Lucerne: Foreigners denied right to vote Via the Local : Foreigners living in Switzerland had reasons to be cheerful and discontented after two separate votes on Sunday. In Basel, an SVP initiative to toughen naturalisation requirements was rejected, even though foreigners will now have to prove to the authorities that they have an adequate command of German.
Greece: Anti-Immigrant Barrier to be Put Up Along Evros Borders Via GreekReporter : “Problems with illegal immigrants are well known, but I must stress that this is the first time a comprehensive plan is being forwarded, aiming at restraining and managing their flow” said Deputy Minister for Citizen Protection Mr. Michalis Othonas. The plan has been approved and will be co-founded by the European Commission in an attempt of controlling the delicate issues of illegal immigration and human trafficking flowing into the EU from the Greek-Turkish borders along the Evros River, in Northeastern Greece.
Oslo: Very Little to Debate at ‘Human Rights in Islam’ Discussion Via Pajamas Media (Hege Storhaug): It is impossible for me to provide a complete account of the debate on “Human Rights in Islam: Just or Unjust?” that was held under the auspices of IslamNet, Norway’s largest Islamic organization, on November 7, 2011.
Toulouse: School tagged with anti-Arab graffiti Via La Dépêche (French): A high-school in Toulous was tagged with racist and anti-Arab graffiti: “Arabs out of France”, “Arabs get lost” “Islam get out” (the latter in English) as well as Nazi symbols. Some parents said they had to explain the meaning of the symbols to their children. The Louis-Nicolas-Vauquelin school is located in the at-risk neighborhood of Mirail
“All humans are dead except those who have knowledge; and all those who have knowledge are asleep, except those who do good deeds; and those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere; and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry.” – Imam Shafi’ee (rahimullah) Related posts: Be sincere Weak Memory Value Ilm Real worry Are you awake?
Al-Jazeera: Muslims of France What challenges have generations of Muslim immigrants in France been facing to retain their cultural identity? Al-Jazeera report .
Designer Elif Kavakci was interviewed a little while ago for a BBC World documentary called ‘American Muslim – Faith, Fear and Freedom’.
Brussels/Turkey: Minister goes ballistic against far-right MEP in caricature row Via Today’s Zaman : A gathering of Turkish and European parliamentarians in Brussels turned eventful on Tuesday when a far-right Dutch deputy lambasted Islam and Turkey and then attempted to present a caricature deemed criminal by Turkish prosecutors as a “gift” to a Turkish minister. Barry Madlener, a Dutch politician from the Party for Freedom (PVV), first caused tensions when he said at a meeting of the European Union-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee that Turkey did not belong to Europe because it has a “backward Islamic ideology” that does not fit with European values
France: Muslims sites proportionally desecrated more Via TF1 (French): Desecration Muslim and Jewish cemeteries and places of worship is, proportionally to their numbers, higher than that of Christian sites, according to a new study by the ’study group on the prevent and fight against desecration of places of worship and cemeteries’. Percentage wise, 1.30% of Christian sites were violated, compared with 2.85% of Muslim sites and 2.8% of Jewish sites. 621 such cases of desecration were recorded in 2010, affecting just a small minority of sites
Antwerp: Dutch-Moroccan supermarket chain comes to Belgium (Arabic ad broadcast on Moroccan TV) Via vandaag (Dutch): Grocery-store chain Vers Centrum Tanger, owned by the Moroccan Barghaoul family from the Hague, will come to Antwerp in January. The chain has two shops in the Netherlands (Amsterdam and the Hague), and mostly targets immigrants