The Female Football Fan Causing 'Moral Uproar' In Saudi Arabia
New Age Islam News Bureau
10
Oct 2014
Photo: Iranian Women Do Not Have the Right to Control Their Bodies
• Pakistan's
Malala - Idol to the World, Outcast At Home
• Turkish
Girl Wins International Prize in Physics
• Iranian
Women Do Not Have the Right to Control Their Bodies
• ‘Saudis’
Rev Up Women's Right-To-Drive Campaign
• Development
of Competent Saudi Sportswomen Will Not Happen By Itself
• Muslim
Women Must Take the Lead in Fighting Extremists
• India: Martial Arts to Be Made Mandatory in U.P. Girl’s Schools
• Women,
Children, Mosques Targeted In Abusive Attacks in Australia
• Maitland
Women Support Their Australian Muslim Sisters
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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The
Female Football Fan Causing 'Moral Uproar' In Saudi Arabia
October
10, 2014
A video
of a Saudi woman at a football match in the United Arab Emirates has caused a
"moral uproar" in Saudi Arabia.
Women
are banned from attending football matches in the conservative Muslim nation
because their presence is said to promote "immoral and sinful
behaviour". This forces many women to travel to other Gulf States where
rules are more relaxed in order to watch football and other sporting events.
In the
short clip, a fully veiled woman wearing a black abaya and Niqab is seen
shouting at her team after a bad tackle. While shaking her fist in anger, her
sleeve falls to expose much of her lower arm.
The clip
has been viewed almost half a million times and the majority of the comments
have been made by "angry men critical of the unidentified woman for being
in a stadium filled with thousands of men", reports the BBC's Mai Noman.
"Does
this woman not have a man? Her place is in the house," reads one comment
underneath the video.
Another
one says: "As a man I do not want to get married to a woman who,
surrounded by men, shouts at stadiums."
Despite
the reaction, some argue that attitudes towards women and sport are changing in
Saudi Arabia.
Lina Al
Maena, a former athlete and advocate for girls' sports in Saudi Arabia told the
BBC: "There's a lot more acceptance of women's involvement in sports today
than there used to be a decade ago."
Indeed,
not all of the YouTube comments left by Saudi Arabian men were critical.
According
to local reports, Saudi sporting officials are considering allowing women to
enter stadiums, but only if they follow strict guidelines, including not
mingling with men.
http://www.theweek.co.uk/middle-east/60797/the-female-football-fan-causing-moral-uproar-in-saudi-arabia-video#ixzz3FjooutIu
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Pakistan's
Malala - Idol to the World, Outcast At Home
October
10, 2014
ISLAMABAD,
Oct 10 (Reuters) - Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday,
is hailed around the world as a champion of women's rights who stood up bravely
against the Taliban to defend her beliefs.
But in
her deeply conservative homeland, many view her with suspicion as an outcast or
even as a Western creation aimed at damaging Pakistan's image abroad.
Malala,
now aged 17, became globally known in 2012 when Taliban gunmen almost killed
her for her passionate advocacy of women's right to education.
She has
since become a symbol of defiance in the fight against militants operating in
Pashtun tribal areas in northwest Pakistan - a region where women are expected
to keep their opinions to themselves and stay at home.
"The
terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but
nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died.
Strength, power and courage was born," she told the United Nations last
year.
"I
do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and
he stands in front of me. I would not shoot him," she said in a speech
which captivated the world.
Malala
has also won the European Union's human rights award and was one of the
favourites to win the Nobel Prize last year.
Now
based in Britain, she is unable to return to her homeland because of Taliban
threats to kill her and her family members. The current Taliban chief, Mullah
Fazlullah, was the one who ordered the 2012 attack against her.
Yousafzai
has enrolled in a school in Birmingham and become a global campaigner for women's
right to education and other human rights issues, taking up issues such as the
situation in Syria and Nigieria.
In her
native Swat valley, however, many people view Malala - backed by a supportive
family and a doting father who inspired her to keep up with her campaign - with
a mixture of suspicion, fear and jealousy.
At the
time of her Nobel nomination last year, social media sites were brimming with
insulting messages. "We hate Malala Yousafzai, a CIA agent," said one
Facebook page.
She was
a young student in the Swati town of Mingora in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province when she became interested in women's rights.
At the
time, the Taliban were in power in the strategic valley after they took control
over the region and imposed strict Islamic rules, including their opposition to
women's education.
