—by Isaac Steiner

From Manhattan to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the right wing’s efforts to demonize Muslim people has turned mosques and Islamic cultural centers into political battlegrounds. All progressive people have a responsibility to stand against the spread of this hatred, and we support all of the mobilizations that have been organized in defense of religious freedom and the Muslim community.

The impact of this was made painfully clear on August 30th when a cabdriver, Ahmed Sharif, was slashed across the face by his passenger after revealing that he is Muslim. In Tennessee, construction vehicles working on the expansion of an Islamic center were set ablaze, and gunfire has been heard there and at other mosques. In the context of an overall climate of Islamophobia, it’s not hyperbole to recognize these not just as individualized violence, but as terroristic acts, intended to target a whole community.

Imperialism and Islamophobia