Authorities have confirmed the suspect’s identity: it is Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old from Texas, who shortly before the terror attack published an anti-immigrant manifesto online. The text speaks of an alleged “Hispanic invasion of Texas” and details a plan to separate the United States into territories according to race, The New York Times reports.

Federal authorities have said they are considering to put the terror attack also under hate crime and gun charges, which could lead to a death penalty. El Paso District attorney, Jaime Esparza, announced he will be seeking the death penalty.

Donald Trump has described the attack as “an act of cowardice” and said that “there are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people.”

The firefighters of El Paso have indicated to those who are looking for relatives and loved ones, to go personally to the Family Reunification Center at 8101 Whitus Dr. “You must be physically present, NO data is given over the phone”, they have indicated in Twitter

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has described the massacre as “one of the deadliest days in the history of Texas.”

Dayton shooting

In less than 24 hours another shooting has taken place in the United States. The second was in Dayton (Ohio) and has left 9 dead victims and several injured. The reasons are still unknown.

Police shot the attacker, who has died. He was identified as Connor Betts, a 24-year-old neighbour of the outskirts of the city. His sister Megan (22) was under the victims who lost their lifes. He also killed eight other people, six of whom where black and two others, white. Police do not believe there was a racist motive behind this attack.

There have been three shootings in only a week in the US.

La entrada 20 people killed in a terror attack by a white supremacist in El Paso se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

Before taking this position, Chiamparino had been working on European policies on how to combat racism and xenophobia, for the last three years particularly on the area of tackling hate speech online. For him it is key that minority groups are heard and taken into account in the European Commission, baring in mind that there are around 26 million Muslims in Europe, many of them being European Muslims.

Chiamparino organized a workshop held recently in Madrid together with the Spanish government where around 120 actors from civil society and public officials came together to discuss about synergies and good practices on tackling Islamophobia in the European Union. His team helped to bring together a diversity of actors from all over the EU, ranging from human rights associations, Muslim associations or academe to government officials or police officers tackling hate crime. He spoke to Salam Plan for this interview just after the one and half-day workshop, in which this website against hate was also invited to take part.

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What does your position as head of the European Commission’s unit to tackle Islamophobia mean?

The key role of the coordinator to combat anti-Muslim hatred is to ensure that the different Commission services are involved from different angles which might be relevant to fight against intolerance, discrimination and hatred against Muslims. That could be from the side of hate crime, potential responses, on the side of education with the tools that we have, types of funding, for example, or other areas which might be relevant. So, ensuring a mainstream; also the need to protect the rights and to tackle forms of racism and intolerance.

The other main role that I have is to be a sort of contact, for both society organizations from the ground, to transmit messages from things that are happening on the ground to the political sphere of the European Commission, as well as for national authorities and local authorities, when it comes to how to bring together the relevant actors to tackle intolerance, discrimination and hatred against Muslims.

So, in short, it is a facilitator role in a way, trying to bring together all the different actors into this fight.

“There is a general societal challenge, in terms of dominant narratives and how we can promote alternative, positive narratives to those who spread intolerance, hatred, rejection”

More than 100 actors gathered in Madrid to speak about strategies and the needs and challenges to fight Islamophobia. What do you take with you from this meeting?

You might say numbers are not important, but I think having a full room of people in a workshop, in a meeting that was held in a Government building and hosted by public authorities and the fact that these people were coming from the large majority of the Member States, and they were coming from both grass roots organizations working on the ground and from national or local authorities… they were in the same room, they were in the same groups discussing about how to cooperate or to find ways to work together. That was in itself a key achievement of this meeting: having people in the same room talking about concrete forms of cooperation.

The outcomes are homework for everyone, including the Commission of course, and other public authorities to convene platforms open to civil society actors on how to find responses in the different areas. For example, training the police to recognize islamophobic hate crime or how to work together with the equality bodies and to ensure a mechanism of cooperation between civil society and political bodies and prosecution of cases.

