A play exploring the radicalisation of young Muslims was scrapped by the National Youth Theatre over concerns about its “extremist agenda”, according to a newly-released email. The NYT’s artistic director Paul Roseby argued that Homegrown contained “no in-depth analysis, balance or debate around extremism. Instead [it] seems to be exploring where to place the hatred…
The attack on Charlie Hebdo in January of this year left 12 dead and 11 more injured, a massacre carried out by Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, brothers who were linked to Al-Qaida in Yemen. A movement gathered, bringing four million French people to the streets in the days following the attack. Donations of at least…
The fear-tinged portrayal of Islam in literature and the media has become “obsessional,” controversial French writer Michel Houellebecq said in an interview published on Sunday by British newspaper The Guardian. Houellebecq’s latest work, Submission – a fiercely-debated novel which imagines a France in 2022 where Islamic law is enforced and French women are ordered to…
The cross-dressing Asif was one of three courageous characters who agreed to be filmed for this First Cut documentary Muslim Drag Queens (Channel 4). Courageous, because homosexuality remains a taboo in Islam and Asif has received death threats. The “Gaysian” club scene in London is clandestine, populated by young men who fear coming out not…
“Is Buddha a god?” “Why do your women wear a veil?,” “And you, do you make ablutions before meditating?” The campers pose question after question without leaving time for the camp counselors to reply. For one week, forty of the Muslim Scouts of France (SMF) and the Nature Scouts (EDLN), ages 7 to 11, attended…
