UK Muslim Helpline Reveals Racial Hatred
Releasing first report after twelve months of work, UK first Muslim helpline found that the majority of Muslims physically attacked, harassed or intimidated because of their faith are women who face threats from internet, workplace, street, and even houses of worship.
"We are calling on police and politicians to do more to tackle this shameful wave of fear and prejudice,” Fiyaz Mughal, co-ordinator of Tell MAMA and director of non-profit group Faith Matters, told The Guardian.
“From the internet, to the workplace, the street and even houses of worship, too often Muslim women and men are becoming the target of vicious, sometimes violent, abuse.”
Tell Mama (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks), an initiative run by interfaith group Faith Matters, was launched a year ago.
Hoping to shed light on the actual scale of the problem, the group set up the project with the help of government funding.
Recording hate crimes, including crime on the basis of race, sexual orientation, gender, disability and faith, the helpline released its first report including more than 630 incidents.
To the shock of many, the majority of Muslims physically attacked, harassed or intimidated because of their faith were women, making 58% of all incidents.
The report also showed that the majority of physical assaults committed in the street were on women wearing Islamic clothing, with most victims describing the nature of the attacks as seemingly "random".
The most shocking attacks included a family being forced from their Nottinghamshire home, a five-year-old girl knocked over by a hit-and-run driver and a Somali lady who had dog faeces placed on her head by a white man while shopping in south London.
High-profile female targets have included communities minister Lady Warsi who was threatened online by an English Defence League (EDL) member.
Another attack targeted the 14-year-old son of Journalist Jemima Khan, who received anti-Muslim comments on Twitter.
Of the perpetrators, the majority were subsequently found to have had links to recognized far-right groups such as the British National Party (BNP) or the EDL.
Members of the BNP or EDL were involved in 54% of all incidents, with average age between 21 and 30.
The recorded information provided to the helpline has led to the arrests of 21 far-right EDL supporters, with more than 40 incidents reported against EDL leader Tommy Robinson.
Revealing increasing "abusive behavior" among British people, the majority of incidents received by the helpline had a profound adverse impact on peoples' lives.
"Recent history shows us what happens if we allow our fears to run unchecked," Mughal, a former advisor to the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, added
“Demonization of 'the other', misguided beliefs that Muslims are somehow a monolithic block, unchecked lies that Islam is a violent religion or that British Muslims wish to abuse white girls must be challenged.”
The results follow a report by think-tank Chatham House which identified a considerable Islamophobic sentiment in the UK, detecting a "wide reservoir of public sympathy for claims that Islam and the growth of settled, Muslim communities pose a fundamental threat to the native group and nation."
Mughal called on police forces to improve their recording of Islamophobic crimes.
At the moment just two forces, the Metropolitan police and City of London police, currently record anti-Muslim crimes separately.
He also urged the Home Office to take over monitoring of online hate and far-right groups from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
"The police frequently fail to take victim statements, fail to appreciate the terrifying effects of these incidents upon women and vulnerable children," added Mughal.
“Few police forces even bother to record Islamophobia as part of their reporting systems. More training is needed at a time when police are facing budget cuts; we need more leadership too from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which, unhelpfully, has talked about fewer rather than more social media prosecutions.”
Hostility against British Muslims, estimated at nearly 2.5 million, have been on the rise since 2005’s 7/7 attacks.
Police data shows that 1,200 anti-Muslim attacks were reported in Britain in 2010.
A Financial Times opinion poll showed that Britain is the most suspicious nation about Muslims.
A poll of the Evening Standard found that a sizable section of London residents harbor negative opinions about Muslims.
Source: OnIslam
“From the internet, to the workplace, the street and even houses of worship, too often Muslim women and men are becoming the target of vicious, sometimes violent, abuse.”
Tell Mama (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks), an initiative run by interfaith group Faith Matters, was launched a year ago.
Hoping to shed light on the actual scale of the problem, the group set up the project with the help of government funding.
Recording hate crimes, including crime on the basis of race, sexual orientation, gender, disability and faith, the helpline released its first report including more than 630 incidents.
To the shock of many, the majority of Muslims physically attacked, harassed or intimidated because of their faith were women, making 58% of all incidents.
The report also showed that the majority of physical assaults committed in the street were on women wearing Islamic clothing, with most victims describing the nature of the attacks as seemingly "random".
The most shocking attacks included a family being forced from their Nottinghamshire home, a five-year-old girl knocked over by a hit-and-run driver and a Somali lady who had dog faeces placed on her head by a white man while shopping in south London.
High-profile female targets have included communities minister Lady Warsi who was threatened online by an English Defence League (EDL) member.
Another attack targeted the 14-year-old son of Journalist Jemima Khan, who received anti-Muslim comments on Twitter.
Of the perpetrators, the majority were subsequently found to have had links to recognized far-right groups such as the British National Party (BNP) or the EDL.
Members of the BNP or EDL were involved in 54% of all incidents, with average age between 21 and 30.
The recorded information provided to the helpline has led to the arrests of 21 far-right EDL supporters, with more than 40 incidents reported against EDL leader Tommy Robinson.
Revealing increasing "abusive behavior" among British people, the majority of incidents received by the helpline had a profound adverse impact on peoples' lives.
"Recent history shows us what happens if we allow our fears to run unchecked," Mughal, a former advisor to the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, added
“Demonization of 'the other', misguided beliefs that Muslims are somehow a monolithic block, unchecked lies that Islam is a violent religion or that British Muslims wish to abuse white girls must be challenged.”
The results follow a report by think-tank Chatham House which identified a considerable Islamophobic sentiment in the UK, detecting a "wide reservoir of public sympathy for claims that Islam and the growth of settled, Muslim communities pose a fundamental threat to the native group and nation."
Mughal called on police forces to improve their recording of Islamophobic crimes.
At the moment just two forces, the Metropolitan police and City of London police, currently record anti-Muslim crimes separately.
He also urged the Home Office to take over monitoring of online hate and far-right groups from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
"The police frequently fail to take victim statements, fail to appreciate the terrifying effects of these incidents upon women and vulnerable children," added Mughal.
“Few police forces even bother to record Islamophobia as part of their reporting systems. More training is needed at a time when police are facing budget cuts; we need more leadership too from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which, unhelpfully, has talked about fewer rather than more social media prosecutions.”
Hostility against British Muslims, estimated at nearly 2.5 million, have been on the rise since 2005’s 7/7 attacks.
Police data shows that 1,200 anti-Muslim attacks were reported in Britain in 2010.
A Financial Times opinion poll showed that Britain is the most suspicious nation about Muslims.
A poll of the Evening Standard found that a sizable section of London residents harbor negative opinions about Muslims.
Source: OnIslam
