Two separate incidents targeting mosques within days of each other have again put anti-Muslim hate at the centre of national attention, as fresh data confirms the trend is accelerating rather than easing. On 17 September, a Ukrainian national pleaded guilty to a graffiti campaign against five Muslim institutions in east London that investigators say was orchestrated by a Russian-linked network. That same week, Cornwall’s only mosque was rammed by a car and doused in oil in an attack now being investigated as racially aggravated criminal damage. Together, the two cases illustrate how anti-Muslim hate in the UK is being fuelled by both organised, externally-directed extremism and opportunistic local hostility.

Guilty Plea Reveals Russian-Linked Campaign of Anti-Muslim Hate

At Thames Magistrates’ Court, Illia Bilyk, 21, admitted five counts of racially and religiously aggravated criminal damage after spraying abusive graffiti across the Stratford Islamic Association, Al-Birr Mosque, Leyton Jamia Masjid, Noor Ul Islam Primary School and the Islamic Shariah Council over two nights in January 2025. According to BBC reporting, Bilyk was recruited and paid by a Russian-speaking handler on Telegram, and investigators have linked the case to the same network behind arson plots against properties connected to former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, for which two other Ukrainian nationals were previously jailed. British police have said they have no evidence the wider campaign was directly state-sponsored, and the Russian Embassy has denied involvement, but the case underlines how anti-Muslim hate can be deliberately manufactured and amplified by hostile actors seeking to sow division. Bilyk is due to be sentenced on 19 October. Met Police Chief Superintendent Rhona Hunt said the attacks “caused significant distress within Muslim communities” and stressed that “anti-Muslim hate crime and Islamophobia have absolutely no place in London.”

Cornwall Mosque Targeted in Racially Aggravated Attack

In an unrelated incident, the Islamic Community Centre in Carnon Downs, near Truro — Cornwall’s only mosque — was attacked late on 17 September when a vehicle repeatedly rammed its entrance gates before two people poured what is believed to be diesel across the grounds and exterior walls. Devon and Cornwall Police are investigating the incident as racially aggravated criminal damage and have appealed for witnesses, CCTV and dashcam footage; no arrests have yet been made. Volunteer imam Hasan Kilic said the community was “shocked and in horror” and urged vigilance, while stressing the attack would not divide the community. It was the centre’s first such incident in nearly two decades, and a local fundraiser for repairs and security improvements has already drawn strong public support.

Data Points to a Sustained Rise in Anti-Muslim Hate

Both incidents land against a backdrop of worsening figures. Tell MAMA data shows that reports of anti-Muslim hate in London during the first six months of 2026 (1,031) have already exceeded the entire 2023 total (1,028), while Metropolitan Police figures point to a 25% rise in faith hate crime and a 31% increase in recorded Islamophobic offences over the past year. Tell MAMA director Iman Atta OBE said the figures reflect “a sustained escalation of anti-Muslim hate” rather than a temporary spike, calling for “a sustained and uncompromising no-nonsense response from our public institutions.”

Anti-Muslim Hate Also Rising in NHS Settings

Tell MAMA’s own monitoring shows anti-Muslim hate extending well beyond the streets and places of worship. Verified incidents recorded within NHS settings — including GP surgeries, hospital wards and emergency departments — nearly doubled from 37 in 2024 to 71 in 2025, with a further 29 logged in the first half of 2026 alone. One NHS doctor described being called a “terrorist” while wearing a hijab on duty, adding that years of training and exhausting shifts “meant nothing” in that moment. Tell MAMA is calling on NHS trusts to take the data seriously, strengthen reporting pathways and improve staff training to protect both patients and healthcare workers from anti-Muslim hate.

Report Anti-Muslim Hate

If you have experienced or witnessed anti-Muslim hate — whether online, on the street, at a place of worship, in a school, or within a public institution such as the NHS — you can report it confidentially at tellmamauk.org. Accurate reporting helps Tell MAMA build a clear national picture of anti-Muslim hate, support victims, and press public bodies and police forces to respond effectively.

Read More: Police investigating anti-Muslim graffiti on Birmingham Mosque.

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Tell MAMA, the UK’s leading national monitoring service for anti-Muslim hate over the last 15 years, has revealed a sustained and dramatic rise in reports of anti-Muslim hatred in London over the past five years, with 2026 figures indicating the trend is continuing. This was covered in numerous press sources today including Sky News, the BBC and the Evening Standard, amongst others.

Whilst the capital remains one of the most diverse capitals in the world, this raises questions as to what is taking place in other cities in the U.K, where there have been demonstrations against migration and the perceived lack of integration of new migrant communities.

Statistics

Tell MAMA’s verified case data for London shows:

• 313 reports of anti-Muslim hate and prejudice in 2021,
• 818 reports in 2022,
• 1,028 reports in 2023,
• 1,819 reports in 2024,
• 1,909 reports in 2025 – the highest annual total on record
• 1,031 reports already recorded in the first six months of 2026 (01 Jan-30 June 2026)

The number of anti-Muslim reports in London has grown more than sixfold since 2021. Having risen sharply year-on-year through 2022 to 2024, reports have remained at a historically elevated level through 2025, and the first half of 2026 alone has already surpassed the total recorded across the whole of 2023.

Recent London Cases Strengthen a Growing Trend

This spike is part of a broader 19% national rise in police recorded anti-Muslim offences, with the borough of Westminster emerging as a major hotspot for these crimes. The reasons for this could be manyfold as the Borough is a convergence point for people as they travel to work, socialise and come into the City for leisure activities over the weekends.

These figures are reflected in a series of serious incidents affecting Muslim communities across London in recent months.

Tell MAMA has therefore recorded a spike and growing trend of street-based aggression, xenophobic rhetoric, and the targeting of Islamic institutions and centres. This volatile climate is reflected in troubling cases across London, including a foiled terror plot by a teenager targeting south London mosques, regular intimidation of worshippers during prayers, and aggressive public harassment that disproportionately impacts visibly Muslim women.

Tell MAMA is therefore calling on the following bodies to take action:

1. The Metropolitan Police and City of London Police to strengthen recording, investigation and prosecution of anti-Muslim hate crimes.
2. The Mayor of London and London boroughs to fund targeted community safety and outreach programmes in areas that are the most affected.
3. Social media platforms and public bodies to take stronger action using AI and their respective algorithms, against the online abuse that frequently precedes or accompanies offline incidents.
4. Tell MAMA continues to support victims of anti-Muslim hate across London, working with police, local authorities and community organisations to ensure incidents are recorded, investigated and addressed. It has a 15 year track record of the delivery of these services and has helped over 65,000 British Muslims since 2011.

Read More: Increased levels of aggression around anti-Muslim hate being reported in.

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In particular, of concern to us are physical threats and forms of assault that are being reported in by visible Muslims – mainly women. These women wear the Hijab and the Niqab and with the latter repeating that they endure a higher frequency of threats and assaults and ongoing anti-Muslim hate incidents.

This is of particular concern to us given the social context of what is taking place in the United Kingdom. Far right rallies and demonstrations, incendiary language online through social media platforms and polarising political discourse may well be having impacts and effects at a street level on how British Muslims are being targeted.

Which is why reporting in anti-Muslim hate is so important. We within Tell MAMA provide the following services to victims of anti-Muslim hate; (i) casework support and advocacy for clients with police forces (ii) evidence collection where possible (iii) form filling and administration services for clients (iv) providing advice, information and signposting (v) support and help with attendance at court (vi) mental health counselling and emotional support. These services are provided in line with our organisational values and which are person centred and experiential based.

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So let us look at the facts. The Iftar and end of Ramadan event in Trafalgar Square was pre-planned, lawful and in line with other events that were held to celebrate religious celebrations like Diwali and Vaisakhi. Whilst the form of celebration may have been different and involved prayer, nonetheless, the celebrations were generally in line with previous religious events around different faiths and cultures. The political furore over this event was over the call to prayer or ‘Adhan’ and people collectively praying.

In light of this, it is important to explain what the Adhan is.  The Adhan or call to prayer is not a symbol of domination over other cultures. In the context of the Trafalgar Square event, it was simply to mark the prayer time for the celebrants in the square and this was followed by a mass prayer event. Some Muslims pray five times a day and these are marked by specific times in the day and the Adhan is a reminder that the time for prayer has come.

Prayer in Islam is seen as a communal act, an act of togetherness and where mass prayer is seen as a common activity rather than being associated with promoting a sense of domination over others. To suggest that those praying were seeking to push forward a dominance of Islam over others is to misread the context of this specific event and to project a view on all those who attended that simply does not reflect the reality of people simply wanting to pray together.

Furthermore, we are not naive to the fact that some Muslims seek to interpret and live a form of Islam that is far more brittle and non-accepting of other faiths. There are numerous examples of this and we will always challenge and stand against those who seek to divide and spread intolerance, irrespective of whatever faith they are from. In the context of the Trafalgar Square event, there was no evidence of any group being involved and this is important to stress. We within Tell MAMA are always led by the evidence and there was no evidence to indicate that such groups were involved.

Finally, this statement from Iman Atta OBE, the Director of Tell MAMA summarises our position on the furore around the Ramadan and Trafalgar Square event:

“We are deeply concerned at the political language and furore that has been whipped up against people simply praying in Trafalgar Square. The prayer was spontaneous and there were people simply celebrating the end of Ramadan. The Words have consequences and the dehumanising of Muslims simply praying is sickening. It needs to stop and be called out.”

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Thomas McKenna, 60, sent messages on TikTok telling friends and associates to “get yourself ready” and anticipated the weapons he had gathered would be used to kill or shoot Muslims.

Prosecutor Emily Dummett previously told Kingston Crown Court that McKenna wrote messages about plans to “kill”, “shoot”, “unalive” and “neutralise” Muslims and immigrants “before they are too many”.

“Bro, that’s why I believe our only course for survival freedom is strike now while we have the numbers and hard unalive the f****** lot of them,” he wrote in one message, the court heard.

He is thought to have been self-taught, running his makeshift gun conversion unit, with a lathe and a drill, from one of three caravans he had in Buckles Lane, South Ockendon, Essex.

Police found six reactivated blank-firing guns linked to McKenna, but officers believe he created more, and say since his arrest there has been “a significant reduction in the number of converted blank firearms involved in shootings across London”.

Scotland Yard detectives say McKenna’s enterprise played an important role in the supply of guns in the capital.

The lorry driver and his partner, Tina Smith, 55, pleaded guilty to a number of offences including collecting terrorist information and possessing banned guns.

McKenna also made improvised explosives containing black powder, nails and fishing hooks. He and his partner, a bus driver, are thought to have slept in the caravan that housed the weapons.

The couple and eight others have been convicted of involvement in the firearms conspiracy that distributed guns to gangs across London, with the 60-year-old sentenced to 16 years in custody with five years on extended licence at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

One member of the criminal network was Faisal Razzaq, the getaway driver in the fatal shooting of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky during a raid at family-run Universal Express travel agents in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in November 2005.

When he was released from prison in 2017, Razzaq lived in Edgware, north London, and began running a luxury car hire business, but he spent most of his time obtaining guns and selling them to criminal customers.

One of Razzaq’s associates was stopped by armed police in Harrow as he drove to Notting Hill Carnival on August 26 2024, and officers found a bag in the car with a loaded firearm which was traced back to McKenna through fingerprint and DNA analysis.

Other weapons recovered from McKenna’s caravans included a 22-inch shotgun disguised as a torch, a hunting knife, throwing axes and a non-firing AK47.

Evidence from his online messages showed he was researching how to make the AK47 able to shoot ammunition again.

Police also found military clothing and a helmet.

Armed officers raided the three caravans in November 2024, and counter-terrorism police were called in to assist when they found homemade explosives and munitions guidebooks.

Police said evidence Tina Smith’s phone showed she had sent McKenna videos of her attempts to make black powder, followed by scathing replies from McKenna at her lack of expertise.

She was sentenced to seven years, with six to be served in custody, the CPS said.

Buyers of McKenna’s converted guns included Allan Crosby, 44, of Etfield Grove, Sidcup, south-east London, and Ryan Smith, 44, of Morants Court Road, Dunton Green, Kent, who were convicted of possession of firearms and modified ammunition.

Crosby was also convicted of possessing class A substances with intent to supply and was jailed for 10 years, while Ryan Smith was sentenced to seven and a half years.

McKenna’s friend Ricky Dorey, 43, who lived on the same static caravan site, helped him find customers to buy the guns.

He and his brother Robert Dorey, 44, of Tilbury, Essex, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell or transfer prohibited firearms.

Robert Dorey had been released from prison on licence in May 2023 after serving a 16-year sentence for attempted murder.

Abdul Saleh, 32, of Edgware, helped Razzaq sell the guns, and Patrick Loughnane, 59, acted as a communication link between Ricky Dorey and McKenna.

Detectives found evidence that Razzaq, the Dorey brothers and Saleh were involved in the sale of 10 firearms, the Metropolitan Police said.

Saleh, the Dorey brothers and Loughnane, of Hayes, west London, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sell prohibited firearms.

Razzaq admitted the same charge, and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life and two counts of possessing a firearm and ammunition when banned.

Loughnane’s partner Tammy Rigg agreed to store a converted firearm for him at her home in South Ockendon.

She pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of ammunition without a certificate.

Razzaq, Saleh, the Dorey brothers, Loughnane and Rigg will be sentenced on February 26.

Detective Chief Inspector James Tipple said: “One of the clearest examples of the impacts of this case in reducing gun crime in London is since McKenna’s arrest, we’ve seen significant reduction in the number of converted blank firearms involved in shootings across London.

“This demonstrates the importance of McKenna in the illegal supply of firearms and why it was so crucial this criminal network was dismantled.

“I’m pleased to say that as a result of the excellent police investigation some of the most dangerous members of our society will be off the streets of London for a very long time.”

Bethan David, head of counter terrorism at the CPS, said: “Both McKenna and Smith held extremist anti-Muslim views. Their stockpiling of weapons and explosives was not simply criminal opportunism — it was fuelled by a belief in the inevitability of violent conflict.

“Today’s sentences reflect both the seriousness of their actions and the extremist motivations behind them.”

Read More: How Police Stopped a Far Right Terror Attack on a Scottish Mosque

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The post highlights the issue of anti-Muslim and racist graffiti that sometimes become interchangeable and therefore we would encourage anyone who knows about this incident to report in through the Greenwich local authority link below. You can also contact us here in Tell MAMA on 0800 456 1226 and we will endeavour to work with the local authority in getting this information through to them and to the relevant police authorities.

Greenwich local authority said:

“We strongly condemn the racist graffiti recently sprayed outside Greenwich Islamic Centre. Hate and intolerance have no place in our borough.

“As we approach Ramadan, a time of celebration and community, this is an intolerable act. Thank you to our Caretaking Team for removing it swiftly.

“We are working closely with police and community leaders to ensure those responsible are held accountable, and our Community Safety Enforcement Team have increased patrols in the area. The Royal Borough of Greenwich stands united against racism and Islamophobia.

We strongly encourage residents to report any incidences of hate crime HERE“.

Photo: From Greenwich Local Authority

Read More: How Police Stopped a Far Right Terror Attack on a Scottish Mosque

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Between June to September 2025, we have noted that there have been 17 cases reported to Tell MAMA that have involved attacks on mosques or Islamic institutions. This makes on average, 4 institutions that have been targeted each month over 4 months. The graphic listed above, shows the scale of the issue that we are dealing with, whilst this Government tinkers round the edges,  and generally is clueless and politically driven in who it works with. This Government has been in place for more than 15 months now and there has been a political vacuum, where there should be have been a clear plan to tackle levels of hate and specifically, anti-Muslim hate. Discussions about a ‘definition of anti-Muslim hate’ have wasted time, resources and generated more mistrust in this work, when the laws are clear and when better enforcement should have been the strategy. Whilst Government has been talking about a ‘definition of Islamophobia’ – it has led to a greater belief in some communities of a two-tier set of principles in relation to different communities and has not helped the work of countering anti-Muslim hate in any way.

Details and Statistics of Cases

Since June to September 2025, we have recorded the following in Tell MAMA:

• 913 cases that have targeted Muslims in the United Kingdom for anti-Muslim hate with many of those being people who were not born in the country and who are visibly different to the majority population.
• 17 mosques and Islamic institutions have been targeted which we have mapped out in the previous graphic. This is deeply alarming since attacks on mosques and Islamic institutions send a much wider message to those who use the mosque, that they are not safe. It creates greater fears within communities who use the faith institutions.
• Victims of anti-Muslim have reported to us comments that have included, “Leave the U.K” and ‘go back to your country“. These comments are very similar to ones that were targeted at British Muslims and African Caribbean and African communities post the Brexit vote. This points to some association with the political discourse around migration and whilst these are topics of national debate, we are flagging the fact that they are having real-world impacts on the lives of people going about their daily activities. This targeting of individuals because of their perceived faith or their race, or around perceptions as to whether they ‘could be a migrant or asylum seeker’ is toxic to community relations, local trust and social cohesion going forward.

