Flames of hatred in the heart of Europe. This years marks the 24th anniversary commemoration of the worst atrocities on Eu- ropean soil since the Second World War that took place in Srebrenica, Bosnia.
Thanks to the Arab Organisation for Human Rights for its financial support for this report.
Thanks also to all those who have shared information with us about or related to the UAE lobby. We are indebted to a wide variety of people who have shared stories and information with us, most of whom must remain nameless. We also thank Hilary Aked, Izzy Gill, Tom Griffin, Tom Mills. On a personal note, thanks to Narzanin Massoumi for her many contributions to this work.
No external person had any role in the study, design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or writing of the report. For the transparency policy of Public Interest Investigations and a list of grants received see: www.spinwatch.org
Public Interest Investigations (PII) is an independent non-profit making organisation. Founded in 2004, PII promotes greater understanding of the role of PR, propaganda and lobbying and of the power networks that they support, through its website Spinwatch (www. spinwatch.org) and its investigative wiki site Powerbase (www.powerbase.info).
Spinwatch is a founder member of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation in the EU (ALTE R-EU), the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency UK (ALT -UK) and the Scottish Alliance for Lobbying Transparency (SALT ).
Further information:
Website: www.spinwatch.org
Email: info@spinwatch.org
Mail: Spaceworks, Easton Business Centre,
Felix Road, Easton, Bristol, England, BS5 0HE
Alex Delmar-Morgan is a freelance journalist in London and has written for a range of national titles including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and The Independent. He is the former Qatar and Bahrain correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.
David Miller is a director of Public Interest Investigations, of which Spinwatch.org and Powerbase.info are projects. He is also Professor of Sociology at the University of Bath in England. From 2013-2016 he was RCUK Global Uncertainties Leadership Fellow leading a project on Understanding and explaining terrorism expertise in practice. Recent publications include: • The Quilliam Foundation: How ‘counterextremism’ works, (co-author, Public interest Investigations, 2018); • Islamophobia in Europe: counter-extremism policies and the counterjihad movement, (co-author, Public interest Investigations, 2018); • Impact of market forces on addictive substances and behaviours: The web of influence of addictive industries. (co-author, OUP, 2018); • What is Islamophobia? Racism, social movements and the State. (co-editor, Pluto Press, 2017); • The Israel Lobby and the European Union (coauthor, Public Interest Investigations, 2016); • The Henry Jackson Society and the Degeneration of British Neoconservatism. (co-author, Public Interest Investigations, 2015, 2nd Ed. 2018); • How Israel attempts to mislead the United Nations: Deconstructing Israel’s campaign against the Palestinian Return Centre. (Coauthor, Public Interest Investigations, 2015); • The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre. Giving peace a chance? (co-author, Public Interest Investigations, 2013).
Spinwatch-UAE_lobby_report
‘Integration’ or the supposed lack of it by British Muslims has been a ubiquitous feature in political, media and policy discourses over the past decades, often with little or no evidence base. This book is particularly timely as it draws on empirical research amongst both Muslim school students and parents to examine the question of ‘self-segregation’ in the light of key policy developments around ‘race’, faith and citizenship. It aims to contribute towards a national debate on segregation, schooling and Muslims in Britain through deconstructing the received wisdom of ‘Muslim separateness’
Click here for more information
Civil society representatives have presented the Commonwealth People’s Forum 2013 Declaration to Foreign Ministers gathered for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo along with Chair of the Commonwealth Foundation, Sir Anand Satyanand and Director Vijay Krishnarayan.
CPF-2013-Declaration_0
In the aftermath of the New York at acks in September 2001, the
massacre in Madrid in March 2004, and the London bombing in July
2005, Dr Mustafa Cerić – as Raisu-l-‘Ulama and Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina – issued the Declaration of European Muslims on July 2005 at the East London Mosque, London.
The Declaration has been endorsed and disseminated by the Islamic Forum of Europe and is largely supported across Europe. In an interview with RFE/RL on March 14, 2006 Dr Cerić described the declaration: “It is a personal — it is probably too much to say, “confession” — but a personal appeal to the European audience not to make a mistake in generalising all Muslims and not to spread
Islamophobia, that was, I think, going on in Europe and in the West generally, especially after September 11 [2001].” Dr Cerić added, “The second message was to the Muslims who live in Europe to take seriously these three events that may have great consequences for their stay in Europe and their status in Europe. The third message was to the Muslim world at large to ask them to help us in the West, and especially in Europe, to develop a kind of dialogue that is acceptable
to us as Muslims, as well as to our European neighbors.”
