Islamophobia Today The State of the Nation 2014 Chris Allen Institute of Applied Social Studies, University of Birmingham 7th May 2014
Report of the Extremism Task Force, 5th December 2013 “we must tackle extremism of all kinds, including the Islamophobia and neo-Nazism espoused by the murderer of Mohammed Saleem to justify his terrorist attacks against mosques in the West Midlands� (p.1)
Goodwin (2013)
Islamophobia: what is it‌?
Islamophobia: what it isn’t…!
“Islamophobia is not about disagreeing, criticising or condemning...�
Islamophobia: what is it‌?
“Islamophobia is not about disagreeing, criticising or condemning...
...But as a rule of thumb, when that disagreement, criticism or condemnation – including promoting stereotypes and mistruths – is used to intentionally promote, encourage or justify prejudice, hatred, bigotry or even violence, it is likely that this will be motivated and driven by Islamophobia or manifested and expressed as Islamophobia”
Islamophobia: contentious & contested Allen (2010) • An ideology which becomes largely interdependent with the notion of nationalism as well as providing knowledge and meaning about other both new and existing relations of power and meaning • A set of prejudices, opinions and attitudes that may be held by either individuals, groups, communities or society, or indeed a combination of these • A set of exclusionary practices as a result of prejudice and discrimination in various socioeconomic, socio-political spheres including the subjection to violence
Ideology
Ideology ‘white noise’ ‘background noise’ ‘a vibe’
Prejudices, Opinions & Attitudes
• Research from 2006 suggests that the press coverage relating to Muslims and Islam in British national newspapers increased by approximately 270% over preceding decade
• 91% of that coverage was deemed negative • 84% of press coverage represented Islam and Muslims either as ‘likely to cause damage or danger’ or as ‘operating in a time of intense difficulty or danger’ (Allen, 2007)
• Muslims represented as being ‘problems’, ‘different’, ‘other’, ‘threat’, ‘enemies’, against ‘us’ & all that ‘we’ stand for & ‘our’ way of life • Likely to provoke & increase feelings of insecurity, suspicion & anxiety amongst non-Muslims • Likely to provoke feelings of insecurity, vulnerability & alienation amongst Muslims • Legitimises & validates extremist discourses: of the far-right (enemies, Islamification etc) as also radical/ ‘Islamist’ Muslims (‘clash of civilisations’ etc) • Unlikely to help diminish levels of hate crime & acts of unlawful discrimination by non-Muslims against Muslims (Allen, 2007)
Islamophobia: what is it‌?
Daily Star 25 October 2010
98% “fear Britain is becoming a Muslim state”
Exclusionary Practices: Street-Level Islamophobia
Street-Level Islamophobia • Evidencing ‘Islamophobia’ has always been contentious: religiously motivated hate crime, ‘religion or belief’ equalities legislation, lack of disaggregation • Muslim men and women are likely to experience Islamophobic discrimination an average of 8 times over the past year
• 79% unlikely to report discrimination, 59% believing “nothing would happen or change” (European Fundamental Rights Agency, 2009)
Street-Level Islamophobia Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) • 584 recorded incidents of anti-Muslim hate crime (1 April 2012 to 30 April 2013 inclusive)
• 26% of incidents took place ‘offline’ (street-level) • 74% of incidents took place ‘online’
• 63% of cases (almost 2 in every 3) victims did not report the incident to the police
Tell MAMA, 2013
Tell MAMA, 2013
Street-Level Islamophobia Mosque Attacks • 52 attacks on mosques and Islamic centres reported in to Tell MAMA between February 2012 & August 2013
• 34 of these took place in the aftermath of the murder of Lee Rigby • Graffiti was the most common form of attack but there were also 9 arsons, 7 cases for forced entry/personal violence in the mosque environs, and 3 bombing attempts • Another recent trend has been desecration through leaving various pieces of pig carcass or blood in or around the mosque
Tell MAMA, 2013
Street-Level Islamophobia Street-Based Attacks • Average of 2.88 incidents per week in period April 2012 to April 2013
• Following murder of Lee Rigby, the number of incidents
dramatically rose
Street-Level Islamophobia Street-Based Attacks on Muslim Women • In terms of street-level incidents, 58% of all incidents reported were
against Muslim women • 80% of women targeted were visibly identifiable as Muslim (wearing hijab, niqab or other clothing associated with Islam) • It is unusual for women to be the primary target of hate crime – Crown Prosecution Service: 68% of hate crime victims are men – Community Security Trust: 67% of Antisemitic hate crimes are targeted at Jewish men
Tell MAMA, 2013
“there are far more serious things that you could be moaning about” “no caring husband would send his pregnant wife to confront someone who is obviously upset” “what does she expect, you betray your people this is what you get”
Street-Level Islamophobia • The majority of anti-Muslim incidents were low-level, verbal abuse in public places – “fucking Muslim”, “terrorist”, “Mrs Usama bin Laden”, “Muslim monkey”, “ninja”, “go and eat some pork”, “go back to Afghanistan”
• Others experienced intimidation and threat in public spaces as also their homes: – “the men proceeded to violently punch their legs as if punching her” – “Lubna looked out of the window of her family home to see that four decomposing pig’s heads had been positioned around the house” – “she spat in my face before screaming why are you covering yourself?”
