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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday November 8, 2008 - 19 Muslims say their rights are in jeopardy Words and Music for Peace speakers say Muslims falsely portrayed as extremists By Hiba Kesebi SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER The rights of Muslim people need to be defended. That was the message at the 22nd annual Words and Music for Peace event this Wednesday. The event, held at the Oakville Central Library, looked at the ways in which the Muslim community in Canada has been affected by the actions of a small number of extremist groups. "The simplistic and fearful response of people in the nonIslamic nations often seems to have been to consider all followers of Islam as possible terrorists," said Mervyn Russell, chair of the Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights. "The result has been that anyone, who persons in power consider suspects, may be forced to experience the most severe deprivations of liberty." Maher Arar is one of those people, Russell said. Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was tortured in Syria after the RCMP provided information to United States officials that deemed him as a potential terrorist. After enduring torture and sleeping in a cell that was three feet wide, six feet deep and seven feet high for 10 months, Arar was set free without any links to terrorism. Arar's case is not an isolated one. Other Muslim people are subjected to torture under false suspicions, explained Nafeem Mithoowani, one of the event's guest speakers. Mithoowani, a recently graduated immigration lawyer and a Muslim woman, said this notion of every Muslim being a terrorist has made her "feel pessimistic, slated and alienated" at times. She added that the Muslim population in Canada has been subjected to racial profiling, held in prison without charge, and discriminated against informally. Mithoowani believes the media plays a role in the problem. By portraying images of Nafeem Mithoowani extremists, who are not representative of the Muslim population, and not allowing those who are to share their voices, the media is reinforcing the rhetoric of "us vs. them, Muslim vs. non-Muslim, East vs. West," she explained. This rhetoric causes Muslims to feel alienated and the nonMuslim population to feel fearful of anything that is associated with Islam. Nonetheless, she recognizes that while the media can distort images, it can also fix them. That's why she, along with Khurrum Awan, a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, and two other law students asked the editors of Macleans magazine if they could write a response to Mark Steyn's article, The Future Belongs to Islam, because they felt it targeted Islam and Muslims. The article talks about how Muslims are violent radicals and could become the majority population in Europe, because of their high birth rate. The response that they got was not the one they anticipated. Macleans turned down their request. The editors of the magazine allege the students had asked for a 5,000 word story with control over editing. In turn, the students filed complaints with the federal, Ontario and British Columbia human rights commissions. In 2008, the Ontario Human Rights Commission refused to proceed with the case, however it stated that it "strongly condemns the Islamophobic portrayal of Muslims . . . . media has a responsibility to engage in fair and unbiased journalism." Although they didn't win the case, Awan said they were happy Khurrum Awan with the outcome because it was a step to frame national debate and get the Muslim perspective known to the public. Like Awan, Mithoowani takes strength in voicing her views. "It's events like this that allow young Muslims like me to feel like there is hope," she said. Wednesday's event is hosted by the Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights (OCCPEHR). For more information visit www.oakvillepeacecentre.org.