‘Muslims are afraid … there is a black mark against us,’ says one market trader
Four days after suicide bombers killed over 300 people in Sri Lanka tensions are running high, with fears of further attacks as well as retaliation against Muslims.
The country remained on high alert on Wednesday when bomb-disposal squads carried out a controlled explosion on two suspicious motorbikes and a parcel left unattended in different locations in central Colombo. A police spokesperson said that there were no explosives found.
Despite a government ban on social media, videos and messages alerting people about more attacks and alleged arrests of further suicide bombers targeting public places fuelled further panic.
A synchronised attack targeting churches and hotels on Easter Sunday killed at least 349 people, leaving another 500 injured.
On Wednesday the police spokesperson said that the attacks were carried out by eight suicide bombers, while one woman, the wife of one of the bombers, detonated herself when the police raided the residence. Officials said they believe the attackers had links with the international Isis terrorist organisation.
Over 200 people including several Americans were killed in several coordinated bomb attacks on churches on hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter.
Several Christian communities spread across the island nation were targeted in the attack: Suicide bombers detonated one set of bombs at churches in the cities of Colombo and Negombo on the western coast, home to many Sinhalese-speaking Catholics. Another was detonated in a Protestant church 200 miles away—in Batticaloa, a city in the Tamil majority eastern side of the island.
As a Catholic religious studies researcher and professor, I lived in Sri Lanka in the fall of 2013 and did research on Catholicism in both the southwest and northern parts of the country. Approximately, 7% of Sri Lanka’s 21 million are Christian. The majority of them are Roman Catholic.
Prosecutors have filed new hate crime charges against a white man accused of burning down three African-American churches in the US state of Louisiana.
Holden Matthews, 21, the son of a local sheriff deputy, learned of the new charges during a court appearance on Monday when he pleaded not guilty.
During the hearing, the judge denied his bond request due to a “substantial amount of evidence” against him.
Officials had not previously cited race as a possible motive.
Louisiana Fire Marshal Butch Browning said on Monday the suspect – who has no previous criminal record – should not be released because he presents “an immediate risk to public safety”.
“In my mind, I felt another fire was imminent,” Mr Browning said, describing the evidence investigators have found against Mr Matthews.
Breathless Reports About ‘Hate Groups’ Aim To Panic Americans Into Speech Controls
Breathless Reports About ‘Hate Groups’ Aim To Panic Americans Into Speech Controls
A cluster of events this past week marked a steepening in the upwards trend toward online censorship.
In a New York Times and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) report about online extremism, authors claimed the social media sphere enabled a “global network of white extremists” to develop and that this has led to a “surge of white supremacist and xenophobic terrorism in the West.” Although grasping in its conclusions and broadly flawed, the report was no doubt a clear enough justification for many to continue culling speech freedoms online.
In a near-identical report, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said certain social media platforms have become “round-the-clock digital white supremacist rallies.” They also conclude more policing from both industry and government must be done. Both reports coincided with social media executives being called to a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers demanded they do more to “stem white nationalist propaganda and hate speech online.”
Trump passes on making U.N. racism committee nomination
The decision continues a U.S. withdrawal from international bodies and human rights priorities.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DENIES PROMINENT PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE ENTRANCE
Barghouti, who is the co-founder of the Palestinian civil society led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS), was scheduled to travel to the U.S. on a speaking tour that included public events at NYU in Washington, D.C., NYU in New York City, and Harvard University; and meetings with leading policy makers, thought-leaders and journalists. After his speaking tour, Barghouti was planning to attend his daughter’s upcoming wedding.
Barghouti’s difficulties traveling in the past were due to the Israeli government restricting his ability to exit and enter Israel by not renewing his travel document. To that end, Amnesty International issued a call on February 7, 2019 demanding Israel “end the arbitrary travel ban on human rights defender Omar Barghouti.” Subsequently, he was issued an Israeli travel document. As he already possessed a U.S. visa valid through January 2021, plans for his speaking tour were confirmed. Nonetheless, on April 10, Barghouti was informed at Ben Gurion Airport by airline staff that the U.S. Consulate in Tel Aviv was directed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to deny him from traveling to the United States. Barghouti was not provided an explanation for his denial of entry beyond an “immigration matter.”
