An open letter with 21 signatories published by a self-described “informal European coalition against Islamophobia” has called upon EU officials to provide its Coordinator on anti-Muslim hatred with “a clear human rights-based mandate and meaningful resources.” The letter, posted on the website of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), begins as follows:
On behalf of the signatories part of an informal European coalition against Islamophobia, a platform of anti-racist/human rights/faith-based NGOs combatting anti-Muslim racism and hatred, we are writing to ask the European Commission to provide its Coordinator on anti-Muslim hatred with a clear human rights-based mandate and meaningful resources. The European Commission’s decision to appoint a new coordinator is an opportunity to make this happen. In December 2015, following the first ever European Commission Fundamental Rights Colloquium, we welcomed the appointment of a European Commission Coordinator on combating anti-Muslim hatred. This was a strong and concrete commitment to tackle increasing racism against Muslim people in Europe. The coordinator took some steps to increase the relationship with NGOs and the recognition of anti-Muslim hatred. Two years after the coordinator’s appointment, this political commitment must now lead to a shift in strategic approach and to tangible actions, which have been lacking so far.
Read the rest here.
The “European coalition against Islamophobia” is in fact, comprised mainly of organizations and one individual tied to the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe:
- Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations, (FEMYSO), the youth wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe.
- European Forum of Muslim Women (EFOMW), the women’s wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe.
- European Network against Racism (ENAR), headed by Michaël Privot, former Vice-President of FEMYSO and including only FEMYSO and EFOMW as Islamic members.
- European Network on Religion and Belief (ENORB), an interfaith organization that also appears to include only European Mulsim Brotherhood goups as Islamic member.
- Etudiants Musulmans de France (EMF), part of the Union Des Organisations Islamiques De France (UOIF) (renamed to Musulmans de France (MF) in 2018), representing the Muslim Brotherhood in France.
- Collectif contre l’islamophobie en France (CCIF), a French Islamophobia watchdog group, described by French media as “the legal branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
- Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) a UK umbrella group dominated dominated by the Jaamat-I-Islami usually acting in concert with the Global Muslim Brotherhood.
- CAGE, a UK group that has advocated for detainees held at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere and which works closely with the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK.
- Collective against Islamophobia and Discrimination, The Netherlands (CTID) (Collectief Tegen Islamofobie en Discriminatie), includes as five of its eight “Partners” FEMYSO, ENAR, CCIF, EMISCO, EFOMW
- Collective against Islamophobia in Belgium (CCIB) (Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie de Belgique), whose President is linked by Jewish media in Belgium to the El Hajjaji family in Verviers and to the Muslim Brotherhood.
- European Muslim Initiative for Social Cohesion (EMISCO) a UK Muslim human rights group chaired by Lord Nazir Ahmed, the first UK Muslim Life Peer with a history of antisemitism and who is close to Global Muslim Brotherhood.
- Farid Hafez, an Austrian political scientist who confidential sources report has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood network in Austria and who is Senior Research Scholar at The Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University, close to the US Muslim Brotherhood.
The coalition recently created a new Twitter account where it reported that FEMYSO’s Head of Campaigns represented the coalition at a June 2019 EU-funded high-level conference on anti-Muslim hatred.
As the GMBDW has written earlier:
One of the most ubiquitous tactics of the Global Muslim Brotherhood is the establishment of a dizzying number of organizations and initiatives and which create the impression of broad based support when, in reality, the sponsors are the same individuals and groups whose leaders have not changed in many years.
The GMBDW has frequently reported on attempts by the Global Muslim Brotherhood to dominate the discourse on Islamophobia. Such reporting has included:
- In October 2010, we reported that the US Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) launched a new Islamophobia department and in 2014 launched an Islamophobia website.
- In may 2011, we reported that a coalition of UK. Muslim Brotherhood groups held a conference on Islamophobia.
- In November 2013, we reported that the “UK Islamophobia Awareness Month” was controlled By UK Muslim Brotherhood.
- In May 2015, we reported that FEMYSO held an Islamophobia event in a facility of the Council of Europe.
For other posts on Islamophobia events organized by the Global Muslim Brotherhood, go here.