El odio

El sentimiento antimusulmán prendió fuerte en la población estadounidense. Haberles destrozado Afghanistán, Irak, Libia o Siria no alcanza; cualquier excusa es buena para escupir a un ama de casa con velo o a un tipo de barba y piel oscura que entra a una mezquita. Váyanse a su país; fuera de acá; lamentamos haberlos reventado setenta años seguidos para asegurarnos petróleo a buen precio; lamentamos haberles bombardeado hasta la última palmera datilera en Bagdad; sí, una pena haberles asesinado entre 1,5 y 3 millones de musulmanes en sus países, pero ahora rajen, tómenselas de este bendito país.

Cada día, un pasito más cerca del fascismo y de la guerra. Las siguientes tres noticias vienen de Russia Today: 

Título: Anti-Muslim attacks occurring in record numbers across US

Texto: Crimes against Muslims and vandalism at mosques appear to have hit an all-time high in the wake of terrorist attacks in France and California. Mosques are struggling with security, as some have hired armed guards or asked the federal government for help.

On Sunday, two mosques in Hawthorne, California became the latest in a string of anti-Muslim attacks that are on the rise since a radicalized Muslim couple killed 14 people and injured 21 more at a terrorist attack on a holiday party in San Bernardino.

“A few of our members went to early morning prayer at about 5 a.m. and they found graffiti on the outside wall and ‘Jesus’ was written on the fence,” Zahid Mian, a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Baitus-Salaam Mosque, told the San Bernardino Sun. “As Muslims we don’t really find [the crosses] very offensive, but the act of vandalizing is disturbing.”

A grenade was found inside the building, as well. Police cordoned off the area, but later determined that the weapon was a plastic replica.

The Islamic Center of Hawthorne was also vandalized Sunday, with the phrase “Jesus is the way” scrawled on the building.

On Thursday, a knife-wielding man made threatening comments to a Muslim woman at a car wash in Chino Hills, California. Daniel Senteno, 40, was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats and brandishing a weapon, but investigators are likely to pursue hate-crime charges in the case, Cindy Bachman, a San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman, told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Senteno’s bail has been set at $75,000. He remains in custody and is expected to be arraigned this week, Bachman said.

Record number of anti-Muslim incidents

So far in 2015 ? through December 8 ? American mosques and Islamic centers have been the victims of vandalism, harassment and anti-Muslim bigotry at least 63 times this year, according to preliminary data for a study that the Council on American-Islamic Relations provided to CNN. The report was compiled using based on media accounts and reports from the group's regional chapters, Corey Saylor, a CAIR spokesman, said, adding that the number of incidents at mosques is likely higher than has been reported thus far. According to the Justice Department, hate crimes are often drastically under-reported.

The previous high of 53 such incidents came in 2010, when a controversy arose in New York City over whether or not to build a mosque near“ground zero” of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, CNN reported.

There were 17 anti-Muslim incidents at mosques in November alone, most of which were vandalism or harassment, the CAIR study found. On November 13, terrorists in Paris, France carried out coordinated attacks that killed 130 people and injured 368 more. Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) has claimed credit for the attack. The year also began with a terrorist attack in Paris on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on January 7, followed by related attacks in the city. The gunmen identified themselves as members of Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen.

At least 14 threats and attacks on Muslims and mosques occurred between December 8 and 12, according to news reports compiled by the Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald. The incidents include arson at a mosque in Coachella, California; a pig’s head found at a mosque in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the evacuation of the CAIR headquarters in Washington, DC after it received an envelope filled with a suspicious substance; and a Georgia teacher asking a 13-year-old black Muslim student whether she had a bomb in her backpack.

RT’s own compilation shows that at least 10 total anti-Muslim attacks took place across the US every day between December 5 and 11.

Late Friday, hours after firefighters were called to a blaze at the Islamic Society of the Coachella Valley in California that was described as a possible “fire-bombing,” Carl James Dial was arrested and charged with multiple felony offenses including: commission of a hate crime, two counts of arson, one count of maliciously setting a fire, and a count of second-degree burglary, the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported. Dial, 23, remained jailed in lieu of $150,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, according to jail records.

Saylor believes the number of anti-Muslim incidents at mosques plays into the hands of IS.

"Daesh wants Americans to turn on each other, and with November seeing the highest number of mosque incidents since [CAIR] started keeping data, it seems they are getting their wish," Saylor said, using an alternative name for the IS.

