged 6, 5, 4, 18 months and 3 months.
5Pillars editor Roshan Muhammed Salih visited the police station in Bourgoin Jallieu on Monday but they refused to comment on the case.
The Lyon-based Coalition against Racism and Islamophobia (CRI) said the mother, Aicha, received a visit fromthe police and social services on Thursday and on the orders of the judicial authorities they took three of the younger children. The older ones were separately picked up from their school.
According to CRI, while this was taking place the mother was panicked and crying and was begging the authorities to let her breastfeed her 3 month old son.
“Unimaginable cruelty”
In a statement CRI said: “With unimaginable cruelty and violence, the children were taken to an unknown destination with devastating consequences for their psycho-emotional state, and without being able to see their mother.
“Alerted, the father returned the next day to France without being bothered in the least by either the Customs,nor by the PAF (Air and Frontier Police).
“We learned with amazement that the mother wanted to breastfeed her baby with her own milk and had provideda bottle for this which was refused by the police who responded ‘powdered milk will be given.’
France: the country of human rights?
“We are appalled by the inhumanity of separating a breastfed baby of 3 months from her mother, and to deny that breast milk be given. The mother, who is accused of nothing, asked to be locked up, if necessary, with her baby so she can breastfeed and beat his side. Even if the father is the worst of criminals we do not understand this ferocity towards the wife and children.
“We condemn this unhealthy and dangerous climate andhold accountable politicians, media and intellectuals who have exploited the dramatic events we have experienced, and are playing with fire by allowing the spread of Islamophobia. Since the attacks of 7 January 2015 we have received more than 200 calls from Muslims who have been assaulted.
“CRI calls for the establishment of a parliamentary commission of inquiry to measure the extent of this new form of racism and legislation to protect the Muslims of France who have become scapegoats.”
The Charlie Hebdo and other attacks in January killed 17 people. Since then many observers feel that France has been in a state of hysteria with Muslims being targeted on a regular basis.
Anti-semitic/Islamophobic graffiti defacing a mosque in France. Most of Frances Muslims are from the mainly Semitic Arab world.
My comment: France is a deeply racist society with a shameful history of plunder and genocide of many countries through out the world. However not content with destroying countries abroad they are now targeting the non-white French minorities in their country though the country itself is still overwhelmingly white French.
Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and others in the OIC should all express their concern over Islamophobia, racism and anti-Semitism in France.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * -
Anti-Semitic/Islamophobic attack targeting France's heavily Semitic Arab Muslim community.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Comment
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Good. This way Islamists and Muslims will be differentiated.Comment
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80% of Anti-Muslim Attacks in France Against Women, Says Report
BY LUCY DRAPER 2/17/15 AT 5:23 PM
80% of the anti-Muslim acts which occur in France are carried out against women a new report published today by Nils Muižnieks, the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, has revealed.
The commissioner, who produced the report after visiting France in September last year, warned of increasing attacks directed at homosexuals, Jews and Muslims and said that there should be more efforts to integrate and care for immigrants and asylum seekers.
Muižnieks recommends a national plan to promote and protect human rights as well as ratifying Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights on the general prohibition of discrimination in order to “further strengthen the legal framework.”
Attacks on Muslims have been on the rise in France since the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January. Earlier this month the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) published data that showed that between the Charlie Hebdo attacks on 7th January and the end of that month there were 147 ‘acts’ carried out against Muslims.
In the week following the attacks the CFCM reported that 26 separate mosques had been attacked across the country. In some cases the buildings were firebombed and in other grenades were thrown.
Fiyaz Mughal, the director of UK-based interfaith thinktank Faith Matters says that the term ‘acts’ covers a huge range of hostile actions. He says they have received complaints from Muslim women which include: “Spitting, general abuse, pulling and tearing at the niqab and the hijab, plus dog faeces being thrown at women, as well as bottles from passing cars and people shouting things like ‘Muslim *****’ ‘Muslim bitch’ or ‘Muzzie’.”