Commenting on the release of this data, the Director of Tell MAMA said:

“It is shocking to see the volume and the high numbers of cases that we are receiving into Tell MAMA. We have diligently documented, over the last 13 years, year on year rises in anti-Muslim hate and this year, we may well have the highest numbers surpassing the 2023-2024 figures of over 6,000 cases reported to Tell MAMA. This comes at a time when real political leadership is missing.”

Read more: “I was terrified”: Islamophobic Incidents up by 600% in U.K. since the Hams attack.

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James Aspin, of Blyth, in Northumberland, uploaded his anti-Muslim and Islamophobic rant to his TikTok account that boasted 931 followers, which included the call to burn mosques whilst demonising refugees and Muslims more broadly by linking them to criminality.

Aspin had pleaded guilty to stirring up religious hatred (contrary to section 29E of the Public Order Act 1986) on 13 August after a member of the public alerted police days earlier.

Her Honour Judge Scott told Aspin that his words proved “hugely offensive and dangerous” and that he spoke about “people who practice Islam as being largely responsible for awful crimes committed in this country.” Adding, “You spoke about asylum seekers in a despicable way. You stated that you and others at the planned march in Newcastle would burn down every mosque in Newcastle.”

According to the judgment, the threatening video gained 14 likes, 18 comments and three saves.

Following his arrest, the judgment added that Aspin called asylum seekers “Muslim Asians” who “should not come to the UK, as caused problems for the country” when interviewed by officers from Northumbria police.

Her Honour clarified that Aspin’s threats fell into category one as it “directly encouraged activity which threatened or endangered life”, and whilst not a call for ‘direct action’ it did, however, ‘encourage’ it. Another factor was the nature of TikTok since his account remained visible to all “at a time when there was widespread violence in this country, there was a particularly sensitive social climate.”

Mitigating factors included his early guilty plea (which reduced the sentence by one-third) and a borderline IQ level.

Again, however, the judge made clear that his words “are not and should be tolerated” since such threatening language “could and do, on some occasions, result in action being taken by others which have a serious impact on the lives of other people,” and, therefore, only an immediate custodial sentence would suffice.

Following the horrendous Southport stabbings, we observed other examples of those jailed calling for the burning of mosques.

Tell MAMA, more broadly, recorded almost 5,000 anti-Muslim cases a year after the Hamas terror attacks on 7 October 2023.

Tell MAMA engages with various social media platforms and encourages Muslim communities and the wider public to confidently flag materials they find on TikTok (and other platforms). Contact us via our website, email info@tellmamauk.org, or direct message us on the relevant social media platform.

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In their analysis of our data in the ‘A Decade of Anti-Muslim Hate’ report (2023), Byline clearly demonstrate their ignorance of what Tell MAMA is – a third party hate crime reporting service. These are centres or services within communities that allow people to report into them, if they are not comfortable reporting to police forces, or if they feel more comfortable approaching a community based organisation. Here is an example of what a third party hate crime reporting service is. This is precisely what Tell MAMA is funded to be, though according to Byline Times, we should be in direct comparison and contrast with police forces across England and Wales, as though Tell MAMA should be collecting all of the data of anti-Muslim hate cases in the U.K. This is a fundamental point, because it shows how Byline have literally gone off at a tangent.

READ: The Truth, Nafeez Ahmed and Byline Times – ‘Indefensible Reporting’
READ: Parliamentary Privilege, Smears and Conspiracies Aimed at Tell MAMA

Apart from this being fantastical thinking, we can add this to the conspiratorial thrust of what has been thrown at us – that we are somehow secretly monitoring Muslims.  Our experiences of Byline Times have been listed here and here, though now we have to deal with what we can only call a serious deficit or shortfall in understanding what a third party hate crime reporting service is.

In other words, the central premise of Byline’s article on our data is that we are not reflecting the whole state of anti-Muslim hate in the U.K. This also shows that their reporting is not in good faith, since they are attempting to hold Tell MAMA to a bar that no other community hate crime reporting service is held to. No third party hate crime reporting service will have data that is higher than police forces. That is a simple fact and it is impossible to record all hate crimes and particularly difficult given the scale, nature, geographical location and nationality of British Muslims from over 50 Muslim majority countries.

Byline Times will suggest that we under-estimate the scale of anti-Muslim hate crimes. Again, we are not meant, nor resourced to be an organisation that looks for hate incidents or crimes on the internet or at a street level. We report on what is provided to us by victims, and which is unsolicited. Byline will also suggest that between 2017-2022, the police recorded 19,146 anti-Muslim hate crimes for England and Wales. They will also suggest that Tell MAMA/Faith Matters reported on 13,143 anti-Muslim hate crimes during this period.

Even by their own figures, we provided over 60% of cases to police forces, over 95% of which would not have been received by them. This is the fundamental point, and this is a collaborative and not competitive process.

What is also important to note is that Tell MAMA is the only hate crime service working with British Muslim communities that has an information sharing agreement and is a trusted partner with police services in England and Wales. Once again, this is a collaborative process, not a competitive one since we are a third party reporting service for people who don’t want to report to the police.

So let us summarise:

• The role of Tell MAMA is to provide a monitoring and victim support service to British Muslims (and others) who suffer targeted hate or discrimination. Each individual receives a wrap-around multi-layered service from Tell MAMA which supports their emotional well-being whilst ensuring that we either advocate for them, collect evidence, support them at courts or work with them through a range of complicated and interlinked agencies such as local authorities, GP’s and other local services. 
• We do not go looking for cases or seeking material online or offline. If we did so, we would be here with a workload that would far exceed the limited resources we have and the data would not be credible. Of course, the numbers of cases we receive will be less than the police and 95% of the cases, when analysed by Tell MAMA, do not initially get reported to the police. That is the point of Tell MAMA, to provide another access and route so that people can get access to justice. In doing so, the data that we collect is unique in the client reporting it to us as a trusted partner and which helps the police build up a national picture of hot-spots and trends, assess where there may be issues specific to local areas, make arrests etc. Additionally, some of the cases are related to employment and discrimination in goods and services or housing and which are not fed into the police. (Those involving risk to life, assaults, threat of assaults, far right agitation etc are just some examples of what is fed into police forces.)
• Tell MAMA has been in existence for about a decade and in that period our data and access by people has significantly built up. (Even Byline’s figures in their article will show a year on year growth in reporting). We are therefore the largest non-police hate crime reporting service for British Muslims in the U.K. There is no doubt about that and for Byline Times to deny the value of this in supporting victims and in giving statutory authorities a richer picture of what is taking place, is disingenuous. Furthermore, naturally, our figures will not be higher than police forces in England and Wales. That is a fact and we have never suggested this.
  Trust and confidence in getting communities to report in is a slow and difficult process and more work is needed to ensure that we can remain a service that people, (who don’t want to report into the police), can do so through us. That is one of the fundamental principles of Tell MAMA.Tell MAMA has been in existence since 2011/2012 and this year will report on the highest number of recorded cases.Also, we do not include police data in our total tally of cases, whereas other hate crime reporting services do. That shows unique organic growth and traction in Muslim communities and the fact that this work takes time, resource and decades of consistency.
  For example, the Community Security Trust (the CST), which monitors antisemitism in the U.K. was registered as a charity in 1994 and has been working in this area for 30 years. This is our twelfth year of work, where the range, types of nationality, geographical spread and complexity within Muslim communities and dare we say, a fear of statutory agencies in some parts of them, makes this work exceptionally difficult. However, according to Byline Times, they don’t do nuance, but look at people in terms of figures, thereby doing a grave injustice to people and to this work.

• We also have to ask why Byline Times think that damaging Tell MAMA’s standing or reputation helps add value to monitoring anti-Muslim hate incidents. It simply means that people who do not want to report to the police, have fewer opportunities to, if we close. Precisely how does this help to counter anti-Muslim hate and support the victims of it?
• According to Byline Times, the police data is ‘flawed’ (their term in text sent to us), and the data of Tell MAMA is not useful. We wonder whose data they may consider as being truly useful going forward if the police data and Tell MAMA data is flawed etc. A genuine question – whose data do they think is reliable? Or shall we start guessing by some of the types of people and organisations on Byline’s web-site and who have written on their platform and who have a history of community divisiveness?
  
  We should also add that the article that they will publish in the coming days belittles both agencies, (the police and Tell MAMA), and then suggests that there is significant under-reporting in anti-Muslim hate cases, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales. How is their article supporting trust and confidence in either agency and again, how is this helping the work on countering anti-Muslim hate?
• Tell MAMA fully acknowledges and has always accepted that significant under-reporting of anti-Muslim hate takes place and this is a real issue. There is no disagreement on this, yet to suggest that the people who report to us and who get assistance and help by us, is less than useful work in building a better picture of the state of anti-Muslim hate in the U.K. is plainly perverse. Byline Times seems to take a ‘slash and burn’ approach in making the case about building up a stronger picture of the state of anti-Muslim hate. In using numbers they detach this work away from the human element and impact and the emotional and physical cost to people’s lives, and they fundamentally demean a third party services which gives access and opportunity to those who don’t want to report to the police.
• Lastly, Byline Times also assumes that with the limited resources we have, we should be able to accumulate higher figures of anti-Muslim hate than police forces; as though when there is a physical attack, Tell MAMA would have the resources to be able to record every incident that the police gets to, and where the majority of British Muslims should approach Tell MAMA first. Both of these positions show breath-taking naivety, based on fantastical and magical thinking and again, overlie an insidious attempt to undermine the work of Tell MAMA. Furthermore, comparing our resources to police forces in England and Wales is quite a stretch of the imagination.

So, there we have it – Byline Times. Clearly in a place where psilocybin can’t even reach.

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Copies of the letters seen by Tell MAMA contain further examples of racist language, like “go back to where you come from” and “go back”.

One letter contains the anti-Muslim and misogynistic phrase “f****** Muslim c***” and insists that “you’re not welcome in our community”.

An extract of one of the letters

Speaking to Tell MAMA, the woman who wishes to maintain anonymity described her concern that those responsible may have links to a previous employer, adding that she faced harassment and gaslighting about the successes in her role before leaving.

Officers have taken steps to safeguard the woman, including increasing patrols in the local area.

As protocol, we advise members of the public and Islamic institutions when dealing with racist and harmful materials sent in the post to:

• Letters and envelopes must be kept and handled minimally to preserve evidence
• Place the letter and the envelope in a clean and sealable plastic bag to stop further contamination
• Call the police on 101

A copy of a second letter sent to the Muslim woman.

We will continue to provide further updates as the investigation progresses.

To protect the integrity of the investigation and the identity of those impacted, we are not disclosing further details at this time.

The post Northumbria Police investigating menacing letters sent to Muslim woman appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi provided screenshots of the historic retweets on February 6, 2019.

Tell MAMA’s investigation, however, of Cllr Mike Franklin’s Twitter account, has uncovered further examples of offensive retweets.

Our investigation found that Cllr Franklin, who represents Luton and Wayfield, retweeted a post shared on January 7, 2017, which sought to malign London Mayor Sadiq Khan as being ‘silent’ on terrorism. This is not true.

Credit: Twitter.

The account Cllr Franklin retweeted, @gimblemusk, has written that “If Islam is the answer, could the question be “What’s the most irritating, dull and violent religion on earth?”?”.

Cllr Franklin retweeted and favourited a tweet from a user (@RogerV52) who once wrote “Islam is incompatible with everyone. Where there are Muslims, there is conflict.”

The tweet in question, however, is an Islamophobic image macro which suggests that liberals are embracing Muslims, despite the apparent threat they pose to minorities and women. This image macro, however, is photoshopped, as the protester photographed, was at a 2006 protest which was, in part, organised by the extremist preacher Anjem Choudary, in response to the Danish cartoons.

Credit: Twitter.

But Cllr Franklin does not follow the @RogerV52 account. Nor was he tagged into the original tweet he then retweeted and favourited. Such actions pose more questions about his use of social media.

Similar conduct appeared on Cllr Franklin’s Twitter timeline in 2016, after he retweeted a post which sought to suggest that a small minority of Muslims in the UK and Germany endorse suicide bombing. The source of the polling is not the Pew Research Center, as the data concerns Muslims abroad, which, in actuality, showed a decline in support for suicide bombing.

Credit: Twitter.

The source of this data may stem from polling carried out by the Guardian/ICM in 2004 with sample sizes of just 500 Muslims (we’ve highlighted issues around polling methodologies before). And the Guardian piece, from November 2004, stated that the data was not weighted because “there is no authoritative source of demographic information on the Muslim population.”

Polling Muslims in Britain, after all, is a difficult and expensive task.

Others, like Professor Maria Sobolewska, writing in 2014, highlight how the framing of questions can influence responses. She also found a comparable number of non-Muslims expressed support for suicide bombings in certain contexts.

We’ve seen how bad polling (and the inaccurate interpretation of data) can malign Muslims in the press.

Similar concerns about the social media conduct of Cllr Franklin were raised in 2016, who, at the time, claimed that he was ‘naive’ in his use of Twitter. This new evidence serves to cast further doubt on this historic claim.

Tell MAMA will provide Medway Council and the Conservative Party with our evidence.

We welcome the swift action to suspend this councillor but it remains concerning that action, at a council level (or in the party hierarchy) was not seemingly taken when members of the public had raised complaints beforehand. We will, therefore, raise this concern further in our correspondence.

The post Conservative Cllr Mike Franklin suspended over Islamophobic retweets appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Click to view

We are proud to launch this document with the GMB branch of Yorkshire and North Derbyshire.

The booklet, entitled, the ‘Anti-Discrimination tool-kit’ is a guide for the workplace and is a self-empowerment tool-kit for people who suffer discrimination at work. This may take the form of verbal abuse, holding individuals and communities to account for actions taken by co-religionists and when attempts are made to remove or reduce personal religious obligations that some may undertake by wearing religious symbols that identify their faith.

We know through the work of Tell MAMA, that about 1 in 10 cases that are reported into Tell MAMA, involve work based discrimination and when there are terrorist attacks, we have substantive evidence that discussions at work and behaviour by colleagues may dehumanise, marginalise and discriminate against others at work. This tool-kit document therefore seeks to self-empower people who suffer such incidents and issues at work.

We are proud to work with a branch of the GMB union and we value the role of unions in empowering and informing employees and staff about their rights. We hope that this booklet assists individuals in knowing their rights at work and the legislative protections that are in place around discrimination at work. Tell MAMA will continue to support individuals who have suffered discrimination and anti-Muslim hatred in the workplace.

The post Tell MAMA and GMB launch an Anti-discrimination Self-Help Guide For the Workplace appeared first on TELL MAMA.

But did the poll titled “What do British Muslims really think?” answer its own question? Polling British Muslims is a difficult and expensive task. It’s why YouGov avoided the Sun’s now infamous ‘1 in 5 Muslims’ poll.

ICM’s researchers picked 138 random Local Super Output Areas where Muslims make up at least 20 per cent of the population. This skewed the findings to areas with relative social deprivation. It also over-represented certain ethnic groups. Yet it still captured 51 per cent of the total Muslim population.

Of the 1,081 Muslims polled, 55 per cent were Pakistani. British Asians/Asians totaled 83 per cent of the polling data. Data from the last census revealed that British Asian/Asians totaled 67.6 per cent of Muslims in England and Wales.

The poll included just 11 Arabs and 16 white Muslims who account for 6.6 per cent and 7.8 per cent of Muslims in England and Wales.

Despite methodological issues it remains a serious poll.

As with previous surveys – Muslims identify with Britain at a higher rate than the national average. They also expressed greater attachment to their local areas. A vast majority believe that Britain was a good place for Muslims to live in, and 78 per cent said they would like to integrate into British life on certain topics.

Nearly a quarter supported the idea of sharia law operating in parts of Britain above British law. Yet what defines sharia law remains ambigious and open to interpretation. But as Dr Imam Mamadou Bocoum notes: ‘Shariah means a road that leads into Spring Water, which is nothing but to live in peace and harmony. Amongst the principles of the Shariah is to preserve and protect life, intellect, property, honour, lineage, and religion‘.

There was little support among the Muslims polled to establish a caliphate. Support for ISIS polled at just 3 per cent. Few blamed the police or government for girls travelling to Syria.

More than a third of Muslims polled would report individuals who they suspected of seeking to participate in terrorism abroad to police. A figure that stands above the control sample of 30 per cent. Nearly half would attempt to dissuade the individual.

On the subject of extremism, 47 per cent agreed that Muslims need to do more to tackle extremism. The data reveals that a vast majority of Muslims look to the government to tackle Islamophobia and fund special projects to help communities root out the causes of violent extremism.

Islamophobia is a concern in this context, even when 73 per cent thought that religious harassment was not a problem in their local area. Individuals may of course experience less discrimination within their own ethnic and faith communities. Or in a public setting disclose their experiences to strangers. Research also points to the fact that hate crimes increase in areas of deprivation.