Stepping up security

Mosques are increasing security around their buildings, with at least two ? one in Phoenix, Arizona and one in Northern Virginia ? requesting help from the US Department of Homeland Security, Reuters reported. The All Dulles Area Muslim Society outside of Washington, DC took the step after the security guards they hired quit.

"Security guards resigned because they were fearful of getting hurt in the backlash" after the San Bernardino attacks, Rizwan Jaka, the society’s chairman, said. "People were concerned."

"Our fear is at a pretty high level at this time, given the anti-Muslim rhetoric going on," CAIR attorney Maha Sayed told the newswire.

The East Plano Islamic Center near Dallas, Texas, hired an armed security guard after the Paris attacks, Imam Nadim Bashir told Reuters.

"We're just trying to ramp up our efforts in the community and get a better name," he said.

The Islamic Society of Corona-Norco in California has spent $10,000 over the past two weeks to increase security. It is now asking for donations from the congregation to defray that expense, Imam Obair Katchi told Reuters. It has faced increased scrutiny after it was reported that Enrique Marquez Jr., who supplied the two rifles used in the San Bernardino shooting, had once attended the mosque.

A silver lining for Muslims?

It’s not all bad news for the Muslim community, however. A Muslim-led fundraiser for the victims of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks blew past its first three goals in days. It has now raised nearly $210,000 from almost 2,000 supporters since December 3, and is closing its campaign overnight on Tuesday, 15 days ahead of schedule, according to its LaunchGood page.

A high school in Chicago, Illinois is battling Islamophobia with an initiative called ‘Walk a Mile in Her Hijab’, in which non-Muslim girls are encouraged to wear the traditional headscarf to better understand life as a woman in the Muslim faith, the Siasat Daily reported.

“This event is to hopefully denounce negative stereotypes,”  Vernon Hills High School senior Yasmeen Abdallah, the president of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and who coordinated the event, said. “You can’t really understand or judge a person and their beliefs until you understand why they do it and what it’s like for them to do what they’re doing.”

Over a dozen female students have participated, according to the Siasat Daily.

“I wanted to learn more about the religion, considering my uncle is also Muslim,” Charli Mosley, said, wearing a red hijab. “With more people wearing a hijab around school, it could bring more acceptances to the religion and have more people become more aware.”

***

Título: Anti-Muslim sentiment grows in US after Paris attacks

Texto: Fueled by opportunistic rhetoric from politicians, an increase in hostility towards Muslims in the US following the terror attacks in Paris and amid the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis has created a climate worse than post-9/11, Muslim-Americans say.

Several incidents of anti-Muslim violence or intimidation have been reported in the US since the attacks in Paris on November 13. Meanwhile, several contenders for the Republican party's presidential nomination in 2016, including Donald Trump and Ben Carson, have stoked anti-Muslim suspicions.

"In the last week or so, we've witnessed about a half dozen mosque attacks, a number of assaults on women, men, and in one case, a pregnant woman in California, and reports that a mosque has been burned down in Canada," Robert McCraw, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told RT. "We're seeing a level of Islamophobia and violence that we haven't seen since post-9/11," referring to the terror attacks in the US in 2001.

Such incidents in the US include at least three instances in which Arabic speakers or "suspicious" passengers, some of "Middle Eastern descent," were thrown off commercial flights in the US; assaults, including on a pregnant woman in San Diego, a man attending a movie in Manhattan, an Uber driver in North Carolina, and a woman on the campus of San Diego State University; threats of violence to Muslims in general; campus harassment in Connecticut; and a targeted shooting at a Florida residence.

At a county town hall meeting in Fredericksburg, Virginia last week, a man speaking on behalf of an Islamic center was berated by two men who said Islam is "an evil cult," and that "every Muslim is a terrorist."

Furthermore, several mosques around the nation have been defaced or vandalized, threatened with violence and shot at with multiple rounds. On Saturday, a group of armed protesters gathered outside a mosque in Irving, Texas. They came to “Stop the Islamization of America,” as one protester's sign read.

“They’re mostly for self-defense or protection,” said protester David Wright of his 12-gauge shotgun, according to the Dallas Morning News. “But I’m not going to lie. We do want to show force. … It would be ridiculous to protest Islam without defending ourselves.”