• Violence again in public spaces as also their homes: – “the levels of abuse increased steadily culminating in two from the group turning up at her house at which point they violently attacked both her and her brother with bicycle chains”
Street-Level Islamophobia Street-Based Attacks: Police Data • Data was collected from 14 police forces across the UK via freedom of information requests • Police forces across the UK saw an average of 57% increase in reported religious/racial hate crimes during fortnight following Woolwich • With regard to those that specifically record ‘anti-Muslim’ hate crime, this was shown to increase by 458% (from 36 incidents to 201 incidents) • This increase roughly corroborates with the same rise in incidents being reported to Tell MAMA
Islamophobia: Impacts • Incidents are symbolic: the victim is unimportant as any of you could be attacked and all of you are under threat – “it kind of makes you think people hate you because of the way you dress. And then you start linking everything as being antiMuslim and that may well not be the case” • Victims are left feeling scared and fearful, anxious and vulnerable, angry and shocked, humiliated and embarrassed
• Excluded and separated, of not belonging to Britain or British society: – “You start to question your identity: am I a British Muslim or a Bangladeshi Muslim?” “maybe we are hated…I feel we’re not going to be accepted as British, like we’re always going to [be] seen as an outsider”
Report of the Extremism Task Force, 5th December 2013 “we must tackle extremism of all kinds, including the Islamophobia and neo-Nazism espoused by the murderer of Mohammed Saleem to justify his terrorist attacks against mosques in the West Midlands� (p.1)
Failing to tackle and take serious Islamophobia can have detrimental impacts on policies aimed at ensuring cohesion, integration, preventing radicalisation, equalities and more
Tackling Islamophobia
Tackling Islamophobia • First, to speak to those in the public and media spaces about Islamophobia and the ongoing victimisation of ordinary British Muslims going about their everyday business; • To give voice to those at times silent and overlooked stories and experiences • Second, to speak to those in the political and policy spaces about the very real consequences of failing to tackle and take serious the threat posed by anti-Muslim hate; • To recognise the detrimental consequential impact such might have on policies aimed at ensuring cohesive, safe and prosperous communities amongst others
Tackling Islamophobia with Government • 2010 establishment of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Islamophobia • Baroness Warsi announces Islamophobia has “passed the dinner table test” • 2012 establishment of the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group • 2012 government funds Tell MAMA (Measuring anti-Muslim attacks) service • 2013 Extremism Task Force established post-Woolwich
• 2013 Extremism Task Force recognises need to tackle Islamophobia
Tackling Islamophobia Beyond Government • Undertaking good quality research – Sharing as widely as possible – open access articles – Birmingham Brief – Presenting papers – Guest lectures – Working with key organisations both Muslim and non• Public engagement – Media – radio, television – Press – Huffington Post, New Statesman etc – Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress etc – Free sharing of resources – Issuu, Soundcloud etc
Goodwin (2013)
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