On July 1, Marwa Sherbini was in a German courtroom charging harassment allegations and submitting evidence against a white 28-year-old man known as Alex W. The man stabbed Sherbini, who was 3 months pregnant, 18 times in a courtroom as her three-year-old son watched. Her husband tried to protect her from the attacker and was also stabbed.
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Alex W. had earlier been convicted of harassing Marwa Sherbini. He would use racist words against Sherbini, such as “terrorist,” and discriminate against her at a neighborhood playground because she was a Muslim woman who wore a traditional head scarf.
Both were in court because Alex W. was appealing his conviction in order to avoid paying a fine of 750 Euros for insulting her in 2008.
On July 6, thousands of Egyptians rallied and marched after attending the funeral of the “Martyr of the head scarf,” as Marwa Sherbini is now being called. On July 15, around 150 students in Tehran threw eggs and demonstrated outside the German embassy. They shouted “Down with racist Europeans!”
Hundreds of people protested in Dresden, Germany, on July 11 to denounce the government’s inaction and silence in response to the racist murder.
The Egyptian people are still outraged at the crime. One of the reasons for this outrage is the nearly complete blackout in the Western media of the murder and the issue of Islamophobia. Sherbini’s brother, Tarek el-Sherbini, spoke to the Associated Press from a mosque in Alexandria, Egypt, during the funereal prayers. He said, “In the West, they do not recognize us.”
The German elite and corporate media have not been the only ones to ignore the importance of the attack on Sherbini, refusing to recognize it as a hate crime. The corporate media across the world have painted the tragic events of Marwa Sherbini as an isolated incident. In reality, this “isolated incident” is not isolated at all. It is part of a growing wave of racism and bigotry.
The attacks on Muslim communities in Europe have increased dramatically in the past five years. Anti-Muslim bigotry has been spreading in Europe and the United States, fueled by the inflammatory media rhetoric following the 9/11 attacks, and later the July 7, 2005, attacks in London.
The attacks have been encouraged if not officially instigated by ruling-class politicians who seek to inflame racism and anti-Muslim bigotry in order to divide the working class in imperialist countries. A large majority of immigrants to Europe—particularly Britain, France and Germany—come from former colonies where the dominant religion is Islam. They are among the most exploited sectors of the working class there.
In the face of the German government’s inaction, Sherbini’s family is taking legal action against the police.
The murder of Sherbini and the injury of her husband should be called what they are: racist hate-crimes. Fight racism! Fight Anti-Muslim bigotry!
