– 548 verified incidents (of 729) reported to Tell MAMA (a number that broadly reflects the 2012/2013 report when 584 incidents were recorded).

– A decrease from the previous report but that reflects the documented spike of incidents following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in 2013/2014.

– A majority of incidents took place online (402 out of 548 or roughly two-thirds).

– In the online sphere, a vast proportion of incidents were abusive in nature and nearly a fifth involved threats.

– The ‘memeification’ of anti-Muslim hate online was traceable with a high number of ‘anti-Muslim literature’ incidents.

– Nearly a fifth of service users reported repeated offline incidents of anti-Muslim hate.

– Again, Muslim women (48 incidents) suffered more offline incidents than men (40 incidents) in the dataset.

– 44 offline cases noted that the individual, at the time of the incident, wearing traditional Islamic clothing during and the perpetrators’ were overwhelmingly white male.

– 7 offline cases involved ‘extreme violence’, 21 constituted assault and 29 involved threats.

– Damage to Islamic institutions and personal properties totalled 15 incidents.

– The evolving data coding and approval process carries a good degree of confidence from CFAPS’s analysis.

Another worrying trend highlighted in the analysis detailed how global acts of terror – whether in Paris, Copenhagen or Sydney – inspired or at least fostered an environment where individuals felt justified in spreading anti-Muslim hate either on social media or on a street-based level. In the wake of the Paris atrocities, the number of reported incidents for offline and online incidents increased.

How sections of the media portrays these incidents potentially (and often unintentionally) may inspire part of the backlash. The report does not call for censorship but engagement with media outlets to promote a more nuanced understanding of ‘terrorist motivations in order to reduce the impact of coverage relating to, or even fuelling, instances of ‘cumulative extremism’.

The dataset offers a window into the levels of anti-Muslim hate in 2014 and the early parts of 2015. But a perceived mistrust of police in sections of Muslim communities means underreporting of incidents remains a consistent problem.

Our working agreement with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), agreed upon in March 2015, to share data on anti-Muslim incidents (with police forces that record Islamophobic crimes under a separate flag) will continue to strengthen our reporting in the months ahead.

The post TELL MAMA 2014/2015 Findings on Anti-Muslim Hate appeared first on TELL MAMA.

What is sadly clear is that the comments left on the Britain First Facebook page on the day of the launch of the Rotherham grooming report, showed that comments and language ranged from outright prejudice against individuals of Pakistani heritage, to prejudice and hate against Islam and Muslims. The report also showed the trajectory of that hate and how it turned into wanting to take action against mosques and Islamic institutions. This report makes for sombre reading as to how national events can lead to the targeting of whole communities and innocent individuals who happen to be of the same racial, cultural or religious heritage.

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The post Rotherham, Hate, and the Far Right Online appeared first on TELL MAMA.

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The Centre for Fascist, Anti-fascist and Post-fascist Studies at Teesside University, independently analysed Tell Mama’s anti-Muslim incident data for 2013/2014.

Some of the key findings include:

– Tell Mama recorded 734 self-reported anti-Muslim incidents between May 2013 and February 2014 (599 online and 135 offline) – a near 20 per cent increase on the same period last year.

– More than half of anti-Muslim incidents are committed against women (54 per cent); women were often targets because they wore traditional Islamic dress.

– The under-reporting of incidents remains a serious problem (nearly 5 out of six victims of offline and online abuse did not go to the police.)

– Three months after Lee Rigby’s murder, Tell Mama recorded 34 anti-Muslim attacks on properties (most notably mosques), incidents ranged from arson to graffiti.

– In May and June of 2013, there were 354 verified anti-Muslim incidents (281 online and 73 offline.)

– Two-fifths of all anti-Muslim incidents recorded by Tell Mama reported a link to far-right groups (e.g. BNP/EDL.)

Improving Data Collection

In the past year alone, we took great care in improving the robustness of our data collection, following recommendations from stakeholders in the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and Community Security Trust (CST).

The CST’s wealth of experience in recording anti-Semitic abuse is a model that continues to inspire the Tell Mama project.

So what are the improvements?

– Before any data is categorised, senior members of Tell Mama staff independently verify that incidents are indeed anti-Muslim in nature.

– Caseworkers now require secondary validation (e.g. an additional witness in the case of offline violence or link to abusive online content.)

– Islam is not immune from criticism and these changes will ensure better support for genuine victims of abuse.

– Any ‘scraped data’ that is not self-reported (from third-party sources, newspapers or other online sources) is discounted.

– Improvements in flagging up repeat reports minimises double counting.

– Sub-coding of incidents (e.g. for online abuse) include ‘drop-down’ options for ‘anti-Muslim literature,’ ‘life-threatening abuse’ and ‘non-life-threatening abuse.’

