From a reader:

A dangerously escalating situation where Muslims are under siege

December 14, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader:

An article on Revcom.us prompted me to look into a dangerously escalating situation where Muslims are under siege. In the wake of the killings in Paris and San Bernardino, and more recently, in the wake of the Donald Trump’s completely false pronouncement that “thousands” of New Jersey Muslims celebrated the 9/11 attacks, there have been a spate of hateful assaults on Muslims in New York City and nationwide. Even after Trump’s claim was refuted by various media sources, such as Chuck Todd on Meet the Press and Stephen Colbert on his late night talk show, the fascist liar Donald Trump did not back down. But these words and other xenophobic rhetoric spewed forth not only from Trump; the whole ruling class media machinery has had a harmful effect. This xenophobic rhetoric tells people what to think, which in turn informs their actions. Here are just a few of the instances of such attacks:

* Sarker Haque, owner of Fatima Food by Mart in Astoria, Queens, in New York City, was beaten by 55-year-old Piro Kovani last weekend. During the beating Kovani said, “I kill Muslims." Haque was bruised and terrified. He said that he thought his attacker was going to kill him. Two people who were not Muslim came to his aid.

* Last month, at PS 89 in the Bronx, three sixth grade boys put a Muslim classmate in a headlock and tried to remove her hijab, calling her “ISIS.”

* Last month, A Muslim woman at a Brooklyn restaurant was assaulted by a customer who shouted: “Muslim motherfucker.”

* Last month, in a Manhattan eatery, a man screamed hateful anti-Muslim remarks at and hit a Muslim worker and smashed two glass partitions against the food counter.

* On November 30, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a Muslim cab driver was shot by a passenger who had been making anti-ISIS remarks.

* A December 12  bombing of a mosque in Southern California has been verified as a hate crime.

* November 22: An armed group calling themselves Bureau of American Islamic Relations (BAIR) brought firearms to the Islamic Association of North Texas. BAIR claimed that this religious group “has a documented history of funding terrorists.” The Dallas Morning News in North Texas said that there is no evidence for BAIR’s claim.

These are not isolated incidents but a pattern of escalated attacks that have an underlying xenophobic character and are reminiscent of the Nazi mentality that led to the extermination of the six million Jews in Europe. There are people who are sensing the danger involved, like the person at a December 10 rally in New York City who held up a sign that said: “The time for never again is NOW.” This “Dump Trump” rally of hundreds at the steps of Donald Trump’s hotel in midtown New York City angrily condemned Trump’s statement to bar Muslims temporarily from entering the United States. Some signs said: “NYC says: Welcome, Refugees!” There were also comments that Trump’s statement was not that far removed from other politicians calling for restrictions on Syrian refugees who want to settle in the U.S. People expressed fear—fear that attacks and discrimination to the level of the post-911 hysteria would once again surface. On December 12, in Dallas, Texas, hundreds of people marched under the theme of “United Against Racism and Hate” to denounce the November gun-toting BAIR anti-Muslim terror mentioned above. The protesters included a coalition of activists, churches and other religious groups. These protests are a positive factor on the terrain—and there need to be a lot more.

 

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