Category Archives: 2020-12

Webinar: The attacks on civil, human and political rights for Muslims in Europe

Din Webinar Sunday December 13th
18.00-20.15 Paris time, 17.00-19.15 UK time,

Background

In 2011 the British government introduced the Prevent Policy that aims to prevent young people to get attracted to radical ideologies, especially radical Islam. The instruments of the government is surveillance  of Muslim youth in schools, universities, mosques and the health system and repression (arrest, interrogation, imprisonment).

In France Muslim leaders are required to sign a declaration that states that Islam is a religion and not a political movement. Muslim parent who complain about Islamophobic caricatures that are show to their children in the classroom are committing a criminal offence and can be deported from the country. Publishing images of police violence will be a criminal offence.

Austria want to ban political Islam by law. People convicted for violating this law could be imprisoned for life of if they are released earlier they could be subjected to electronic surveillance after being released. Associations and mosques that are suspected of adhering to political Islam will be shut down. A central register of imams will be created.

All across Europe there are increased attacks on the civil and human rights of Muslims by governments and are indications of the rise of police states in Europe. This puts important questions on the agenda:

There are two sets of questions we will deal with in the webinar:

Bloc 1: political Islam

  1. What is political Islam?
  2. Who is defining it?
  3. Is it a single monolithic idea or a plurality of views?
  4. Is attacking political Islam a means of shutting down dissenting voices among Muslims?
  5. What is the meaning of political Islam in comparison with political actions based on other ideologies such as Christianity, Judaism, Liberalism, Socialism?
  6. How do Islamic sources articulate political actions of Muslims compared to the sources of other ideologies?

Bloc 2: civil rights, human rights and the rise of fascism in Europe per country

  1. What is the role of zionism in the depoliticisation of Muslims?
  2. How is anti-semitism used by national and EU governments to silence Muslims and their organisations?
  3. What is the relationship between civil liberties such as freedom of speech and political rights of Muslims in Europe?
  4. How will the repression of civil liberties and human rights in Europe effect the position of Muslims and non-Muslims?
  5. How can we fight the rise of the police state in Europe?

 

Video’s to watch

 

In the past few years affiliates of DIN have organized Islamophobia conferences in December. Because of the Covid-19 crisis physical meetings are not possible. Instead DIN will organize a webinar on December 13th from 17.00-19.15 UK time, 18.00-20.15 Paris/Amsterdam time.

The webinar consists of:

  1. Short contributions
  2. Discussions
  3. Panel discussions

Hosts: Sandew Hira and Narges Mobaleghi

Links:

The program of the webinar is as follows:

  • Bloc 1: Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria and Mohamed Al-Asi
  • Bloc 2: Abed Choudry  (on UK), Massoud Shadjareh (on Austria), Houria Bouteldja (on France), Sheher Khan (on Netherlands) and Amanj Aziz (on Sweden