“Take it Off or Leave”

[Our Flemish correspondent VH has done a little background research on an incident that occurred in the Flemish parliament on Wednesday. Through his efforts we learn that the “woman with a headscarf” in the public gallery — who was supposedly made a victim by the Islamophobia of Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter — is not what she seems.

Ms. Fatima Zibouh is not an innocent Muslima who just happened to be in the public gallery when she was picked on by Filip Dewinter. Her associations and connections, as demonstrated in the material below, lead not just to the extreme Left in Wallonia, but all the way back to radical Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe.

VH begins with a translation of this news account from Het Laatste Nieuws (and related linked articles) and a video of the triggering event. Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for his prompt subtitling:

Headscarf incident in Flemish parliament: “take it off or leave”

In the Flemish parliament on Wednesday February 10, Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter lashed out about a woman with a headscarf in the public gallery of the parliament, who was in the audience for the plenary session. Dewinter demanded that the woman take off her headscarf out of respect for the parliament or leave the public gallery.

“When Muslimas are in the public gallery, they must at least take off their headscarves out of respect for parliament,” Dewinter said, noting the veiled woman. “Otherwise, they should leave the gallery,” he added. The Vlaams Belang leader pointed out that regulations state that neutrality [in visible political expressions] is required in parliament. The party colleagues of Filip Dewinter applauded this.

The Chairman of Parliament, Jan Peumans (N-VA) did not follow up on Filip Dewinter’s demand. “It disturbs me not at all that this lady is in the audience with a headscarf. And moreover, you are directing your remarks at someone who is in the audience and can not defend herself. I want to make that clear,” Peumans said. The Chairman of Parliament received extended applause for his intervention.

(A full transcript of this video is at the bottom of the post.)

Veiled woman appointed to lead anti-racist organization CGKR

Earlier in the day in Parliament, there was already commotion around the appointment of the veiled woman Fatima Zibouh as director of the CGKR [Center for Equal Opportunity and the Fight against Racism].

She had been nominated to the post by the party “Ecolo” [“Confederated ecologists for the organization of original struggles”, a left-wing Walloon environmental party] to the organization that is directly under the Prime Minister and Minister for Equal Opportunity.

Fatima Zibouh has a degree in political science of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and studied the political participation and the campaigns of elected representatives of North African origin in Brussels. Since 2007 she has been employed as researcher for the Center for Ethnic and Migration Studies (CEDEM) at the University of Leuven. “Fatima Zibouh was selected based on her competencies. No other consideration determined the choice,” a spokesman of the party Ecolo explained.

In an interview Fatima Zibouh asserted her independence from political parties, including Ecolo. “I appeared before a selection committee of Ecolo to prove my capacities. I think that is the only party which organizes such a selection scheme for the allocation to a political office. But I underline: I remain totally independent of political parties and I am not a member of Ecolo”.

MR-Senator Alain Destexhe had already let it be known that he regrets the choice of a veiled woman. According to him, that is inconsistent with the neutrality requirements in public service, and the Greens in this way contribute to a strengthening of religious elements in the public sphere.

VH interpolates this excerpt from excerpt from “The true face of Fatima Zibouh” by the opinion writer Claude Demelenne, who accused her of having ties with radical Muslims (see note [2] below):
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She wears the veil. But beyond that, what she has “on the head” is also is what she has “in the head.” And there is little doubt: the political profile of Ms. Fatima Zibouh is frankly reactionary. The new group Vigilance Citoyenne [“Citizen’s Vigilance”] reveals her true face.

• Dr. Fatima Zibouh was one of the first signatories of the international Belgian petition calling for the EU to withdraw Hamas (Palestinian branch of Muslim Brotherhood) from the European list of terrorist organizations. This petition was launched on February 1, 2009 by Mrs. Nadine Rosa-Rosso, former CEO of PTB (far left) and in June 2009 candidate of the Brussels’ Islamo-leftist party “Equality”. As a reminder, the frontman of this party, Mr. Nordine Saidi, recently had to resign from the office of the [controversial, see note 3] Belgian anti-racism organization MRAX [Mouvement contre le racisme, l’antisémitisme et la xénophobie] for posting anti-Semitic texts on his blog. On Facebook, Ms. Fatima Zibouh is a “friend” of… Nordine Saidi.
  
