'Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime' report to be published tomorrow (UK)

[pinboy3niner]

EMRC's 'Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime' report published tomorrow
Friday, November 26, 2010

Muslims and their mosques face a higher level of threats and intimidation in UK suburbs and market towns than in big cities, according to a new report. Case studies reveal that examples such as a Muslim woman who was punched and called a "terrorist" in front of her petrified daughter are not uncommon.

Such attacks often go unreported, and in this case the woman was too scared to inform the police. She also played down the incident to reduce her child's distress, and avoided explaining why she was singled out for wearing a burka and being a Muslim woman.

The new study Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime: UK Case Studies reveals this kind of unprovoked incident is a largely hidden experience that is insufficiently acknowledged and understood outside of the communities where they occur. The report published on 27 November is part of a ten year academic research project led by the University of Exeter’s European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC). It captures a snapshot of these experiences which are often unrecognised by the media, politicians and wider British society. The research also combines an academic approach to identifying world events and policy information that inform the way reactions and actions towards Muslims can be influenced.
<snip>

Dr Jonathan Githens Mazer, co-Director of the EMRC said, "Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate crime are very real problems for British Muslims going about their everyday business. Through our research we have found that in smaller and more isolated mosques in many suburbs and market towns there is a feeling of being under siege.Some local councils who are made aware of the situation say to mosque officials, 'we can see this is bad, why don't you move the mosque?'"

http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2010/11/26/emrcs-islamophobia-and-anti-muslim-hate-crime-report-publish.html

[Turborama]

1. It comes to something when citizens of a supposedly civilized country are too frightened to report

...assaults to the police or other figures of authority.

I wonder which other time in the past century the same thing happened to minorities when a country had gone through an economic meltdown...


Thanks for posting this here, pinboy. Have you seen the video report on this I posted yet?

If not, here's the link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x529668

:kick: & R

[pinboy3niner]

3. I was the first rec on the video :)

Thanks for posting it.

These issues--and the tremendous implications they have for civil rights--are extremely important now. We do not want to look back on this time and say, "First they came for...."

[Turborama]

4. Thanks for that

I couldn't agree more with the very strong pints you make.

[HipChick]

5. Why would they report it?

I lived close by to Luton in the UK. For a long time, police would tag parts of it a no-go area, and if they did go in, it would often be accompained by a immigration status shakedown.

[Turborama]

7. Why would an innocent woman report being punched in the face in front of her child?

Because she'd just been violently assaulted?

[HipChick]

9. I don't think you understand the relationship of the community with the local police force

[Turborama]

10. I think you should re-read my original statement n/t

[IDHow]

6. Of course, you are pointing to the nazis, but let's be honest here,

no country is guilt free of this, including the US and the Muslim countries, or even women in general, for wearing "skimpy" clothes.

[Turborama]

8. What's that got to do with Islamophobia?n/t

[Turborama]

2. I think a definition of Islamophobia is needed here so that we all know what we're talking about...

Islamophobia

Islamophobia is prejudice against, or hatred or fear of Islam or Muslims. The term seems to date back to the late 1980s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States to refer to types of political dialogue that appeared prejudicially resistant to pro-Islamic argument. In 1997, the British Runnymede Trust defined Islamophobia as the "dread or hatred of Islam and therefore, to the fear and dislike of all Muslims," stating that it also refers to the practice of discriminating against Muslims by excluding them from the economic, social, and public life of the nation. It includes the perception that Islam has no values in common with other cultures, is inferior to the West and is a violent political ideology rather than a religion. Professor Anne Sophie Roald writes that steps were taken toward official acceptance of the term in January 2001 at the "Stockholm International Forum on Combating Intolerance", where Islamophobia was recognized as a form of intolerance alongside Xenophobia and Antisemitism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamophobia

Prejudice

A prejudice is a prejudgment, an assumption made about someone or something before having adequate knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy. The word prejudice is most commonly used to refer to a preconceived judgment toward a people or a person because of race, social class, gender, ethnicity, age, disability, political beliefs, religion, sexual orientation or other personal characteristics. It also means beliefs without knowledge of the facts and may include "any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prejudice

[pampango]

11. Islamophobia is on the rise here, too.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/worldview/101124/islam-america-harvard