She
wrote an anonymous blog describing her life under the Taliban controlled the
region. In October 2012, after the Taliban were pushed out of Swat by the
Pakistani army, she was shot in the head on her way to school by a Taliban
gunman.
She
survived after being airlifted to Britain for treatment and recovered from her
life-threatening wounds.
"The
wise saying, 'The pen is mightier than sword' was true. The extremists are
afraid of books and pens," she told the United Nations. "The power of
education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of
women frightens them." (Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Angus
MacSwan)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-2787804/Pakistans-Malala--idol-world-outcast-home.html#ixzz3FjkHcUKG
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Turkish
girl wins international prize in physics
October
10, 2014
A
Turkish girl has won an international prize in physics, after competing with
young people from around 70 countries.
İlayda
Şamilgil won the an annual international competition in research projects in
physics, which is awarded by an organization committee based in Poland.
Her
project, related to determining the water level in any liquid by using
magnetics, has came first among around 5,000 other projects. Şamilgil is a 12th
grader and had previously sent her project to TÜBİTAK but was not able to
receive any degree.
The
competition targets high school students who are interested in physics and are
willing to perform their own research works in physics.
The
title of the “First Step to the Nobel Prize” expresses the dream of all young
physicists, and the competition is completely independent of the Nobel
institution in Sweden. The new president of the Organizing Committee of the
competition is Prof. Dr. Maciej Kolwas and secretary is Dr. Dorota Klinger.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-girl-wins-international-prize-in-physics.aspx?pageID=238&nID=72764&NewsCatID=374
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Iranian
Women Do Not Have the Right to Control Their Bodies
October
10, 2014
Since
President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in August 2013, there has been a marked
increase in state policies by hardliners in the government directly infringing
upon the most basic rights of Iranian women.
These hardliners, who dominate Parliament and are ensconced in the
security, intelligence, and judicial branches of government, have focused in
particular on two issues, both of which concern women’s bodies: the observance
of “proper” hijab (Islamic dress) and the availability of family planning and
women’s reproductive health services.
Iranian
women’s observance of “proper” Hijab has been a focus of concern for the
Iranian government in general and hardliners in particular since the 1979
Revolution. Indeed, hijab is one of the ideological pillars of the Islamic
Republic of Iran, alongside its anti-American and anti-Israel sentiments. It was only one month after the Revolution,
in March 1979, that the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, made
Hijab compulsory for all Iranian women. Khomeini’s order, which faced protests
by thousands of women, was uniformly enforced within three years.
When the
centrist Hassan Rouhani won office last year by a large electoral margin,
hardliners, anxious to assert their continued primacy in the domestic sphere,
unleashed a wave of attacks on women with “loose” Hijab, citing the
“immorality” and “lack of chastity” of such women and their participation in a
“western plot” to corrupt Iranian youth.
In June
2014, conservative MPs summoned the Iranian Minister of Interior Affairs, Abdol
Rahman Fazli for parliamentary hearings to question why the ministry did not
take “appropriate actions” to confront women who wear leggings. While the
photos of women in leggings were screened in Parliament on large monitors,
Iranian MPs asked the minister to confront these “aberrations” more strictly.
A few
weeks ago, Abdolhamid Mohtasham, head of Ansar-e Hezbollah, announced the
launch of a street campaign to confront women who don’t observe “proper”
Islamic hijab. Ansar, a hardline militia group connected to the Revolutionary
Guards and the Basij militias, is infamous for its role in suppressing popular
anti-government student demonstrations and attacking reformist newspapers and
journalists in the 1990s and the 2000s. The group, which usually operates
without official government authorization and expresses direct loyalty to
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, claims that they are the true protectors of
Islamic values in society.
According
to official statistics, during last year 2,917,000 women have been warned for
their hijab by morality police, from which 205,052 were forced to sign a
written statement promising not to violate the hijab law in the future, and
18,082 were referred to the Judiciary to be tried in courts. Moreover, there
were numerous additional hijab “interventions” by other non-governmental
organizations, such as the Basij militia and its affiliated groups, but there
are no reliable statistics regarding their number.