• Dr. Fatima Zibouh is a member of the Collectif Présence musulmane Belgique [“Collective Representative of Muslims in Belgium”], which relays in our country the theses of preacher Tariq Ramadan, the grandson the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Hassan el-Banna, from which ideological heritage he never distanced himself. Among other positions, the Collectif Présence musulmane Belgique opposes to the right of adoption by homosexual couples, a right that has always been demanded by Ecolo.
  
• In the spring of 2007, Ms. Fatima Zibouh participated in a “legal coup” organized by Mr. Radouane Bouhlal to strengthen his power and infiltration in the anti-racism organization MRAX. In office since 2004, at a general assembly held on May 31, 2007, Mr. Bouhlal submitted a list with 75 names of new applicants for membership of MRAX. These 75 candidates, including Fatima Zibouh, without any discussion became full members (with voting rights) at a second general assembly, held a week later, on June 9, 2009. Due to this sudden and massive membership increase in a few days, the number of full members of MRAX rose by… 50%. Among these 75 members, 45 are of North African origin and many of them are part of the most radical fringe and/or rigorous Arab-Muslim community. Among them: Miss Fatima Zibouh (“the friend” of Nordine Saidi); Mr. Nordine Saidi himself (who soon became director); several individuals who are candidates of the Islamo-leftist party “Equality” (Nadia Boumazoughe, Fatima Hamyani, Sandrine Corten…); Miloud Merzguioui, the organizer of the latest performances of [anti-Semite “comedian”] Dieudonné; members of the Mouvement Citoyen Palestin, who are admirers of the viewpoints of Hamas…

The new representative of Ecolo finds herself in good company!

Returning to the main thread of the article:

“No petition signed”

The Ecolo fraction leader Muriel Gerkens criticized the statements about Fatima Zibouh. In doing so she repeated that her party nominated Fatima Zibouh based on her capabilities and nothing else. Fatima Zibouh denies that she signed a petition calling for Hamas to be taken off the list of terrorist organizations, as Claude Demelenne of “Citizen’s Vigilance” accused her of. “I have never signed such a petition,” she emphasized. […]

[According to “the list” here, she had at least signed a petition calling for “the suspension of all trade agreements and diplomatic relations with Israel”.]

Also the allegation that Fatima Zibouh is part of a radical Muslim organization is a surprise to her. “I am not a member of a structured organization; it is more like a think tank that seeks to build bridges with non-Muslims. I am tired of the climate of suspicions, whereby it is assumed that every Muslim organization is a terrorist sleeper cell. This creates a real malaise in which Muslims are continually forced to justify ourselves.

“My choice of clothing has absolutely nothing to do with my appointment,” said Fatima Zibouh in response to the website parlemento.com. “I do not know whether everyone realizes that the demographic configuration in Belgium and Brussels has changed ^[2] and that it is only right for people who themselves are part of the diversity should be able to participate at certain levels,” she stressed. [emphasis added]

Notes:

[1]		Nordine Saidi had to resign from the anti-racism organization MRAX last year, due to some of his statements, such as “I refuse to condemn terrorist attacks without talking about their causes […] In order to avoid attacks, there should be discussion with all parties. One will even need to talk to bin Laden.” Saidi is suspected of adhering radical Islam, and in Wallonia voices were raised to cancel the subsidy for MRAX. Vlaams Belang wrote about the anti-racism organization MRAX: “The only main concern of the MRAX is filing complaints against anything that does not fit in their booth — the similarities with the Center for Equal Opportunities and the Fight against Racism (CGKR) in this regard are striking. MRAX, for instance, filed complaints against the weekly magazine Le Vif/L’Express, for a critical article about the Islamization of education. Two Walloon schools proclaimed a headscarf ban, and had a complaint lodged against them. The process to deprive Vlaams Belang of its party financing was also started up by the MRAX.“ [emphasis added] The law anthropologist Jochum Vrielink recently concluded in his doctoral thesis on the Belgian law on racism since 1981: “The Racism Law is often much too broadly and also often unconstitutionally applied.” He stated that not deeds, but statements are being punished: “In the nineties there were two convictions a year, in 2005 the number had risen to 45. In 80 percent of the cases the law is applied to statements, while the law was intended primarily to curb discriminatory acts. Especially since 1994, the law has been applied too broadly and even unconstitutionally.” According to Jochum Vrielink, the Center for Equal Opportunities and Fight against Racism — which now has the veiled Fatima Zibouh appointed to its board — must also make it clear why it acts as a claiming plaintiff. The anti-racism center might actually not even have the authority to act as a plaintiff in civil proceedings. That rather is the role of pressure groups like the League for Human Rights.
[2]		See “The true face of Fatima Zibouh“ below.
[3]		“Flemish minority in the making”