Eight years after the Declaration of European Muslims, now as the president the World Bosniak Congress and Grand Mufti Emeritus of Bosnia, Dr Cerić has led the effort to issue the Second Declaration on Common Security and Global Citizenship.
The Congress was inaugurated in Sarajevo on December 29, 2012
as a global national voice of the Bosniak nation in the aftermath of the last genocide in Bosnia.
This Second Declaration comes as a response to recent events in Boston and London with an emphasis on the unacceptable use and abuse of the name of Allah and Islam, especially in the case of the London killing.
At this time Dr Cerić, as president of the World Bosniak Congress, is calling on the Bosniak nation to take a bold stance about their faith and culture and be a good example to others: to condemn violence and promote peace and tolerance whereever they are.
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EU_s_response_to_the__Arab_Spring___The_State-of-Play_after_Two_Years
More than two years have passed since the dawn of the “Arab Spring”, starting with the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. The situation in practically the whole of the Arab world remains highly fluid yet important differences have emerged among and between the countries and the
regions. While overall significant progress has been made in promoting democratic reforms (e.g. holding of elections in line with democratic standards, strengthening of the role of civil society, increased freedom of expression and assembly) many obstacles still need to be overcome in order for these transitions to be successfully consolidated.
The British Council’s Our Shared Future project and the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge have released a series of four e-books featuring commentary from leading global experts on Islam and Muslim intercultural relations.
Each book in the Building a Shared Future series addresses a different theme: “The Power of Words and Images,” “Citizenship and Identity,” “Islam, Knowledge, and Innovation,” and “Religion, Politics, and the Public Sphere.” The essays were written for a conference held in Cambridge in March 2012, “Building a Shared Future: Rethinking Muslim/non-Muslim Relations,” which explored the deep connections between Muslim and non-Muslim societies in contemporary culture, the arts, humanities and science.
“Misperceptions and misinformation often dominate public dialogue about relations between Muslims and others. Although they don’t speak with the loudest voice, academics, scholars and thought leaders have a key role to play in helping to rebalance these debates by providing fact-based opinion and informed arguments,” write Our Shared Future project manager Emmanuel Kattan and Prof. Yasir Suleiman of the University of Cambridge in their introduction to the series.
Contributing authors include scholars, academics, journalists and civil society leaders from the US and Europe, such as Simon Kuper of The Financial Times, Mark Hammond of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Sheila B. Lalwani of Foreign Policy, Jocelyne Cesari of Harvard and Johns Hopkins Universities, and Shahed Amanullah of the U.S. Department of State.
For more information or to download the books, please click here
This report shines a light on the Islamophobia network of so-called experts, academics, institutions, grassroots organizations, media outlets, and donors who manufacture, produce, distribute, and mainstream an irrational fear of Islam and Muslims.
This small group of anti-Muslim organizations and individuals in our nation is obscure to most Americans but wields great influence in shaping the national and international political debate. Their names are heralded within communities that are actively organizing against Islam and targeting Muslims in the United States.
Together, this core group of deeply intertwined individuals and organizations manufacture and exaggerate threats of “creeping Sharia,” Islamic domination of the West, and purported obligatory calls to violence against all non-Muslims by the Quran.
This network of hate is not a new presence in the United States. Indeed, its ability to organize, coordinate, and disseminate its ideology through grassroots organizations increased dramatically over the past 10 years. Furthermore, its ability to influence politicians’ talking points and wedge issues for the upcoming 2012 elections has mainstreamed what was once considered fringe, extremist rhetoric.
And it all starts with the money flowing from a select group of foundations. A small group of foundations and wealthy donors are the lifeblood of the Islamophobia network in America, providing critical funding to a clutch of right-wing think tanks that peddle hate and fear of Muslims and Islam—in the form of books, reports, websites, blogs, and carefully crafted talking points that anti-Islam grassroots organizations and some right-wing religious groups use as propaganda for their constituency.
For more information, please click hereislamophobiareport
The ground-breaking report, based on more than 123,000 surveys conducted in 55 countries and areas between 2006 and 2010, explores areas of both respect and tension between Western and majority Muslim societies. It also examines the differences between individuals who express an interest in Muslim-West engagement and those who do not.
