A trans-Tasman conference is being held this Friday to discuss the cultures that breed racism and extremism in Australasia. Tayyaba Khan, founder of Khadija Leadership Network, and Farida Sultana, founder of Shakti New Zealand and Australia spoke to The Spinoff about why it’s so important to continue the discussion. There was not much else on … Read more
The current discourse around Muslim women is narrow-minded and short-sighted, writes Nidha Khan. There are Kiwi-Muslims still grieving. There are Kiwi-Muslims still numb, upset, scared, angry, and emotionally exhausted. And, in such a time, it is deeply upsetting and unsettling for commentators like Heather du Plessis-Allan to re-ignite narrow-minded conversations about how wearing the hijab … Read more
Some have argued that non-Muslim women wearing headscarves today is a tokenistic gesture, or that the hijab itself is oppressive to women. Mahvash Ali, an associate producer for The Project NZ on Three, has this to say in response. Every time I get a call I stick my phone in my hijab and go about my … Read more
Dr Asim Qureshi, a counter-terrorism expert and author of Rules of the Game: Detention, Deportation, Disappearance, writes about his time in New Zealand and the importance of remembering colonial violence in the narrative around the terrorist attacks in Christchurch. In November 2018, I was invited for the first time to take part in a conference in Auckland, … Read more
Calls to foreground the voices and perspectives of our Muslim community in the days following the Christchurch attacks have been heeded by many newsrooms, but are all too soon drowned out again by the sheer number of headlines. Here we’ve highlighted Muslim voices from across the media in the wake of the white supremacist terror … Read more
After the vigils, the flowers, the messages, and the grief, what happens next? Donna Miles-Mojab, an Iranian New Zealander based in Christchurch, has a list of simple yet practical steps all New Zealanders can take. Let’s all stand “shoulder to shoulder” and circle the mosque, a friend writes. He suggests we should build a human wall, “a … Read more
Faisal Halabi – an Arab, a Muslim, and a New Zealander – reckons with what all those identities mean for him. I’m sitting in my London flat, thinking about the distance between myself and New Zealand. It’s just over 18,000km. I’m also thinking about the distances between the different identities I’ve balanced growing up in New Zealand: … Read more
Thousands across the country have been gathering this weekend for the victims and families of the Christchurch terror attacks. At Auckland’s Aotea Square vigil on Saturday, words of love and triumph were preached, as were reminders of New Zealand’s xenophobic past. “Look at this place, it’s completely empty,” my taxi driver remarks as we drive … Read more
Auckland Council’s cancellation of two alt-right personalities’ booking at a council-owned venue has been justified on the basis of their ‘divisive’ views. Whatever happened to the liberal ideal of free speech, asks Ali Shakir. Had it not been for the controversy stirred by her New Zealand show’s cancellation, I might never have heard about Lauren … Read more
We need to stand alongside Muslim New Zealanders in the wake of the US visa ban – and tell our decision makers in no uncertain terms that we will not allow the politics of hatred and bigotry to become normalised here, writes race relations commissioner Susan Devoy. Wellington’s very first UN Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in … Read more
The US President’s executive order banning all immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries has drawn global condemnation. Now, more than ever, it’s time for New Zealand to step up and do what’s right for refugees, writes Murdoch Stephens. When President Donald Trump banned a tweet from a government department that mentioned carbon dioxide, hinting at … Read more
Burqas are so rare in New Zealand that most of us have likely never seen one in real life, but that didn’t stop TVNZ asking online readers whether they should be banned outright. Let’s worry less about how women choose to dress and more about the ongoing vilification of Muslims in the media, says Donna … Read more
Donald Trump may be enveloping the US in his godforsaken embrace, but is he also ruining New Zealand? Hayden Donnell talks to Tayyaba Khan about being a Muslim in the age of Trump. Most of us are living in fear of a Donald Trump presidency. If you don’t inhabit one of the Republican states imprisoned … Read more