FORUM OF EUROPEAN MUSLIM YOUTH AND STUDENT ORGANISATIONS
FEMYSO wants to share your ideas!
Do you enjoying writing, and do you have stories or topics that you would like to share?
Well, we have an opportunity for you!
FEMYSO has launched the FEMYSOblog project which aims to give to the youth a platform where you can write, share your stories, and have discussions.
GUIDELINES
When it comes to deciding what to write about, you can either choose from the theme of the month that FEMYSO will announce or it can be anything that you like or concerns you.
The word limit per blogpost is 1000 words.
Send your writings and questions anytime at comms@femyso .org
September 2021 marks not only the European Action Day against Islamophobia, but also 20 years after 9/11. FEMYSO, the leading voice of European Muslim youth and students, cannot but stress enough the sickness of the terrorising nature under which they often have to live, work, study and overall, just exist; as well as the sickness of all authorities lacking in ensuring Muslims’ fundamental rights, and in providing security and safety to all Muslims.
With 9/11, Muslims’ faith and identity became a sort of exam which we are forced to take. An exam in the sense of persecution and mockery, and in the form of shame praising, i.e. being forced to comply to the imaginary picture enforced on us describing how we should look and live as Muslims.
As Muslim women undergoing gendered Islamophobia, we say that we shall not remove our headscarves to comply with racist interpretations of ‘neutrality’. As Muslim students and employees, we shall not stop asking for our fundamental right to a safe space where we can perform our prayers. As human beings, we shall not stop fighting for the removal of hate speech in politics and in the public space.
Today, FEMYSO presents to you a hybrid policy talks conference within the frame of project MEET, in which policy priorities for eliminating the discrimination suffered by Muslim women are discussed by high-level speakers. For more information, go here.
FEMYSO, together with all our Member Organisations, stay committed to a more diverse, cohesive and vibrant Europe, in which all is free and safe to live and believe as they wish.
Notes
It’s been a year since #BLM (Black Lives Matter) protests were successful in pushing the EU to create an EU Anti-Racism Action Plan. To truly start tackling racism over the next year, over 40 organisations have got solutions. We hope to work constructively with the European Commission to deliver change!
Rather than being protected by police, many racialised communities are victims of racist policing and violence. The families of Stanislav Tomas, Adil or Ousman Sey are still waiting for justice, as are many more. We’re calling on the Commission to put an end to police brutality, discrimination and violence by extending the Race Equality Directive (RED) to cover law enforcement.
As President von der Leyen stated last year, it is time “to build a truly anti-racist Union – that goes from condemnation to action.” The Commission has promised to ensure that all Member States put forward National Action Plans Against Racism (NAPARs). With COVID-19 devastating our communities in some of the worst ways, we’re calling for these action plans to be finalised, and delivered by 2022.
It’s time racial justice is mainstreamed in ALL policy areas. Racism does not happen in a vacuum. It’s structural. Let’s include racial justice in climate, digital, economic, education, employment, foreign, defence, gender, migration and security policy. With the increased targeting, arrests and outright banning of anti-racism activists and organisations across Europe, we’re calling on the European Commission to closely scrutinise developments in the Member States and provide concrete support for anti-racist human rights defenders and organisations at risk.
We’re calling for the EU Coordinator on Anti-Racism to work together with civil society in the organisation of the EU Anti-Racism Summit under the French Presidency in March 2022 and to ensure a dynamic and interactive meeting with a focus on structural racism, as well as high-level participation including the President of the Commission and Heads of States.
We want to see the EU Coordinator on Anti-Racism ensure meaningful and regular dialogue between the European Commission and civil society organisations led by racialised groups, communities and organisations.
Finally, it’s time that racialised people are properly represented in the EU institutions and agencies.
We’re calling on the relevant bodies of the various institutions to put forward its proposals on creating a safe positive environment and strategy that will increase the representation of racialised people and others from underrepresented communities.
To read the manifesto and see the list of civil society organisations, go here.
This statement is in cooperation with ENAR (European Network Against Racism), Equinox (Initiative for Racial Justice) and ERGO Network (European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network).
Register now for the European Day Against Islamophobia Symposium hosted by Project MEET on Tuesday, the 21st of September!
At this hybrid policy talks conference, speakers will discuss the policy priorities for eliminating the discrimination suffered by Muslim women develops in a broader context of gender inequality in Europe.
Moreover, there will be a discussion on how to broaden space for civic engagement and inclusion in policy formulation and outcomes with regards to the effects of Gendered Islamophobia on Muslim Women and Girls.