During this workshop, Muslims’ associations and also other civil society associations showed on Islamophobia being also in the political discourse. What can the European Commission do in that respect, especially given the new spectrum in the European Parliament?

I think there is, on the one side, a general societal challenge, in terms of dominant narratives and how we can promote alternative, positive narratives to those who spread intolerance, hatred, rejection, etcetera.

What we can do is to continue to work in an area where we have been working a lot on, for example in the online sphere, so how to promote positive narratives of tolerance online.

In addition, the challenge is to transmit the message that this is not a fight that we need to take for one group: for Muslims, for Jews or Roma people or LGBT people, but we need to do it for a model of society that we want. In that sense, I think there might be several allies among the political community as well about a common message: that it is about a model of society based on non-discrimination, tolerance -that is at stake and we need to promote and protect in the future.

“We are all part of the same, plural society. I am personally non- Muslim, but I value a society where Muslims, or other groups, are living next to me and that the school of my children reflects such a mix”

Working specifically on Islamophobia, what do Muslims mean to you? What would you tell non-Muslim people who are afraid or spread hate?

For me it is quite simple: we are all part of the same, plural society. I am personally non- Muslim, but I value a society where Muslims, or other groups, are living next to me and that the school of my children reflects such a mix. The fact of not being part of the community makes me feel an even stronger responsibility: I devote my work to help transmitting the voices of groups that often are not heard, that often don’t have spaces in which they are represented and that don’t have access to policy making… hoping my work will soon not be needed anymore: it will mean more diversity, more tolerance.

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La entrada European Commission against Islamophobia: “This fight is not for one group: it is about the society that we want, based on non-discrimination” se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

All three of them live in Berlin. They are part of a team that is working to build the first great sacred place that will host three religions and all the others which want to take part, welcoming atheists or agnostics as well. The doors of ‘House of One‘ will be wide open to everyone.

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“Every time I go to church, I think: ‘go back to the mosque,’ because I do not like church benches at all. It just seems super nice to sit on a rug, or lie down. I have already gone to mosques in which I have rested and in the church I find that it is often cold,” exemplifies Bohner, one of the pedagogical leaders of the House of One Foundation.

Her colleague Caliskan says: “Now I am studying the different schools of thoughts and traditions among the Jews, and the more you dig, the more comes out. I will prepare myself a scheme to have an overall perspective, but this wealth of traditions simply impresses me a lot“.

“Of course it is another religion and another tradition, but I understand it very well and I feel very close”

— Esther Hirsch

Hirsch, who belongs to the team of theologians responsible for the project, admits: “I can recognize very much of Judaism in Islam, in its thoughts, in the type of prayers … Of course it is another religion and another tradition, but I understand it very well and I feel very close,” admits Hirsch. She adds: “And about the Christians, I was surprised, because I thought I knew them very well, because I live here, in Germany, and there are more Christians than any other. But I also got to really know them thanks to the dialogue [between us]. And it seems very nice to me how they shape their community, how it’s a lot about doing things together and being together more than the theological aspect.”

The foundation stone of House of One will be laid in April 2020 in Petriplatz, Berlin. © Salam Plan

Three temples united for a better co-existence

At House of One there will be a synagogue, a mosque and a church under the same roof, although in different rooms. They will be connected by a central hall to share celebrations, prayers, exhibitions, concerts and -above all, exchange ideas and get to know each other better. There will also be space for a café, a library, meeting rooms …

A 138-feet high tower will allow visitors – despite its discreet height – to have a panoramic view of downtown Berlin. And, if plans do not change, they will even be able to observe each one of the temples from above, since the ceilings will be glazed so that natural light illuminates the rooms completely.

“Light is something that unites the three religions, but also the meeting, a place to meet. [It is about]  individual parishes being able to meet, but also having a meeting place in the center for everyone,” Bohner explains. “It is important that from the outside it is not recognizable whether it is a mosque, a church or a synagogue, so that we focus on what really matters: opening paths to the other,” adds Caliskan, who is also the pedagogical head of the plan. Another essential part of the project is that each sacred room will be open to visitors of other beliefs or without them, says Hirsch.