Hijab
enforcement actions are not limited to warnings by the morality police and
daily arrests. Based on a report published in March 2014 by Justice for Iran, a
human rights organization in London, Iranian women undergo various forms of
harassment, abuse, and discrimination by authorities on a daily basis for not
observing “proper” hijab. The report demonstrates that many Iranian women face
“limitations and deprivations in relation to their careers, education, public
services, and participation in cultural or recreational spaces,” if they
violate hijab laws.
Hijab,
though, is not the only focus of hardliners’ attempts to control the lives—and
bodies—of Iranian women. Recently, women have been at the center of another
governmental initiative: In the last few months, the hardline-dominated Iranian
Parliament has been working on a national plan that restricts women’s access to
contraception and limits their reproductive rights.
If the
bill is ratified, Iranian women will lose access to free birth control and
reproductive health care. This is a dramatic change from state policy in the
1990s, when the Iranian government implemented a national family planning
project. Family planning was a rational solution to the problem of a population
boom in the first decade after the 1979 Revolution, and it led to the reduction
of the population growth rate from 3.2 in 1986 to 1.29 in 2010. According to
the United Nations, it was one of the most successful population policies in
the world.
However,
the current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had a different opinion. In October
2012, he called the family planning project a mistake and called instead for
population growth. Following Khamenei’s decree, the conservative government of
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013) cut the birth control budget and the Iranian
Parliament started the legislation process to implement Khamenei’s edict.
The
current population growth bill would significantly affect the lives of millions
of Iranian women, especially those from the lower strata of society.
Eliminating access to reproductive health care would leave vulnerable women to
struggle with frequent pregnancies, more children, and unsafe abortions. It
also effectively deprives them of education and full participation in the job
market. Due to the underdeveloped economy, discriminatory laws, and cultural
barriers, Iranian women’s share of the job market is only 13%; the population
growth bill would lower it further.
By
imposing their view of proper hijab and reducing women’s access to reproductive
care, these authorities are effectively excluding women from full participation
in society and relegating them to their homes. These policies are an explicit
violation of women’s basic rights and a clear indication that Iranian women are
increasingly losing control over their own bodies.
President
Rouhani promised repeatedly during his campaign to uphold the rights of women.
He stated, on April 20, 2014 at an official gathering in Tehran on the occasion
of Mother’s Day and Women’s Day in Iran, “It is not possible to push 50% of
society into isolation or marginalize them. Women should have equal
opportunity, equal protections and equal social rights.”
Yet
Rouhani has not delivered on these pledges. To date he has remained focused on
foreign affairs, and has left domestic matters largely in the hands of
hardliners who seek further restrictions on women’s social, economic, and
political participation. Rouhani’s administration has neither pushed back
against these initiatives, nor introduced policies to improve the state of
women’s rights in Iran. In light of these direct assaults on women’s most basic
rights—the right to control their own bodies—the Rouhani administration must
end the impunity with which hardliners have advanced their misogynistic
projects, and stand with Iranian women to protect their rights.
*Leila
Mouri is an Iranian women’s rights activist and journalist
http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2014/10/women-control/
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‘Saudis’
Rev Up Women's Right-To-Drive Campaign
October
10, 2014
RIYADH:
Activists in Saudi Arabia said on Thursday they are revving up a right-to-drive
campaign using social media in the world's only country that bans women from
getting behind the wheel.
An
online petition asking the Saudi government to "lift the ban on women
driving" has attracted more than 2,400 signatures ahead of its culmination
on October 26.
"The
issue is not that of simply a vehicle driven by a woman, but the
acknowledgement and recognition of the humanity of half of society and the
God-given rights of women," the petition states.
It adds
the ban is a result of tradition and custom because there is "no single
Islamic text" or judicial ruling prohibiting women from taking to the
kingdom's highways.
The
petition website, www.oct26driving.com, includes short videos of women driving
while clad in the head-to-toe black robes they are required to wear, with only
their eyes exposed.
It
features an "honour wall" naming 108 women whom it said have defied
the kingdom's driving ban.
Activists
are also encouraging women to post pictures of themselves driving using a
Twitter hashtag, #IWillDriveMyself, as well as on Instagram and YouTube.
"This year will be bigger," one Tweet vowed, following a similar
campaign last year.
"We
are trying to do something to refresh this demand" that women be allowed
to drive, one activist, Nasima al-Sada, told AFP. "It doesn't stop,"
she said of the national campaign.
"We
are asking the ladies to sit behind the wheel and take action" on October
26 "or any day", Sada said from the kingdom's Eastern Province, home
to most of the country's oil reserves.