The wider public had also expressed a wider concern for Islamophobia than the Muslims polled. Nor do we know what language the interviews were conducted in. So it’s possible that individuals may not understand a question that pertains to religious prejudice.

There was also an overwhelming desire to empower young Muslims and women in the decisions that affect them. And many felt that better leadership in Muslim communities would help address the causes of violent extremism. Just one in 10 sought information on current affairs from mullahs at mosques. And a fifth never attend their local mosques. But 72 per cent felt that their local mosque did represent their views.

The most popular choice for television news was BBC 1, and a vast majority got their news from social media accounts. Yet again, the BBC remained the most popular source for news online.

Discussions of attitudes towards homosexuality dictated a majority of media coverage. The poll found that 52 per cent dsaid they disagreed with homosexuality being legal in Britain, compared with 5 per cent among the public at large who disagreed.

For British-born Muslims, 27 per cent agreed that homosexuality should be legal. Almost a third said neither/nor and 38 per cent disagreed. But that figure requires a caveat since the total figure in the weighted and unweighted sample is below 500 people. Muslims born outside of Britain were more likely to disagree that homosexuality should be legal (a net disagreement of 68 per cent in a sample of 601 or 609 when factored against weighted and unweighted bases).

On the topic of gay marriage and allowing a homosexual person to teach, the data reveals slight differences between Muslims born in the UK and abroad. But the above caveat still applies.

Despite a proclivity towards antisemitic tropes, British Muslims were not hostile towards Jewish communities. ICM asked the control and Muslim samples to measure their feelings towards faith and non-faith groups on a thermometer. Oddly, views towards Sikhs were missing from the data. The control group survey were more likely to agree that antisemitism was a problem. Yet 44 per cent of the Muslim survey and 46 per cent of the control group did not consider antisemitism a problem in Britain today.

The control survey were far more likely to disagree (51 per cent) with the statement ‘Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust’. Yet 18 per cent did agree with the statement, compared to 34 per cent in the Muslim survey.

Confusion about deaths in the Holocaust in the Muslim survey may owe to ignorance, not antisemitism. As 55 per cent did not know the true figure. Just 14 people agreed that it was a myth perpetuated by Jewish people. The control group was not asked this question so it’s hard to make a direct comparison.

Muslims surveyed overwhelmingly had also rejected the right of individuals to publish pictures of the prophet Muhammad. But 12 per cent stated that it would depend on the nature of the pictures. Responses in the control group were more in favour of publishing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. A fifth of non-Muslims who rejected this position were Christian.

Opinions in the control group sample were even more divided when it came to the question of publishing cartoons that mock the prophet Muhammad. And 44 per cent said publications should not have this right  – and that included 32 per cent of non-religious people and 50 per cent of Christians. A measure of support from Christians may owe to a sense of Abrahamic solidarity or the UK’s own historic and abolished blasphemy laws.

Linda Woodhead, Professor of Sociology of Religion at Lancaster University, surveyed different faith groups in 2013. It found a variety of liberal and conservative views towards topics like abortion and homosexuality.

ICM also asked how often Muslims had mixed socially with non-Muslims in the past year. Again, what defines this social interaction remains open to interpretation. It was rare for Muslims to have had no social mixing outside of the home. Nor are social interactions defined by the boundaries of a person’s home. That applies to Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Yet the data does show that at least a fifth did host and visit non-Muslims friends at least once a week, and 17 per cent welcomed non-Muslims into their homes on a daily basis.

Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who will present the Channel 4 documentary What British Muslims Really Think tomorrow evening, made a problematic statement on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Phillips stated that: “What we also found is that there is a correspondence between this desire to live separately and sympathy for terrorism. People who want to live separately are about twice as likely to say that they have sympathy for terrorist acts.” Yet the data reveals that just 40 people expressed sympathy for terrorist acts. Nor was there any effort to extrapolate the meaning from a vague term, as sympathy does not always mean endorsement. Phillips is overstating the opinions of a tiny proportion in the data set.

That rhetoric can also suggest that religiosity and support for terrorism are somehow linked, a point that misunderstands the nature of radicalisation.

ICM asked some wide-ranging, probing and sensationalistic questions; but to suggest it captures the breadth of Muslim opinion is not quite accurate. Yes, some issues to address but the real conversations must happen beyond this poll.

This post originally appeared on Religious Reader.

The post Why the latest poll won’t tell us what all British Muslims actually think appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The electronic flyer, another in a monotonous campaign to obtain donations from members of the public, are becoming more and more bizarre and desperate. Could Britain First be having real problems raising funds for their ‘campaigns’ which usually consist of turning up at town centres, parading around for a few hours and getting back onto coaches to warm up their cramped calves and the chilblains on their feet?

The flyer then goes onto state that a:

“…..conquest by the cradle is engulfing our country,”

It seems that Britain First believe that we are in serious risk of being taken over by toddlers and if that was not bizarre enough, they go onto suggest that:

“…native British people now make up only 75% of the total population.”

Well there you have it, off comes the veneer of attempted respectability and back comes the politics of race driven by this fascist group. Apart from fixating on ‘wombs’, ‘cradles’ and ‘native British people’, Britain First is not far forward in its political evolution from the banality of race politics and the amoeboid simplicity of its arguments.

The post Extremist Far Right Group Britain First State ‘London is Finished as a British City’ appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We hear regularly about issues on public transport that lead to anti-Muslim bigotry being promoted, yet seeing this on camera still brings a chill to the viewer. The most depressing thing about such material is that the perpetrator has probably suffered bigotry and prejudice in her life at some time, yet she is now involved in promoting it against these women who wear the Islamic headscarf or Hijab. The full video can be viewed below.

[This post contains video, click to play]

The post Anti-Muslim Bigotry – Caught on Camera appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Tell MAMA warmly welcomes the lead now taken by the Prime Minister to ensure that all forces in England and Wales record anti-Muslim hate crimes and the Prime Minister is also leading the way in showing the importance of tackling anti-Muslim hatred.

For the last three and a half years, we have systematically supported victims of anti-Muslim hatred with over 4,500 people assisted. Hundreds of arrests have led from our work through police forces and we are the only national agency to have a data sharing ACPO protocol with all of the forces. This means we are working with information from self-referrals and from data that the police provide so we are the only agency getting a rich and varied picture of what is taking place nationally on anti-Muslim hatred. Yet, reaching this point has not been easy, as we have acknowledged previously.  There have been multiple barriers internally and externally to Muslim communities and it is clear that Muslim communities require and need a service that they can refer cases into and who understand the complexities and the nuances around anti-Muslim hatred. Many of them, particularly Muslim women, also need support, care and assistance after the traumas that they suffer.

Additionally, we acknowledge that there have been other organisations that have tried to tackle anti-Muslim hatred. They have been a part in the process, as we have, though over the last three and a half years, we have systematically and methodically made the case of the need to record, highlight and campaign on anti-Muslim hatred. We will continue to do so and the proposals from the Prime Minister will add to a collective effort to try and tackle anti-Muslim hatred at a national level. Muslim communities should welcome this decision since it will have far reaching and wider positive implications in the future around tackling anti-Muslim hatred.

As we move forward, we do so in the knowledge that our values and our work will positively add to this area of work around the monitoring and measurement of the scale of anti-Muslim prejudice in our country. In that journey, we hope that we are joined by like-minded organisations who see no national or international conspiracies against Muslim communities, and who only seek to tackle prejudice, hate and intolerance. We also hope that in that journey, Muslim communities, who add so much to this country, advise and guide us on that journey. There is much to learn, and even more to do.

The post We Welcome the Prime Minister’s Drive to Ensure All Forces Categorise Anti-Muslim Hate appeared first on TELL MAMA.

“My name is Shaida Rizvi and I am 16 years old and currently have entered college. I had started practising Islam when I was 15 and had started wearing the Niqab by choice. This started in December 2014 and I made the choice for many reasons. Previously, I had encountered remarks and actions towards me by people, mainly men, and each time I have dismissed them.

However, today after walking down Acacia Avenue, I had been met by a bunch of males in a passing car shouting at me calling me”filth”. Each and every time the traffic lessened and the car came closer towards me, the same words were thrown at me repeatedly.

I’d like to say I was affected very little, but the truth is quite the opposite. However I have told my parents and they have been supporting me.

I will be starting college soon and want to focus just on that and therefore have decided to report this on the back of a suggestion by a sister, which I didn’t want to do at first as I thought it wasn’t serious enough to report, but I trust somehow this may help sisters and brothers in future.

Jazakallah khair my prayers are with you.”

The post Beautiful Response from Young Niqabi Shows the Reality of Anti-Muslim Hate appeared first on TELL MAMA.

A few months ago, this young woman, who has transitioned and who is living her life as a woman, suffered the humiliation of being stopped and searched by law enforcement and felt that the experience was one which affected her identity as a person. A niqab wearer, she has struggled for support and is still coming to terms with her new identities as a woman and as a Muslim.

Today, it seems that she attended a Muslim women’s group for support and the response was one which was difficult and depressing. The support group broke up and she was left feeling that her choices in life and her identities were being rejected.

We know that such issues affect many communities, those of faith and of no faith in the United Kingdom. We understand the difficulties that some people have, though compassion, care and understanding are qualities that can make a real difference to the confidence and the mental health of such people.

This Muslim woman simply is asking to be respected for who she is – a Muslim and a woman. She has asked for nothing more and nothing less. Yet, this case also shows how attacks against the identity of individuals can have real and lasting impacts and effects on the mental health of individuals. Today, she talked about being suicidal and unhappy, yet at this low ebb, she still reached out for support.

Her case and her issues are precisely why we must all make the time to stop and think about how our words, deeds and actions can have life long consequences on people. From the Muslim women who could not work with and get to know and respect a transexual Muslim, through to young males who abuse visible Muslim women, it is imperative that we challenge our stereotypes and our pre-conceptions. In the end, we are all citizens, trying to live our lives together and where all of our lives and futures depend on being safe, respected and treated with dignity.

This is also why intersectionality of identity and being able to work with it matters. This is why we as people are complex, yet we crave acceptance and this is why, without being heard, we all feel that our value in life is minimal. Spare a thought for this young woman and next time that creeping thought comes into your mind, think about how you would want to be treated.

The post Intersectionality That Deserves Our Understanding appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The promotion of “good digital citizenship” points you in the direction of extended FAQs relating to existing features.

So for individuals new to the platform it helps. There is specific information breakdowns for teachers, students, and parents.

But some changes could help tackle online Islamophobia: an updated violent threats policy now extends to “threats of violence against others or promot[ing] violence against others”. To their credit, Twitter acknowledge that the previous policy was too narrow when dealing with specific types of abuse.

An added “enforcement option” gives the support team a chance to lock abusive accounts for a period of time. There is another interesting development relating to abusive users in the pipeline.

Shreyas Doshi, Twitter’s Director of Product Management blogged in April that: “we have begun to test a product feature to help us identify suspected abusive Tweets and limit their reach. This feature takes into account a wide range of signals and context that frequently correlates with abuse including the age of the account itself, and the similarity of a Tweet to other content that our safety team has in the past independently determined to be abusive. It will not affect your ability to see content that you’ve explicitly sought out, such as Tweets from accounts you follow, but instead is designed to help us limit the potential harm of abusive content. This feature does not take into account whether the content posted or followed by a user is controversial or unpopular”.

On the surface, the changes, like at Facebook, are superficial and tailored towards ease of access. But dealing with non-direct threats and abuse could limit the capacity of anti-Muslim trolls – and is a welcome change.

The big test is to see how Twitter implements these changes. But their intention to tackle all forms of online abuse with added vigour helps.

The post Will Twitter’s new safety policies tackle online hate? appeared first on TELL MAMA.

On the evening of 3 April 2014 Paul Golding, the leader of an organisation called Britain First, visited Chafont Hundred, a small town in Essex, along with a group of male supporters. The group’s primary intention was to confront a man called Sajeel Shahid who, according to an article in the Daily Mail, had been a member of a proscribed terrorist organisation and had been involved in training terrorists in Pakistan. In fact, the house that the group intended to visit actually belonged to Mr Shahid’s brother, and at the time of their visit only his wife, Munnazza Munawar, and their three children were at home.

On arrival in the area the group began posting leaflets entitled ‘no hate preachers in Hepburn close’ through a number of doors in the vicinity before approaching Mrs Munawar’s front door. PauL Golding knocked and, although Mrs Munawar did not open the door due to her understandable concern, he asked her to pass a message on to Sajeel Shahid that he should get out of the neighbourhood. He ended by stating that he would return and posted one of the offending leaflets under her door before departing. Mrs Munawar was left in a state of fear for herself and her children.

One member of Paul Golding’s group filmed the whole visit including a number of speeches that he made to camera. The video recording of this incident was subsequently posted on the website of Britain First. In this footage Paul Golding could be seen to be wearing a green bomber type jacket which had a visible emblem on the right hand breast. The others in his group all wore similar jackets which were available to buy on the Britain First website.

Paul Golding was prosecuted for an offence of harassing a person at their home, contrary to section 42A Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 and an offence of wearing a uniform in connection with political objects, contrary to s1(1) Public Order Act 1936. The latter offence required the consent of the Attorney General. After a trial at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court he was convicted of both offences. He received a fine of £425 and was made the subject of a restraining order to prevent him from harassing Mrs Munawar.

The post Regina (State) vs Paul Golding (2014) – Counter Terrorism Division of the CPS appeared first on TELL MAMA.

“Open forum for debate about all issues of white advancement – and supporting direct action on behalf of our Aryan kin near you and in prisons locally across the UK”.

The ‘Aryan Brotherhood’ account has also tweeted out and named prisons on its social media accounts and tweets have also suggested ‘direct action’ within prisons. The following material has been sent to the police and to sources in the Ministry of Justice. It specifically highlights HMP Coldingley.

The post Aryan Brotherhood Social Media Site Proposing Action Against Prisons appeared first on TELL MAMA.

 In Burnt Oak the following pictures were sent to us highlighting the hate and prejudice that one or many people may have against Muslims. The perpetrators decided to scrawl obscenities against Muslims on the bus stand and on the post showing bus times. The shelter involved is the Sefton Avenue bus stop with buses heading in the direction of Burnt Oak.

Just a few days ago, the Swindon Advertiser highlighted shocking anti-Muslim graffiti that had been scrawled on an underpass with Swastika symbols and with the graffiti large and tagged onto the pavement. The anti-Muslim slogans attacked the town’s Muslims and was meant to generate fear and promote hatred. The subway runs underneath the A4311 between Gorse Hill and Kembrey Park. These pictures from the Advertiser are shocking as to the confidence that one or more individuals have in promoting their hate and intolerance.

If you come across such material in the future, please do not hesitate to report it into us at info@tellmamauk.org or via Twitter (@tellmamauk). You can also Facebook (TELLMAMAUK) and SMS us on 0115 707 0007.

The post Anti-Muslim Graffiti Rears its Ugly Head appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The text reads – “Muslim paedophile gangs operate in this area. Are your children safe.”

This abhorrent leaflet is meant to stir up hatred and intimidate communities, whilst trying to drive a wedge between communities. This leaflet shows the nature of the vile English Defence League which seems to push against legal boundaries with no care about communities and the cohesion or future stability of our country. A parent who received that leaflet would no doubt be alarmed and worried and the last thing any parent should do is to contact this vile group.

We have seen how CSE (Child Sexual Exploitation) is used by extremist far right groups to whip up tensions and hatred. We have previously highlighted this in posts (see below) where far right groups use the revulsion that we all feel and attempt to tap into it and manipulate it in order to gain support for their vile extremist set-ups.

This was a previous posting from another far right extremist group – Liberty GB. Once again, the Rotherham grooming scandal is used though what is interesting are the anti-establishment and anti-police messages. They characterise the extremist far mentality of fear of existing Government structures, yet they promote the twisted narrative that they have solutions to tackle CSE. They simply do not. All they do is to try to light the fire of conflict.

The post ‘Grooming’ Leaflets Targeted at Stirring Community Divisions Circulated in North Shields, Newcastle appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Extremist group, Britain First post this article on their Facebook page. The resultant responses are akin to incitement and will be reported to the relevant police authority:

Roger Dyer: “Never mind the noise,can you imagine the stench coming from it? the obvious solution is a bonfire.”

Jason Bailey, from Well, Somerset: “It’s made of wood. Petrol + matches = no more noise.”

Graham Martin: “Napalm it.”

Cain Pinnock, (from London): “petrol station near by is there ”

Grant Hawley, from Milton, Cambridgeshire: “50p on a box of matches. A sound investment.”

John and Vicky McNeil, who works in Senior Sales in Debenhams: “Torch it.”

Mark Whale said: “About time it was blown up (and lists lots of flames).”

Roy Holmes from Walthamstow: “Set it alight while they are all inside praying. B.b.q muslim!”

Just to make sure that when we report this to the Police, they know what Roy looks like, we thought we would list the picture he proudly displays on his Facebook page. Roy Holmes from Walthamstow, these are your comments.

