Latest news with #Islamophobia
Scoop
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Scoop
FIANZ Calls For ‘Hate Speech' Laws Again; Is Their Harmony Accord Commitment Real?
The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) once again is calling for 'hate speech' laws against their critics in the name of social cohesion. This undermines the spirit of the Harmony Accord, which is a promising document to foster mutual understanding through dialogue, says Stephen Franks, Chairperson of the Free Speech Union. 'The Accord expressly commits the parties to respecting freedom of speech. If FIANZ has immediately reneged, their commitment is suspect. Defining and seeking punishment for 'Islamophobia' has been the Trojan horse for resuscitating blasphemy laws in other free societies. Leading politicians in the UK are currently fighting against such an attempt. 'Censorship is poison to social cohesion. People charged or jailed for expressing fears about a religion will rationally resent the groups asking the Police to silence their fears. We're seeing the results right now in the UK, in the disorder fueled by long suppression of the truth about the rape grooming gangs, and the gags on questioning illegal immigration. 'Proposals to criminalise criticism of religion, even under the banner of combating 'hate', would grant religious beliefs legal privileges that conflict with liberal democratic values. New Zealanders must remain free to challenge and debate religious doctrines without the threat of prosecution. 'Censorship is counterproductive. It does nothing to change views. It often draws more attention to the very opinions it's trying to ban. Counter-speech is more constructive. It allows bad ideas to be challenged, not buried. The Government has already rightly rejected 'hate speech' laws after tens of thousands of Kiwis pushed back. 'We should not risk turning an Accord that shows tolerance and mutual respect into scheming to undermine core democratic freedoms. A forced silence is not social cohesion.'
Spectator
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Spectator
The best deer deterrent? Radio 4
Behind the latest push for recognition of a Palestinian state – even though there is no agreement of what it is that might be recognised – is a sort of impersonation of the story of Israel. Palestinian activists want their own Balfour Declaration. President Macron wants France and Britain to come up with their own Sykes-Picot agreement, but pro-Palestinian. You might think that the clamour would have been shamed into silence by the massacres and hostage-taking committed by Hamas on 7 October 2023. On the contrary, these have somehow empowered the mimicry in wilder and more horrible ways. The genocide, we are now told, is being committed not by Hamas, but by Israel's response. The 'concentration camps' are being set up by Israel in Gaza. And back here in Britain, where it might seem to the unprejudiced observer that anti-Semitism is now almost literally running riot, it is 'Islamophobia' which is being defined as an enemy so great that only one of our many religions must be protected by law, despite the cost to free speech. 'Zionists', by which is now meant Jews (note this change of nomenclature between the Hamas Charter of 1988 and that of 2017), are painted as the murderous classes, so Britain must be 'de-zionised'. Does David Lammy realise where his new rhetoric is leading him and his party? One reason why nothing gets done in this country is that bureaucratic power lies in delay. A business or a private individual needs to get on because his time is his money: the bureaucracy's time is our money, so it has all the time in the world. This is an acute problem in relation to payouts for infected blood, the Post Office scandal etc. A faithful reader, Keith Miles, has an idea. Reverse the process, he says. Force the civil service to pay out £1 million to each acknowledged victim within three months unless it can be proved in that time that the money is not owed. Then the boot will be on the other foot. On Monday, the House of Lords agreed that the bill to remove all hereditary peers from the House of Lords 'do now pass'. The thing will not be complete until the Commons has considered amendments in September, but the death sentence has now been pronounced on the practice of more than 700 years. One or two speeches noted the melancholy historical significance of the change. The House is becoming a rump, though admittedly a large one. But I was interested by a rather more basic point made by the departing Earl of Caithness. When he had first taken his seat 50 years ago, he said, the daily allowance for attending the Lords was £4.73, which is £105.14 in current values. After Labour got rid of most hereditaries and brought in more of its own appointments at the turn of this century, the allowances 'increased hugely', the maximum daily allowance going up by 50 per cent. Today, peers can claim an allowance of £371 a day. As many of us have complained, Labour is jettisoning the hereditaries without