After Brussels, now Antwerp is now also heading rapidly towards an immigrant majority, Vlaams Belang reports.

According to the latest figures from the Research service Studiedienst Stadsobservatie [“Study department for city observation”] — in which for the first time immigrants with Belgian passport are taken into account — 36 percent of the Antwerp population is already of foreign origin. In the age group 0 to 9 years that is 56.4 percent, already the majority.

The leftist sociologist Jan Hertogen — who has made a similar calculation for the whole of Flanders — seems unsurprised by this news. “Antwerp is just following Brussels,” he says in the newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. In one breath Jan Hertogen adds that in the Flemish “center cities” like Ghent (25.6 percent), Mechelen (24.7 percent), Leuven (26.3 percent) and Genk (37.5 percent) a similar process is also occurring.

Vlaams Belang has since longer established that if the current trend continues, the indigenous Flemings are threatened with becoming a minority in their own cities. This analysis in this matter is now also explicitly supported by a strong opponent of Vlaams Belang. “Ten years from now, the true Flemish native will be the absolute minority in our cities”, as Jan Hertogen states in Het Nieuwsblad.

For those who might still have any doubts: it is twelve o’clock.


The true face of Fatima Zibouh

“A radical veiled Muslim represents Ecolo at the Center for Equal Opportunity and the Fight against Racism”

The true face of Fatima Zibouh (part 1) [Press release]

She wears the veil. But beyond that, what she has “on the head” is also is what she has “in the head.” And there is little doubt: the political profile of Ms. Fatima Zibouh is frankly reactionary. The new group Vigilance Citoyenne [“Citizen’s Vigilance”] reveals her true face.

By Claude Demelenne and Olivier Baum, coordinators

At the proposal of Ecolo, Ms. Fatima Zibouh has been newly appointed alternate member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Equal Opportunity and the Fight against Racism. Although not a member of the [left-wing environmentalist party] “Ecolo”, ms. Fatima Zibouh takes seat in this government Board on behalf of the environmentalists.

An early controversy arose because ms. Fatima Zibouh with this appointment would become the first veiled woman to occupy such an important assignment within a public institution.

Apart of the veil, more important is the political profile of Ms. Fatima Zibouh. And this profile leaves little doubt about the reactionary ideology that is supported by the new representative of Ecolo in the Center for Equal Opportunity.

• Dr. Fatima Zibouh was one of the first signatories of the international Belgian petition calling for the EU to withdraw Hamas (Palestinian branch of Muslim Brotherhood) from the European list of terrorist organizations. This petition was launched on February 1, 2009 by Mrs. Nadine Rosa-Rosso, former CEO of PTB (far left) and in June 2009 candidate of the Brussels’ Islamo-leftist party “Equality”. As a reminder, the frontman of this party, Mr. Nordine Saidi, recently had to resign from the office of the [controversial, see note 3] Belgian anti-racism organization MRAX [Mouvement contre le racisme, l’antisémitisme et la xénophobie] for posting anti-Semitic texts on his blog. On Facebook, Ms. Fatima Zibouh is a “friend” of… Nordine Saidi.
  
• Dr. Fatima Zibouh is a member of the Collectif Présence musulmane Belgique [“Collective Representative of Muslims in Belgium”], which relays in our country the theses of preacher Tariq Ramadan, the grandson the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Hassan el-Banna, from which ideological heritage he never distanced himself. Among other positions, the Collectif Présence musulmane Belgique opposes to the right of adoption by homosexual couples, a right that has always been demanded by Ecolo.
  