– Offline incidents are categorised as ‘property damage’, ‘assault’, ‘threat’, ‘extreme violence’ and ‘anti-Muslim literature.’ That way, a distinction between online and offline abuse is clear.

Cases now face a secondary random check from a senior member of the Faith Matters staff. A failure to meet the above criteria results in removal, triggering a full audit of the preceding week of reports.

But we should not downplay the seriousness of online abuse, and the hurt it causes victims, as often, it is not solved by simply walking away from the computer.

For example, in the aftermath of Lee Rigby’s murder, a far-right supporter went to prison after posting online threats against Muslims. Others got in legal hot water after posting online threats about burning down mosques.

Bucking the Hate Crime Trend

Of the 734 self-reported incidents, 135 were offline in nature. Whilst most of the offline incidents were non-violent in nature (ranging from property damage to abuse), the 23 cases of assault and 13 cases of extreme violence are very alarming given the short data cycle. For example, the CST had no self-reported incidents of extreme violence last year.

The alleged perpetrators of offline abuse were overwhelmingly young (60 per cent were between 10 and 30 years old.) A fifth of alleged perpetrators were female.

Both stats broadly follow the CPS statistics on racial and religiously motivated hate crimes in 2012/13. Yet, the most alarming difference is the volume of women (54 per cent) self-reporting hate crimes.

The religiosity of female British Muslims makes them a target for abuse – nearly a quarter of female victims wear various Islamic clothing (e.g. hijab, abaya and niqab.)

Attacks against visibly dressed Muslim females may not accurately explain away the trend of hate crimes being opportunistic and situational. The data suggests that the alleged perpetrators of anti-Muslim hate crimes at a street-based level, are young white males targeting Muslim women, and that is a cause for concern.

More than that, the Tell Mama data bucks the trend of hate crime reporting, which the government figures show as falling.

The ‘Post-Woolwich’ Spike

Following the murder of Lee Rigby, there was a dramatic increase in anti-Muslim incidents during the week following his death when compared to the previous week, but the volume of incidents did reduce months later.

Various police forces noted a rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes during this period:

– Anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes rose by a third (to 206 and 523 respectively) across all 32 reporting boroughs of London. A fifth of anti-Muslim incidents took place in May alone.

– The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) noted 71 incidents of anti-Muslim abuse five days after Rigby’s murder.

– Greater Manchester Police (GMP) recorded an increase of religious hate crime, which rose from 31 recorded incidents in April to 47 in May, it did not return to its average spike (of 25 incidents) until July 2013.

– The Birmingham Mail reported that religious hate crimes increased by 63 per cent (to 82 offences) in the West Midlands.

The Role of the Far-Right

– Two-fifths of all anti-Muslim incidents recorded by Tell Mama reported a link to far-right groups (e.g. BNP, EDL, etc.)

– Nearly half of online abuse is linked to the far-right, thanks to their use of the EDL’s NFSE (No f*cking surrender ever) slogan, avatars with neo-Nazi connotations, and hashtags linked to far-right groups.

– The neo-Nazi terrorist Pavlo Lapshyn, attempted to bomb several mosques, and murdered Mohammed Saleem.

– Another neo-Nazi, Ian Forman, plotted to bomb two Merseyside mosques in the aftermath of Rigby’s murder.

To quote from the report’s conclusion, “Various indicators suggest that anti-Muslim hate crimes notably rose in Britain between 1 May 2013 and February 2014.”

The post ‘Anti-Muslim Overview, Analysis & Cumulative Extremism’, July 2014 appeared first on TELL MAMA.

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The post ‘Maybe We Are Hated’: The Experience and Impact of Anti-Muslim Hate on British Muslim Women, November 2013 appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This report looks at the period of 2012/2013 and covers the first year of activities within TELL MAMA and the monitoring of anti-Muslim hatred across the United Kingdom. Key findings can be found through the link below.

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The post Anti-Muslim Hate Crime and the Far Right, June 2013 appeared first on TELL MAMA.

TELL MAMA informed a serving chaplain within the Armed Forces about the comments that we had received from a member of the public and swift action was taken by the Military Police of the Armed Forces. We received notification today, (19/02/13) that the Military Police had investigated and that the individual is not currently serving in the military. They have advised us to inform the relevant civilian and police authorities, whcih we will be doing.

We would like to convey our thanks for the swift action taken by the Armed Forces and in particular, by the Military Police in this matter. It is clear that the Army and Her Majesty’s Forces take such matters very seriously indeed. We can all be proud of the action which they undertook.

The post Action by the Army Against Individual Making Threats to Bomb Mosques appeared first on TELL MAMA.