anti-racism – Faith Matters

“We Fear for Our Lives”: Offline and Online Experiences of Anti-Muslim Hostility

Faith Matters — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 09:08:16 +0000

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets his supporters during a ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey, March 11, 2017. Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS

" data-medium-file="https://www.faith-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-03-12T131015Z_2_LYNXMPED2B09Z_RTROPTP_4_TURKEY-REFERENDUM-EUROPE-600x387.jpg" data-large-file="https://www.faith-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-03-12T131015Z_2_LYNXMPED2B09Z_RTROPTP_4_TURKEY-REFERENDUM-EUROPE-1024x661.jpg" class="wp-image-6556 alignright" src="https://tellmamauk.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Untitled-2.png" alt="We Fear For Our Lives" width="125" height="194" />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.

‘House Muslims’ is just as bad as ‘House N……’.

Tell Mama — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 20:46:32 +0000

There are those on Twitter who think that they are fighting the good fight against racism and who shout Islamophobia at the slightest drop of a hat, thereby devaluing the word. The moral guardians of the Internet, these individuals are mainly aged between 20-35 and who spend their time on Twitter railing against prejudice and Islamophobia and then turning against those whom they perceive as ‘House Muslims.’ So, let us get to the bottom of this.

We have noticed that those who have divergent views from what some may perceive as being views which ‘Muslims should have’, are smeared and labelled on social media as ‘House Muslims.’ The allegation made is that if someone takes a contrary view on extremism, or Prevent, or against groups excluding others because they are deemed to be ‘the wrong kind of Muslim’, they are therefore ‘House Muslims.’ They are, in the eyes of the perpetrator, equivalent to the House Slaves who kept the machinery of oppression through slavery going. They are also equivalent to the ‘House N……’ who ensured that the South’s policy of slavery continued on longer since they had sold their labour just to receive some basic privileges. This is what people who shout ‘House Muslim’, are saying.

Why are these statements problematic? They are problematic since those making them leave themselves open to the charge that they have no moral mandate in countering intolerance and prejudice, when they themselves are promoting a form of bigotry. They have no mandate since tackling racism and prejudice, speaks to power. These individuals do not speak to power, they simply re-enforce a mob-like mentality that bays, taunts and attempts to humiliate the individual, thereby re-enforcing power structures. This statement is also problematic, since it shows the hypocrisy in some who claim to be part of the anti-racist movement and who are nothing but charlatans and snake-skin salespeople playing to a mob mentality. Underneath the facade, they have slightly more in common with the plantation owner who sought to keep his slaves subjugated and controlled; boxed off and easy to understand. Well, we will have no part of it.

Anyone who uses the term ‘House Muslim’ should be regarded as being akin in his/her views to those who promote the false narrative that Muslims cannot be trusted and that they are secret Sharia or taqiyya peddlers. Both narratives are toxic and we simply should reject both with all of our energies.

(More on this subject will be disseminated in the coming days)

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Call for National Advisory Group Members for Tell MAMA

Tell Mama — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 23:43:12 +0000

We are currently in the process of reconstituting our National Advisory Group on Tell MAMA which will consist of experienced hate crime campaigners, programme organisers, key activists and individuals who represent a range of bodies with links to hate crime work.

As our work goes from strength to strength, we understand that Muslim women experience hate incidents and hate crimes and our work has consistently and methodologically shown this. (See here and here).

We are also keen that women play an active role in the National Advisory Group for Tell MAMA and that their voices, their ideas and their social activism be heard.

With this in mind, we have 5 spaces on the National Advisory Group for Tell MAMA which need to be filled and we are keen on getting applications, particularly from Muslim women. However, if you can show experience in hate crime work or social activism in this area, we would like to hear from you.

Please send your CV with a covering letter outlining your relevant experience, your interest and your history of work in this area. The closing date for applications is Friday the 4th of September at 5 pm.

Covering letters and CV’s can be sent to the Director of TELL MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal, on info@tellmamauk.org.

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