WAIR Supports Irvine 11

STATEMENT FROM WOMEN AGAINST ISLAMOPHOBIA AND RACISM

Women Against Islamophobia and Racism (WAIR) supports the Irvine 11, Muslim students at the University of California at Irvine, and questions the finding that they are guilty for the “crime” of interrupting the speech on campus of Israel Ambassador Michael Oren in 2010 to protest Israeli policies.  As has happened when other students were involved in similarly nonviolent political protests on campus, U.C. Irvine administrators took internal disciplinary action—suspending the campus Muslim Student Union for a school quarter.

We cannot understand the decision to try the Irvine 11 and the jury’s verdict as anything else but selective prosecution.  When a group of Jewish students from Jewish Voice for Peace interrupted a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no legal repercussions.  The difference is that the Irvine 11 students were Muslims.  They were clearly prosecuted because they had committed the nonviolent act of “shouting while Muslim.”  We object as strongly as we can to the unjust and discriminatory singling out of Muslims by the legal system.

As an organization that seeks to highlight the impact of Islamophobia and racism on youth and families, WAIR is particularly concerned about any acts that silence students in an educational setting from voicing diverse and often under-represented opinions or speaking up on issues that impact their own communities. We will continue to support the Irvine students as they make their appeal.

 

Women Against Islamophobia & Racism (WAIR*) is a collective of educators, parents, and community activists from different ethnic, racial, and religious communities that formed in response to the alarming growth of anti-Muslim sentiment and actions across the United States.  We aim to challenge Islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia and connect struggles of identity-based discrimination.