The post How is this Not Inflammatory? Posts on Britain First’s Facebook Page appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We recently received a phone call from a take-away owner, a Scottish Muslim of Pakistani heritage, who reported in a violent attack on his take away store. Having moved to the UK 11 years ago, the victim was shocked by the level of anti-Muslim hate and aggression shown and which was directly linked to the Tunisia attacks and murders of 30 British nationals.

The incident took place at the end of June with a 6 foot tall white male entering the take-away store, followed by a verbal barrage of racist and anti-Muslim abuse. The take-away owner was abused as a “Black b******” and this was followed by further statements which included:

“You are a Black b****** because you are responsible for the Paris and Tunisian attacks.”

“You know what, f*** your Qu’ran. F*** your Allah. You’re a P*** b*****.”

At this point the perpetrator was pushed out of the take-away by his female companion, though he subsequently returned and resumed his verbal attack on the victim. This was followed by threats of violence and food containers were then thrown in the shop and at customers and the perpetrator kicked and punched doors and then attempted to jump over the counter to assault the owner. This continued for 10-15 minutes and has left the victim traumatised and fearing for the future of his livelihood.

Offender Identified

The offender has been identified and was the step son of the former delivery man of the take away restaurant. His step father has come forward and made a statement against his step-son, adding that he was charged in the past for similar racist attacks.

The post ‘Your are responsible for Tunisia’ – Take Away Owner in Scotland Targeted appeared first on TELL MAMA.

A decade after the trauma of terrorism hit London on July 7 2005, the anti-Muslim backlash quickly took hold in London. The Met Police recorded 68 “faith hate” crimes in the three days that followed 7/7. Within three weeks, the number of anti-Muslim incidents in the capital hit 269 – a 573 per cent increase on the same period in 2004.

In a national sense, the number of purported Islamophobic incidents hit 1,200. In a far-reaching report, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism on Xenophobia noted an early backlash ‘with reports of arson at a mosque in Leeds and a Sikh temple in Kent’.

Compare that to the spike that followed Lee Rigby’s murder where 282 anti-Muslim incidents took place in the three months after his murder (contrast that with the 78 incidents that took place in the three months prior). That quarterly increase of 286 per cent.

A small but notable spike took place a week after the atrocities in Paris. The high figures reflect how certain individuals seek to divide communities in times of national grief and tension. That negative and hostile climate also encourages some to report in hate incidents. Yet, under-reporting of hate crimes remains a problem and in 2005, there was no Tell MAMA project, so that alarming spike might only tell half the story of this backlash.   

Incidents on Public Transport

Throughout 2014 we recorded and verified 16 incidents on public transport. Worryingly, all five incidents of assault targeted Muslim women. In total, 15 cases involved a white perpetrator. A trend that suggests the bigotry is motivated by a racialised anti-Muslim sentiment. In one example, an individual simply reading the Quran and ‘dressing Islamically’ on the London Underground created a bigoted and hostile reaction, suggesting that the sentiment reflected a deeper and latent bigotry that manifested with time and without provocation.

The Spectre of Online Hate

The most recent Teesside analysis of our data found that roughly two-thirds of incidents took place online – a figure that reflects both the ease of reporting and the serious nature of the problem. With that in mind, it is worth remembering that the backlash against British Muslims also took place online. The infographic demonstrates how some used social media platforms as a means to call for mosque arson and violent reprisals.

Sending individuals to prison for these online threats is rare; but it demonstrates that a person can still be jailed for these offences.

Public Opinion Polls

The polls cited in the infographic reflect a system of wider anxieties towards British Muslims. Quite often, polls offer a nuanced understanding of community relations; but sometimes worrying negativity, especially in the context of an imagined ‘civil war’ scenario. Many recognise that a majority of British Muslims share the same values and disdain for extremists who hijack religion for violent and unjustifiable ends. The danger is when these views calcify and harden. It is noteworthy that a majority felt split on Muslims and ‘British values’. Newspaper coverage (as evidenced in the infographic) helps us understand how these perceptions are formed.

Click here to download pdf of ‘Anti-Muslim Hate Ten Years After 7-7’

The post Anti-Muslim Hate Ten Years After 7/7 – 7 Infographics on 7/7 appeared first on TELL MAMA.

https://twitter.com/bigsteve1911/status/617428040008749056

What is also interesting to note is that he linked to a tweet from a female resident in Scotland who previously tweeted from the @dowheater account. We are currently in discussions with Police Scotland on this individual who is resident, we believe in Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Coming back to ‘Stevo,’ we have undertaken our own checks and the following tweet link by the individual references another Twitter account:

https://twitter.com/bigsteve1911/status/421608261431730177

It seems that ‘Stevo’ is an award-winning mortgage broker by the name of Stephen Dransfield. Looks like he has won a number of awards from ‘Money Marketing’, ‘the Negotiator Awards’, ‘ESTAS’ and the ‘British Mortgage Awards’, where he won in 2011,12, 13 and 14. Stephen Dransfield is no run of the mill English Defence League sympathiser, he is an award-winning mortgage broker, who no doubt would have had Muslim clients. We hope that future clients get to see exactly what he does in his spare time on Twitter.

It also seems that Stephen Dransfield lives in Bradford. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Stephen’s world. How long he will receive accolades, we cannot say.

https://twitter.com/bigsteve1911/status/615535533276725248

https://twitter.com/bigsteve1911/status/612171870264258560

https://twitter.com/bigsteve1911/status/599096000335187968

https://twitter.com/bigsteve1911/status/598915278999805952

The post Anti-Muslim Bigot Is a Top Mortgage Broker Living in Bradford appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Today, this banner was unfurled in Sheffield. We have reported in pictures of the banner and people holding it to the police. Statements on the banner read:

“Who the F…..is Allah”,

“Keep Calm and Hate Muslims “

“Death to Islam”

We believe that some of these statements are illegal and have infringed on criminal laws. A formal complaint has been made to South Yorkshire Police and we would be happy to provide a Community Impact Statement to South Yorkshire Police if there are arrests that are made on this. We will also ensure that we work with forces to send a clear signal that hate, intolerance and bigotry is unacceptable.

The post Banner Inciting Hate Unfurled by EDL in Sheffield appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The CCTV footage has been passed onto the police and the criminal damage is being looked into. The Baitul Atta mosque was opened in 2012 and was refurbished by the British Muslim Ahmaddiya community as a place of learning and worship. The motto for the community is, ‘Love for All, Hatred for None.’

The Ahmaddiya community has come in for abuse and attacks before and suffer anti-Muslim hate and intra-Muslim hate. It is not just groups like ISIS that promote and target this peaceful community, small sections of Muslim communities in the UK have previously openly espoused hatred to this group and regard them as ‘heretics.’ In Pakistan, there is systemic prejudice against this community which is enshrined within laws brought in by General Zia Ul Haq. Zia was in many instances, was free to bring in laws that he wanted since he was seen as a useful ally to the Americans in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan at that time.

We within TELL MAMA will be willing to support a prosecution attempt and provide any community impact statements for the relevant police force. Sectarian and intra-Muslim violence has no part to play in our country or our societies and the wilful targeting of this peaceful and law abiding community is unacceptable. There are simply no ‘ifs’ and ‘buts.’ Where we have anti-Muslim or intra-Muslim hate reported to us, we will act.

The post Ahmaddiya Mosque Attacked in Wolverhampton appeared first on TELL MAMA.

“I am writing on behalf of the Prime Minister to thank you for your recent letter, regarding Islamophobia.

Freedom of speech and freedom of worship are important and hard-fought British liberties. People are free to practise any religion or non, wear whatever clothes they choose, set up and send their children to faith schools, build churches, temples and mosques and worship freely.

What makes this possible is the inclusive idea that everybody living in our country is equal and free to lead their lives as they see fit. But we have to respect other people’s right to do so too. That’s why we are confronting and challenging extremism in all its forms, tacking the violence and hatred that seeks to create divisions.

This, of course, must include tackling anti-Muslim hatred. As such, Government Ministers meet police chiefs to ensure they are supporting Imams and mosques. We also supported the establishment of MAMA – supporting your work to measure anti-Muslim attacks.

Conservatives will require the police to record anti-Muslim crimes as well as anti-Semitic crimes. We also exclude people from Britain whose presence would not be conducive to the common good. For example, in June 2013, the Home Secretary prevented Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer – the founders of an anti-Muslim hate campaign – from coming to speak at an EDL rally in Woolwich.

So thank you for your continued work in this issue. In Britain we have a free society, diverse communities and pluralistic values. Conservatives will always champion what unites our country across class, colour, creed, and will stand up and support British values. I do hope you find that reassuring – thank you, once again, for taking the trouble to write.”

The post Response from the Prime Minister’s Office on anti-Muslim Hate appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The tenth anniversary of 7/7 is just round the corner. After 10 years, we need to renew our energies to tackle extremism and terrorism and those who seek to thrive off it by promoting their personal prejudices as if they are ‘rational’ or ‘valid’ views. They are not, they are the rantings of bigots and we need to call them out for what they are.

Let us all remember. Extremists do not care who they target. Yesterday they targeted our fellow citizens and on 7/7, they targeted Londoners, irrespective of their faith or beliefs. We have all had enough of the haters, it is time for us to unite and to stand together and in solidarity. #no2h8

The post Bigoted anti-Muslim Graphics Start to do the Rounds appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Details of the injunction have come to light and the injunction is “to prohibit Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen for a period of 1 year from:

1. Entering the town of Luton in Bedfordshire and its surrounding areas as indicated in the attached plan,
2. Entering any mosque or Islamic cultural centre or its grounds within England and Wales without prior written invitation,
3. Publishing, distributing or displaying, or causing to be published, distributed or displayed, any words or images, whether electronically or otherwise, which with regard to all of the circumstances, are likely to stir up religious and/or racial hatred,
4. Using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour thereby causing harassment, alarm or distress to any person,
5. That a power of arrest be attached to any of these.”

This is a pro-active and extremely welcome move by the Chief Constable for Bedfordshire coming hot on the heels of a meeting with Muslim communities in Luton who expressed real concern around the actions of Britain First on Saturday. Yet, what is also of significance, is the fact that Britain First cannot enter any mosque without prior written permission and their ‘mosque invasions’ may well be at an end. Also, what may be at an end could be the extremist and deeply anti-Muslim rhetoric that they have espoused and the injunction highlights that Golding and Fransen may well be arrested if they continue with such actions.

True to form, this duo of the fringe right have taken to ask for donations in order to pay for their ‘defence.’ Judging by past calls for finance, they may be looking at a couple of hundred pounds and offers of pints to console them.

We welcome and salute the actions of Bedfordshire Police and their Chief Constable. Such examples show clearly that authorities are willing to take action to maintain law and order in communities and to ensure that communities are not targeted for hate, intolerance and prejudice. Bravo!

The post Golding and Fransen Served with High Court Application for Injunction Banning them from Entering Mosques & Luton appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Angie Dunn, a member of non-teaching support staff at Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College, is under a police investigation after bosses at the school reported the incident to police – who are also considering the possibility that her Facebook account was hacked.

Dunn allegedly shared a Britain First meme that invited users to register their ‘offence’ at the niqab.

A statement on Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College said: “It has come to our attention that an alleged issue involving a member of staff’s use of social media. We must stress this does not represent the views of Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College.

Prejudice and racism in any form is not acceptable in or out of our school and any such behaviour is taken very seriously. Our responsibility to pupils and parents is our top priority. Please be assured we will be conducting a formal investigation into the matter”.

On June 24, a letter sent to parents and carers said: “Prejudice and racism in any form is not acceptable in or out of our college and any such behaviour is taken very seriously. That is why the matter has been reported to the police for investigation as a hate crime”.

The post Member of staff at Bradford school under police investigation after allegedly sharing Britain First meme appeared first on TELL MAMA.

TELL MAMA is non-partisan, non-religious third party national reporting service for anti-Muslim hate. Our efficacy and our ability to highlight and resolve issues can be demonstrated by these two examples over the last 2 days.

The first involved anti-Shia activity which was reported into us on Sunday morning. We highlighted these issues here and here. We understand that police were on site quickly and removed the anti-Shia graffiti and the issue was then highlighted in the local press here. Our intervention was clear, well organised and involved rallying local support, even before other organisations realised that there was an issue.

Furthermore, yesterday a member of the public informed us about cases involving the Stagecoach bus services in Oxford and we highlighted the issue here. This morning the Independent picked it up and ran the story. We also ensured that we contacted the leader of Oxford City Council, making him aware of our article and to which he speedily responded. Additionally, this afternoon we will be speaking to a local radio station in Oxford and our material has also been circulated to some local Oxford City councillors so that they are now aware of the issue.

These examples, two in just two days, show the impact that a pro-active and driven third party reporting service can have. To those who spin the ruse that people should not report to third party hate crime reporting services, well, the results above simply prove you and your perspectives wrong.

The post TELL MAMA – Our Relevance & Our Efficacy – Examples appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The July 4th demonstration has been orchestrated by notorious self-styled far right ‘leader’ Joshua Bonehill. Yeovil based Joshua Bonehill, has had numerous run-ins with law enforcement leading to arrests for on-line comments and alleged malicious tweets to Labour Member of Parliament Luciana Berger. Bonehill also allegedly recently gifted a young woman with a Swastika, followed by a string of abusive messages, asking her to be his ‘Eva Braun.’ He has pleaded not guilty to charges on this.

It seems that Bonehill who was also behind an anti-Semitic rally in Stamford Hill, has been notified that he has banned from entering “the area contained within the M25 except to answer police bail.” Having been banned, it seems that Bonehill then passed the baton of organising the demonstration to another extreme far right activist, Eddie Stampton, who it seems, has now fallen out with Bonehill. Not seeing the writing on the wall, Bonehill has stated that he will continue to try and organise the Golders Green demonstration and that there will be further demonstrations in the future. Allied with these comments have been the usual far right anti-Semitic rhetoric which has espoused a victim narrative of an ‘anti-White’ conspiracy.

Finally, if you are looking to attend any counter-demonstration on the day, we would advise you to make contact with the Community Security Trust. Furthermore, activists from TELL MAMA will be active on the day to send a clear message that fascists, extremists and bigots are not wanted, nor do they reflect wider society. If anything, they will be in the minority surrounded by a sea of people who believe in pluralism, peace and the right for communities to live free from fear or intimidation.

The post As MP’s Protest About Golders Green, Bonehill is Banned from Attending Demo appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Today’s example highlights an area where the perception of anti-Muslim hate can be strengthened. The response back from Stagecoach is to be commended and their honesty and transparency too. We will list their response later in this letter.

The text from the complainant highlights the Stagecoach Number 10 bus service which travels through Oxford and along the Cowley Road which is a diverse area within the city with a high population of British Muslims of Pakistani heritage. The complainant states:

“I was walking along Cowley Road when I witnessed a couple stood at the Plain bus stop opposite the Music shop, the couple incidentally were obviously Muslim and were waiting for a bus. Upon arrival the couple tried to flag the bus down but the driver despite seeing them completely ignored them and continued to drive on.

I was with a friend and we noted the number at the back of the bus which was 22768. This wasn’t a random event earlier in the day I witnessed the same number 10 stagecoach bus this time at The Slade being flagged down by a group of people, one of whom was clearly wearing a Hijab and clearly identifiable as a Muslim. The direction of the bus was towards Headington, and even here the bus driver ignored the passenger along with a couple
of others and deliberately chose to drive on. Unfortunately I was unable to get the number of the bus and in relation to timings this happened before midday.

This was a mere coincidence that I was able to witness these two very similar events and would like to see this looked into.

I have also copied the council as I feel that these type of events (there may be many more) are clearly in breach of equality laws and companies like stagecoach need to be held account for such discriminatory practices.

I hope that this is the last time I witness such incidents and that both the council and stagecoach work towards not only holding the driver to account for their behaviour but put in place preventative measures to ensure that this is not repeated again.

The response of the Stagecoach is also listed, confirming that they are baffled as to why the driver did not stop:

“22 June 2015

Dear Mr Akbar

I have been forwarded the details of your correspondence to our offices regarding the 10 service on Saturday 13 June. I regret that you have had cause to complain about the conduct of one of our drivers.

From the information you provided, the CCTV from the vehicle has been downloaded. Having viewed the footage, I can see the situations you described. I am at a loss to explain why the driver did not stop.

I completely understand how these incidents have been interpreted. I give you my assurances that matters of this nature are treated very seriously. We are an equal opportunities employer who ensures that all customers, employees or job applicants are treated fairly and equally.

I have made arrangements to formally interview the driver. He will be reminded of his responsibilities as a professional driver. We will discuss how he should keep a watchful eye out for intending passengers and stop where all passengers signal for the vehicle. We will review his conduct in line with the Company’s equal opportunities policy. It will be made clear to him that any unfair conduct will not be tolerated. This matter will be dealt with in the appropriate manner in line with the Company’s disciplinary procedure.

Once again, I apologise for the incidences. I trust that you are satisfied the matter is being dealt with appropriately.

