Over the last 36 hours we have seen a number of cases come into Tell MAMA and the following incident shows, once again, how street based anti-Muslim hatred is also gender specific, with perpetrators mainly being white males and the victims mainly being visible Muslim females.

This was reported in by an Asian female who was not Muslim herself, though she felt angry and yet powerless to intervene. We thank her for reporting in the incident which we will report into the relevant authorities. This is the text of her report with the locations removed. Once again, no commuter intervened to stop the racism and they simply looked away. 

“Just to let you know I saw a man behave inappropriately and make racist comments to a young woman wearing a light blue Hijab on the tube. The incident happened about 5:15pm and occurred at a connecting tube station in North London where a white man wouldn’t sit next to a young girl with a hijab on.”

“He called her a “dirty P***” and “to f*** off back to Syria because girls do not wear hijabs in England”. I wanted to say something but was quite scared as none of the commuters did anything and looked away. She did speak back to him politely and said “I’m a British Pakistani and am not forcing my faith on you or anyone else”. The man said a few more things and eventually sat elsewhere. I wanted to report it because I felt so angry she was subject to this and helpless I couldn’t support her.”

“I felt obligated to let you know as she looked upset and fearful and I felt for her – and whilst I couldn’t do anything at the time I hope this helps raise awareness that this has happened and is unacceptable. It was very unfortunate to watch and I felt sad for her that this might be a sign of things to come given the heightened tensions and terror attacks.”

The post F*** off Back to Syria Because Girls Do Not Wear Hijabs in England appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This report looks at the impact of on-line and off-line experiences of anti-Muslim hostility on British Muslims in the UK. It highlights how some male Muslims are failing to report in Institutional anti-Muslim prejudice for fear of being targeted and for fear that they will be seen to be ‘weak’ in the eyes of their families and lead to instability in their employment. It also highlights how key ‘trigger’ events such as the murder of Lee Rigby, the actions of the so-called Islamic State and the Rotherham grooming scandal, have led to multiple impacts within Muslim communities. It also re-affirms the link between racist language and anti-Muslim prejudice, with one female respondent saying, “actually, 9 out of 10 times, the abuse I receive is based on race. Although they use religion because I am identifiable as a Muslim woman, the words that come out of their mouth have to do with race, so the race and the religion are tied up together in people’s minds.”

Participants in the report talk about the disturbing nature of verbal and physical violence that they have suffered. A convert to Islam, Sophie (who wears the Hijab) stated, “a guy walked past, he spat at me and called me a ‘Muzzi’. Also, I’ve been called dirty Paki, (I am white), as a group of guys walked past and shouted ‘speak English in our country.’ I was looking at a map and did not say anything.”

Some participants also warned about the risks of radicalisation, especially for young people as a result of suffering online and/or offline anti-Muslim hate crimes. One respondent, Hamza, noted that “anti-Muslim hate crime has affected Muslims. This is why Muslims are going to Syria. This is why they support ISIS. When people experience Islamophobic abuse, they will be easily radicalised. They feel weak, lonely, isolated, and rejected from British society. This is when these hate preachers pick them up and brainwash them. If you are constantly victimised, you are weak.”

This report also highlights an impact on Muslim communities which is rarely discussed and which includes changes in dress style so that attention is not drawn to the visibility of their faith. The report highlights the issue of Muslims managing their Muslim identity on-line and off-line with the aim of reducing future abuse. It states that, “the reality of anti-Muslim hate crime creates ‘invisible’ boundaries, across which members of the Muslim community are not ‘welcome’ to step. The enactment of both virtual and physical boundaries impacts upon ‘emotional geographies’ in relation to the way in which Muslims perceive the spaces and places around and outside their communities of abode. Rather than risk the threat of being attacked, either off-line or on-line, many actual and potential victims opt to change their lifestyles and retreat to ‘their own’ communities.

]]> 1227 https://www.faith-matters.org/mirror-story-of-female-hijabi-attacked-draws-support-by-some-for-the-perpetrator/ Sun, 26 Jul 2015 23:10:08 +0000 https://tellmamauk.org/?p=5541 Over the last 3 years we have systematically showed that the on-line world and social media present significant challenges to those working on tackling anti-Muslim hatred. The challenge is not only significant, it certainly changes fast as language and actions are affected by local, national or international incidents. Yet, what is deeply concerning is when

The post Mirror Story of Female Hijabi Attacked Draws Support by Some for the Perpetrator appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The English Defence League: Challenging Our Country and Our Values of Social Inclusion, Fairness and Equality. A detailed report on key leaders within the English Defence League, their funders and those that formulate its strategy. This report is a damning insight into a group that promotes a non-racist image, yet those aligned and linked to it hold views that are openly discriminatory against all Muslims and some speak the same language of the British National Party – the language of exclusionism, of non-equal human rights and of the need to ‘send people back.’ These values go contrary to what our country stands for and what we as a nation are about. We are about Fairness, Freedom, Hard Work, Equality and Social Inclusion. We are a modern Britain and a modern nation born from hard work and fairness!

Please Note:
We would like to clarify that Mark Israel, described in paragraph 4.9. of our report on the English Defence League as “a former volunteer with the Board of Deputies’ Community Security Trust (CST)”, has not been a CST volunteer for many years; and that CST (a separate organisation from the Board of Deputies) has repeatedly condemned the EDL, for example in the following posts on the CST Blog:

• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=555
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=686
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=963
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=1602
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=1956