Islamophobia examines the online and offline experiences of hate crime against Muslims, and the impact upon victims, their families and wider communities. Based on the first national hate crime study to examine the nature, extent and determinants of Muslim victims of hate crime in the virtual and physical worlds, it highlights the multidimensional relationship between online and offline anti-Muslim attacks, especially in a global context. It includes the voices of victims themselves which leads to a more nuanced understanding of anti-Muslim hate crime and prevention of future anti-Muslim hate crime as well as strategies for future prevention.
1 1 UNDERSTANDING ISLAMOPHOBIA The term Islamophobia has come under increasing scrutiny after the rise in Islamophobic hate crimes post 9/11 and more recently following the Paris attacks in 2015. Both these incidents have led to a rise in Islamophobic hostility, and reported hate crimes committed against Muslim communities have increased (Littler and Feldman, 2015). As a result, Islamophobia has become an important and emerging concept, and it relates to wider issues around the racialisation and the ‘othering’ of Muslim communities. However, whilst there
55 ISLAMOPHOBIA 54 5 IMPACTS OF ONLINE AND OFFLINE ISLAMOPHOBIA This chapter discusses the impacts of online and offline Islamophobic hate crime for victims and their families. Correspondingly, participants experienced a range of psychological and emotional responses such as low confidence, depression and anxiety as well as increased feelings of vulnerability, fear and insecurity. Additionally, participants highlighted the relationship between online and offline Islamophobia, and described living in fear because of the possibility of online threats
3 ONE Islamophobia Aneesa A. Baboolal The Problem Islamophobia as fear, hatred, and prejudice against Muslims is a form of racism that results in religious intolerance, persecution, and ethnic profiling. Islamophobia in the United States is rooted in notions of orientalism and presumptions of inherent violent behavior which uphold tropes of Muslim men as terrorists and women as oppressed. Islamophobia exists at both the interpersonal level, wherein suspicion of Muslims is normalized, and structurally, as violence against Muslim communities is linked to state
43 4 NATURE AND EXTENT OF ONLINE AND OFFLINE ISLAMOPHOBIA The terrorist attacks in Paris, Tunisia and Woolwich have led to a significant increase in Islamophobic hostility, which has culminated in a rise in reprisal attacks against Muslim communities. Typically, these attacks happen in street-based Islamophobic hostility; nevertheless, an increase in online Islamophobia has resulted in a debate about the nature of online and offline Islamophobia, and the relationship between the two. Muslims, particularly those with a ‘visible’ Muslim identity, suffer
113 EIGHT Responding to the needs of victims of Islamophobia Irene Zempi Introduction Support for victims of crime is a fundamental part of a civilised justice system. However, in the current climate of austerity – with the police, courts, prisons, probation and support services facing significant financial cuts – the criminal justice system in the UK falls short of meeting the different and changing needs of communities across the country. As I write this chapter, the police service face a 20% cut in their budget. Undoubtedly, this reality challenges the
151 EIGHT social work and islamophobia: identity formation among second and third generation muslim women in north-west england Laura Penketh In this chapter Laura Penketh takes up the vexed question of Muslim women’s right to wear the Hijab. It seems bizarre, at one level, that the right of women to wear a headscarf has become such a ‘controversial issue’ in Britain and across much of Europe. However, this has become a coded issue – of Islam’s apparent incompatibility with Western norms and evidence, apparently, of women’s particular oppression within
69 ISLAMOPHOBIA 68 6 PREvENTION AND RESPONSES Throughout this study our aim has been victim focused, and as such, the study has been used to empower the people we interviewed by giving them a ‘voice’ and platform whereby they can make suggestions on what should be done to help prevent Islamophobic hate, both online and offline. In particular, our aim was to bring together those who have experienced Islamophobia to collectively share their views, beliefs and attitudes in terms of what recommendations they perceive as being important to them. Listening to
25 ISLAMOPHOBIA 24 3 TRIGGERS OF ISLAMOPHOBIC vIOLENCE This chapter examines the factors that determine the prevalence and severity of Islamophobic violence such as ‘trigger’ events of local, national and international significance. Correspondingly, the study participants reported that the prevalence of both online and offline Islamophobic hate crimes increased following recent high-profile terrorist attacks around the world such as Sydney, Paris, Copenhagen and Tunisia. Additionally, national scandals such as the grooming of young girls in Rotherham by
33 TWO The growth of xeno-racism and islamophobia in Britain Liz Fekete In this chapter Fekete looks at the growth of ‘xeno-racism’ – a ‘non-colour-coded’ racism that is based on conceptions of immigration status, culture and religion. Racism is not a static concept. Within social work understandings of ‘race’ and racism we have often utilised Peter Fryer’s (1984) important three-fold distinction of the racisms of slavery, empire and post-war migration. Martin Barker (1981) in the early 1980s was already arguing that there was clear evidence of a ‘new