Yours sincerely

Stagecoach in Oxfordshire
Horspath Road
Cowley
Oxford
OX4 2RY

The post Oxford Stagecoach Complaint Highlights Public Transport Complaints Around Anti-Muslim Sentiment appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We also received further information that anti-Shia activity has been taking place in the last year in Bradford and Leeds. For example, a year ago, the following leaflet was distributed in schools and local businesses in West Yorkshire. Some individuals who received the leaflet felt that it demonised Shia Islam and Shia Muslims in local communities.

A source that we have communicated with from the Shia community today stated the following:

“The situation got so bad that Shia students were being bullied in schools. We met with local schools and there was only minor action taken and there was an effort to try and be more viglant against such literature and as time went on, things just quietened down. Now we have an attack on this mosque.”

The contact also stated that about two years ago, anti-Shia texts and Whatsapp messages were being circulated. They read as:

“++KINDLY READ PASS TO ALL YOUR CONTACTS++ as’saalamu’alaikum to all sunni brothers\sisters in Islam please avoid eating at these 2 shia takeaway in Bradford both are owned by shias who are supporters of hezbollah and bashar assad do not give support to those who are killing sunni Muslims in syria.”

We were informed that the message above was circulated with the address details of the Shia owned restaurants and recipients were encouraged to pass on the messages. They were, in effect, suggesting a boycott of Shia owned businesses.

We within TELL MAMA will do whatever we can to highlight, log and ensure that where possible, prosecutions can be brought with the police in relation to such incidents as that which took place against the Hussania mosque. Also, if you receive such material in the future, please do not hesitate to pass it onto us and you can e-mail us on info@tellmamauk.org, Tweet us @tellmamauk or text message us on 0115 707 0007. You can also call us on 0800 456 1226.

The post We highlight the Possible Roots of anti-Shia Bigotry in Yorkshire appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We have found out that within the 060/061 coach from Manchester to Leeds, (via Bradford), there are the letters SEL that are stamped within the coaches and this stands for Selwyn’s Travel. This is an operator which bids for contracts from National Express to run coaches for them.

Selwyn’s are one of the UK’s largest coach operators and operate over 70 coaches for National Express. They are owned by a multinational transport company called RATP-Dev, the French State owned bus and train operator. RATP also own the Manchester tram system.

In 2012, RATP banned three posters to counter anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia that had been developed by the French organisation, Collectif Contre L’Islamophobie en France, (CCIF).

Finally, Faith Matters received the following response from National Express when they highlighted the Religious Reader piece. Let us hope that National Express contact Selwyn’s and find out the driver responsible for the alleged hate incident.

@FaithMattersUK Racism isn't tolerated by National Express and this matter is being investigated as a priority by our Customer Service Team.

— NX Customer Service (@nxcare) June 20, 2015

The post National Express Incident Leads Us to Investigate Further appeared first on TELL MAMA.

When approached by the Daily Mirror, Ryan Air simply failed to take action and stated, “We don’t comment on social media nonsense.” The response from Ryan Air is simply breath-taking given that a captain of their aircraft has made clear that he regards practising Muslims as a possible threat.

What if Captain Inglis had made the same comments about black people, would the comments be regarded as “social media nonsense?” Or imagine if he had made comments against members of the gay or lesbian community, would we not rightly be outraged on the back of the bigoted and prejudiced comments?

What Ryan Air fail to grasp and which is deeply distressing, is that the comments made by a Captain in their employ, are bigoted, prejudiced and based on fear. Sadly time and time again, people in positions of power have made comments on social media and such public comments do have a bearing on the way that they are publicly perceived and reduces public confidence in them. For a leading airline to try and brush off this issue also speaks volumes about the lack of understanding or care shown by the airline. For in the end, what we have here is the Captain of an aircraft which serves members of the public, making public prejudiced comments and publishing them for all to see.

We call on Ryan Air to take action and to understand the brand damage and corrosion in trust that their lack of action may have. This issue is not just about ‘Muslims.’ It is about how Ryan Air tackles issues around bigotry and prejudice and which are related to people in public positions who literally hold the lives of others in their hands.

We will also be writing to Ryan Air on this and urge members of the public who are unhappy with their response to write to them at the address below:

Ryanair Customer Standards
Corporate Head Office
Dublin Airport
Co Dublin
Ireland

Fax +353 1 8121213

The post Ryan Air Shirks its Responsibility to Act on Anti-Muslim Comments appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Abusive football fans targeted our service user due to her expression of faith. Intoxicated on alcohol and racism, the group chanted ‘do it with the nun, it’s better than having none’ as they pointed fingers at her. Others questioned her preference for bacon, labelled her a ‘sand monkey’, and asked if she ‘hid a bomb under her scarf’.

The alcohol did more than loosen tongues as it became a prop to wave in the face of our service user who was asked if she ‘fancied some’. One individual next to her continued to poke at her body (even when she asked the person to stop).

That shocking example is now subject to a British Transport Police investigation.

Incidents like the above are rare. But it takes a measure of bravery and confidence to pick up the phone and contact Tell MAMA and the police. Without these important conversations how can we change the debate on Islamophobia?

Just last month, a visible Muslim woman suffered racial abuse as she attempted to board a train in King’s Cross.

Ensuring the safety of all passengers (regardless of race or religion) is of paramount importance. Only in partnership can we empower individuals to speak out in confidence about their experiences.

Suffered an anti-Muslim incident? Speak in confidence to one of our dedicated caseworkers on 0800 456 1226. Help us change the debate on Islamophobia. Our service is here to help you. We can refer you to Victim Support or the police (but that is optional). Nor is language an issue: we have caseworkers fluent in Arabic, Urdu, English and Bengali.

The post ‘Sand Monkey’ Taunts at Visible Muslim Female on Train appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The previous Coalition Government supported the work of TELL MAMA on tackling anti-Muslim hate when no previous Government had tried to tackle this issue. They did this through supporting the mapping, monitoring and measuring of it. Their vision has made a real difference and both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats must be thanked. They did the right thing and with moral courage and practical assistance.

We believe that this present administration can be bolder and no doubt, more determined to tackle hate and prejudice in our society. This Government has made clear that it is willing to take bold and difficult steps in a number of areas and we believe that real and sustained support in this area of work can also help to tackle those consistently promoting bigotry and to ensure that victims get access to justice.

We are also aware that the Home Secretary has been consistent in her public statements around the need to tackle intolerance, hate and bigotry.This has also been the case with previous ministers in the Coalition Government.

As we move forward, we will continue to work with our Government, law enforcement, victim support agencies and a multiplicity of partners to ensure that work on tackling anti-Muslim hate is documented and victims supported and assisted. We will also work on the main-streaming of this work since Muslims are part and parcel of the fabric of our country and calls to alienate and isolate them are mainly made by those on the fringes of political life in the UK. This means that agencies working on this area also need to view the issue through the lens of realism, meaning that anti-Muslim hate is not the only issue that affects the lives of Muslims. It is one issue amongst a range of many that also affect other communities, such as unemployment, housing etc.

We therefore look forward to the next 5 years with an approach based on co-operation and partnership. If anything, real change has been made over the last 3 years through our work and the next 5 offer an opportunity for bolder and more creative work in the future.

The post We Should Welcome the Stance Taken by the Conservatives appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Click image below to download pdf

The post Don’t Mix Islamophobia and Alcohol: An Infographic of Incidents appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Whatever the outcome, we call out to the future Government to seriously look at the issue of anti-Muslim hatred and set in motion a sustained package of support that can help to tackle this issue. Yet, we also have to be honest and say that there is much division, ideological differences and dare we say, marginalisation of groups that do this work at various levels.

Some of this marginalisation is within some sections of Muslim communities who hobble the work of organisations simply for being ‘too liberal,’ or for helping Ahmaddiyas or for standing against LGBT hate that some receive. Yet some of the marginalisation is by groups whose message is that the United Kingdom is so bad and the British public so Islamophobic, that the lot of Muslims is to be consistent victims. We firmly reject and abhor such tactics and rhetoric which does nothing but places into the minds of people an existence that can only be regarded as melancholic and passive in nature, as though they live their lives in a state of internalised mania. This is neither healthy for them, nor for our country.

We are not going to be like some other groups who want to ‘play up’ or overstate what they call Islamophobia, yet the issue of anti-Muslim hatred does not need statements that make out that it is worse than other forms of hate. The impacts on all victims of hate crimes are unique and what is specifically unique about anti-Muslim hatred is the fact that the one thing which unites fractious far right groups across the US and Europe is anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim rhetoric. Sadly, this is certainly unique to anti-Muslim hatred.

So we do not need to exaggerate on what are the facts which we have systematically laid out for 3 years; that anti-Muslim hatred is an issue and continues to be an issue, though it should be systematically tackled with other strands of hate.

We have also repeatedly mentioned that Muslims are not looking for special treatment because of anti-Muslim hatred. They simply want to be able to know that they can get justice, much like any other victim and that their complaints are handled seriously and with care.

The Future

We must also acknowledge the fact that TELL MAMA was started with support from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). As an independent project, the Department did not pressurise us nor influence us, yet it sought to ensure that together, we could build the first national recording mechanism on anti-Muslim hatred, much like the Community Security Trust, (even though the CST was created with financial support and vision from within Jewish communities).  We commend the Department and Ministers in DCLG who believed that this work was important and who stuck to that principle.

However, work on tackling anti-Muslim hatred is bigger than one individual or a Department. It needs to be sustained, developed and given stability over time. Which is why we are calling on any future Government to take the position of long term support for this work and in ensuring that just as any other hate crime strand, anti-Muslim hatred is publicly and politically acknowledged, resourced and supported, as long as the work is professional and well developed.

So as voters go to the poll tomorrow, we know that the British public will vote with their heads and their hearts for what they believe is right for the nation. They will also carry with them some key qualities and principles which we believe are based on freedom, fairness and justice. All three of these qualities are fundamental to ensuring that victims of crime can rehabilitate themselves and get through some of the most traumatic of times. We see no difference for victims of anti-Muslim hatred and that is why this country leads the way in being fair to all citizens. The British people know intrinsically when something is not right and anti-Muslim hatred and bigotry certainly fits into that category.

So today on May 7th let us say that, “together we can make that difference – together we can push back those who seek to divide communities, create intolerance and harbour bigotry that do our country a great dis-service”.

The post Post May 7th, Anti-Muslim Hatred is an Issue That Needs Support to Tackle appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Before we continue, we usually refer to Islamophobia through the more specific term of anti-Muslim hate, though we are aware that the term Islamophobia is well recognised and does include anti-Muslim hate incidents. This is also one of the reasons for a need to respond to the headlines that have been associated with the Lutfur Rahman case.

Findings of the Court: Mawrey’s findings have been damning and open up the way for new elections in Tower Hamlets.

We are not going to focus on the politics of Tower Hamlets and this is not our role. Yet, this case is damaging for trust and confidence in the term Islamophobia and we have repeatedly made clear that clarion calls of Islamophobia, when there is no clear evidential basis to it, not only damages the term, it also reduces trust and confidence in victims of anti-Muslim hate when they raise such issues. Therefore, not only have Tower Hamlets residents been affected by the political limelight on the area, victims of anti-Muslim hate have also been affected by the actions of those who chose to highlight racism and prejudice as the primary reason for a focus on their local actions. Only time will really tell how much of an impact this affair has had on access to justice for victims of anti-Muslim hate.

Islamophobia Abound: Yet, there is another issue that needs raising here and which is troubling. There are groups who are travelling the length and breadth of our country promoting the notion that this country is one that is Islamophobic and that this is a major issue affecting Muslim communities. In fact, there are lots of issues that are affecting Muslim communities from employment rates through to housing and poor health indicators.

These groups who place Islamophobia as the key issue affecting Muslim communities are also doing what Mawrey stated. They are playing politics on an issue which Muslim communities are sensitive to and trying to build support whilst caustically talking about our country in the bleakest of ways. Such groups play down our country, insinuate that most non-Muslims are Islamophobic and that the future of Muslims in the UK is bleak. These statements are simply not true and simply keep individuals in a mindset where they feel dis-empowered. This is the last thing that Muslim communities need.

In fact, if there is one organisation that has systematically documented and methodically worked with police forces and Central Government to tackle anti-Muslim hatred, it is TELL MAMA. As we have stated, hyping up the issue and building a sense of fear as though it is overwhelming, is neither healthy for Muslim communities, nor does it warrant such talk. This country is one of the safest in Europe and we need to bear this in mind.

The risks to Muslim communities are low, yet, the impacts of hate crimes on victims are significant and this is why our work is important. Whilst we must not be complacent to such threats, (and the anti-Muslim backlash after the murder of Lee Rigby was a clear example of such a community threat), these risks are few and far between and are being actively managed within resources by local police forces.

Victims of anti-Muslim hate: It is important to support victims of anti-Muslim hate, ensure access to justice and to show victims that the system works and where it does not, to ensure that problems are quickly rectified. Hyperbolic statements that Islamophobia are all consuming in our country are simply false and this is also why the Lutfur Rahman judgement is damning. It is damning since it calls out those who used this term for political gain, whilst also sending a clear message to those working in this area that it is essential that we also call out those using the term in a corrosive manner for political gain.

The post Islamophobia in the Limelight, Post Lutfur Rahman appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The Islamic Confederation of Milli Gorus, a Turkish led initiative, handed out flowers at the end of February to passers by only to find that the local mayor of the Town, Jean-Pierre Door, took a position which baffled many in the area.

Initially, an application to organise a small stand to hand out flowers in Montargis was turned down by the Mayor who regarded this simple gesture as a method of proselytising. Furthermore, using his legal powers the Mayor then decided to go one step further. He decided that anyone handing out roses without his permission would receive a 35 Euro fine.

So, not only did the Mayor regard handing out flowers as a secret way of converting people, he decided to slap on a fine to people handing out flowers.

France certainly seems to have some interesting characters in power.

The post Creeping Islamicization Through…..the Giving of Roses? French Mayor’s Barmy Belief appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We are sickened by the Islamophobic and bigoted graffiti that was scrawled onto the Central Gurdwara in the West End in Glasgow. However it is clear that you thought that the Gurdwara was a mosque, since they kinda all look the same in your eyes. The reality is that Sikhs are not Muslims and saying that, targeting Muslim communities for bigotry and hate should be challenged by us all. No community should suffer the indignity of humiliation of hate just because of one or more facets of their identity.

We also thought that we would highlight the fact that just because a building has a dome, it does not necessarily make it a mosque. Or given the fact that just because practising Sikhs have beards, does not make them Muslims. Or could it have been that you just think that anything ‘foreign’ and ‘different looking’ must be Muslim, since in the darkest recesses of your mind, you think that Muslims are somehow taking over?

Your actions simply reflect on the ignorance that seems to have driven your actions. Furthermore, whilst Sikh communities have been integral to contributing to a modern and diverse country, (as Muslims have), we thought we would highlight the fact that self-defence is a vital part of the Sikh faith and tradition and this is why symbolically, they wear the Kirpan. (You might want to Google that and whilst it is purely symbolic in nature and not used for violence, we thought we would highlight this lest you think of doing this again.)

We therefore hope that you may have the courtesy to apologise to the Gurdwara and to offer to clean the institution as a form of penance. Failing that, there are a few mosques that could do with some help and either way, next time you see a man with a beard, you might just want to reflect on this letter. Or better still, realise that the only person who has been humiliated in this process, is you for the sheer lack of common sense.

Yours sincerely,

TELL MAMA TEAM

The post Open Letter to Bigots – A Gurdwara & a Mosque are Different appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This brief toolkit on on-line Islamophobia has been put together by TELL MAMA and Dr Imran Awan of Birmingham City University. The leaflet is a self help leaflet to help people to understand on-line Islamophobia and ways of tackling the bigotry, hate and intolerance.

If you use this information leaflet, we would be grateful if you could cite TELL MAMA and Dr Imran Awan.

The post Online Islamophobia: A Brief Self-Help Toolkit of Key Information appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Today, we had a statement sent to us reportedly made by the UKIP council candidate for the Strood North ward in Rochester in Kent. Paul O’Rourke, it seems, is known for his forthright views on Twitter and for his ardent support of UKIP. Yet in response to a tweet from radio talk show host Jon Gaunt, the UKIP council candidate made the following comment:

It seems that Paul O’Rourke wants to ‘hit the burka’ (sic) and the implications of that statement leave the reader with a range of possible thoughts. The burqa is worn by a small number of conservative Muslim women and the suggestion made by this council candidate should raise a number of questions about his candidacy. Do UKIP supporters or residents in the Strood North ward want an individual promoting such views to represent them? The statement is chilling given that any council candidate should not be promoting any form of violence or suggestions of physical violence.

We hope that UKIP seriously reconsider this person’s candidacy since if the party wants to be taken seriously, then it has to clean house on people making comments that can be viewed as being aggressive, bigoted or threatening in nature. In this case, the threat of aggression towards an item of clothing usually worn by a small number of conservative Muslim women is chilling.

