Posts tagged : "Islamophobia"

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Islamophobia has long been one of the major plagues of the Western societies. The rise of far-right in Europe, the exacerbation of global refugee crisis with the wars and conflicts that are breaking out across the Middle East and the surge of racial intolerance in the United States with the coming to power of Donald Trump make Islamophobia a concern that needs to be seriously addressed. Academics and researchers are the best people who can respond to unsettling questions about Islamophobia adequately. Farid Hafez is a distinguished Austrian political scientist and university lecturer. He is a senior fellow at the Bridge Initiative hosted by the Georgetown University and a lecturer and researcher at the...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Islamophobia is a huge source of concern in the 21st century, featuring itself in forms like anti-Muslim hate speech, intolerance in neighbourhoods, socioeconomic inequalities and policies dictated by governments, which are not conducive to public good. A distinguished American academician says as long as some version of the "war on terror" project lingers, Islamophobia continues to be a prominent problem. Todd Green, an Associate Professor of Religion at Luther College and a recognised expert on Islamophobia says some world leaders have done a good job in vocally condemning anti-Muslim discrimination, even though their record in standing by the Muslims and minorities has been mixed. Prof Green, however,...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: Erhard Busek is a noted Austrian politician who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Republic of Austria from 1991 to 1995. He has studied law at the University of Vienna and served seven years as the Rector of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences. Dr. Busek is a member of the Austrian Christian-conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) and throughout his career has been widely seen as one of the leaders of his party’s liberal wing. While serving under Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, he argued in favour of recognizing the independence of Slovenia, which created tensions between Austria and other European and Western nations regarding the issue. Vranitzky and Busek led Austria into the...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: The foreign policy of Trump administration is similarly highly controversial and questionable. He finds himself in a new skirmish with another country every couple of days, while traveling internationally to expand the limits of the United States' influence and strength The different aspects of the U.S. President Donald Trump's presidency are being debated by the U.S. and international media these days intensely. CNN's Brian Stelter has recently talked about a "credibility crisis" Trump's White House is grappling with, saying that despite the pledges he made during the campaign season, he is telling lies to his constituency on a daily basis. For millions of Americans who voted for Trump in the 2016 polls,...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: The interrelationship between Islam and the West and the struggles that make integration in American and European societies difficult for the Muslims is a major debate these days. An American philosopher and author says Islamophobia is not a new invention and the difficulties faced by Muslims in describing and spreading their faith and the difficulties imposed on them by governments have together created the misunderstandings that have made the interfaith dialogue an arduous task. Dr. Daniel Tutt (@DanielTutt) is an interfaith activist and philosopher. As a scholar activist, his work addresses Islamophobia and inter-religious dialogue. His writing and work has been published in...

Kourosh Ziabari - CFJ: Steve Adler is the Mayor of Austin, Texas. He is Jewish but his advocacy for the rights of Muslims and immigrants and his vocal resistance against the exclusion of minorities from important social and political decision-makings have made him a popular politician and lawyer nationally and internationally. He has been a practicing attorney in Austin in the areas of eminent domain and civil rights for some 35 years. A noted member of Democratic Party, Mayor Adler was named by the Foreign Policy magazine as one of the top 100 global thinkers in 2017. I did a brief interview with Steve Adler to ask him questions about President Donald Trump's Muslim ban and how immigrants and minorities are doing these days in...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: On 27 January 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump issued the executive order 13769, blocking the entry of the nationals of seven Muslim-majority countries into the United States on security grounds. The executive order, popularly referred to as the Muslim ban was challenged by several courts. Many lawyers, legal experts and Congressmen voiced their protest against it. However, the third version of the ban signed by President Trump on 24th September 2017 still prevents the citizens of the seven countries from traveling to America unless in exceptional circumstances. Its immediate effect was that 700 travellers were detained and up to 60,000 visas were provisionally revoked. Findings by Haas Institute reveal...

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Jane Elliott is a distinguished American former third-grade school-teacher, anti-racism activist, feminist and educationalist. She is known for implementing an exercise called "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" in a classroom of third-graders in Riceville, Iowa, to figure out how racist her students were and gauge the amount of racial prejudice towards otheres among her young pupils. The highly-controversial test created divisions among the townspeople and made her a national icon of fight against racism. She did the exercise one day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and her initiative became the basis of much of what is now known as "diversity training". She introduced this method to firms in the U.S.,...

Kourosh Ziabari - The Huffington Post: Casting blame on those responsible for the rise of the Islamic State in various parts of the Middle East and its disconcerting extension into other parts of the world is a futile exercise. The fact that the Islamic State has developed a global sphere of influence and is able to spread instability unimpeded necessitates detailed investigation, but it is important to note that the current state of affairs is the result of the faults, shortcomings, and negligent decision-making of many actors. What matters now is that the Islamic State is making advances on multiple fronts and the international community is barely committed and insufficiently united to be able to tackle its unchecked...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: In June, a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando claimed 49 lives and left 53 wounded. America was left in shock as the deadliest shooting spree in the modern history of the country took place. The perpetrator, Omar Mateen, was himself killed in a shootout with police almost three hours after instigating the rampage at the Pulse nightclub. As soon as details about his identity went public, US media outlets were flooded with accusations that he was an “Islamic terrorist” who carried out the attack on behalf of the self-called Islamic State (Daesh). Mateen, a US citizen, was born and raised in New York. However, the media doggedly highlighted his paternal origins and insisted that he was...

Kourosh Ziabari - Iran Review: It’s said that ISIS has recently conceded significant parts of the territories it used to dominate since 2014. Rebels and Daesh militants have been driven out of the northern parts of Syria through the combined effect of separate operations by pro-government forces and the U.S. and Russian airstrikes. Foreign Policy reports that at the end of 2014, ISIS ruled over around one-third of Iraq and one-third of Syria, but now, according to IHS Jane’s 360, they’ve lost 22% of that territory. With the major losses in territory it has suffered and the diminution of its fighters, ISIS still poses a valid threat to peace and security not only in the Middle East but across the world, and it’s imperative to...

Kourosh Ziabari - Truth NGO: The incendiary statement made by the Republican U.S. presidential contender Donald Trump in December 2015, who called for the “complete shutdown” of all Muslims from entering the United States, provoked outrage and dismay across the world and underlined the rise of an Islamophobic trend in the campaign season rhetoric in America. Many American Muslims reacted to Trump’s comments by saying that his prejudiced conviction was unconstitutional and un-American and ran counter to the principle of freedom of religion sustained in the First Amendment. Prior to that, Donald Trump had called for the profiling of American Muslims in special databases and demanded that they should carry identification cards...