• In the spring of 2007, Ms. Fatima Zibouh participated in a “legal coup” organized by Mr. Radouane Bouhlal to strengthen his power and infiltration in the anti-racism organization MRAX. In office since 2004, at a general assembly held on May 31, 2007, Mr. Bouhlal submitted a list with 75 names of new applicants for membership of MRAX. These 75 candidates, including Fatima Zibouh, without any discussion became full members (with voting rights) at a second general assembly, held a week later, on June 9, 2009. Due to this sudden and massive membership increase in a few days, the number of full members of MRAX rose by… 50%. Among these 75 members, 45 are of North African origin and many of them are part of the most radical fringe and/or rigorous Arab-Muslim community. Among them: Miss Fatima Zibouh (“the friend” of Nordine Saidi); Mr. Nordine Saidi himself (who soon became director); several individuals who are candidates of the Islamo-leftist party “Equality” (Nadia Boumazoughe, Fatima Hamyani, Sandrine Corten…); Miloud Merzguioui, the organizer of the latest performances of [anti-Semite “comedian”] Dieudonné; members of the Mouvement Citoyen Palestin, who are admirers of the viewpoints of Hamas…

The new representative of Ecolo finds herself in good company!

What game is Ecolo at?

Three weeks ago, during the Sunday RTL-TVI program “Citoyens-Citoyennes” of Pascal Vrebos, a citizen pointed out that the new co-president of Ecolo, Sarah Turine, has defended claims for reasonable accommodations that were demanded by the Muslim Brotherhood. “I know nothing of that,” replied Sarah Turine, who presents herself as an “Islamologue”. Ecolo has chosen a radical Muslim as a representative to the Board of Directors of a public institution.

Confronted with the information we reveal here on the reactionary profile of ms. Fatima Zibouh, Ecolo leaders again responded with a “we know nothing of that.”

The true face of Fatima Zibouh (part 2)

As we wrote [in part 1], Ms. Fatima Zibouh is a member of the Collective Representative of Muslims in Belgium. The Muslim Representative is a global collective of Muslims who aim “to promote universal values… while cultivating a life together in our society.” [www.presencemusulmane.org]

Contrary to statements Ms. Fatima Zibouh made on the blog Parlamento.com, such as “…. I am not a member of a structured organization, but rather of a movement of thought… “, the Muslim Representative is a structured organization affiliated with the nebulous organizations loyal to the Salafi preacher Tariq Ramadan, whose parent organization (the European Muslim Network) has its headquarters in Brussels, which is the hub of its activities.

Currently, the Belgian branch of Muslim Representative remains discreet in the public debate. This is not the case in Canada for example, where the Muslim Representative is increasing its interventions, with conferences, press releases… relaying the positions of the preacher Tariq Ramadan, including the most controversial and most shocking ones. Thus, the Muslim Presence “supports the position of Tariq Ramadan calling for a moratorium on the application in the Muslim world of the hudud, the corporal punishment under the Islamic penal code.”

A simple “moratorium”? Mind boggling…

In the cartoon affair, while condemning the violent actions of some Muslims, the Muslim Representative denounced the cartoons “for insulting the last of the prophets of Islam.”

The right to freedom of expression and blasphemy? Obviously, this hardly inspires the Muslim Representative.

In an interview September 19, 2009 in the periodical La Gauche [“The Left”, organ of the Communist Revolutionary League], Fatima Zibouh expressed her opinion that the decision of the Board of Education of the Flemish Community to ban the wearing of headscarves in schools, is “extremely serious”. She said she was “appalled by the arguments in favor of the ban, which she called “a paternalistic and colonialist vision.”

Quite a tough discourse, for a “moderate”….

In the same interview, Fatima Zibouh said that any ban on the burqa or niqab in public, even in the name of public safety (as it exists in several communes, including Brussels-Molenbeek, the district of [the Socialist] Philip Moureaux) is unacceptable because “It affects individual freedoms… It is our ethnocentric view which should be questioned.”

A moderate, really, Fatima Zibouh?