reforming the Lords on a new basis, but I think we can be perfectly confident that, as it becomes predominant there, the allowances will rise higher still. The Nationwide, by far the country's biggest building society, is trying to be like a bank, and its customers are unhappy. Its chief executive, Dame Debbie Crosbie, earns £7 million a year and board candidates proposed by its members never get chosen. I suspect the members' fears are well founded. In the market town near us, all the high-street banks have closed, but the Nationwide branch continues. I go there from time to time because my mother is now too frail to manage the journey and so I transact her Nationwide account for her. My visits have impressed me with the social utility of the place. Almost every customer is either old or, like me, acting on behalf of the old. There is a lot of fiddling with spectacles and hearing aids and struggling with forgotten passwords. Old ladies try to sort out their late husband's financial affairs or transfer money to their daughter in New Zealand. Everything moves slowly. The staff are completely patient and, unlike the computer, very rarely say no. I can see why Dame Debbie might feel she has bigger fish to fry. And I agree with the members who therefore suspect her. What is a building society building by paying £7 million to anyone? In the early 1970s, I used to stay with a schoolfriend whose parents lived in Old Church Street, Chelsea. In the same street was the rectory of Chelsea Old Church which was, believe it or not, occupied by the rector, and parish children could play in its two-acre garden. Not long afterwards, the Church Commissioners sold it off. Now it is offered for sale by its non-dom owner who is fleeing the Reeves-Starmer Terror. The reported price is £250 million. I sometimes wonder if anything has done more than house prices to damage our social fabric. Although for professional reasons I feel I must sometimes listen to the Today programme, I almost never listen to anything else on Radio 4. This is a wrench for me since it was the staple of my parents and my boyhood but, like so many, I cannot stand being preached at. However, I keep in touch with the station because my wife has erected a sort of alarm to keep deer out of our garden. As the fallow or roe jump in, they trigger a burst of whatever is playing on Radio 4. My sister's partner uses the same contraption in their garden, but he tunes the alarm to Radio 2 and has much less success in frightening off the marauders. I wonder why. When I go past the alarm myself, setting it off, I do notice that most snatches of dialogue are, even now, conducted in the tones of educated men and women. Perhaps the deer are more in awe of voices 'born to command' than of popular songs.
Telegraph
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Civil Service anti-Islamophobia training led by group who say ‘Islamist' is discriminatory
Civil servants were given anti-Islamophobia training by a group that once claimed the word 'Islamist' was discriminatory. Mandarins at Ed Miliband's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) took part in an hour-long course in November at a £350 cost to the department. It comes after Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, set up a working group to help her draw up a definition of Islamophobia, despite fears of a chilling effect on free speech. The training session for civil servants was delivered by the Anti-Islamophobia Working Group (AIWG), which claims to be an 'apolitical' coalition of civil society groups and experts. In its report Strategies for Eradicating Islamophobia, published last year, the AIWG argued that referring to 'Islamists' or 'jihadists' could stigmatise all Muslims. It said: 'Public officials should refrain from using terms like 'Islamists' and 'jihadists' when referring to criminals who commit any form of crime, to promote responsible and non-discriminatory language. 'Using these terms to describe criminals can lead to stigmatisation and the unjust association of an entire religious or cultural group with criminal behaviour. Instead, public officials should opt for more precise and neutral language to describe criminal activities. 'By doing so, they can avoid perpetuating negative stereotypes and help maintain a more inclusive, fair and informed public discourse.' The cost and provider of the training session emerged in response to a written question by Kevin Hollinrake, the new chairman of the Conservatives. Michael Shanks, a junior DESNZ minister, said: 'DESNZ is committed to creating a culture where all colleagues feel valued and supported, in line with our 'Inclusive' value.' 'Gravely concerning and warrants urgent action' In response to an earlier question from the Tories, Mr Shanks said the Government 'cannot share the content' of the AIWG workshop because it was given by an external provider. Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, said: 'It is deeply concerning that DESNZ is not prepared to share the content of this session. 