On why he believes Muslim women might face more abuse than their male counterparts, Mughal says: “All our data... shows that visible women are the ones that are targeted at a street level. This means that women who wear the hijab are the ones that are sometimes targeted for abuse and those who wear the niqab suffer more anti-Muslim hate incidents and more aggressive assaults.”
He also believes that there is a gender imbalance in terms of anti-Muslim hate at a street level, saying that victim data shows that perpetrators are usually male and aged between 15-35, while their victims are mostly women and aged between 15-45.
Sahar Aziz, a professor who teaches about Middle East law at the Texas A&M University School of Law wrote an article for American news site CNN in which she condemned the lack of response to these increased attacks from French feminists who had celebrated the 2011 ban on full face veils. “As Muslim women face threats to their safety in the anti-Muslim backlash, one cannot help but notice the deafening silence of French feminists,” Aziz writes.
Muižnieks’s report addresses a wide-range of problems in France including racism and discrimination against a variety of people including Roma, migrants and those with disabilities.
Although the commissioner commended France for combating the issues he raised in their courts and institutions, he went on to suggest that the country “include the fight against discrimination in a national plan to promote and protect human rights”.
“It is essential to put an end to such acts, including on the internet, and to punish those responsible,” he wrote.
France needs to act against this type of anti-Semitism (hatred towards Arabs, the biggest group of Semites in the world) of the Islamic faith) and Islamophobia.
Otherwise the world will remember France's collaboration with the anti-Semitic Nazis in WW2.
France is a country with a deep tradition of anti-Semitism and racism. It was the Dreyfuss affair in 19th century France that made many Jews in Europe feel they had to flee Europe and live somewhere else. Pictured above is an anti-Semitic/Islamophobic attack on a mosque in Lyon, France with the Nazi symbol, the Swastika.
"Death to Jews and Arabs" in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic graffiti in France.
Alfred Dreyfus, the French Jew who was a victim of anti-Semitism that shook Europe's Jewish community and made them question their future in Europe and feel they should leave Europe.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Comment
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Pregnant Muslim woman in France attacked for wearing headscarf
A headscarf-wearing Muslim woman in her final month of pregnancy was violently assaulted in southern France this week by a man who accused her of wearing a hijab to hide her hair.
The 29-year-old woman was hospitalised on Tuesday after being attacked on a street in Toulouse, southern France.
According to her account, the attacker pulled on her veil, grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground, where he hit her several times.
The young women lodged a complaint of racist abuse a day after the attack on March 24. She was interviewed by investigators of departmental security at the clinic she is recovering in.
“There is no reason to doubt her word,” said a police source, referring to the possibility of the establishment of a sketch of the attacker who fled.
The victim’s husband, Mounir, 33 said his wife took her two daughters to school when she was attacked.
“One of them grabbed her hair, pulled on her veil while insulting her [saying] ‘None of that in our country’ … He threw a lot of punches… His friend, who was not involved in the violence, told him to stop,” he was quoted as saying by La Depeche du Midi.
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Well, you can ask someone to beat your sister down to the ground while she's pregnant, so we can find out whether she's an Islamist or not.Originally posted by Badlun View PostComment
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Anelka Decries France’s Islamophobia
Sunday, 29 March 2015 00:00
ALGIERS – Sharing his journey to Islam after two decades of taking the shahadah, the French Muslim footballer, Nicolas Anelka, lamented the soaring Islamophobia and discrimination against North Africans in France.
“French people of North African background try to make things work for them, but French society keeps them in check. There are a lot of obstacles in the way,” Anelka told Al Arabiya on Saturday, March 28.
“For example if you send a CV with the “wrong postcode” and a Muslim sounding name then you won’t be considered for a job.
“It is only in France that you need to hide your name and picture in the hope of getting work. That level of discrimination is unacceptable.”
The situation for French Muslims has been deteriorating recently, especially after Paris attacks, in which 17 people were killed.
