Islamophobia

Southeast Asia

Burma: Arakan Army seizes border zone

The rebel Arakan Army announced its full control of Burma’s border with Bangladesh after the seizure of the last junta base in Maungdaw township. The rebel army said it had taken captive a general and dozens of other soldiers, including around 80 Rohingya fighters—raising fears of further reprisals against the Muslim minority. The Arakan Army seeks autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine people and is part of an alliance of armed groups that has also seized key towns in eastern Burma. The Rohingya, having long faced massive ethnically targetted attacks by the military, are now facing such attacks by the ethno-nationalist Arakan Army. In addition to Rohingya youth being press-ganged into the military to fight the rebels, some Rohingya militias are now collaborating with the junta against the Arakan Army. (Map: PCL)

Southeast Asia

ICC prosecutor seeks arrest of Burma military chief

The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) filed an application for an arrest warrant against Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, ruling military chief of Myanmar (Burma), on charges of crimes against humanity. ICC Prosecutor Karim AA Khan KC announced the move, citing “reasonable grounds to believe” that Min Aung Hlaing bears criminal responsibility for the deportation and persecution of Rohingya Muslims beginning in 2017. “The crimes were committed by the armed forces of Myanmar, the Tatmadaw, supported by the national police, the border guard police, as well as non-Rohingya civilians,” Khan said. The application is the first against a high-level Myanmar government official. (Photo: VOA via Wikimedia Commons)

North America

Podcast: nullify the election! II

As the Trump team’s plans fall into place for mass detention of millions of undocumented immigrants—perhaps even naturalized citizens—and establishment of a concentration camp system, invocation of the Insurrection Act to mobilize the army for the round-ups has been broached. Sending National Guard troops from red states into blue states to carry out round-ups and put down protests—over the objections of governors who have refused to cooperate—could portend civil war. There is still time to invoke the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from the presidency—just as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, indicted for leading a Trump-style attempted auto-golpe in 2022, has been barred from office. And just as the Congressional Black Caucus sought to bar Dubya Bush from office over considerably lesser matters on Jan. 6, 2001. In Episode 253 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for mass pressure to demand nullification of the election. (Image: CounterVortex)

Europe

Estonia recognizes Crimean Tatar deportation as genocide

The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, officially recognized the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union in 1944 as an act of genocide. The statement passed in the 101-seat body with 83 votes in favor and eight abstentions. The Riigikogu drew parallels between the Soviet-era deportation and the current Russian occupation of Crimea, which began in 2014. It charges that “the Russian Federation is continuing the policy of genocide pursued by the Soviet Union… with the aim of destroying the identity and erasing the historical and cultural heritage of the Crimean Tatars.” (Photo via Ukrainian Institute of America)

Watching the Shadows

Anti-Semitism versus anti-Zionism: beyond parsing II

With anti-Semitic and Islamophobic violence in the US both rising since Israel began its campaign of genocide in Gaza, it is incumbent upon Palestine solidarity activists not to play into this dynamic by engaging in rhetoric and tactics that demonize Jews as the “other.” Cynical weaponization of the accusation of anti-Semitism by Zionist propaganda increases rather than decreases our responsibility to be clear about recognizing and opposing actual anti-Semitism. Alas, in cases from Chicago to Seattle to Philadelphia to Washington DC, activists have failed to make this critical distinction—not only providing propaganda ammo to Israel’s supporters, but displaying a paradoxical point of convergence with the MAGA right. In Episode 241 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg rises to the odious task of calling them out. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image via frgdr Blog. Hebrew lettering in background spells names of places in Europe where Jews were exterminated.)