'Without transparency there is a risk that training is embedding deeply contested ideology into the civil service, which is meant to be impartial. 'Frankly, officials' time would be better spent on bringing down the cost of energy bills.' Mr Miliband had vowed to make Islamophobia an 'aggravated crime' in an interview with Muslim News at the 2015 general election when he was Labour leader. In its report last year, the AIWG also heavily criticised Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, over her remarks about the weekly pro-Palestine demonstrations that followed the Oct 7 attacks and the subsequent Israeli bombardment of Gaza. 'The then Home Secretary Suella Braverman branded [the] pro-Palestine demonstrations as 'hate marches', arguably inciting division and emboldening far-Right sentiments,' it said. 'This, coupled with the surge in Islamophobia, is gravely concerning and warrants urgent action.' The group has also pressed ministers to define Islamophobia and appeared to suggest its own definition. 'Islamophobia is a stereotypical and negative perception of Muslims, which may be expressed as hatred of Muslims,' the AIWG said. A committee with 'extreme views' 'It is prejudice, bias, hostility, discrimination, or violence against Muslims for being Muslim or Muslims institutions or property for being Muslim or perceived as Muslim. 'Islamophobia can manifest as a form of racial, religious, national origin, and/or ethnic discrimination, bias, or hatred; or, a combination thereof.' Ms Rayner has appointed a five-strong panel to draw up its own definition to be applied across the public sector despite fears it could prevent politicians speaking up about Asian grooming gangs. The Conservatives have also accused her of appointing a committee with 'extreme' views. The working group is chaired by Dominic Grieve, a former Tory cabinet minister, and is meeting in secret, with members of the public not able to offer their views. Mr Grieve once praised a report published in 2019 which called the discussion of ' grooming gangs ' an example of 'anti-Muslim racism'. A DESNZ spokesman said: 'This spending adheres to EDI guidance published in May 2024 by the previous government. 'We are focused on ensuring every pound spent of taxpayer money delivers for the public.'
Winnipeg Free Press
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Outgoing antisemitism envoy calls out business, religious leaders for lack of action
OTTAWA – Ottawa's outgoing envoy for tackling antisemitism is accusing Canada's business sector and civil society of failing to call out a rising tide of hate against Jews and other minorities. In an extensive interview with The Canadian Jewish News, Deborah Lyons also says she could not get a meeting with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during her nearly two-year term. She says Canadian society faces a growing gulf over violence in the Middle East and Canadians are 'listening and hearing on different frequencies' instead of trying to find common ground against hate. Lyons says she lacked the energy at times to bridge that gap and reveals that both her and Canada's Islamophobia envoy faced pushback from their own constituencies when they worked together. She says Canadian society is 'weakening' as business and religious leaders avoid calling out the rise in hate crimes, and as multiple levels of government fail to adequately co-ordinate their responses. Lyons says she is leaving her job three months early not for health reasons, but rather to restore 'a little bit of the joy back into life.' The Canadian Press has asked Lyons for an interview and Poilievre's office for comment. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2025.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Zohran Mamdani's digs at Hakeem Jeffries resurface as House Dem leader weighs backing socialist NYC mayoral candidate
Socialist New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani once implied House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was an Islamophobe and likened the highest-ranking black House lawmaker in US history to notorious segregationist George Wallace. The past digs resurfaced as Jeffries continues to drag his feet on an endorsement after meeting with Mamdani last week for the first time since the Queens state lawmaker locked down the Democratic mayoral nod. The two are expected to have another confab when Mamdani returns from his Uganda vacation at the end of the month. The pro-Palestinian pol has been part of a cadre of lefty firebrands that has long bashed Jeffries over his remarks in steadfast support of Israel from a 2014 rally, comparing it to Wallace's infamous 1963 call for 'segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.' 