Saudi
Arabia is OPEC's biggest oil exporter and the country's economy has been one of
the best performing in the Group of 20 leading nations, according to the
International Monetary Fund.
Several
Saudi women holding corporate CEO and other senior management positions were
included in this year's Forbes list of 200 most powerful Arab women, but they
cannot drive in their own country.
Last
year, activists also focused their demands on October 26 - which they simply
call a "symbolic" date as part of efforts to press for women's right
to drive.
At least
16 were fined for taking the wheel on that day. Sada said that if women are
afraid of such reprisals from authorities, or from the men in their lives,
activists hope they could still drive and post their actions, even anonymously.
"We are trying to change women's thinking," she said. "We
believe it's our right... and we don't want anyone to control our lives".
Saudi
women still need permission from a male guardian to work and marry, while
restaurants are divided into "family sections" and separate areas for
single men.
Last
November the kingdom's top cleric, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh,
said the female driving prohibition protects society from "evil" and
should not be a major concern.
Hardline
clerics protested when King Abdullah, in January last year, decided to give
women a 20 percent quota in the previously all-male Shura Council of 150
members.
The
Shura Council is appointed by the king and advises the monarch on policy, but
cannot legislate.
http://nation.com.pk/international/10-Oct-2014/saudis-rev-up-women-s-right-to-drive-campaign
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Development
of Competent Saudi Sportswomen Will Not Happen By Itself
October
10, 2014
Saudi
Arabia’s decision not to send female athletes to this year’s Asian Games in
South Korea is not new. We are accustomed to seeing a whirlwind of comments
about the position of women on our teams ahead of every sporting competition.
But the
justification of Saudi Arabia’s Olympic Committee for not having females, which
is that women are not “sufficiently competent” draws attention to what
initiatives have been undertaken by our sporting committees to address this
gap, and more generally, what support they have been giving to the role of women
in sports in Saudi Arabia.
Two
years ago, the Kingdom made a move to develop women’s rights in sports when two
young Saudi women – Sarah Attar, a track and field athlete, and Wojdan
Shaherkani, a judo competitor - were allowed to compete officially in the London
Olympics 2012. Yet, this step has not been followed up by other initiatives nor
has it led to a policy development which could allow broader participation by
Saudi women in sports.
The
current environment in which millions of Saudi girls grow up actively
discourages them from taking up any physical activity. Sports are still banned
in girls’ public schools, despite the fact that the schools are completely
segregated from boys’ schools. There was a recent debate over the possibility
of introducing physical education in girls’ private schools. However, even if
such an action were to be carried out, it is surely not enough as further
initiatives are clearly needed, most important of which is the introduction of
laws that would recognize and defend women’s rights to sports.
Existing
rules do not seem to support or encourage women and girls to take up an active
lifestyle. This gap can be seen in the lack of sufficient support for the
development of women’s sports. Previous governments designed sporting programs
and financial resources that were not only restricted to males but also
excluded women from sports as “fans”. Sports venues ban females from entering
to watch sporting events. Most entertainment venues in the Kingdom dedicate
special sections for women. But not sporting venues. It is simply not allowed
in order to prevent women from mixing with male audiences.
Additionally,
the socially constructed gender stereotypes of women in Saudi society add
layers of complication to the situation.
Many Saudis refuse to let their women and girls engage in social
activities away from home. This attitude is partly promoted by random religious
fatwas (religious edicts issued by Islamic scholars) which consider sports as a
sinful conflict with the Islamic concept of femininity, which limits a woman’s
role to her home and family.
These
uncontrolled fatwas often influence society’s acceptance of women in sports as
well as a woman’s freedom to practice sports. This could be seen during the
London Olympics when many conservatives used social media to object to having
Saudi women in a televised tournament and with some even calling them
“prostitutes” on Twitter.
That
being said, I do not believe that the level of competence of Saudi female
athletes should be the main reason for not sending them to the Asian Games.
Rather, it shows a reluctance by our sporting institutions to address the
abovementioned challenges.
I
understand that sporting institutions in the Kingdom are not legislated.
Therefore, they have no authority to set or amend rules, but they could play a
more active role in advising the government to adopt suitable policies that
would aid in promoting sports among
women. They should help in developing strategies to encourage the government to
include sports for women systematically in their social development plans.