The protest and other acts of intimidation aimed at Muslims come days after Trump suggested that, as president, he would advocate vast surveillance, if not outright closure, of mosques in the US.

“I would certainly implement that [keeping a register of Muslims]… absolutely,” Trump said last week, adding that there are “a lot of systems, beyond databases” that could be implemented. “We should have a lot of systems. And today you can do it."

Referring to the Muslim population in the US, the billionaire previously said, "We’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago."

Carson, Trump’s top rival, suggested a comparison between some of the refugees and migrants coming into the US from the Syrian conflict zone and “rabid dogs” that should be vetted before being released.

“If there’s a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog,” Carson said.

“That doesn’t mean that you hate all dogs,” Carson added, explaining later that his statement referred to terrorists only.

Other presidential candidates, including Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush, have said Syrian refugees should pass a "religious test" in addition to security checks before entry to the US, with Christian applicants being a priority over Muslims.

In Congress, at least two "reckless" bills, according to CAIR, have been introduced in the wake of the Paris attacks. The American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015 halts the Obama administration's plan to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the US. It passed the House of Representatives last week, and is now in the hands of the Senate. The Countering Violent Extremism Act of 2015 would add $40 million to the already hefty sum of money and effort spent on counterterrorism by the US Department of Homeland Security.

Muslim and Arab advocacy groups see the current situation as more hostile than events that followed 9/11 in the US, a frightening time for American-Muslims in its own right.

"If (then-president) George W. Bush was running today and saying the things he said about Muslims, he would be an outcast in the Republican Party," Abed Ayoub, national policy director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, told CNN.

Heidie Beidrich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, agreed, saying "anti-Muslim situation right now is so much hotter, in fact, than it was after 9/11 that it's a little bit astounding."

In addition, McCraw told RT that these anti-Muslim sentiments are a delight for jihadist extremists like Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL), who like to exploit hatred across the globe.

"ISIS' main game plan is to create division among Muslim and non-Muslim communities," he said. "Here in America, too, we're playing right into ISIS' game plan if we, in fact, create mistrust of Muslims who are already in America and if we restrict the movement of Syrian refugees coming into the United States."

Speaking from Malaysia on Sunday, President Barack Obama expressed a similar opinion.

“We will not give in to fear, or start turning on each other, or treating some people differently because of religion or race or background,” Obama said. “That’s precisely what terrorists like ISIL want, because, ultimately, that’s the only way that they can win.”

***

Título: Hate mail: NY postal worker arrested for harassing, spitting on Muslim woman with baby

Texto: A postal worker in New York City has been accused of a hate crime after harassing a Muslim woman with an infant in a stroller. He was arrested by Brooklyn police after launching an anti-Muslim tirade and reportedly spitting at the woman.

“I’m not crazy, I work in the post office,” Dinaton Coley, 33, told the Muslim woman whom he had attacked on Friday. This was after threatening to burn down her mosque, according to the NY Daily News.

He was arrested early Tuesday on charges of aggravated harassment, and menacing actions, as well as actions endangering a child – for exposing the infant to hate speech. The Postal Office helped the police identify the attacker, who worked at the Atlantic Ave. branch.

Coley is quoted in police documents as saying “You bumbaclot Muslim,” a phrase containing a Jamaican expletive. “I’m going to burn your Muslim temple down,” he added, before spitting on the woman several times.

The woman’s sister was around when she later went into the store to get away from her harasser, who followed her there. The sister called Coley crazy; he replied that he couldn’t be, because he worked for the post office.

This may not come as a surprise to the cops, who had already run into Coley earlier in April, at his home in Canarsie. At the time they deemed him emotionally disturbed, allegedly for his heavy drinking and claims that he hears voices, police say.

Despite an overall rise in anti-Muslim sentiments, latest NYPD data claims that anti-Muslim hate crimes are actually down 43 percent from this time last year, although this specific crime represents only 5 percent of the total for hate crimes in 2015, according to statistics.

Still, the recent Paris terrorist attacks and the ongoing refugee crisis have combined to make their mark. Several incidents of anti-Muslim violence or intimidation have been reported in the US since the attacks, which took place on November 13.

Compounding this is a rise in right-wing sentiment seen among some Republican presidential nominees this year, most notably Donald Trump, who recently suggested overarching surveillance on mosques.