“It is important that from the outside it is not recognizable whether it is a mosque, a church or a synagogue, so that we focus on what really matters: opening paths to the other”

— Cagatay Caliskan

The project is being planned to the smallest detail of the building. Within each of the religions which were mentioned, there are different branches or schools of thoughts and there can be no issue left unresolved, because the aim is that everyone can feel at home while they coexist with people who do not think the same in some aspects.

Thus, for example, the mizbeaj (altar) of the synagogue will have to be movable, since for Jews it must have one or another location according to which school they belong to. In some cases they celebrate the prayer with the altar in the center of the room; in others, they need it next to the wall … Or in the case of Jews and Muslims, some prefer the prayer without separation between the gender and others need separated spaces. Or Protestants avoid religious images and decoration in their churches, while Catholics do prefer to celebrate their rites and faith with them.

There is so much detail to think about, that they keep on thinking about some details of the building. In fact, it was just recently when it was decided that the building would not have side windows, but that all the natural light would enter from the top. The last change in the architectural project has been to incorporate an independent access for women’s prayer in the mosque, as there are people who prefer it that way within the Muslim community, Caliskan explains.

This is how House of One will look like from the inside. © KuehnMalvezzi

Every option is respected

Every option is respected. And it is not easy to reflect that in a building. The Kuehn Malvezzi studio, which won the tender for its construction, works hand in hand with representatives of the interreligious foundation so that they do not miss anything. And they have no choice but to re-plan the building often or add aspects that had not previously been taken into account.

The foundation stone will not be laid until April 2020, but the building plot was already put at their disposal by the Berlin Administration more than ten years ago. It is not just another building site of the many that remain free in the heart of the city, which is still architecturally recovering from the post-war period and the fall of the Wall that separated the Germans.

Now, in the Petriplatz, very close to the emblematic television tower of the city, you can see the foundations of a church demolished by the GDR, on which that communist regime built a parking lot. The little ruin that was hidden underground belongs to the umpteenth reconstruction of the first church that appears in the historical documents of Berlin, when the city was getting born in the Middle Ages. When the regional Administration found these foundations on public land, it asked a nearby parish what they wanted to do with that place, since it had belonged to the church in the past.

“Actually, we have enough churches. We want to do something new. The social structure of Berlin has changed a lot: we have to involve other religions”

“Actually, we have enough churches. We want to do something new (…). The social structure of Berlin has changed a lot: we have to involve other religions,” they replied. And they looked for partners without even knowing exactly what to do with that piece of land at first. It was not the big institutions, but small parishes or movements that ended up coming together and devised a project of coexistence in peace that now takes shape. The ruins of the last church which was built on this spot will also be visible to everyone visiting the House of One.

Foundation ruins of the last church erected on the building site, near the TV tower. © Salam Plan

Antisemitism has risen 20% in Germany

This week the German Ministry of the Interior has published crime statistics related to political motivations. They include hate crimes and show that anti-Semitic crimes have amounted to almost 20%, with 1,800 registered cases. Islamophobia receded slightly, going from 1,075 crimes in 2017 to 910 in 2018. Christians in Germany have also been attacked for their beliefs, although in a much smaller proportion: 121 crimes registered in 2018 and 129 the previous year. These last two types of hate crimes are being measured since 2017.

Have they suffered any threat at House of One for their project? Nothing remarkable beyond some comments on social media, Caliskan says. His colleague Esther Hirsch acknowledges that the majority of hate messages are motivated, because the Muslim partner of the project is Forum Dialog, which belongs to the Hizmet movement, better known by the name of its leader, Fetthullah Gülen.