The
development of competent sportswomen will not happen by itself. It is an
evolving process which is primarily initiated by the government’s recognition
of the participation of women in sports, in addition to raising awareness about
the importance of sports as a human development among the sporting committees
in the Kingdom. Most especially, there is an essential need for a basic
willingness to empower women in the country.
This
will come only when women’s issues begin to be addressed by our sporting
committees. Perhaps the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW) should start
this by establishing a department to develop women’s sports in two aspects:
Firstly, to increase their participation in sports within our community, which
would raise the awareness of physical activities for health benefits in our
society. Additionally, they should encourage the development of physical
education in schools as well as the establishment of physical recreation centers.
This could be done in coordination with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of
Commerce and the Ministry of Culture and Information.
However,
most importantly there is a need to allow access for women to many
administrative positions. Having women represented on our sports boards and
committees will have a positive impact on the process of advancing women’s
participation in sports. These representatives would provide a greater platform
to support the needs and requirements of women, provided that they have access
to these community services.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20141010220730
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Muslim
Women Must Take the Lead in Fighting Extremists
October
10, 2014
In the
global debate on terrorism and the Islamic State – one voice has gone largely
unheard, that of Muslim women. Yet we bear the brunt of extremists operating in
our communities with the anguish and hatred they leave in their wake.
As
radicals recruit vulnerable young people in the United States, Canada and
Europe, families are left broken and grieving when teenagers vanish only to be
found participating in mass killings.
Too
often the voices of Muslim women are ignored, our concerns swept under the
carpet. We are the eyes and ears in our communities and homes, acutely attuned
to the first signs of extremist activity and behavior. But too often, statutory
agencies and government have stared right past us.
This is
no longer permissible. In September, the women’s network I run in the United
Kingdom – Inspire – began a national campaign to empower Muslim women to make a
stand. We were determined to make a clear statement in public that Muslim women
are not invisible, that we have a voice and we’re prepared to take the lead in
crushing the twisted theology of murder and bloodshed.
Last
month, more than 100 British Muslim women gathered in London under a banner
with the hashtag #makingastand. Our emblem has been a Muslim woman in a Union
Jack hijab making the point that we are proud to hold the combined identity of
being Muslim and British.
I was
pleased to receive a supportive tweet from a young American Muslim on the day
of our launch with an accompanying selfie in a Stars and Stripes hijab. She is
one of the millions of Muslim women across the world for whom our message is
long overdue: We are proud to be loyal to our country while at the same time
peacefully observing our faith. And we are as sickened as any other
right-thinking person at the sight of filmed beheadings, slave markets and
stoning of women. It represents a hideous distortion of our religion.
Americans
should jettison old mindsets about Islam. The real division on the global stage
is between decent human beings and terrorists, irrespective of their faith.
Muslim women are natural leaders in the fight against global extremism. It’s
our rights, after all, that are trodden underfoot by the so-called Islamic
State and their supporters in the West. So the more Muslim women advance, the
more the extremists are pushed back.
It is
true that a small but significant number of Muslim women from the West have
chosen to become perpetrators of violence alongside ISIS. But who have been
their victims? More often than not, it’s other Muslim women in Syria or Iraq
that have been beaten over their dress, passed around as “jihadi brides” or
stoned to death for alleged adultery.
Glance
back at Islam’s earliest history and you’ll find powerful Muslim women who were
preachers and political leaders – as well as being confidantes of the Prophet.
Today, the terrorists have reduced us to covered-up, secluded slaves. Objects
without voices. Please do not see us in the same light.
Sara
Khan is the director of Inspire, which addresses inequality of Muslim women in
Britain.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/09/do-muslims-need-to-defend-their-faith-against-extremists/muslim-women-must-take-the-lead-in-fighting-extremists
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India:
Martial Arts to Be Made Mandatory in U.P. Girl’s Schools
SANDEEP
JOSHI
October
10, 2014
In yet
another initiative to help fight crime against women, the Uttar Pradesh
government has decided to impart judo and karate training to girl students in
the State.
An
official order issued by the Secondary Education Department states that from
the next academic session, training of these two martial arts would be made
mandatory in all schools.
Over
Lakh girl students, mainly studying in government and government-aided schools,
would have to undergo self-defence training in judo and karate.
Principal
Secretary (Secondary Education) Manoj Kumar Singh has directed all district
education officials to promote self-defence among school girls.
