Terrorism And Islamophobia Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin Of Hate
14 August 2017Maha Akeel
By driving communities apart, anti-Muslim hate is undermining the ‘war on
terror’
Last week, the world’s largest Muslim organisation - the Organisation for
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) - the second biggest intergovernmental body after
the United Nations made up of 57 Muslim-majority countries - released its
annual Islamophobia report at a conference in London.
Our new report confirms that Islamophobia is a rising trend across the West,
and concludes that Islamophobia must be seen not simply as a scourge against
Muslims, but rather as a scourge against the heart of all civilised societies.
At the reviewed time period of the report, the negative trend of anti-Muslim
hate was assessed to have been boosted mostly by three factors, namely: the
victory of Donald Trump, the immigrant issue in Europe, and the rise of
far-right populism in Europe.
Far-right extremist narratives have for years portrayed Muslims in Europe as
foot-soldiers in a stealth demographic war against western civilization. It is
no surprise then that even as Daesh-inspired terrorist attacks on Europe have
escalated, so too has the trend in anti-Muslim hate crimes, where the whole
Muslim community is punished for the horrendous acts of a few.
In Britain, the attack on the Finsbury Park mosque and the murder of Labour MP
Jo Cox were both motivated by an ideology that rejects the viability, or even
desirability of Muslims and non-Muslims coexisting peacefully in the same
societies.
But it is not widely recognised that such episodes are part of an escalating
spectrum of sporadic attacks on Muslims across the US, Britain and Western
Europe.
In the US, we have had the Chapel Hill murders of three Muslim students; the
Portland stabbings of two bystanders who defended a Muslim woman being
harassed; the assault and murder of a Muslim teenager on her way home from a
mosque near Washington.
In Canada, six Muslims were killed in a mosque shooting in Quebec by a man
known for his far-right views, including support for Marine Le Pen in France
and for Donald Trump.
Across the West, we have seen a dramatic rise in violent arson attacks on
mosques; physical assaults on Muslims, especially women wearing headscarves;
harassment, threats and hate speech; and even discrimination in employment and
education.
Our report found, disturbingly, that there is a connection between these
rising trends on different sides of the Atlantic. On the one hand, Donald
Trump’s presidential campaign repeatedly used rhetoric that seemed openly
hostile to Islam. This was reinforced by his Muslim ban.
The latest Pew Research Center survey of Muslims released a few days ago
confirms that the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency have been an anxious
time for many Muslim Americans. Overall, Muslims in the United States perceive
a lot of discrimination against their religious group, are leery of Trump and
think their fellow Americans do not see Islam as part of mainstream US
society.
Since then, to his credit, President Trump has dialed back on such rhetoric.
But there has been little condemnation from his administration of the
increasingly toxic environment of anti-Muslim hostility resulting in hate
crimes, murders, shootings and arson attacks.
Unmistakably, our report finds that the rightward shift of the US government
has emboldened far-right political parties and movements in Europe. Many of
the leaders of these groups, such as Le Pen or Geert Wilders in the
Netherlands - who have openly demonised Muslims wholesale - were the first to
welcome Trump’s victory.
But it is not just far-right parties that are voicing these sentiments.
Mainstream political leaders and figures have mingled fear of immigration with
the idea that “Islam” in general is a problem because it supposedly does not
align with western values, forgetting that Islam has existed there for
centuries and that their own laws protect freedom of religion. In Europe, this
view has led to more restrictive legislation on clothing.
In France, 30 towns banned the so-called ‘Burkini’ swim suit, despite it being
barely any different in appearance to a wet-suit. The ban was later declared a
serious breach of basic freedoms by France’s higher administrative court, but
revealed how widespread anti-Islam sentiment was becoming across the country.
Since then, the European Court of Justice has ruled that employers should be
allowed to ban their staff from wearing headscarves if they see fit. Muslim
women who choose to wear a headscarf are thus not only finding that they are
less likely to be employed, they are also more likely to be attacked in the
street.
These trends show that in many ways, Daesh’s campaign of terror in the West is
working. Daesh’s goals are to use violence to create a weak, divided and
fearful West, where Muslims and non-Muslims cannot live and work together in
peace and mutual respect.
We must remember that the Islamic world is as much a victim of Daesh and al-Qaeda
as the West. According to the Counter Terrorism Center of the US Military
Academy at West Point, al-Qaeda kills over seven times more Muslims than
non-Muslims. Similarly, the UN reports that Muslims are the largest victims of
Daesh attacks, most of which are being carried out in different Muslim
countries. Those refugees trying to reach the shores of Europe are escaping
the horrors of Daesh and deserve to live in safety.
Terrorism and Islamophobia are two sides of the same coin of hate; they feed
off each other. The distorted views of the ‘other’ held by both terrorists and
Islamophobes, along with their extremist ideologies and convictions, are
linked in a vicious cycle that is affecting world peace and security.
The OIC’s annual Islamophobia report did, however, note many positive
developments in the West at the policy and court levels, as well as community
and interfaith levels, which countered the negative trends. We need to do more
of that, more dialogue aimed at fostering mutual understanding and respect, as
well as better measures to stop discrimination and encourage social
integration.
Follow Maha Akeel on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MahaAkeel1
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