The post Paul O’Rourke, Strood North UKIP Council Candidate Wants to ‘Hit the Burka’ appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Your article effectively touched on the everyday Islamophobia. Has the incident made your more cautious when flying?

Before the incident I was genuinely convinced that security officials at airports are professionals who think and act objectively. I now doubt this ideal. I am more cautious of the fact that, even in a professional environment, there are individuals who seek to criminalise an entire group of people based on the actions of a minority.

Has it made you think about any other incident of everyday Islamophobia you may have experienced?

There have been a number of instances in which members of the general public behaved in a hateful manner towards me for no reason. But since those incidents didn’t happen in a professional environment, I never saw them as Islamophobic attacks. I often dismissed the individuals as either unfriendly people who are unkind to everyone or as people who had a problem with me for a reason other than my faith.

The Heathrow experience reminded me of one particular incident of very obvious Islamophobia in Switzerland. A middle-aged man sitting opposite me on the tram turned to a young girl next to him and said, in a matter-of-fact way: “she is one of the people who bomb buildings”. Even though this was hurtful, the incident didn’t affect me since it was merely the opinion of someone who isn’t in a position of power.

You end your article nicely about tolerance and the need to recognise Islamophobia in the day-to-day. How important was it for you to speak out and write about this incident?

It is necessary that security officials be given an insight to how damaging it can be alienate youngsters in their own home. I fully understand that this is a case of one intolerant individual, but I can see how someone else may perceive such an individual to be a representation of an entire system.

I found writing to be an outlet for the frustration I felt towards that particular officer. Security services must realise that someone who is subjected to unnecessary humiliation will seek to find a way to deal with the pain. And unfortunately, not everyone does that through writing.

I am by no means suggesting that security services become less thorough in their checks. However, it is important that they remember they’re dealing with human beings who have real feelings. If someone were stopped, it may be better if officers didn’t subject the person to humiliating treatment. Once security officers realise they’ve made a mistake, perhaps an apology or a simple “thank you for your time” might be appropriate.

The article had a lot of online success. What was some of the feedback like? Did people share similar stories or sentiments with you?

There was a divide in the response to the article. A number of commentators criticised me for “complaining” and accused me of being “too sensitive”, which, ironically, proves my point. Unjust treatment towards Muslims has become so common that something must be seriously wrong with anyone who speaks out against it. It baffles me that people are surprised to see that young people are sensitive. We, as young people, are on a continuous search for identity and meaning, and our daily experiences play a big role in finding this.

A few men have told me that I “deserve” it for wearing the hijab, which I found shocking. There’s a big problem when grown men think it’s acceptable to use a woman’s clothing to justify mistreatment. It seems that we live in a time when moral lines are blurred, depending on who is at the receiving end.

On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve had a number of supportive comments. Many young Muslims have reached out to me about similar incidents at airports. Young girls who wear the hijab have spoken to me about feeling like easy targets for Islamophobia. The girls were glad to see a woman with a hijab challenging this issue. The one thing that almost everyone who spoke to me had in common was that they thought this type of unfair treatment was “normal for a Muslim”.

What would your message to be other young Muslims who might not speak out?

The only way we can stop everyday Islamophobia is by speaking out against it. There will be a lot of criticism but remember that there has never been a person standing up against intolerance who wasn’t criticised. Speak to your teachers, counsellors, university lecturers and advisers, or get in touch with organisations like Tell MAMA, who I’m sure will be very happy to guide you.

It’s important that we realise our responsibility to change the negative perception of Muslims. Most people’s knowledge of Islam is based on what is portrayed in the media. We often complain about the media’s misrepresentation of Islam, but we can’t expect mainstream media to ignore the minority of loud voices among a majority of quiet Muslims. Passive condemnation is simply not good enough. We must be active in taking control of our own narrative and reclaim our Muslim identity. If you allow someone else to speak for you then, frankly, you can’t really complain when that someone distorts your story.

We should also encourage dialogue with other faiths. By doing so we can understand the perspective of others, while diminishing negative stereotypes of Muslims. Many interfaith organisations, such as the Joseph Interfaith Foundation, organise seminars to tackle issues surrounding Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Different faith groups will achieve much more by talking to each other, instead of talking about the other.

I hope my article will remind people that Muslim voices are valued in Britain. All we need to do is be active. The fact that I, a Muslim woman, have been given a platform in a national paper speaks volumes about the opportunities open to us.

The post Hannah Yusuf Speaks Out on Islamophobia After Her Recent Article appeared first on TELL MAMA.

According to the Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en France (CCIF) on March 26, a Muslim woman had her headscarf torn off outside a school in Aulnay-Sous-Bois (in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris). The incident took place after school, the victim was attacked by a parent of another student who also tore at the Muslim woman’s hair after violently removing her headscarf.

Perhaps more worrying, is the alleged indifference of police. Police apparently refused to take the victim’s complaint seriously because the nature of the assault did not ‘involve a punch’. The CCIF are working closely with the victim to ensure the police log her complaint.

At the turn of last month, in Saint-Etienne, a Muslim woman, who wears the jilbab was harassed while carrying her 11-month-old daughter in her arms. The female perpetrator expressed clear Islamophobic sentiments when she told her to ‘mind your outfit’ and ‘you do not have to wear that here’. The victim retorted that she had ‘no right to talk to her like this’ and she is allowed to wear the jilbab because it is not a face veil.

The perpetrator then violently yanked the arm of her 11-month-old daughter. When the victim contacted the police the initial call was dropped. In the meantime, the victim attempted to learn the perpetrator’s name (who refused to disclose). A second attempt to inform the police was met with an alleged indifference, who then asked her to lodge a simple complaint. Thankfully, during this upsetting incident, the victim photographed the perpetrator’s number plate.

When the victim eventually found herself at a police station, staff assured her that the incident was ‘nothing serious’ and that a complaint suffices. Concerned for her baby daughter and the trauma she suffered, she took her to a doctor so she can file complaint with a medical certificate to strengthen the case. The police did begin an investigation but the perpetrator gave a conflicting statement.

The visibility of all three Muslim women made them targets for verbal abuse and violence. In 2013, a pregnant Muslim was attacked in Paris for similar reasons. She later suffered a miscarriage (but there is no clear evidence that the loss was attributed to the attack).

If the visibility of Muslim women in France made them a target for abuse it also made access to employment harder. In 2010, France banned full-face veils in public. In 2004, school staff were banned from wearing religiously-inspired insignia or garments. Three years later and the rules extended to those delivering a public service. But there are presently no rules for private firms.

A consequence of these legislative measures pushed many visible female Muslims into self-employment.

All three incidents reflect a rising Islamophobic sentiment in France in the wake of the Paris atrocities. Two weeks after these acts of terrorism, 128 Islamophobic incidents were recorded by the National Observatory Against Islamophobia (but that figure excludes Paris and its suburbs). In 2014, the organisation recorded 133 such incidents. Like with the UK, violence against Muslim women is a worrying and common thread alongside the under reporting of Islamophobic incidents.

The post Assault Against Pregnant Muslim Woman In France Shows Gender Targeting appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This morning, this graffiti on a sign for the Muslim Section in the Cathcart cemetery in Glasgow, was reported in. Britain First, the National Front and the British National Party are all cited on the graffiti which has infuriated community members.

If anyone has any information regarding this incident, they should call Police Scotland on 101 or report the information through this on-line reporting form.

The post Anti-Muslim Graffiti Affects Cathcart Cemetery in Glasgow appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Pakistan flag raising in #Rochdale today. Lovely occasion. Here with Mr Darr & Hafiz Ikram – good friends. pic.twitter.com/rZYjBXx5XT

— Simon Danczuk (@SimonDanczuk) March 23, 2015

The resultant abuse that the Member of Parliament for Rochdale received was not only shocking, it brought out a desire by some, to see Mr Danczuk ‘executed’ for his actions in simply celebrating the national day of Pakistan with constituents:

https://twitter.com/DrDeborahCutler/status/580125930275905537

Before anyone could take a breath, in waded Katy Hopkins whom we have written about before on many occasions. (See here, here and here):

I won't take lessons on community cohesion from @KTHopkins. She could start a fight in an empty room #respectcommunities

— Simon Danczuk (@SimonDanczuk) March 23, 2015

Rochdale has had its problems & no one has spoken on grooming more than me. But to equate every Pakistani with grooming is a racist slur

— Simon Danczuk (@SimonDanczuk) March 23, 2015

The member of Parliament rightly pointed out that to equate every Pakistani with grooming is a racist slur and that labelling a whole group of people was fundamentally wrong. Yet, that did not stop this irritating and offensive tweet from Katy Hopkins:

Are these your friends too @SimonDanczuk? Is this why you are raising the Pakistani flag in Rochdale? 77 years inside pic.twitter.com/wcyuPM1JVl

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) March 23, 2015

This was followed up by more on-line abuse against Mr Danczuk:

“@fraz6354: @SimonDanczuk Fuck off to Pakistan and live there, tell us how that goes for you, you traitorous gutless piece of shit.” Thanks.

— Simon Danczuk (@SimonDanczuk) March 23, 2015

Yet, seemingly, Katie Hopkins continued on the Twitter baiting, completely failing to realise that young girls from ethnic minority communities have also been victims of child grooming:

Listen @SimonDanczuk – I'll come to Rochdale, raise the British flag and explain why NO ONE messes with our white girls. Sod your PC tripe

— Katie Hopkins (@KTHopkins) March 23, 2015

Time and time again Katy Hopkins has made statements based on race though her latest comments suggest a racialised view on issues of child safety and grooming, which clearly does not reflect the reality of how vulnerable young boys and girls are preyed upon by sexual predators and that it depressingly affects young people from a variety of racial, religious and cultural backgrounds. Not so for Katy Hopkins, whose Twitter reposts against the Member of Parliament for Rochdale were uncalled for.

Lastly, it should not have to be said, though for people like Katy Hopkins, it sadly needs to be said time and time again. British citizens of Pakistani heritage are some of the proudest citizens who healthily partake in the social and civic life of this country. Just as some may carry the Israeli flag and feel pride in being British and with an affiliation and affection for Israel, so British citizens of Pakistani heritage have the same right to celebrate their links to Pakistan in a simple show of support on the national day of the country. Yet, on other days, we have seen young and old, male and female members of the British Muslim community of Pakistani heritage, wrapped up in the British flag and celebrating events such as St George’s Day. Simply holding the Pakistani flag does not detract from their ‘loyalty’ to this country, nor should it. To infer that is simply mischevious.

The post Abuse Against Simon Danczuk MP Shows Bigotry, Whilst Katie Hopkins Wades in on Race appeared first on TELL MAMA.

These statements have caused some fear within Muslim students on campus, as well as to Jewish students, particularly when a Swastika had previously been daubed onto the wall of a student hall.

We would urge strong and robust statements from the University of Birmingham to sending out a message that such bigotry has no place on campus and that all will be done to try and find the perpetrator/s. We would also call on the University to meet with the local Islamic Society for students to talk through their concerns and any fears.

The post More Threatening Anti-Islamic Statements on Birmingham Campus appeared first on TELL MAMA.

It seems that the sight of Muslims praying and taking  few minutes out to say their prayers is too much for a Liverpool fan who decided to put out a range of prejudiced and bigoted statements on Twitter. The pictures and the statements show that bigotry at matches is still sadly alive and well and no doubt, we will be passing on this article to Liverpool Football Club. Such abuse cannot and should not be tolerated.

Finally, if you come across such material on social media, we would be interested to hear from you. Such bigotry has no place on or off the field.

The post Liverpool Fan Abuses Muslims as They Pray During Match Break appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The graffiti which was likely painted overnight had a picture of what looks like a postbox and an object which is described as ‘Muslim women.’ The caption on the bottom which was mis-spelt reads, “the only difference is the coulor (sic).”

The graffiti was removed within 24 hours though it does show the brazen prejudice of an individual or a group of individuals who felt the need to deface the building overnight.

One of the traits of anti-Muslim prejudice is the fixation and abuse of Muslim women. This example, once again shows that the target of bigots are visible Muslim women. This has also been highlighted in previous reports that we have produced and which can be found here and here.

The post Anti-Muslim Graffiti on Wall in Putney appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Lisa Marie Kane self-identified as a staff nurse and used her Facebook page to post abuse aimed towards Muslim patients after a visit to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Examples of her racist and offensive Facebook posts included:

‘Never seen to many muslims. More in there than Kabul. STUNK’

‘I’m not employed to GET RID of ideology. I’ve got a mind of my own, unlik the brainwashed muslims. GET them out of my country.’

‘They chop our bruthas heads off, rape our sisters & see us as S***’

The comments were posted on June 19 2013 and later reported to hospital management. At a disciplinary meeting in October of that year, she was dismissed from South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust. Now, following a conduct hearing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in London, Ms Kane was struck off from her profession.

Per the investigation, the panel was shown screenshots of Kane’s Facebook posts, alongside a transcript where Kane admitted posting the comments at an earlier internal investigation.

Other staff members warned Kane about the nature of her comments and management sent her emails about using Facebook appropriately. But it did not deter her from posting further vitriol.

The panel found her guilty on two counts: of posting inappropriate content on Facebook and that the comments were racist in nature.

Robert Barnwell, chairman of the NMC panel, concluded: “The panel determined that the act of posting racially offensive comments, borne out of deep seated attitudinal views, was abhorrent.

“The panel finds that Miss Kane’s actions fell seriously short of the conduct and standards expected of a nurse and amounted to serious misconduct.”

Ms Kane has a 28-day period to lodge any appeal (with an interim ban already in place).

The post Racist nurse struck off for anti-Muslim Facebook posts appeared first on TELL MAMA.

“I am outraged that my country is changing and Great Britain is looking less great. I am also sick of holding my tongue. Enough.

The simple fact is that nearly half of Muslims in the UK think that the bearded loons who spout violence against the West are pretty much in line with mainstream Muslim opinion.

According to a BBC poll, almost half – 45% – believe that extremist clerics who preach violence against the West are “not out of touch.”

Do you hear that? 45% of Muslims in the UK think that the hooked preacher of hate was dead on the money. There are bearded fanatics ranting in the street encouraging ‘their brothers’ to machete the heads of white boys and not approvingly as they sauntee of to Sainsbury’s.

When I heard the BBC celebrating that the majority of British Muslims are opposed against those who want to fight against British interests, I wanted to yank my radio from the wall and hurl it through the window of the nearest Halal only subway.”

Katie Hopkins and her views do not just belong in the last century, some of her comments are racialised and insidiously present a ‘white’ and ‘black’ perspective. She comments on cutting the heads of white young men, yet fails to add that Jihadis have killed both Muslims and non-Muslims and people of many races. Yet, it is interesting to note that she does not contextualise her comments.

In the article, Katie mentions that she has been warned by legal advisors regarding commenting on issues such as this. She clearly continues to disregard that advice. Only time will tell whether Katie crosses a line through her language.

The post Katie Hopkins Felt That She Wanted To Hurl Her Radio Through A Halal Only Subway appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The post What Does TELL MAMA Actually do? appeared first on TELL MAMA.

“You have worked hard to buy your house and it is only fair that you know what is happening in your locality. The local authority will not advise you, will they!”

The bold text and the underlining of the term Shia has been deemed to be derogatory by the local Shia community and the leaflet has been crime referenced by the local force.

Such anti-Shia bigotry, whilst subtle, is unacceptable and we passed on the material to the relevant force. We also have to call the incident what it is, anti-Muslim bigotry albeit targeted at the local Shia community in the South West of the country.

The post Anti-Shia Poster Stuck onto Premises for Shia Ahlubayt Centre appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Part of my review will necessarily look at external engagement and communications to ensure that our important contributions are consistent with our values and leave no room for any confusion.

Due to the nature of the work we do, we are especially keen on building stronger relationships with the media as well as ensuring our various stakeholders have a real say in how we develop over the coming years.

I am aware of a recent press article that has led to various comments in the social media and elsewhere, some of which were not just beyond the pale but frankly vile. I regret that certain individuals, including Baroness Warsi, were subjected to this type of abuse, which has no place in our society.

In part, due to this occurrence, I will be putting into place a framework and protocols for engagement with the press that mitigates against a repeat of such occurrences and ensures clarity in our messaging. While we cannot control the comments section of online publications or the social media, I believe we all have a responsibility to limit the opportunities for individuals to engage in this behavior by better communications and messaging.

I want to re-affirm our commitment to our values which are to support victims and groups, to assist policymakers in developing policy that is fit for purpose, and to focus attention on the fight against the evil of Islamophobia, while also committing ourselves to speaking out against all forms of hatred irrespective of faith or any other consideration.”

The post Update from Chair, Shahid Malik on Current Review appeared first on TELL MAMA.

“Beware: Halal is barbaric and funds terrorism. #Banhalal”

The letter states that there ‘has been quite a demand’ for the material and goes onto attack Halal food. This material has been passed onto the relevant force and anyone coming across such stickers should notify us, where possible.