Another attack in Copenhagen has added to anti-Muslim attacks, which increased sharply across Europe recently.
According to France’s National Observatory Against *Islamophobia, more than 214 separate acts of anti-Muslim behavior, more than it documented in all of 2014, were recorded in the first month after January attacks.
Speaking about his reversion to Islam, Anelka said: “I was sixteen when I converted to Islam. Beyond the fraternal aspect, my conversion did not change my life.
“I was already living by the same principles – being righteous, having values… I used to fast during Ramadan because I admired the people fasting around me.
He went on saying: “What made me convert was that I had that certainty that Islam was for me.
“I felt this relationship with God, and that enlightened my life. I had that conviction in my heart that that was my religion.”
Algeria
With an 18-year-old career, the super striker Anelka has moved to North Africa recently where he is acting as a consultant to the Algerian football club NA Hussein Dey (NAHD).
“I’m very excited about developing Algerian football. Nowadays it is mainly represented by Frenchmen of Algerian background who play in France, the Netherlands, and the UK… I’d like to set up coaching academies in Algeria,” Anelka said.
“The biggest challenge is to train youngsters, and build up the foundation of the game. Once the basis is in place, the rest follows,”
The 36-year-old Super striker Anelka has played for Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester City and Juventus.
Anelka reverted to Islam in 1994 in the United Arab Emirates, taking the Muslim name of Abdul-Salam Bilal.
“I have an affinity with Algeria, because I grew up with plenty of Algerian friends in the suburbs of Paris,” he said.
“We had lots in common, including Islam. In fact, people kept telling me that I had an Algerian character. I was very touched by that because they are a very proud people. I’m proud but not arrogant.”
Praising Algerian players, the footballer said: “Algerian players have great qualities, especially their technical game. It seems to be innate in Algerian football.”
“It really is an art. Algerians are above average when it comes to technique, but there are shortcomings which need to be worked on.
“I simply want to transmit my knowledge on football to Algerian youngsters and inspire them. Algerian football reminds me of the style of Brazilian football.”
France is home to a Muslim community of nearly six million, the largest in Europe.
- There is one Muslim-hater and Islamophobe on this forum in particular who loves to use the word "Islamist" and posts threads about Islam and Muslims which are exclusively negative and hates to see Muslims being portrayed as ordinary human beings who can also be victims.
- None of these ordinary north Africans and blacks who are the victims of discrimination by white Europeans in France are "Islamists" but are discriminated because of their colour, ethnicity and religion.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Comment
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Islamophobia soars in France
by BEGÜM TUNAKAN
Source: Daily Sabah
April 21, 2015 | Filed under: Featured,News | Posted by: MV Media
IRKCILIK
By: BEGÜM TUNAKAN
Source: Daily Sabah
Anti-Muslim attacks have risen six-fold in the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2014, hitting 222 reported violent attacks, according to French interior ministry figures. “It is the first time we have recorded grenades being thrown or guns fired,” Abdallah Zekri, president of the National Observatory against Islamophobia said, stressing the unprecedented rise in Islamophobic attakcs. Racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia prevail in the country as more non-French people have been threatened by potential violent attacks.
“Ever since the establishment of the Observatory in 2011, the number of Islamophobic acts has increased as such actions or threats, especially on social networks,” Zekri added, calling the anti-Muslim attacks “simply racism and rejection of men and women who aspire to just be respected.”
French media earlier reported that many Muslims have become the target of renewed attacks on venues having religious significance that are owned by the Muslim community. Twenty-six mosques in France have been subject to attack with firebombs and gunfire as of January 14, with a total of 167 reported Islamophobic incidents in January alone compared to just 14 in the same month of 2014. In the aftermath of the deadly attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Muslims in France have been subject to violent attacks due to an increase in suspicion and negative sentiments toward the French Muslim community. Reports of attacks on mosques and Muslim-run businesses in various places in France have led many French Muslims to fear rising Islamophobia.