Since the attempted coup d’état against Erdogan in Turkey in 2016, his Government launched a persecution of all those Turkish citizens belonging to the movement or sympathizers of Gülen, as he considers them responsible for the attempt and has put them on the watch list of terrorists. These accusations -which in only a few cases have been brought to trial- meant the expulsion of thousands of judges, lawyers, professors and other professionals from their public positions. Turkey admits that it has kicked out 15,000 people, while Amnesty International assures there were 130,000 people, based on their requests to return to their job, according to Europa Press news agency.

House of One stays out of what it defines as a “political problem”. On the other hand, the project began long before that failed coup d’état. For the time being, it is the only bigger controversy that shadows them and they do not believe that their interreligious parish will generate rejection in the majority of the population. They consider that the more open they are to welcome everyone, the better they the acceptance will be and the better this place will work as a meeting space for people from different backgrounds.

Three spokespersons of the three religions working together to build House of one, before the building plot. © Salam Plan

Thanks to crowdfunding and subsidies

For now, they have collected almost 10 million euros only through private donors from all over the world – “really”, says Hirsch-, without accepting large donations from institutions or organizations. The latter ones have been rejected to maintain the neutrality of the project.

Another 10 million have been given by the Berlin region and 10 more have been obtained from the State. With another 10 million more, which they hope to get through more small donations, it will be enough to complete the project. And they take it for granted, that they will get the money they still need.

While they look forward to the laying of the foundation stone, with a countdown included on their website, they already promote their work for a peaceful coexistence from some nearby offices and another additional headquarters. Among other things, they receive student visits or organize common celebrations; the next one being a “common prayer for peace and religious freedom”, as reflected in article 4 of the German Constitution, now 70 years-old. It will be next Tuesday, 21st of May, at 5PM (for more details, click here). This time it will be in a church, but events vary and sometimes they happen in a library or in a mosque or anywhere they leave at their disposal.

House of One is not a project for Berlin, not even for the Germans. It is a project designed for people from all around the world. And surely, not only Berliners will be curious about it, but also the growing number of tourists visiting the German capital every year. In 2018 they broke their record, with 13.5 million visitors.

For the moment, those who want to have a look at Petriplatz will be able to observe the foundations of that church inherited from Berlin’s first days. But in a few years – they do not dare to commit themselves to a specific number – an ambitious interreligious parish will change the skyline of central Berlin.

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La entrada Three religions under the same roof: this is Berlin’s next revolution se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

“There is a desirability of criticism, debate and free discussion of Islam as a religion by Muslims and non-Muslim participants in the inquiry”

Throughout that time, the group has consulted academics from at least 15 universities -including Oxford or Sussex-, Muslim organisations – like Tell Mama or Runnymede Trust– and local Muslim communities, lawyers and police about their experiences of Islamophobia and how it should be defined. The reason? To be able to address and better tackle a type of hate crime with a common “working” ground after “twenty years of debate” on anti-Muslim hatred.

“For too many members of our Muslim community Islamophobia is an everyday experience. Let’s get this definition agreed and then let’s eradicate Islamophobia,” Conservative MP Anna Soubry, cochair of the APPG, tweeted on Tuesday, when the report was launched. “Islamophobia isn’t just anti-Muslim hatred. It’s about everyday discrimination that takes place (…). It can be deliberate or unconscious bias,” Labour MP and also cochair of the APPG, Wes Streeting, wrote.

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Islamophobia is not always an accepted concept as some people argue it does limit freedom of speech and does impede criticism against Islam and Muslim people. “Let us be clear,”the report says on this respect, “the aim of establishing a working definition of Islamophobia has neither been motivated by nor is intended to curtail free speech or criticism of Islam as a religion”. It goes on stating there is a “desirability of criticism, debate and free discussion of Islam as a religion by Muslims and non-Muslim participants in the inquiry” and it establishes the limits when it “den(ies) or impair(s) their fundamental freedoms and human rights”.

Besides, the document argues “the explanatory notes provided under the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of anti-Semitism could, in all fairness, be adopted in their entirety to Islamophobia”.

