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Stop
Hate 2000 Newsletter June 16, 2006
The average Canadian is stunned. This happens in other countries, not in Canada. But wait. This did happen in Canada. There are reports of 17 people being arrested for plotting terrorist acts. The police feel the youth were inspired by al-Qaeda. One of the lawyers is reported as having said his client is alleged to have been plotting to blow up Parliament and behead the Prime Minister. A news article can be found on the
Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation web site. One CBC
article gives a point-form summary of the bomb plot investigation.
There are even reports that the CBC
itself might have been a target. Unfortunately, the news about
possible terrorists being arrested in Canada may have resulted in
some hate crimes against Islamic people. A mosque was vandalized and
the Al-Mahdi Islamic Center was set on fire. A report on what sounds
like hate crimes can be read on the CBC
web site. The Canadian Jewish Congress condemned the attacks against
the Islamic community. The CBC article gives a brief summary of
recent hate crimes in the Toronto area.
We encourage people to leave things to the police. Try not respond in anger or fear against the Islamic community. Most Islamic people are not terrorists and are not dangerous. Acts of terror are the work of a very small group of
extremists.
The
Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, is to be given a lot of
credit in how he responded to the alleged terrorist plot. He has not
blamed the terrorist plots on Islam. In a National
Post article, Harper is cited as saying those accused of this
terrorist plot “represent nothing but hatred.” An Ottawa
Sun article, which can be read on the Edmonton
Sun web site, quotes Harper as saying, "If we look back
to the 1930s, that those who have extremist ideologies or practise
terrorism, love to use the words of culture and of faith to back
their actions."
The
reaction of Canadian Islamic leaders has been very positive. They
have called for a summit to fight extremism. An article about the
proposed summit can be read on the Globe
and Mail web site. Islamic leaders are also asking parents to
safeguard their children from extremists. In a Canada.com
news article, Islamic leaders are asking parents to know who their
children are associating with and to watch for signs of “excessive
preoccupation with religious rituals”.
In
the face of terrorism and alleged terrorist plots, we encourage
people to be calm and to not focus anger on groups of people. There
are extremists who have used religion to try to defend their acts of
hatred and murder for years. Terrorists using religion as an excuse
to kill people can be found in virtually every major world religion.
Faith-related terrorism is not a problem limited to Muslims. We can
do a lot to reduce faith-related terrorism by reaching out in love
when alleged terrorist plots are revealed. The very small minority
of Muslims who are using Islam as an excuse to hurt people will find
it much more difficult to gain any recruits to their cause when they
see Christians, Jews, and Hindus reaching out in love to the Islamic
community.
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* *
The
Stop Hate web site has a few updates. Additional links
have been added about bullying. There is a new book review on the
Stop Hate web site. The book reviewed is Love,
Honor and Respect: How to Confront Homosexual
Bias and Violence in Christian Culture. Book reviews can be
read by clicking here.
Two books we are hoping to review in the coming weeks include
Amnesty International's books Stonewalled – Still
Demanding Respect:
Police Abuses Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender People in the USA, and Sex, Love and
Homophobia.
* * *
A
few of the news stories we have been following appear below:
Gay
marriages and attempts to legally block gay marriages remains a very
hot topic. A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation article, on the
Amnesty
GLBT web site, has an article about calls from President George
Bush for a constitutional ban on gay marriages. The news of changing
the constitution of a country, so a minority group can be
discriminated against is a real concern. A Stop Hate 2000 colleague
sent us the link to a MS
NBC article about the Senate defeating the bill to ban gay
marriages. Another Stop Hate colleague sent us information about an
article on the Pennsylvania Senate Panel passing a gay marriage ban.
The article can be read on the PenLive.com
web site.
Given
the level of work-place discrimination against gay, lesbian,
bisexual and trans-identified people, it is easy to understand why
there are concerns about the Halifax Regional School Board survey
asking teachers to list their sexual orientation. The story can be
read on the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation web site.
In
a Washington
Blade article, the United States State Department is reported as
being concerned by violence against gay people in Iraq.
In
Ontario, Canada, the Human Rights Tribunal ruled that transsexuals
who are strip-searched by the police have the right to choose to be
searched by a male or a female police constable. An article about
the ruling can be found on the Amnesty
LGBT Concerns web site.
A
PlanetOut
news article states there are plans to create a memorial in Vienna
to the many gay people who died in the Holocaust.
The
book, Pink Blood, was briefly mentioned in recent newsletters. We
are mentioning it again in this newsletter, because the book is a
must read for people interested in homophobia-based hate crimes.
Information about the book can be found on the Pinkblood
web site. The book can
be purchased at www.amazon.ca
or www.amazon.com.
Anybody
with news about hate crimes is welcome to email us.
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