The apparent rise in racism and discrimination against immigrant communities in France was condemned by France’s Prime Minister Manuel Calls, who announced that the French government would pour 100 million euros into a major anti-racism action plan in order to increase the penalties for crimes deemed to have been fuelled by racism. Apart from Muslims, France’s Roma and the French Jewish community, are other minority groups targeted by vigilante attacks and stigmatized by hate speech, facing fear of harassment and discrimination.
France is home to the largest Muslim population in Europe, estimated at between 4-5 million. The French Muslim community represents approximately 6 percent of the total population of the 58.5 million that live in France. However, French Muslims do not feel safe due to the lack of security measures taken by the French government compared to other French communities under threat.
The threat posed by many French militants affiliated with the radical Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has led to growing intolerance toward the Muslim community. With the rise of far-right extremism, peace and solidarity has slowly eroded in French society. The misrepresentation of Islam by militant groups like ISIS, al-Qaida, Boko Haram and the Taliban trigger more fear and anti-Muslim sentiments, not only in France, but in many Western countries. As these militant groups have carried out violent attacks and killed many people, people in Europe are more inclined to act violently against Muslims and immigrants while supporting far-right political parties.
Anti-immigration sentiments have long been on the rise in European countries. European attitudes toward minorities living in the EU show that there are considerable negative perceptions of minorities. The negative attitudes are more common among people on the ideological right, paving the way for growing concerns of far-right extremism and Islamophobia in Europe. Far-right principles, anti-immigration, nationalism and Euroscepticism has found significant support from many Europeans over the past few years.
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Mother of terror attack victim booed in French parliament for wearing a headscarf
Latifa Ibn Ziaten's son was one of seven people killed by Mohamed Merah in a series of targeted attacks in 2012
Rose Troup Buchanan Thursday 10 December 2015
Mrs Ibn Ziaten was speaking at a conference on secularism Getty
The mother of a man killed in a terror attack in France has been booed after she wore a headscarf during a public talk, with one attendee saying the atmosphere was “like being at a meeting of the National Front”.
Latifa Ibn Ziaten, whose 30-year-old paratrooper son was one of seven people killed by Mohamed Merah in a series of targeted attacks against Jews and soldiers in Toulouse and Montauban in 2012, was invited to parliament to speak at a conference on secularism.
In the wake of her son’s death, Mrs Ibn Ziaten founded a group in his name to “defend the values of the Republic and secularism,” and wears the headscarf in his memory, Buzzfeed News reported.
When she came to speak at the conference, organised by France’s Socialist Group at the National Assembly (the body that debates France’s laws), Mrs Ibn Ziaten was booed and an audience member – wearing a headscarf – who defended her was also heckled.
Law student Yassine, who also attended the event, described how his friend took to the floor to defend Ms Ibn Ziaten’s headscarf but was “immediately interrupted” and told to “’go traveling in fundamentalist countries’ to criticise her choice to wear the veil.”
“I felt like I was at a meeting for the National Front rather than a meeting largely made up of socialists.”
France’s former women’s minister Yvette Roudy confirmed there had been heckling, and told Buzzfeed News she had warned Mrs Ibn Ziaten “it wasn’t a good idea to wear her scarf”.
Ms Roudy added that she told the unidentified student the “hijab was a symbol of submission to the patriarchal law and that fundamentalists used it as an entryway.”
The two hecklers – not believed to be affiliated with the left-wing party – reportedly left after socialist MP Jean Galvany publicly defended Mrs Ibn Ziaten on stage and asked them to leave.
“Socialists worthy of the name would never hiss or boo this respected women, as some have suggested on Twitter,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook.
Mrs Ibn Ziaten said she wears the scarf as a way of remembering her son, and her choice does not break any of France’s strict laws on secularism.
While the wearing of niqabs is banned for public places, rules around headscarves are more relaxed. Additionally, only public servants – which Mrs Ibn Ziaten is not – are banned from wearing any kind of head-covering.
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