AAI President James Zogby made the following statement:
“Omar Barghouti is a leading Palestinian voice on human rights. Omar’s denial of entry into the U.S. is the latest example of the Trump Administration’s disregard for those rights. Having spent considerable time here as a student and while on speaking tours, Omar visiting America was never an issue before. It is clear this arbitrary political decision is motivated by this administration’s effort to silence Palestinian voices. At a time when some members of Congress are advocating for regressive anti-BDS bills and resolutions, when states have passed legislation targeting the non-violent boycott movement in violation of our protected First Amendment rights, it is disturbing that policy makers and the American people will not have the opportunity to hear from Omar directly about his views. The voices of advocates for Palestinian human rights, whether through political targeting or regressive, discriminatory laws, are silenced when discussions or debates are denied.”
UNHCR Chief: New Zealand Massacre Result of Toxic Politics, Media
UNHCR Chief: New Zealand Massacre Result of Toxic Politics, Media
Relatives and family members of Naeem Rashid who was killed along with his son Talha Naeem in the Christchurch mosque attack in New Zealand pray during a condolence gathering at the family’s home in Abbottabad Pakistan March 17, 2019
The U.N. refugee chief said Tuesday he has never seen such toxicity, such poison in politics, the media social media and every day conversation focused on refugees migrants and foreigners.U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the March 15 attack on a mosque in Christchurch New Zealand that killed 50 Muslim worshippers was the result of that toxic language of politics Grandi urged countries everywhere to take a leaf from the exemplary response of the people and the leadership of New Zealand in responding to the toxic trends by restating the values that underpin global solidarity and “reaffirm that our societies will not be really prosperous stable and peaceful if they do not include all An Australian white supremacist Brenton Harrison Tarrant who has been charged with the mosque killings which included many immigrants livestreamed the shootings and sent out a lengthy manifesto. New Zealand Prime.
France’s Islamophobia and its roots in French colonialism
France’s Islamophobia and its roots in French colonialism
The Australian who carried out the terrorist attack in Christchurch was influenced by French Islamophobes, but just how far back does the country’s antipathy towards Islam go?
More than two weeks have passed since the terrorist attack in New Zealand, which killed at least 51 people, and topics such as white supremacy and Islamophobia have found themselves in the media limelight.
Acts of terror are committed by individuals actings under a range of influences but in the weeks following the attacks, it has become clear the attacker drew inspiration from the European far-right, particularly the Identitarian movement, and the ideas of French far-right author, Renaud Camus.
MAN CHARGED FOR POSTING PLANS ON FACEBOOK TO KILL JEWS IN MASS SHOOTING
More than a week later he posted to the same account: “We can’t vote away what our fathers tried to, we must spill blood.”
A Washington state man was charged with two felonies for posting plans on Facebook to commit a mass shooting against Jewish targets and selfies of Nazi salutes.
Dakota Reed, 20, was arrested in December, weeks after the Anti-Defamation League tipped off the FBI about social media posts threatening to kill Jews praying in a synagogue or kids in school, the Washington-based Herald.net reported. He was not charged with a hate crime.
Reed appears to have kept up seven separate Facebook accounts under variations of the same name for his hateful messages.
“I’m shooting for 30 Jews,” read a post from Nov. 11. “No pun needed. Long ways away anyways. See you Goys.”
More than a week later he posted to the same account: “We can’t vote away what our fathers tried to, we must spill blood.”
Reed also claimed to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan and said he wanted to emulate Dylan Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine worshippers in a South Carolina church in 2015.
Using a cartoon, he illustrated in another post that he needed guns to kill (((rats))). The echo symbol is a reference to Jews.
Reed has been out of jail on $50,000 bond since December.
Snohomish County prosecutors charged him last week with two counts of threats to bomb or injure property. A hate crime charge can be added. Reed has been out of jail on $50,000 bond since December. Snohomish County prosecutors charged him last week with two counts of threats to bomb or injure property. A hate crime charge can be added.Reed has been out of jail on $50,000 bond since December.
A group of Kiwi business leaders have called for a more inclusive country following the Christchurch mosque attacks
A group of Kiwi business leaders have called for a more inclusive country following the Christchurch mosque attacks
A group of New Zealand’s top business leaders have come together to take a public stand against racism in the workplace
The leaders have published an open letter calling for a more inclusive country following the Christchurch mosque attacks on 15 March.Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt said he applauds the leaders who have signed the open letter for speaking out and “giving nothing to racism t’s up to all of us to stand up to racism. Our employers have a crucial role in making sure workplaces are safe and inclusive environments free from discrimination in all forms said Hunt.The message these business leaders are send is an important one. Tackling racism requires all of us to step up. These business leaders promise to be champions of change in our community Two years ago, the Human Rights Commission launched it’s Give Nothing To Racism campaign The campaign asked Kiwis to acknowledge that racism and prejudice starts small and it needs their support to survive.