The post Beer and Bacon Council Of Great Britain Promotes Anti-Muslim Stickers appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The vandals have no compassion or empathy in sparing a thought for the Jewish mother, the father or the soldier who died and who once lived on this earth. They have no empathy as to whether the individuals taught, whether they stood up against fascism, whether they campaigned for equality or whether they brought up families. All they know is that their anger and hate has been dissipated by targeting the symbols of the dead.

Such antisemitism should be seen as an insult against our mothers, our fathers and our soldiers. It should be seen as a smear against our teachers and our family members since the history of Europe is one of communities who have lived, shared lives and grown up together. It is a history where a Jewish mother should bring out feelings within us that allow us to connect with her through references and actions that remind us of our mothers.

Today, they break the headstones of the dead. Tomorrow, let us hope that they ask for forgiveness for their actions.

The post Vandalism of Jewish Graves Is An Assault on Us All appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Thursday 12^th February 2015

Faith Matters and the Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) project were shocked to learn of the tragic murders of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on February 10. The victims of this senseless attack were reportedly killed by a single gunshot to the head and were named as 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat, his 21-year-old wife Yusor Abu-Salha and her 19-year-old sister Razan Abu-Salha.

46-year-old Craig Steven Hicks is presently in jail without bond on three murder charges but the motive remains unclear at this time. Police have stated that they are investigating reports of “an ongoing neighbour dispute over parking” but “understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated”. But the woman’s father, Mohammad Abu-Salha, disagrees and wants it investigated as a hate crime.

“This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt,” Mr Abu-Salha told local media.

The suspect’s Facebook page appears to show an enthusiasm for firearms and a deep dislike of all religion, with the majority of posts expressing a vigorous support for atheism. One recent post read “Praying is pointless, useless, narcissistic, arrogant, and lazy; just like the imaginary god you pray to.” In late 2013, Hicks shared a meme that denied Islamophobia and any subsequent racism Muslims may experience.

The murders have caused a huge outpouring of grief from people all around the world and prompted a debate about whether the students had been targeted because of their faith. Members of the public from all faiths and backgrounds have taken to social media to express their shock and anger, not just at the murders themselves but also at the lack of media coverage the case has generated and the lack of emphasis placed on the very real possibility that these murders were motivated by anti-Muslim hate and prejudice.

Faith Matters and the Tell MAMA project are very concerned that the victims of these murders may have been deliberately targeted because of their Muslim faith and appearance. For a number of years we have been highlighting the increasing number of anti-Muslim attacks occurring in the UK, and the spread of hateful material online by right wing extremists which divides and harms communities. In the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, negative and biased media coverage of Islam and Muslim communities has continued to grow and this fuels the feelings of fear and anxiety experienced by many British Muslims in the current climate.

All forms of hate crime are unacceptable and it is important to remember that acts of violence are not confined to one particular religion, race or ethnic group. Faith Matters and the Tell MAMA project would like to take this opportunity to remind members of the public to report any anti-Muslim hate incidents that you witness or are the victim of:

• If you are the victim of threats or violence because you are Muslim, call the police (dial 999, or 101 for non-emergencies). You can also report directly to Tell MAMA.
• If you are the victim of online anti-Muslim hate, report it to the relevant organisation (e.g. Twitter, Facebook). You can also report directly to Tell MAMA.
• If your child is suffering anti-Muslim bullying or harassment at school, share your concerns with the school staff. You can also report directly to Tell MAMA. 
• Ensure that any place of worship you attend has an emergency plan that can be implemented should you or others feel in danger.

• Complete the online form at http://tellmamauk.org/submit-a-report/
• Phone Tell MAMA on 0800 456 1226
• Text Tell MAMA on 01157 070 007
• Email Tell MAMA at info@tellmamauk.org
• Tweet Tell MAMA @tellmamauk
• Message Tell MAMA on Facebook at TellMamaUK

The post Statement from TELL MAMA on the Chapel Hill Shooting appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Mrs S (victim) wore the Hijab and had her mobile phone tucked into her Hijab, (which she was using as some form of a ‘hands-free’ mechanism) and as she drove off, she became aware of the vehicle coming close to her, which made her feel that her safety was at risk. Intimidated, she slowed down whereupon the two young white males started to point at her, swearing and laughing as they drove side by side with her vehicle.

Whilst this intimidation was taking place, the two perpetrators started to take pictures of the victim on their mobile phones.

Concern

We are concerned at the targeting of visible Muslim females and the level of intimidation that was attached to this case. We are also concerned about pictures that have been taken of the female and the fact that the victim felt that she was at some considerable risk.

In such an instance, we would advise people to call the emergency services and to also inform us where possible. Such targeted anti-Muslim hate is unacceptable and could costs lives.

The post Muslim Woman Driving in Essex Abused, Intimidated & Photographed Whilst Driving appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Messages spoke of their disgust at the mindless act of vandalism, others expressed messages of solidarity and peace.

Ruth Phelps, helped organise this act of solidarity after being sickened by vandalism, told local press: “I have lived in Norwich for 23 years and I know we are all in this community together. It’s dreadful what’s happened. And for it to happen in Norwich is so upsetting for the community.”

Police are investigating but nobody is jumping to conclusions that the vandalism was anti-Muslim in nature. The incident took place at 6:30am on Saturday and damage to the 11 panes of glass will cost upwards of £1,000 to replace.

Jamal Sealy thanked the wider community and highlighted how some are even raising funds to support them: “Ever since it happened Facebook has been going crazy, we’ve had attention on our website, and members of the public have been coming in non-stop, posting flyers and leaflets in the door,” he said. “We’ve heard of people trying to raise the funds to help us pay for the damage. It’s been overwhelming; it’s really been a positive thing.”

Nor will vandalism deter the openness the mosque expresses to the wider community. It will continue hosting an open-to-all coffee morning every Sunday and the upcoming Islamic Awareness Week (March 17-23) will see this openness continue and grow.

Donations to help pay for the repairs can be made to the Ihsan Mosque and Islamic Centre at 17 Chapelfield, Norwich.

Anybody with information should contact Sgt Dan Cocks at Bethel Street Police Station on 101 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The post Local community ‘love-bombs’ Norwich mosque after it was vandalised appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Yet these words, spoken by a news commentator are still relevant today and apply to those who seek to hate others by virtue of the God that they worship and by the religious activities that they undertake.

“And each of us who has allowed the shape of another person’s nose or the colour of their skin or the manner in which they worship their God to poison our feeling towards them, have known the loss of reason that led (Adolf) Eichmann to this madness.”

The ‘madness’ that was being referred to was the genocide of Jews, Roma/Sinti and many other groups during the implementation of the Final Solution. These words are still relevant today and demonstrate why we must remain strong and vigilant against those who dehumanise others on the basis of their features, their skin colour or the manner in which they worship God.

The post Words Spoken After the Trial of Adolf Eichmann Still Resonate Today appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This is a well recognised project and the role will involve reaching out and working with Muslim communities in the West Midlands. Additionally, the role will raise awareness within Muslim communities to report in anti-Muslim hate, support victims of anti-Muslim hate and to assist in the mapping, measuring and monitoring of anti-Muslim hate.

This is a part time role for 2 days per week for a year. This role would ideally suit someone who has an interest or direct experience in hate crime work and someone who is personable and able to work with communities.

The ideal candidate will be one with over 2 years of experience in hate crime work and someone who has an understanding of Muslim communities and on work relating to anti-Muslim hate. The candidate will also be a self-starter and have a pro-active approach since he/she will be working somewhat independently within the region. They will also have a good awareness and understanding of issues affecting communities in the West Midlands area.

The role will also involve working with the West Midlands Police, local authorities, mosques, schools, further education colleges, universities and women’s civil society groups in the region.

It will be based in the West Midlands and attracts an attractive salary, (£25,000 per annum – pro-rata).

If you are interested in applying for the role, please send your CV with a covering letter to the Director of TELL MAMA. You can e-mail this through to info@tellmamauk.org. The closing date for applications is 5 pm on Thursday the 26th of February 2015.

The post Recruiting for an Outreach Officer for the West Midlands Region appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Light Sleeper

We have stated many times that antisemitism is a scourge and as the Chief Rabbi said only a few weeks ago, it is a light sleeper. Yet today’s Question Time raised a few troubling issues, ones that politicians should reflect on.

The first point to be made is that those who query whether there was a rise, or whether some of the statements made on-line or off-line were caused because of the Govt of Israel’s actions should read the CST report. It is clear, concise and has a specific methodology. It is also important to stress that the actions of the Israeli Government should not be conflated and placed as a burden on Jews in the UK. This is, in fact, the same trope which is used against Muslims where terrorism is blamed on all Muslims even though they have no control over the situation.  Allied to this, calls are made to Muslims as a whole to apologise for the actions of their co-religionists.

Criticism of State Policies

Criticism of Israel does not necessarily fall into the bracket of antisemitism and the right to criticise Israeli domestic or foreign policy is a fundamental right just as criticising any government’s policy or sets of policies are. However, criticising only one state and focussing all criticism on that state may be driven by antisemitism and the context of the individual is therefore important in making that assessment.

Furthermore, comparisons between anti-Muslim hate and antisemitism in a way that tries to play into a ‘competitiveness of victimisation’ are unhelpful. It is morally objectionable to try and say that antisemitism or anti-Muslim are worse than the other. Both of these social ills need tackling, particularly where there are some strong similarities between the two, whilst acknowledging that there are also some differences which are unique to each phenomenon.

Who Speaks for Anti-Muslim Hate?

We also need to acknowledge that much of the discussion today was rightly about antisemitism given that CST’s report has just been released. Troublingly though, it must be said that no other speaker on the panel mentioned anti-Muslim hate, (sometimes referred to as Islamophobia), so it was left to Parliamentarian Galloway to raise the depressing topic of anti-Muslim hate. (There was one reference made by Shadow Education Minister Tristram Hunt to a mosque being attacked in his constituency though the vast majority of the discussion on anti-Muslim hate was raised by Galloway.)

So herein lies the problem. Galloway raised a legitimate issue, that of the fear now being felt within Muslim communities and he repeated, in no uncertain terms, the need to tackle  both antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate. Additionally, one cannot dismiss the fact that Galloway is someone who is seen as controversial by some because of his views on the Middle East.

So when Galloway raises the issue of anti-Muslim hate, it is easy for some viewers to just dismiss his views and in doing so, dismiss the very real fact that anti-Muslim hate is a problem which sadly affects Muslim communities in our country. In contrast, if another politician was to have confirmed that anti-Muslim hate is a real and ongoing issue it may have helped to overcome some of the dismissiveness of individuals who were not willing to listen to what Galloway had to say, because it was Galloway who was talking about anti-Muslim hate.

The Test

Maybe one of the markers of our success in TELL MAMA is when politicians on Question Time raise issues around anti-Muslim hate and do so with some confidence, armed with facts and with a desire to highlight the issue. Until then anti-Muslim hate will remain something that a select few set of MP’s will raise and even then, partly due to the fact that they have a large number of Muslim constituents.

There is a lot of work for us to do, but what we can say is that maybe next year, a few more politicians will feel able enough to highlight the need to counter anti-Muslim hate and antisemitism.

The post Anti-Muslim Hate & Antisemitism Should Be Tackled appeared first on TELL MAMA.

“There are currently in this country about 2.5 million Muslims, of whom about 100,000 are thought to be potential sympathisers to the terrorist cause. Everybody agrees that we will find a long-term solution to the terrorist problem only by keeping the majority of Muslims in this country on our side and doing what we can to bring about an ideological shift of attitude among those 100,000 Muslims. That will take a long time—probably a generation or more.” – column 671

So where did these alarming figures come from? The figures that Lord Lloyd of Berwick quoted were probably based on a Pew Study poll in 2007  and with responses to a question on whether suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilian targets to defend Islam could be justified, in Europe.

The Pew Poll suggested that,

” 70% of Muslims in Britain believed it could never be justified, 9% believed it could be justified rarely, 12% sometimes, and 3% thought it could be justified often.”

This equation roughly translates into the statement made by Lord Lloyd of Berwick though one disclaimer needs to be made. The study is now over 8 years old and looking at the figures in this context, are they a realistic assessment? The answer is pretty obvious that a decade old study does not make a reliable foundation on which to base an assumption on.

Still, you have to give it to Lord Lloyd. His comments certainly woke up the audience from their slumber.

The post Lord Lloyd of Berwick States That There are 100,000 Muslim Sympathisers of Terrorism appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The Daily Mail has reported that UKIP is the first party to back a ban on religious slaughter and UKIP said that it was:

“about time someone stood up for the rights of the silent majority in the ethical treatment of animals instead of bowing down to those who shout the loudest.”

This coming after a drive from UKIP to reach out to Jewish communities. Yet, interestingly, the Party’s Agriculture Spokesperson, MEP Stuart Agnew stated to the Jewish Chronicle that,

“This isn’t aimed at you – it’s aimed elsewhere – it’s aimed at others. You’ve been caught in the crossfire; collateral damage. You know what I mean.”

What Stuart Agnew is saying is that this policy is meant to be targeted against Muslims, yet it seems that the Party’s Agriculture Spokesperson does not realise that the vast majority of Halal meat is pre-stunned. In fact, we have highlighted in detail, the current position regarding the pre-stunning of meat material that finds it way into the Halal market. For example, for some Muslims, pre-stunning is acceptable if the blow does not kill. Research found that 75% of cattle, 93% of sheep and 100% of chickens slaughtered in the UK for Halal meat were pre-stunned before slaughter. Other research points to a similar conclusion. But the Halal Monitoring Committee rejects pre-stunning.

So exactly what has the UKIP agriculture spokesperson brought forward through his discussions with the Jewish Chronicle? That UKIP policy was meant to target Muslims and unfortunately Jews have become the ‘collateral damage’ (his words) in the policy making process.

The feelings of Jewish communities are well summed up in these tweets by the Political Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Marcus Dysch, and the Editor of the JC, Steven Pollard:

The post UKIP’s Agriculture Spokesperson Targets Halal Food Without Knowing Facts appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Ian Couch targeted the mosque in a drunken rage after the news of James Foley’s execution by ISIS dominated headlines. But the courts looked favourably at Couch’s remorse.

In mitigation it was revealed that Couch struggles with depression and alcoholism. In court, he spoke only to ‘profusely apologise’ for his actions. Couch now must undergo a six month treatment programme to help him address his alcoholism on top of a victim surcharge of £80 and £420 towards prosecution fees.

Couch stood for UKIP in the Shelfords and Stapleford Ward district council elections and gained 388 votes last year. But Conservative candidate Joseph Shelton was elected with 1143 votes.

Prior to the trial’s conclusion, the judiciary in the Couch case dismissed his claim that the email to the mosque was merely “freedom of expression”.

Lead magistrate Marisa Johnson also criticised Couch for hiding his bigotry behind a free speech defence against the “indefensible”.

“We find the email was offensive – we are offended by it and it had the intention of causing offence and distress to the people who received it,” she said.

Abdul Muquith, a taxi driver, who volunteers at the mosque discovered the email, and told the court of his disgust at reading the contents of the email. Couch’s Facebook page had little in the way of privacy settings, so many of his wall posts remain publicly accessible, Muquith’s disgust increased after discovering some of the content on Couch’s Facebook.

Indeed, some examples include the sharing an image that depicts Muslims (by extension Arabs) in racist caricatures fleeing depictions of the Prophet Muhammad held up by cartoon pigs, Couch compliments the image with the statement ‘Fecking Musies’. Nor was Couch adverse to sharing memes relating to bacon.

The court heard other anti-Muslim statements including ‘your religion is a disgrace’ and ‘the sooner we destroy Islam the better’. Couch also shared a meme that described the Qur’an as a declaration of war.

The photo of the pig’s head accompanied the text ‘Something for the beheading; hate preaching Muslims to think about over Friday morning prayers. The Police will probably be the 1st to retrieve the pigs head. Isn’t it funny that they can cut off women and childrens heads but can’t touch a pigs? Muslim w*nk raping stains’.

Couch’s rant went further ‘Feck the murdering Musies. Have some of your reality. You preach, we tollirate and you hide behind a British Passport that we gave you…’

Many felt a justified rage when the terrorist group ISIS murdered western journalists so publicly but many did not react like Couch, targeting ordinary Muslims in Britain with hate messages.

UKIP asked Couch to leave the party after his anti-Islam views were exposed, a move he agreed with, according to Paul Bullen, UKIP group leader for Cambridge County Council.

The post Ex-Ukip candidate avoids prison for sending online hate to mosque appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Despite legislation being passed through Parliament at lightning pace, the House of Lords debated the Counter-terrorism and Security Bill over three days in the committee stage. During this time, members of the House of Lords made amendments to a bill that is over forty pages long.

Judicial oversight

The first day of the committee stage was dominated by a discussion about judicial oversight, the question of ‘reasonable suspicion’ and the role of the courts in validating Temporary Exclusion Orders (TEOs), an issue that was divisive in the House of Commons and frequently mentioned in earlier stages in the House of Lords.

