Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: La tolleranza dei difensori delle liberta' di parola

http://www.thevarsity.ca/media/paper285/news/2006/03/13/News/Hate-Attacks.Rock.Campus-1685079.shtml?norewrite200603161013&sourcedomain=www.thevarsity.ca
Muslim student assaulted at Hart House; SAC says admin is ignoring
Islamophobia
By: Sarah Barmak
Issue date: 3/13/06 Section: News
The conflict between Muslim and anti-Islamic factions on campus
escalated to physical violence last week, when what appears to be a
series of anti-Islamic attacks took place on campus, including the
assault on Tuesday of a female Muslim student at Hart House.
The student, who did not wish to be named, was followed into a washroom
by a female assailant. The woman shoved a flyer into the student's
chest, pushing her back, while saying, "You need this, you're a
Muslim." The flyer advertised a rally supporting Denmark over last
month's controversial Danish cartoon of Mohammad.
After the student threw the flyer away, the assailant asked her why she
had discarded it, and began yelling at her and her friend to "go back
to [their] fucking country and bomb it."
"She just kept yelling, 'Fucking Muslim terrorists,'" said the student,
who is in her fourth year at UTM. The woman, as well as a friend who
was with her, looked to be in their thirties.
The two assailants disappeared when the student and her friend ran to
the porter's desk. A joint investigation by campus police, the Office
of Community Safety, and the Office of Anti-Racism is ongoing.
"We're taking it quite seriously," said Staff Sergeant Steve Cox
yesterday. "We have a description [of the suspects]."
The attack was only the most serious in a recent string of incidents
contributing to what SAC VP Equity Shaila Kibria calls the "volatile
atmosphere on campus against Muslims." On Wednesday morning, a group of
Muslim women led by Kibria had eggs thrown at them by a group of people
as they attempted to tell other students about Tuesday's attack, while
passing out flyers for International Women's Day.
"When I heard what happened [to the student on Tuesday], it enraged
me," said Kibria yesterday, who explained that she had wanted to inform
other students. Although the motive for the egging attack is still not
clear, two of the women pelted, including Kibria, were wearing hijabs,
or Islamic religious headgear.
Further upsetting students was a photocopied article that was found
posted on a wall outside Sid Smith's front doors on Thursday. It
contained one of the infamous Danish cartoons as well as the statement
that it is "an accurate view of the religion of Islam," along with a
scrawled-on phone number and the name "Ted."
A website, whose address was printed on the article, contained
instructions to university students on how to print out the flyer and
distribute it on campus. When reached at the number provided, Ted, who
would not give his full name, said he was not affiliated with the
website, but thought its message was "really super positive." He said
he had posted a thousand flyers on U of T's and York's campuses. The
flyers were different than the one that was shoved into the Muslim
student's hands on Tuesday.
Kibria is angry that administrators have not done enough, in her
estimation, to send a message that Islamophobia on campus is not
acceptable.
"What is the university doing? Every time I talk to the Dean's Office
or [other administrators], they send me a copy of their official policy
protecting freedom of expression. Like they're saying, 'Oh, shut up,
shut up.'" Kibria says administrators did not respond adequately to The
Strand cartoon, nor have they helped with other concerns.
"This has to be addressed by administration," said the victim of
Tuesday's attack. "I just don't understand. There's this fear of
Muslims and I'm not sure why."

 Muslim student assaulted at Hart House;
Bah... L'elenco degli ebrei assaliti e' fin troppo lungo.
E bastano le autorita' a prendere i colpevoli.
-Stefano