Europe

UK: racist riots fueled by online disinformation

A wave of organized racist violence in the United Kingdom entered its second week, in the worst outbreak of civil disorder the country has seen in more than a decade. Mosques, refugee centers, and businesses owned by people of color have been among the targets of far-right extremists, who have rioted in over a dozen towns in England and Northern Ireland. The unrest began after a mass child stabbing in the north England town of Southport, sparking false rumors that a Muslim immigrant carried out the attack. The false claim quickly spread on social media, amplified by high-profile figures, including right-wing politician Nigel Farage. An invented name for the Southport attacker, “Ali al-Shakati,” was mentioned more than 30,000 times on X (Twitter) in the day following the murders. Owner Elon Musk fanned the flames, writing on X that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK. Politicians are now calling for Musk to be questioned by parliament. (Photo: StreetMic via Wikipedia)

Southeast Asia

Burma: new warnings of Rohingya ‘genocide’

Twenty-eight non-governmental organizations representing Burma’s Rohingya Muslim minority issued a joint statement warning of the risk of a new “genocide” and urging the international community to take action. The NGOs, including the Free Rohingya Coalition and Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK), said that this time the threat comes from the Arakan Army, a predominantly Buddhist ethnic armed group that is waging an insurgency against the ruling junta. According to the statement, the Arakan Army has ordered Rohingya residents to evacuate the town of Buthidaung, Rakhine state, where many internally displaced during the 2017 genocide carried out by the Burmese armed forces have taken refuge. The evacuation order is being backed up by a campaign of threats, violence, and arson. (Map: PCL)

Iraq

Iraq: harsh backlash hits sexual, cultural dissidents

Iraq’s parliament has passed a law criminalizing same-sex relations, with a punishment of 10 to 15 years in prison. An earlier draft of the law had proposed the death penalty. The new law also includes prison terms for those who “promote homosexuality” or “intentionally” act “effeminate.” Just as the law was being passed, Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad was shot dead outside her home in Baghdad. Om Fahad, whose real name was Ghufran Sawadi, won nearly half a million followers for sharing videos of herself dancing to pop music. In February 2023, she had been sentenced to six months in prison after a court found that her videos contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality.” (Image via Instagram)

Europe

Crimea: 10 years of illegal occupation

Amnesty International states in a new report that during 10 years of illegal occupation, Russia has attempted to reshape the demography of the Crimean Peninsula. It has also suppressed Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar identities through “restrictions on education, religion, media, representative institutions, the judicial system, and cultural celebrations.” Amnesty called for Russia to cease its violations of international humanitarian law in all of Crimea. In Moscow, meanwhile, celebrations were held commemorating the 10 years of Crimea’s annexation. (Map via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

Thousands protest far-right party in Germany

Mass protests took place across 114 cities in Germany against the far-right political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). The demonstrations came in response to revelations that party leaders held a national meeting of extremist figures to discuss mass deportations, including of “non-assimilated citizens.” According to activist group Together Against the Right, the weekend demonstrations brought out over 1.5 million attendees across the country, under slogans such as “DEFEND DEMOCRACY,” “IT FEELS LIKE 1933,” and “NEVER AGAIN IS NOW.” (Photo: Leonhard Lenz via Wikimedia Commons)

Palestine

Podcast: whither ‘From the River to the Sea’? II

In Episode 204 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg returns to the persisting controversy around the slogan “From the River to the Sea“—portrayed as either a call to genocide or a cry for liberation. Much mainstream media coverage has dishonestly accepted the prior interpretation as a fait accompli. On the other hand, displays of unseemly enthusiasm for the Hamas attacks by certain sectors of the Palestine solidarity movement have provided propaganda fodder for Israel and its stateside pressure groups. This is (at least) a tactical error that abets moves toward campus censorship of pro-Palestinian voices. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Daniel Arauz via WikimediaCommons)

Watching the Shadows

Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism: parsing the difference II

In a disturbing coincidence in Missoula, Mont., a Palestine solidarity march to protest the bombardment of Gaza ran into a separate but simultaneous anti-Israel march by neo-Nazis. Since the Gaza bombardment began, open neo-Nazi marches have also been reported from Madison, Wisc., Dallas, Tex., and elsewhere around the country. Yet, in addition to displaying enthusiasm for Hamas, their banners also read “REFUGEES NOT WELCOME”—and we may assume it was a similar ultra-right xenophobe who shot three Palestinian youths in Burlington, Vt. This makes it all the more maddening that elements of the “left” share with the Nazis an unseemly enthusiasm for Hamas—providing much fodder for the pro-Israel and “anti-woke” right. In Episode 201 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to explore the dilemma. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Hayden Blackford/Daily Montanan)