It would be foolhardy to state that recent events of anti-Muslim abuse on buses in London have not had an impact on Muslim communities in the capital and beyond. They have and given the way that the material has been shared online, the comments and the videos of the abuse have sickened many who saw the hate meted out by members of Black and Minority Ethnic communities against others.

One victim was a Turkish male who had a disability and whose walking frame was flung onto the pavement by the young perpetrator, as he walked off pushing his young child in front of him in a pushchair. The second victim was a Moroccan female with a Hijab (headscarf), who was visiting London and here to meet relatives in the capital. One only shudders to think about the kind of impression the female will have of our capital after the events of the last week, though we can take solace in the fact that our police acted decisively and quickly on both cases. Arrests were made and charges have followed.

Yet, given the sickening comments and levels of aggression shown, it is important to always contextualise the fact that we live in one of the safest capitals in the world. Compared to Europe, our country is streaks ahead in tackling racism and prejudice and in work around tackling hate crimes. Granted, there is a lot to be done, no-one can deny that and we are at the coal-face of the work, but when you compare it to some European Union countries who officially state that they have no hate crimes in their countries, you start to realise that we are lucky to live here on our tiny island.

We are also aware that there are some Muslim females who have contacted us to say that they are fearful of going outside of their homes to do their daily activities. To them we say this. By changing your daily lives, you are allowing the perpetrators to affect you and to control your lives and your activities. The only way to break cycles of abuse is to do the opposite to the fear that they bring on. In this instance, we urge individuals to get on with their daily lives and hold onto the fact that our capital is a beacon of hope, safety and security in this continent. Only be challenging our own private fears, can we truly realise our potential.

The post We Understand the Fears in Muslim Communities, But Our Country is Still One of the Safest appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The precarious situation in the Middle East has come to the forefront, with the bombing of ISIS positions by the Turkish Air Force. Having taken the decision to militarily degrade ISIS, it seems that Britain First and its supporters have decided to vent their fury at Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The anti-Muslim and anti-Turkish bigotry simply drips of the Facebook pages of Britain First as the extremist group posted this picture on their Facebook page. No doubt, the reference that they used was as vague as trying to find the genetic make up of Dolly the sheep in the dark with a match.

The post was followed by a range of comments including this one which we did not know whether to laugh or cry about:

Further dubious comments made on the Britain First Facebook page are listed below and we will be calling on Facebook to ban the Britain First Facebook page. They have not done so yet, since their stance has been that Britain First are a political party. Clearly, their activities are drawing in a specific set of individuals, some of whom have extremely disturbing views about Muslims and some of whom espouse violence against Muslims. Given the recent comments by the Prime Minister outlining the Government’s strategy over the next 5 years, we believe that the ground has changed and it is precisely this kind of activity that the Prime Minister wants social media companies to take action against.

Note the following comments on the Britain First Facebook page:

Leslie Bowe states, “Let’s send all the Muslims to Turkey, and all the Turks with them.”

Ryan Fieldhouse plays into the persecution complex of a ‘war that is looming’. He states, “a war is looming…..who with, whatever the time and wherever the place.” Clearly, he seems lost in time and space.

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