In hindsight, June 16 2015 was a turning point, a date critical to understanding today’s political tumult.
MERIP recently decided to re-publish Aïdi’s piece on the Save Darfur movement. In this post, Aïdi compares the current Black Lives Matter protests to the Darfur mobilisation.
But Trump’s brutal joining of the question of Hispanic migration with terrorism, of Islamophobia, and Hispanophobia would unleash a torrent of anti-Muslim speech on Spanish talk radio and social media. Miss Puerto Rico Destiny Vélez tweeted that Muslims “terrorise innocent Americans,” adding that, “Mexicans, Arabs, Jews and anything in between aren’t the same thing.”
Unsurprisingly, the Trump years have been characterised by a rise in Hispanic Islamophobia, including the tragic high-profile murders of Muslims by young Hispanics, most prominently of Nadra Hassanen in Washington, DC and Imam Maulana Akonjee and Thara Uddin at a mosque in Ozone Park, Queens. Unlike other hot spots across Africa, the Darfur tragedy reverberates deeply in the US because it is represented as a racial conflict between Arabs and indigenous Africans, because Sudan is where the “moral geographies” of black, Jewish and Christian nationalists overlap and because the Darfur crisis offers a unique opportunity to unite against the new post-Cold War enemy.
Since the Covid-19 crisis began in February, the global war on terror seems to have faded away; the war on the new “invisible enemy”—and the Trump administration’s hapless response—have dominated headlines. The absence of a Muslim bogeyman seems to have created space for new alliances and coalitions, as the establishment foreign policy hawks have receded from view.
Now, 15 years after Save Darfur, American power and prestige are vastly diminished. In 2005, the neo-cons calling for intervention in Sudan were in part vexed by China’s access to Sudan’s oil, as well as Beijing’s refusal to isolate the regime of former Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.
As during the Darfur crisis, the Muslim grocer in the inner city is still a source of contention. In November 2005, liquor stores in Oakland owned by Muslim immigrants were vandalised In 2015, following the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson outside a store owned by an Indian immigrant, .
Ironically, some of this local opposition leads Muslim grocers to relocate to Hispanic neighborhoods, where immigrant merchants selling such products have been less likely to draw criticism. Despite the Islamophobic rhetoric from political hopefuls, a recent poll shows that among whites, blacks and Hispanics, Hispanic Americans score the lowest on the, with Hispanic Americans five times more likely to hold favorable opinions of Muslims than negative ones .
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Basic income grant on the cards as Covid-19 threat intensifies - The Mail & GuardianThe pandemic has triggered a global economic crisis that will leave many South Africans without income security
Read more »
Lockdown, day 105: When the chips are really down - The Mail & GuardianCoronavirus statistics are now people we know. The pandemic affects us all and it’s hard to see light at the end of the tunnel
Read more »
The SADC will regret its approach to Mozambique’s insurgence - The Mail & GuardianThe SADC has been lackadaisical in its response to the insurgency in Mozambique and in so doing, is putting several other southern African countries at risk
Read more »
Taxis and Covid-19: ‘The ideal doesn’t exist’ - The Mail & GuardianAfter months of complaining about the regulations imposed on the industry, taxi owners have been given a lifeline
Read more »
Mask rules are not meant to ‘criminalise’ the public - The Mail & GuardianShop owners and taxi drivers can now refuse entry to people who defy mandatory mask-wearing regulations
Read more »
Colgate-Palmolive South Africa donates one million bars of soap - The Mail & GuardianSPONSORED: Colgate – Palmolive South Africa donates one million bars in support of the SafeHands global campaign to support the Covid– 19 relief effort.
Read more »