“The explanatory notes provided under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism could, in all fairness, be adopted in their entirety to Islamophobia”

The report gives various examples of Islamophobia which have been on the news in the UK, ranging from violent attacks to the promotion of them or taking discriminatory measures:

• a man who tried to kill a Muslim woman and a 12-year-old Muslim girl because he considered them responsible for terror attacks;
• the “Punish a Muslim day” letters which were sent out to promote attacks on Muslims;
• motorists having to pay £1,000 more to insure their vehicles “if their name is Mohammed”.

While an Ipsos Mori survey “found that the majority of Muslims believe Islam is compatible with the British way of life, a separate survey of the wider population by polling firm YouGov, found that 46% thought there was a ‘fundamental clash between Islam and the values of British society’,” The Independent reported.

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La entrada A cross-party commission agrees on the definition of Islamophobia to tackle it in the UK se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

At least ten people died this Saturday after a man entered the Tree of Life Sinagogue in Pittsburg and opened fire. “All Jews must die”, he shouted, according to witnesses, Reuters reports. There are also several people injured, two of them in critical condition. People had gone to the temple to celebrate sabbath, the sacred day for Jewish people.

The suspect has been identified as Robert Bowers (46). He is in custody and has been taken to hospital. He had posted a message on Gab, a similar platform to Twitter according to Reuters, where he attacked the charity work of a Jewish NGO devoted to refugees called Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. He critiziced its work as he considered it “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

“We believe this is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States”

— ADL

ADL’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, tweeted the Antidefamation League believes the shooting in Pittsburgh this Saturday is “the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the United States.” In a press statement, the organization called on authorities “to investigate this as a hate crime.”

¿A hate crime or something else?

Pittsburgh public safety director Wendell Hissrich confirmed in a press conference the massacre “falls under hate crime”.

One of the major experts on terrorism analysis in the US and worldwide, Bruce Hoffman, said to Salam Plan: “Hate crimes and terrorism are not mutually exclusive. They are the same and it baffles me why such distinctions are made. Certainly, the mail bombs and Pittsburgh shooting today, according to my definition, are acts of terrorism.”

“The mail bombs and Pittsburgh shooting are acts of terrorism and hate crimes”

— Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown professor

The meaning of “terrorism” is a matter which many experts have been trying to clarify for decades. Hoffman, who is a Georgetown professor and director of the Center for Security Studies at that university, wrote a book called “Inside Terrorism” (Columbia University Press). In it, he describes a variety of studies on the issue and comes to the conclusion that any violent attack with ideological o political motivation is an act of terrorism. Salam Plan explains it HERE.

This attack occurs at a time when ADL has reported a “historic increase” in both anti-Semitic incidents and anti-Semitic online harassment.

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La entrada The massacre in Pittsburgh is the deadliest attack against Jewish citizens in the United States se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

Three people have “minor injuries”, police said. One of them remains in hospital: a man in his fifties who is being treated for a serious leg injury.

The victims had been attending an evening programme at the islamic Hussaini Association in Cricklewood (North West London) last night. The car “mounted the pavement” and hit a “crowd of Muslims” while shouting “islamophobic insults“, the Association and Muslim Council of Britain have explained in different press releases. They were “indiscriminately mown down”, the Hussaini Association stated while adding it was “premeditated Islamophobic attack”.

“Promoting dialogue and understanding between the different communities and faiths in the UK” is precisely the “mission statement” of this non-profit organization. “We are in deep shock at such an attack taking place on our community but remain proud to live in a diverse and tolerant society and, as such, we remain unintimidated,” spokespersons for the Hussaini Association said.

The car -a red Nissan Juke, according to eyewitnesses cited by the Hussaini Association- and its occupants are being sought by police. No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information concerning the car involved or the occupants is requested to call Brent CID on 07747 476 161 or 101 quoting CAD 150/29 Sept or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, police has asked. You can also tweet police via @MetCC.