The new representative of Ecolo has also participated in events that were organized by the European Muslim Network and the Centrum voor Islam in Europa [“Center for Islam in Europe”], that regularly relays the ultra-conservative ideology of Tariq Ramadan.

A Progressive, really, Fatima Zibouh?

One of the most recent conferences of Fatima Zibouh was filmed by Mediane TV, that currently finds its way on the Internet.

The discreet Mediane TV (little known to the public, presenting itself as “a Muslim citizens’ television chain”) is noted for its interviews with Dieudonné and the dissemination of teachings of radical Salafist preachers, including of Hani Ramadan, head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe and brother of Tariq Ramadan. The companionship and intellectual closeness of Fatima Zibouh and Tariq Ramadan with the Muslim Brotherhood is obvious.

Ecolo is not disrupted when the mentor sees its new representative describe “the acceptance of homosexuality… [as] a new dogmatism with some colonial hints of xenophobia from the side of lobbies that impose an ‘openness’ in all matters”. A statement which is ultimately more right-wing than that of Bishop Leonard .

On behalf of the collective “Citizen’s Vigilance”, Claude Demelenne, Coordinator, Citizen’s Vigilance unveils what is happening backstage and dissects the news with impertinence and without taboos.


Video transcript:

00:00		00:05		Mr. Chairman, aside from the fact that when Muslimas take a seat at the public gallery,
00:05		00:09		they should at least have the respect to take off their headscarves.
00:09		00:14		I am of the opinion…
00:14		00:24		I thought neutrality at the public gallery…
00:24		00:28		might be a demand…
00:28		00:32		as is stated in our regulations, which apply to expressions of all kinds,
00:32		00:36		thus also for Muslims, who wear a political symbol
00:36		00:40		when they are appear here with a headscarf, in my opinion.
00:40		00:44		As is my opinion. Full stop, and now back to the other subject.
00:44		00:56		But as an aside I would like to remark to Mr. Rogiers [SP.A, Socialist]…
00:55		01:00		I you will allow me for a moment, ladies and gentlemen… I would like to remark to Mr. Rogiers…
01:00		01:05		that I have never before heard him ask any questions, not in writing, nor otherwise…
01:05		01:12		when Ms. Van Brempt (SP.A, Socialist) was as Minister responsible for De Lijn [public transport]…
01:12		01:18		and the lack of safety at De Lijn was no problem, according to the SP.A [Socialists], although today it seemingly is.
01:18		01:24		I can only say, Madam Minister, that I still remain somewhat stuck with my question…
01:24		01:28		if only for the simple fact, that certainly in our larger cities…
01:28		01:34		those 150 sensitive neighborhoods, there is on the contrary a very large problem indeed…
01:34		01:38		and that you can not solve that problem with just a few surveillance cameras…
01:38		01:38		or some observers, maybe here and there a little more prevention and such…
01:42		01:48		but only by indeed expanding those PTM brigades…
01:48		01:56		to allow true police supervision, and make it possible on public transport…
01:56		02:00		certainly in our large cities, certainly in those 150 sensitive neighborhoods.
02:00		00:00
02:07		02:15		Mister Dewinter, for all clarity, I have the order in this meeting, and it disturbs me not at all that this lady is in the audience with a headscarf.
02:15		02:20		And moreover, you are directing your remarks at someone who is in the audience and can not defend herself. I want to make that clear.
02:20		02:20
02:34		00:38		We now switch to the actual question of Madam… [Chairman, chairman…]
02:38		00:00		There is no debate about that, Mr. Dewinter,
02:46		02:50		I have the order of the meeting and not you…
02:50		02:54		You having the order of the meeting? Well I have the right to answer when you address me…
02:54		02:58		We are parliamentary members here in our own parliament, and it is we who determine the rules here…
02:58		03:04		And when that applies to the public gallery, it applies to everyone [in the public gallery]…
03:04		03:08		in this public gallery manifestations are not allowed…
03:08		03:18		and no expressions of political or religious conviction may be manifested…
03:18		03:24		and that means that Muslimas with headscarves in this public gallery, by my lights, do not belong here.
03:24		03:29		Mister Dewinter, respect, you must have respect… for everybody…