The
State government would also ask private schools and colleges to undertake
similar initiative, sources added.
The move
comes after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav recently gave instructions to the
Education Department to introduce ways so that girls could defend themselves.
Recently,
Mr. Yadav introduced a women’s helpline to help check crime against women in
the State.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/martial-arts-to-be-made-mandatory-in-up-schools/article6484432.ece
----------
Women,
Children, Mosques Targeted In Abusive Attacks in Australia
October
10, 2014
There
have been at least 30 attacks on Muslims - mainly against women wearing the
Hijab - in the three weeks since the police anti-terrorism raids and threats by
Islamic State put relations between the Islamic community and mainstream
Australia on edge.
Muslim
leaders are compiling a register of religiously motivated incidents, which
includes reports of physical and verbal assaults, threats of violence against
senior clerics and damage to mosques.
They
claim ''mistrust'' with police had led to the real rate of anti-Islamic
episodes going unreported, and the threat of segregation for women wearing the
Niqab into Parliament had licensed a new wave of people willing to vent against
Muslim women in public.
While
national security agencies have been boosted with almost $650 million in new
funding, Muslim leaders are critical of the level of police resources put into
stopping hate crimes at street level.
Advertisement
Among
recorded incidents, a woman was threatened with having her Hijab torn from her
head and set alight, a cup of coffee was thrown through the car window of a
woman driving in a Hijab, and a pig's head and cross were thrown into the
grounds of a Brisbane mosque.
A mother
in western Sydney was spat on and had the pram carrying her baby kicked,
according to the list of incidents compiled by the western Sydney-based Muslim
Legal Network and the recently launched Islamophobia Register.
A list
of verbal attacks includes a Muslim mother in Melbourne who was told to remove
her child from a group of non-Muslim children at a play park.
At least
four mosques have been targeted with written threats, graffiti and thrown
objects. Queensland is listed as having highest rate of personal assaults and
threats to mosques.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/women-children-mosques-targeted-in-abusive-attacks-20141009-3ho36.html#ixzz3Fjj2wlgj
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Maitland
Women Support Their Australian Muslim Sisters
October
10, 2014
Maitland
women have joined an escalating anti-racism movement by donning the hijab in
demonstration of their support for social harmony and opposition to race hate.
The
group of non-Muslim women have introduced the Women in Solidarity with Hijabis
(#WISH) social media campaign to the city ahead of Saturday’s annual
multicultural festival.
Jan
McDonald, Marg Edwards, Marg Wallin and Helen Dunlop are wearing Hijabs in
solidarity for Muslim women.
Jan
McDonald, Marg Edwards, Marg Wallin and Helen Dunlop are wearing Hijabs in
solidarity for Muslim women.
“By
wearing a headscarf (Hijab) we are offering our support to Australian Muslim
woman and saying that to demonise a highly visible group of the Australian
community is not acceptable,” Marg Wallin, of Raworth, said. “Law abiding freedom of expression is part of
our way of life, we do not want to lose that tolerance because of political
manipulation and scare tactics.”
Inspired
by a non-Muslim woman who put on a Hijab and posted her photo online, the
campaign has attracted more than 20,000 Australians.
Among
those who have shown their support is television journalist Jessica Rowe.
This
staunch act of local support has been solidified after two female Muslim
medical students were verbally abused in the Maitland Hospital car park earlier
this month while another two Muslim women were verbally attacked while driving
in Newcastle on Tuesday.
“Hearing
about these attacks makes me sick on both a personal and professional level,”
Jan McDonald, manager of Carries Place Women’s and Children’s Services, said.
“Physical,
verbal or any sort of emotional attack are a form of violence that is not
acceptable in our community.
“This is
all about drumming up fear and hate and when you get these two things together
you get a nasty outcome which is usually some form of violence.”
The
women have also issued a challenge for Maitland residents to wear a hijab to
the weekend’s Riverlights Cultural Villages festival in central Maitland.
“It
appears that moderation and tolerance are being pushed out the window and
that’s my greatest fear but this festival will give us the opportunity to
celebrate the riches that have been brought to this country by so many
different cultures.
“Wouldn’t
it be a really interesting thing if lots of women donned a hijab for the event?
“ I hope
it would be statement that showed support for all Muslim women.”
http://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/2614603/maitland-women-support-their-muslim-sisters-video/?cs=171
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