How it happened and why it is not treated as terrorism

“This incident is not being treated as terror related but the hate crime aspect of the collision is being looked at by detectives as an aggravating factor,” police explained in a statement. DS Kelly Schonhage from Brent CID said: “We are treating this incident very seriously and a number of enquiries are underway to trace the car and those involved. Enquiries into the full circumstances of the collision are ongoing.”

These are the circumstances investigators have established for now:

“Approximately at 00:20hrs security at the community centre were informed of occupants in a car behaving anti-socially, drinking and allegedly using drugs. The occupants of the car – three males and a woman all aged in their mid-twenties – were asked to leave the private car park.

>>> You may also read: The Swedish Christian activist who stands up for Muslims: “We share a lot of things and the same God”<<<

The car then drove near the centre and the occupants were involved in a confrontation with a large group of people visiting the centre. Words were exchanged and comments of an Islamophobic nature were allegedly made by the group in the car.

The car then reportedly sustained minor damage by some of those outside the centre. It proceeded to make off at speed colliding with three individuals as it left. The car and its occupants who failed to stop and injured three people are being sought by police”.

The Hussaini Association claims the consequences could have been much worse as a number of “volunteers bravely stood between the speeding vehicle and patrons heading home.” The Association thinks this “potentially saved the lives of dozens of innocent people”.

Tell Mama organization which works against islamophobia in the UK has tweeted: “Rest assured that we are monitoring this situation closely and working with the relevant agencies. We will provide updates in due course.”

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said in a statement the “anti Muslim hit and run attack highlights police indifference”. IHRC is calling on the police “to do more to protect Muslims from Islamophobic attacks outside their places of worship”.

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La entrada Car hits Muslim worshippers outside a London mosque se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

Whoever wanted to make a nightmare of the yesterday, April 3rd, did not manage to accomplish this goal. While authorities are still investigating who the author(s) of the letter was which appealed to hurt a Muslim in various ways this Tuesday, the hate campaign itself has had little support. Police has not registered any attack related to it. On Twitter, the hashtag #PunishAMuslimDay found followers, though: 64,000 tweets with that concept were registered at the website Trendsmap, not only across the United Kingdom, but also in the US, Middle East and South East Asia.

Nevertheless, authorities and different NGOs as well as mosques themselves mobilized to counter the hate campaign with a pacific ‘Love a Muslim Day’. London Police, for example, went out and about to inform the public and promoted the idea of standing together, also on social media. About 100 people formed a human chain around a mosque in Newscastle against Islamophobia, Metro UK informed, among other activities organized throughout the country.

“Muslim communities have reached out to others and have made this day more about the need to collectively challenge hatred, intolerance and prejudice”

As for the loving campaign which emerged as a response to the hate later it did win as well on Twitter, but not with a big difference. #LoveAMuslim was trending topic and was tweeted 74,000 times, mainly in the UK and US. #LoveAMuslimDay obtained another 13,000 tweets, according to Trendsmap. Although the total of these tweets make 87,000 we might note that some users may have used both hashtags at the same time.

Actress Alyssa Milano also joined the #LoveAMuslim topic on Twitter proudly showing that a good friend of hers is Muslim. She got more than 13,000 likes:

The NGO Jews for Racial & Economic Justice in the US publicly showed their support as well:

The British NGO which measures anti-Muslim attacks called Tell Mama has shown its satisfaction with yesterday’s result and has called for a collective work on countering hate: “The ‘Punish a Muslim Day’ has caused fear and disquiet amongst Muslims, though many Muslim communities have risen to this with dignity, discipline and care for others. They have reached out to other communities and have made this day less about them, and more about the need to collectively challenge hatred, intolerance and prejudice,” Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama, said.

“We are proud of the values that bind us in this nation of ours”, he added.

La entrada The campaign to #LoveAMuslim ‘beats’ the one which threatened with a day devoted to “punish a Muslim” se publicó primero en Salam Plan.