Netherlands: Minister says imams should speak out against homophobia

Netherlands: Minister says imams should speak out against homophobia

Via spitsnieuws (Dutch):

Education Minister Van Bijsterveldt says all imams in the Netherlands should jointly speak against homophobic violence and support respecting gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.

"I would really appreciate it if they do that, just like Christian churches did not so long ago," she said yesterday during a meeting of SMN (Alliance of Moroccan-Dutch) in Utrecht. The minister said it would be a strong signal that everyone can be part of the Muslim community, regardless of sexual orientation, origin or culture.

Brussels: Israeli minister speaks with EU officials about combating Muslim antisemitism

Brussels: Israeli minister speaks with EU officials about combating Muslim antisemitism

A New Beginning for Muslims in Europe?

A New Beginning for Muslims in Europe?

Via the Boston College Chronicle:

Western Europe hardly seems a model for harmonious relations between Muslim minorities and the non-Muslim societies in which they reside. Controversies have flared recently over the wearing of burkas in public, construction of mosques, and an ironic suggestion from a French ex-political official that his fellow Muslims wear green stars.

But Associate Professor of Political Science Jonathan Laurence tells a different story in his new book, The Emancipation of Europe’s Muslims: The State’s Role in Minority Integration. During the past two decades, he says, European countries have stepped up efforts to integrate Muslims into the institutional, political, and cultural fabrics of European democracy. Foremost among such initiatives has been the government-led creation of Islamic Councils to help resolve public disputes over Islamic practices.

(source)

Denmark: DPP says Muslims are racist for sending children to private schools

Denmark: DPP says Muslims are racist for sending children to private schools

Via Fyens Stiftstidende (Danish):

Alex Ahrendtsen, education spokesperson for the Danish People's Party (DPP), said Muslim parents who send their children to private schools are 'little racists'

Ahrendtsen was speaking to TV 2 NEWS, which reported that immigrant children go to private schools more than ethnic Danish children (14% of Danes vs. 15% of immigrant children)

Ukraine: Newspaper depicts Africans and Arabs as monkeys groping woman

Ukraine: Newspaper depicts Africans and Arabs as monkeys groping woman

Sweden: Six charged over 'honor' beating

Sweden: Six charged over 'honor' beating

Six men in Hallsberg, central Sweden, were charged with beating a 19-year-old with metal rods at a gym. Police believe the attack is an honor crime. (more in English here)

The story turns out to be quite complicated, and I think the English language news report misses the main point. Via GP (Swedish):

The 19- year-old was attacked because he allegedly abused the daughter of one of the men a few weeks earlier. The man supposedly kidnapped the daughter in his car. The incident was reported to the police, but the investigation was closed.

Prosecutor Karl-Erik Antonsson says that the men did not accept the results of the police investigation and tried protecting the girl's honor. They believe there is only one way to atone for such a thing.

Netherlands: Immigration minister wants to get rid of 'allochtoon'

Netherlands: Immigration minister wants to get rid of 'allochtoon'

Via DutchNews:

The word allochtoon, literally meaning non-native, should no longer be applied to people born in the Netherlands, immigration minister Gerd Leers told a meeting on Monday night, according to the Telegraaf.

'I want people born in the Netherlands to be called Dutch, plain and simple, not non-native,' Leers told the readers of women's magazine Libelle.

(source)

Wales: Kind mosque families raise £500 to help twins' parents

Wales: Kind mosque families raise £500 to help twins' parents

MEMBERS of a Swansea mosque have raised £500 in just 48 hours to help a couple who say they are struggling to visit their premature twins in hospital. Families at the Swansea University site said they were inspired to help after reading about the story in the Evening Post. (source)

Netherlands: Burka ban might popularize it, warns Muslim politician

Netherlands: Burka ban might popularize it, warns Muslim politician

Morocco: Sex for a European husband

Morocco: Sex for a European husband

Via nieuwsblad (Dutch):

Poor Moroccan girls are willing to do everything in order to get a European husband.

Said, a 21 year old tourist in Tangier says there's no talk of love, he says of the flirting in the streets of Tangier between locals and European-born youth. "In Morocco marriage has become big business. Singles no longer look for a beloved, but for somebody who will inject capital into their lives. Poverty is consuming this country, it makes its residents unemotional materialists. There is no future here for the Arab Romeo and Juliet."