Islamophobia “pervades” UK warns think tank
A new report from the Commission of British Muslims and Islamophobia (CBMI) has said that prejudice against Muslims is widespread in the United Kingdom.
The report claims that Islamophobia is omnipresent in the UK’s media, culture and institutions.
The commission’s chairman, Dr Richard Stone said: “Government has not taken on board, in a deep way, the anti-Muslim prejudice in this country.”
The think tank lists examples overt public prejudice, such as attacks on Muslims and mosques and workplace discrimination.
In addition it warns that prejudice is institutionalised, so example in “anomalies in public order legislation, such that Muslims are less protected against incitement to hatred than members of certain other religions”.
It is further argued that little attention is given to the poverty and social exclusion of some Muslims in the United Kingdom.
The CBMI warns that “Muslims are made to feel that they do not truly belong here- they feel they are not truly accepted, let alone welcomed, as full members of British society.”
Of particular concern to the CBMI is the portrayal of Muslims within the media.
Noting that a high proportion of asylum seekers are Muslims, they say: “Demonisation of refugees by the tabloid press is therefore frequently a coded attack on Muslims.
“For the words ‘Muslim’, ‘asylum-seeker’, ‘refugee’ and ‘immigrant’; become synonymous and interchangeable with each other in the popular imagination.”
Among the report’s recommendations is that “legal sanctions against religious discrimination in employment and service delivery are on the statute book”.
It warns that the disenchantment of many young UK Muslims needs to be dealt with now, as “time bombs are being primed that are likely to explode in the future.”
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has welcomed the report.
Secretary general Iqbal Sacranie said: “We have been witnessing a relentless increase in hostility towards Islam and British Muslims and it is clear that existing race relations bodies have been either unable or unwilling to combat this phenomenon effectively.
“The past fortnight has seen the Metropolitan Police Authority announce a record 41 per cent increase in the numbers of Asians subjected to ‘Stop and Search’ practice by the police and a virulently anti-Muslim party political broadcast by the far-right British National Party shown on our national TV stations. Islamophobia is becoming institutionalised.”
The MCB is urging the Government and public bodies to study and act on the report.
