http://themilitant.com/2015/7947/794701.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 79/No. 47 December 28, 2015
(lead article)
Washington’s war moves spark attacks on Muslims
Protests reject assaults on mosques, refugees
Militant photos: above, Jim Rogers;
inset, Lea Sherman
In a growing number of cases, solidarity actions by working people are
rejecting scapegoating of Muslims in atmosphere of U.S. imperialist war
drive. Above, some 150 people rally in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Dec. 12
in defense of Syrian refugees. Inset, Sarker Haque, who was beaten in
his Fatima Food Mart in Astoria, Queens, shows cards and messages of
support he has received.
BY MAGGIE TROWE
The atmosphere whipped up as part of Washington’s imperialist war drive
has led to an increase in attacks on Muslims across the country. In a
growing number of instances, these attacks have been met with solidarity
actions by workers and others who reject such scapegoating.
At the same time, Washington, its imperialist allies and Moscow are
increasing their military intervention in the Middle East in the name of
combating the reactionary Islamic State. The results for toilers in the
region are deadly.
After supporters of Islamic State carried out a Dec. 2 terror attack
that left 14 dead in San Bernardino, California, President Barack Obama
in a prime-time speech four days later warned that “an extremist
ideology has spread within some Muslim communities. This is a real
problem that Muslims must confront, without excuse.” He called for
prohibiting gun sales to anyone on the government’s secret and arbitrary
no-fly list and putting in place “stronger screening for those who come
to America without a visa so we can take a hard look at whether they’ve
traveled to war zones.”
The next day Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he
would bar Muslims from entering the U.S. “until our country’s
representatives can figure out what is going on.”
In a Dec. 10 television interview on PoliticKING, Rep. Loretta Sanchez,
a Democrat running for U.S. Senate in California, said that between 5
and 20 percent of Muslims “have a desire for a caliphate and to
institute that in any way possible, and in particular go after what they
consider Western norms, our way of life.”
In this atmosphere, more attacks on Muslims and mosques are taking
place. “Get the hell out of OUR COUNTRY and go back to the desert,” read
a recent anonymous letter to the Al-Tawheed Islamic Center in Jersey
City, New Jersey.
“Allah is Satan,” the “Koran is evil,” screamed a woman at Rasheed
Albeshari as he was praying in the Lake Chabot Regional Park in Alameda
County, California, Dec. 6.
“I can’t wait for the U.S. to get rid of you trash,” a man told a Muslim
woman waiting for a bus in Brooklyn Dec. 9. He then kicked her in the
thigh. The same day subway workers in the Coney Island yard reported
finding graffiti written on a seat that read, “Burn the Muslims, Heil
Hitler!”
Actions defend Muslims
There are also more incidents of workers defending Muslims. The counter
at the Fatima Food Mart in Astoria, Queens, is now covered in cards and
messages of solidarity. Store owner Sarker Haque, originally from
Bangladesh, was beaten Dec. 5 by a man who said he would “kill Muslims.”
With the aid of two neighbors, the attacker was arrested and charged
with assault.
Three rallies and a press conference took place in front of the shop
over the following week. “I am sickened by the rhetoric of the
anti-Muslim campaign,” said Amirtha Kidambi, a musician who lives in the
neighborhood, at a Dec. 12 protest there.
In Stone Mountain, Georgia, more than 150 people gathered Dec. 12
opposing harassment of Muslims. “We have to stand in solidarity with
those who are under attack,” Justin Christian, a child care worker
active in the Fight for $15 an hour, told the Militant.
Several hundred people gathered outside the Trump Tower in New York Dec.
10 to show support for Syrian and Iraqi refugees and condemn attacks on
Muslims, including Trump’s statement.
Some 300 protesters marched in Seattle the same day demanding a serious
investigation into the death of Hamza Warsame, 16, a Somali-American
high school student who fell to his death from a balcony.
In London, 3,000 people protested the British government’s bombing of
Syria Dec. 12. “There will be a lot of civilian casualties,” said Retaj
Layes, a student of Egyptian and Libyan origin who joined the rally.
War intensifies in Syria, Iraq
Since the Nov. 13 Islamic State assaults that killed 130 people in
Paris, Washington has stepped up daily airstrikes of IS positions in
Syria and Iraq, with limited help from the French and U.K. governments.
The Obama administration is sending to Iraq about 100 special operations
forces, in addition to the 3,500 U.S. troops already there, as well as
50 others to Syria. The White House is also considering a Pentagon
proposal to further expand its bases from Africa to the Middle East.
Since Sept. 30, Moscow has carried out airstrikes in Syria targeting
opposition forces to shore up Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime. A United
Nation-brokered deal Dec. 9 led to the withdrawal of hundreds of
civilians and opposition fighters from Homs in western Syria. That city
was once the center of the uprising against the Assad regime.
Secretary of State John Kerry went to Moscow Dec. 15 to solicit Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s assistance in getting a representative of the
Assad government to participate in negotiations Washington is brokering
for a settlement of the civil war in Syria.
Tensions between Moscow and Ankara heated up after the Turkish military
shot down a Russian fighter jet Nov. 24 that it said was in Turkish
airspace. The Russian government has imposed economic sanctions against
Turkey, and a Russian warship in the Aegean Sea fired warning shots at a
Turkish fishing boat that sailed close to it Dec. 13.
The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, which helps lead
the Syrian Democratic Forces group, have made progress in recent weeks
regaining ground from Islamic State. Washington has carried out some
airstrikes to aid the Kurdish advance. But Islamic State continues its
deadly assaults. On Dec. 10 Islamic State suicide bombers attacked a
hospital, a market and a residential area in the Kurdish-controlled town
of Tel Tamer in northeastern Syria, killing at least 50 people.
Lea Sherman in New York, Lisa Potash in Atlanta and Pamela Holmes and
Anne Howie in London contributed to this article.
Related articles:
SWP: Working-class campaign against rulers' war policies at home and abroad
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