On the 7th of December 2023, images of IDF soldiers conducting mass detentions in Northern Gaza emerged on social media platforms. These depicted dozens of Palestinian men in the town of Beit Lahia kneeling on the ground, stripped naked, with their hands tied behind their backs. Similar episodes of mass incarcerations were repeated throughout Northern […]
Tag: Islamophobia
Islamophobia is on the Rise in Sweden
Recently, Swedish officials came under fire for allowing the burning of a copy of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, in front of the Turkish embassy. Turkey quickly condemned the actions of the Swedish government and threatened to withhold North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership from Sweden. Turkey’s threat holds significant weight as Sweden’s neighbor, Ukraine, […]
Targeted (government) harassment: The kind a Hijab can’t protect you from
The Hijab is a headscarf or veil worn by Muslim women in the presence of males, as per their religion. Open to several interpretations, some women also find wearing the Hijab liberating and a means of avoiding harassment. Because of the complexities in how the hijab is viewed, there are often violent reactions to the […]
Twenty Years After 9/11, FBI Surveillance Still Haunts Muslim-American Life
“Can you be spied on because of where you worship?” Hussam Ayoush is the executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. His organization is backing an intense Supreme Court religious discrimination lawsuit against the FBI for invasive surveillance of Muslim communities in Southern California that occured between the years […]
China’s Uighur Muslim Camps: The Face of Non-Western Islamophobia
You can stop saying “assalamu alaikum” to your neighbor, shave your beard, tell your children not to speak of their prayers, even try to fake tickets for an international flight, but you can never truly escape the terror. The psychological trauma remains of knowing that every move you make, every word you utter can lead […]
The World’s Largest Security State Has Created its Own Security Problem
Violence In Western China The capital of the Chinese province of Xinjiang, Urumqi, looks like many Chinese cities. The horizon is full of construction machinery creating new factories, high-rises, and office buildings. More striking is that the streets of the developed sector are largely populated with ethnic Han Chinese. The Chinese government has incentivized Han Chinese to move […]
At Face Value: Full-Face Veil Bans in Europe
If Denmark is any indication, the conflict between secularism and multiculturalism in Europe is not likely to be settled any time soon. The government of this Nordic country is planning a ban on full-face veils. Denmark’s Justice Minister Søren Pape Poulsen attempted to justify the ban by declaring: “It is incompatible with the values in […]
Terrorism in Context: the Stigmatization of Islam in France
With growing religious tensions in France regarding Islamism and the threat of terrorism, the stigmatization of Islam is a significant concern for the stability of France. Central to this discussion is the rising rate of Muslim conversions in France. Maia de la Baume’s article “More in France Are Turning to Islam, Challenging a Nation’s Idea […]
Battling the Burden: Reframing Our National Conversation About Refugee Economics
Aziz Dyab, like millions of his countrymen, was on the run. On the run from a repressive regime, unthinkable living conditions and little to no prospects for the higher education he so desperately sought. Aziz Dyab, however, would not be held back. He would escape to Turkey, be granted resettlement, and achieving the dream of […]
France’s Burkini War: Conflating Islam and Terrorism
On July 28, the French Riviera town of Cannes implemented a new law that would quickly become a trend: they banned the wearing of the “burkini”, a full-body covering swimsuit that allows conservative Muslim women to cover up while at the beach. A number of coastal French towns soon followed suit, leading to incidents such […]
A Story of Sisyphus – Islamophobia
The start of 2015 has been wrought with extremism: from the Charlie Hebdo attacks to an increasingly violent ISIS, Islam has began the year with an increasingly detrimental reputation for terrorism and chaos. However, in light of the recent tragedy in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where a Caucasian man murdered three Muslim university students, important questions […]
The Mis-Coverage of Chapel Hill
On the evening of Tuesday, February 10, three young Muslim students were fatally shot near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Newlyweds Deah Barakat, 21, and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and Yusor’s sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Slaha, 19, were found dead in their apartment. Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, was arrested as a possible suspect […]
American Sniper: Opposing Scopes
From The Hurt Locker to Zero Dark Thirty, military combat films have become increasingly controversial in the media. But has political correctness gone too far or can these films divorce politics from art? Staff writers Adora Svitak and Jordan Ash offer contesting views of the Oscar-nominated movie American Sniper.
Piercing the Veil: Islamophobia and Miseducation in the American South
Cleveland County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Alton Nolen, the man accused of beheading his former coworker Colleen Hufford at a food distribution plant in Moore, Oklahoma. Minutes after being fired, Nolen, a Muslim, entered a different section of the Vaughan Foods facility and attacked employees. The tragic incident, concurrent with a surging […]