'After at least 2,251 Palestinians were killed over the course of July 2014, Hakeem Jeffries got on stage at a rally in NYC and paraphrased George Wallace. 'Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever,'' Mamdani fumed in a November 2022 X post. 5 Zohran Mamdani has been working to court top Democratic leaders who have been skittish about throwing their weight behind him. X/zohrankmamdani Jeffries, a Brooklyn-based Democrat, has been a staunch backer of Israel, though since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, he has tried to highlight concerns about the treatment of the Palestinians as well. 5 Hakeem Jeffries has long been a public supporter of Israel, something that has peeved his left flank. Getty Images Mamdani, meanwhile, has been a ferocious critic of the Jewish state — a term he rejects. Several months after comparing Jeffries to Wallace, Mamdani appeared to accuse the party boss of Islamophobia, while opining on a 2000 debate in which the Brooklyn Dem noted the religious differences he had with his rival for a seat in the New York State Assembly. 'Yes, my opponent is older; I'm younger. It's not religion. Yes, the assemblyman is a practicing Muslim, and I grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church,' Jeffries said in the 2000 debate before his then-foe Roger Green stormed off. Mamdani, a practicing Muslim and assembly member from Queens, strongly insinuated Jeffries had been Islamophobic with those remarks. '[Islamophobia] has become less explicit. … You might not hear the word 'Muslim.' You might not hear the word Islam. But you will hear about extremism or ties to specific groups or attempts at making associations that will block any consideration of a candidacy in a voter's mind,' Mamdani reflected to Politico in 2023. Later that same year — just over two months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel — Mamdani publicly roasted Jeffries for not backing a ceasefire, in a clip he proudly shared on social media. 'Congressman Jeffries has yet to call for a ceasefire. Congressman Jeffries has said that he seriously supports President Biden's request for an additional $14 billion in military funding for Israel,' Mamdani chided. 'And I must ask Congressman Jeffries how many more Palestinians must be killed before you call for a ceasefire? How many more?' he added to cheers. 5 Hakeem Jeffries has made clear he'd rather focus on attacking President Trump than intraparty battles. Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock Mamdani has long fixated on the Israel-Hamas war. In October 2023, just about a week after Hamas' surprise attack sparked the conflict, Mamdani was arrested during a protest near then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's Park Slope home. Like Jeffries, Schumer has so far refrained from endorsing Mamdani in the mayoral race. 5 Some Democrats quietly feared that Zohran Mamdani could give Republicans ammunition in the 2026 midterms. Derek French/SOPA Images/Shutterstock Since Mamdani's shock primary win in June, Jeffries has engaged in a delicate dance of not backing the young socialist, but refraining from criticizing him publicly as well. Last month, Jeffries gently called on Mamdani to clarify his defense of the phrase 'globalize the intifada' — widely seen as a call for violent uprisings against Israel — which the socialist chalked it up to a 'desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.' But as he campaigns for the November general election, Mamdani has since said he would 'discourage' the use of the phrase, and stressed that he hadn't been using it. Some progressive hardliners, emboldened by Mamdani's primary victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have mused about targeting other so-called 'establishment' Democrats like Jeffries. Jeffries' allies, though, have warned Democratic socialists in New York City against messing with him. 'Leader Hakeem Jeffries is focused on taking back the House from the MAGA extremists who just ripped health care away from millions of Americans,' his senior adviser André Richardson told CNN earlier this month. 'However, if Team Gentrification wants a primary fight, our response will be forceful and unrelenting. We will teach them and all of their incumbents a painful lesson on June 23, 2026.' National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesman Mike Marinella said Jeffries' prospects at re-election didn't look good in light of Mamdani's past critiques of the top House Dem. 'Hakeem is too weird and too weak to even win over the Democrat nominee for his own city. How would anyone expect him to win back the House?' Marinella told The Post. 5 Hakeem Jeffries met with Zohran Mamdani last week and has plans to meet him again after the latter's return from Uganda. Getty Images 'The socialism wing has taken over the Democrat Party because this is their radical platform.' Mamdani announced on Sunday that he will be taking a break from the campaign so that he and his wife can go to Uganda, where he immigrated from when he was a child. Jeffries told reporters Monday that he'll meet with Mamdani when the candidate returns. 'We agreed to reconvene with other members of the [New York] delegation and high-level community leaders in Brooklyn upon his return to the country,' he said. The Post reached out to reps for Mamdani and Jeffries for comment.