On the first day of committee, amendments were passed that add a new schedule to the end of the bill that stipulates that after the Secretary of State imposes a TEO (where a British national that has engaged in terrorism-related activities is prevented from returning to the United Kingdom for two years) the court, within seven days, must consider whether the imposition of such an order is “obviously flawed” (Hansard, 20 Jan 2015, Col 1260).

The success of some of the amendments (which were sponsored by Lord Bates, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Home Office) suggests that the government has taken a more conciliatory position on judicial oversight than their representatives did in the House of Commons. The amendments maintain the power of the Home Secretary to impose a TEO in the case of urgency while ensuring that the use of this power is circumscribed by appropriate due process.

During the second day of committee, discussion focused on the position of the courts in reviewing cases where Terrorism Prevention Investigatory Measures were put on individuals, forcing them to relocate in what has been referred to as ‘internal exile’. The amendment attempted to subject the Home Secretary’s power to impose forced relocation of a terrorism suspect to judicial oversight by having a court confirm if, “on the balance of probabilities, the individual is, or has been, involved in terrorism-related activity” (Hansard, 26 January 2015, Col 18). This amendment, despite a long debate, did not pass.

Data retention

Debate on the second day was also concerned with Part 3 of the bill, which includes clauses that call on telecommunications companies to retain relevant internet data, primarily IP addresses and MAC addresses that have identifiable information about users. There was serious debate over the limits to what data would be collected, how long it would be stored, and in what cases it could be used. Messages sent on the internet, for example, have identifiable metadata and telecommunications operators could be served with a data retention notice that would require them to hold such metadata and provide it to authorities for investigation purposes.

According to Lord Bates:

“Any messages sent over the internet, including via social media platforms, will have associated communications data. That has always been the case under existing legislation. Where those data are generated or processed in the UK by a company subject to the data retention notice, they can be used to resolve an IP address–that is, they can be retained under this Bill. Those data could then be accessed only where it was necessary and proportionate to do so for a specific investigation” (Hansard 26 January 2015, Col 31).

The inclusion of this section of the bill is due to a perception that electronic communication is being used to coordinate terrorist activity. However, according to Lord Paddick, this might actually obscure the intelligence picture and may undermine relationships with communities of interest:

“The problem…is getting good intelligence. That is about developing links with the Muslim community and with communities where the extreme right wing operates, and gaining their trust and confidence in order to get that intelligence” (Hansard, 26 January 2015, Col 50).

Despite a long debate with a number of interventions from those that believed that such data retention may not be effective in counter-terrorist policing and might be too invasive a form of surveillance, the clauses in Part 3 of the Bill remained mostly unchanged.

Prevent

On the third day of committee, January 28, debate centered on the question about making the Prevent strategy a statutory ‘duty’ across public institutions. Early on during the discussion, Baroness Warsi raised the point that the Prevent strategy has a number of problems that have been highlighted elsewhere:

“There have been concerns about the Prevent and counter-radicalisation programme for a number of years. There has been a view that it is being done badly, and reports going back as far as five or six years, from 2009 onwards, have consistently argued that the quality of Prevent work is questionable. Indeed in some cases it has been said that the Prevent work itself has further alienated communities rather than deradicalised them” (Hansard, 28 January 2015, Col 212).

A number of other members of the House voiced similar concerns about the Prevent strategy, though no amendments were brought forth that significantly curtailed the propositions made in the bill regarding Prevent. However, based on an outcry from a number of university officials about the Bill limiting free speech on campuses, an amendment was put forward (though it was ultimately withdrawn) that universities would be excluded from the Prevent duty. Baroness Manningham-Buller, a former MI5 head, worried that the bill’s provision for ‘non-violent extremism’ to fall under the Prevent heading would “conflict with university’s existing obligations to protect free speech” (Hansard, 28 January 2015, Cols 241-242). It is possible that there is enough opposition in Parliament to remove universities from the Prevent duty before the bill passes: Baroness Lister, who tabled the amendment, stated the following before she withdrew the amendment:

“I cannot remember many debates in your Lordships’ House where not one noble Lord has spoken in support of the Minister…We have heard important arguments of principle that go to the heart of what a university is about and have pointed out how we could undermine the very values that we are trying to protect.”

Given the skepticism in the House over the inclusion of universities in the Prevent duty, it does seem possible that with some reflection, the Government may change its position when the bill goes to the next round of debate. All the same, there has been little talk of the duty in schools and the NHS.

The amendment also led to an interesting discussion on where radicalisation was taking place and as well as challenging the notion that radicalisation is a linear process. Lords acknowledged that radicalisation does not necessarily occur in universities or even places of worship (see Hansard, 28 January 2015, Col 215). Rather than these sites that equally challenge radicalisation, it was in private spaces that members of the House of Lords mentioned: bedrooms and homes, cafés and online. This demands an approach that does not put a community under scrutiny, though the Prevent strategy as it stands in the bill would police universities and mosques, but have little effect in more private spaces.

Further discussion on the Prevent section of the bill referred to the guidance that the Home Secretary would be required to produce. One of the problems mentioned was the “prescriptive” guidance already produced by the Home Office on the Prevent duty (which refers to the requirement that officials of public institutions be responsible for reporting individuals at risk of radicalisation).

Lord Hannay of Chiswick called the guidance “horrifying” because of its “intrusiveness” and the “absolute impossibility for most universities to carry out these provisions” (Hansard, 28 January 2015, Col 247). He hoped that the Government would revisit the role of universities in the Prevent strategy in future stages of the bill.

An amendment was also put forth pushing the Home Secretary to issue guidance that referred to equalities and discrimination, with the sponsor Baroness Hamwee citing specifically that “Prevent is regarded as a security prism through which all Muslims are seen and that Muslims are suspect until proven otherwise” (28 January 2015, Col 267).

Given the fact that in reality, many terrorist attacks do not involve Muslims and far-right terrorists, who target Muslims directly, have been successful in attacks in Europe recently, it seems that equalities and discrimination guidance would be of particular import in ensuring that the Counter-terrorism and Security Bill takes a balanced approach in protecting all British citizens instead of singling out one community.

After significant debate over the issue, however, the amendment was withdrawn, with Baroness Hamwee calling for “transparency and safeguards” (28 January 2015, Col 279) to ensure that the power that the bill provides is not used in discriminatory fashion. The debate ended on the 28^th (the end of the committee stage), with a number of amendments regarding devolution and local authorities’ roles in a statutory Prevent strategy under the CTS Bill that were not particularly controversial.

Going forward

The report stage of the bill remains in the House of Lords. This means that the opportunities for revision and reflection on the Prevent strategy will have to take place in the next week as the report stage begins on February 2.

Despite a number of opinionated members of the House of Lords strongly against universities being involved in the Prevent duty and discussion of the ineffectiveness and problems of the strategy in terms of alienating the Muslim community, it seems the government has managed to keep most of its Prevent strategy intact.

It remains to be seen if pressure can, in the next few weeks before the bill is voted on and passed into law, dilute the strong position that the Prevent strategy will take if the bill is given Royal Assent in its current form.

The post Counter-terrorism and Security Bill–updates after committee stage in the House of Lords by Bharath Ganesh appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The actual set of comments made by the Minister are listed below, though there are a few things to note and which we believe to be the case. Stephen Williams MP is a hard working and diligent Minister with a strong emotional intelligence for communities and who is willing to listen and to make informed choices. His comments only served to highlight that if the demand for goods and services are not there, they will not survive and this is what he was highlighting by the example that he provided. He was not insinuating that Somali communities are to ‘blame’ in any way and that reading does not accurately reflect what he was trying to explain.

We have confidence in the Ministerial leadership that Stephen Williams MP provides and we hope that we can continue to support and work with his Department to tackle bigotry hate and intolerance and the phenomenon of anti-Muslim hate.

Comments by Stephen Williams MP in the House of Commons

“A blanket protection for every single public house in the country, which is what the new clause envisages, would protect pubs that for various reasons are no longer enjoying the patronage of the community.”

“In my constituency, lots of pubs have closed, but it is usually because of demographic change. Some parts of my constituency, which had a ‘white working-class community’ 20 or 30 years ago, are now populated primarily by recently arrived Somalis and other people. Obviously the pubs in those areas have closed, and some have been converted to other uses, but some of them are still derelict.”

“Is the hon. Gentleman really saying that in all those circumstances, whatever they might be, full planning permission should be required simply to change the use of a former pub to something that may be of benefit to the community?”

“The Government are proposing to look at the public houses that are genuinely popular and valued by the community now, giving them the protection that is already allowed under the Localism Act, and further enhancing that protection under the planning laws, saying, “You cannot convert this pub into another use or demolish it without planning permission.”
“That should address all the worries that people rightly have about the pubs that really are important to them.”

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1.  Raising over £38,000 for a hospital to purchase life-saving equipment

In just six weeks, eight mosques in Preston raised £38,340.86, which included £8,000 from women in the community and £5,000 from madrassah children. The money will go towards investing in the latest technology to diagnose lung cancer.

2.  Working with a Christian charity to support the homeless in Islington

Finsbury Park Mosque will team up with the Christian charity Passage to offer homeless individuals a space to relax, get advice, and food once a week at the mosque.

3.  Turning their mosque into a food bank to help the hungry

In Swansea, one local mosque is extending the days it offers a food bank service to the local community following demand. Muslim and non-Muslim donate food and those receiving help are of all faiths (or none).

4.  Helping converts (and others) learn more about Islam and increase community dialogue

The Light Foundation, a volunteer-run group in Preston, offers a space once a month for the community (that includes converts, other faiths and non-believers) to learn more about Islam and each other.

5.  Running a community event and soup kitchen to help their community

Volunteers from Muslim Community Relations – Nuneaton (MCR-N) hosted a community event to educate others about Islam and provide free food for the poor and homeless. The event was run in conjunction with The Trussell Trust and Salvation Army.

The post 5 positive stories about British Muslims you’ve probably not read appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The Independent has reported on the targeting of young Muslims in schools and this is even more concerning when the Department for Education has made no moves to try and develop material on how teachers can facilitate discussions post Charlie Hebdo. Allied to this is the fact that the Department for Education has issued no guidance on tackling anti-Muslim bigotry and they have confirmed this in the Independent article out today.

We have tried on three separate occasions to meet with the Secretary of State for the Department for Education and on three separate occasions, the request has been turned down even though we are the only agency in the United Kingdom working with victims of anti-Muslim hate and where we have methodically documented the problem. We therefore hope that the Department for Education now does the following:

– That is engages with groups doing this work and develops a specific guidance document on anti-Muslim hate. This should be circulated to as many primary and secondary schools as possible,

– That a short note on the Charlie Hebdo incident be issued to schools to re-iterate that discussions on the Charlie Hebdo incident should not isolate out or alienate Muslim students in classrooms.

Finally, we do hope that the Department for Education takes heed of the need to keep a watching brief on issues around anti-Muslim hatred. The approach taken to date of deferring problems to schools to find solutions is not working. We also hope that the Department realise that tackling hate, intolerance and bigotry is the responsibility of all agencies and that it cannot simply bury its head in the sand, assuming that others will resolve issues of national or international significance that impact on us all.

The post The Department of Education Must Act to Counter Anti-Muslim Prejudice appeared first on TELL MAMA.

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Tell MAMA is following the progress of the Counter-terrorism and Security Bill as it moves through Parliament. The large bill spans travel restrictions, the seizure of passports, making the Prevent programme statutory under the law, and has implications on data, communications and monitoring the population. Follow Tell MAMA to stay up to date on the debates as the bill moves through various stages.

A new law that will significantly expand government powers to counter terrorism is being sped through Parliament. The Counter-Terrorism and Security bill is proposes a number of changes to existing legislation. The bill will significantly impact civil rights in the UK. Introduced for its first reading in the House of Commons on 27 November 2014, the bill is now in at committee in the House of Lords and will be debated further on the 26^th of January, 2015.

The stakes of the bill are very high: it includes ‘temporary exclusion orders’ (Chapter 2 of the bill) and will make the Prevent programme statutory law. Discussion of #ToddlerTerror just after the New Year came out after new guidance from the Home Office (with a consultation closing on the 30^th of January, before the bill will become law) about a ‘Prevent duty’ asserted that all public officials—from university chancellors to police officers, GPs and yes, even nursery school teachers—will be responsible for monitoring and reporting on individuals that might have a propensity to violent extremism.

Discussion in the House of Commons on the 6^th and 7^th of January essentially focused on a debate about judicial oversight of temporary exclusion orders (TEOs). The bill would allow for the seizure of passports of individuals suspected of leaving the UK for terrorism-related activity, but the TEOs, a new power, will require an individual not to return to the UK unless the Secretary of State gives them leave to return. A TEO will be in place for two years and can be placed on an individual that meets four conditions:

1. The Secretary of State ‘reasonably suspects’ that the person in question is engaging in terrorism-related activity.
2. It is expedient to prevent the person from returning to the UK in order to protect other members of the public from the risk of terrorism.
3. The person should be outside the United Kingdom.
4. The person has the right to live in the UK.

MPs broadly agreed that all four conditions were satisfactory. The debates on the 6^th focused on amendments that would require the Secretary of State to apply to a court for permission to impose a TEO (Hansard, 6 January, Col 164). Much of the debate in the long session focused on this question. It got a bit heated after Dominic Grieve (former Attorney General, and a Tory MP) called for judicial oversight:

“Sir Edward Leigh (MP Gainsborough and Horncastle, Con): the people that the Secretary of State is trying to exclude are crazed jihadists who hate our liberties and our country, who cut off the heads of aid workers and who would love to come here and kill our children.” Sir Leigh goes on to say that Grieve’s “old-fashioned” and “legalistic” arguments for judicial oversight of TEOs “are not appropriate for dealing with those sorts of people” (Hansard, 6 January, Col 181). This emotive appeal is disheartening to say the least and it ignores the fact that terrorist attacks in Europe have come from a number of different sources—most of them non-Muslim. Mr Grieve responded that he agreed with the Government’s approach but believes that the courts must be involved: “I happen to believe in the presumption of innocence…judicial oversight would be helpful in giving…authority to the decisions and thereby ensuring that they are accepted within the communities.”

The dialogue between Sir Leigh and Mr Grieve skirts around a key issue: the abuse of ‘reasonable suspicion’ and its disproportionate application on specific communities. Since Section 44 of the Terrorism Act was struck down because it did not require ‘reasonable suspicion’ the clause that replaced it has rarely been used. All the same, according to Liberty, in evidence submitted to Parliament, “reasonable suspicion” offers “little protection from arbitrary use of power” (Liberty, page 6). A clear process of judicial oversight would ensure that TEOs are effective by only excluding those who can be proven to have engaged in illegal activity before excluding them from the UK for two years. As Liberty points out, without courts being involved, the proposed bill could actually terrorist related activities further underground (page 11).

On the 6^th, the amendment for judicial oversight ultimately failed. On the 13^th of January, the House of Lords stated that it will be considered in the committee reading due to happen on Friday. If the law does pass as it is, then it will leave out effective oversight over what counts as reasonable suspicion. At the end of the debate on Tuesday the 6^th, James Brokenshire MP said they would look “carefully” at the suggestions made by David Anderson QC. In his response to the debate, he states quite clearly that the courts should be involved before the imposition of a TEO: “prior permission of the court should be required…such procedures are short and simple [but] they serve to concentrate the Home Secretary’s mind, and ensure that she places all her cards on the table. […] It would not only prevent the abuse of a strong executive power, but offer a guarantee that it will not be abused…to short-cut civil liberties is to play into the terrorists’ hands”. It is imperative that the Lords committee debate take the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism’s recommendations to heart in order to make sensible counter-terrorism policy.

The post Temporary exclusion orders: is reasonable suspicion enough for the government to prevent British citizens from returning to the UK? appeared first on TELL MAMA.

If you choose to use this map, please do reference TELL MAMA where appropriate.

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The Director of TELL MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal, stated:

“This is appalling, where someone has the guts and chutzpah to place such a statement inferring that Islam must die on a university campus that has lots of Muslim students. If that is the case, one can easily infer that this person wants Muslims to be killed and was trying to put themselves outside of hate speech.”

“We suggest that CCTV and relevant resources be used to find this individual or set of individuals. Much has been made of Prevent being enforced and mainstreamed in Universities. Such a case should be looked at within the spectrum of Prevent given the inferences that can be made and given the nature of the crime which was targeted to cause maximum distress and fear to students, particularly Muslim students”

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While UKIP is not classified as ‘far-right’ in the classic sense, Farage’s rhetoric in Brussels repeats Islamophobic, neo-conservative arguments about Islam and Muslims. The claim that Muslims are some kind of fifth column, sneakily waiting to take control of European governments, is textbook Islamophobia.

Anders Breivik used the same language in his manifesto claiming that ‘pro-Islamic networks that have been built up by stealth over the decades’ are part of a ‘fifth column without any loyalty to the state’ (p. 534). The next paragraphs calls for an end to all Muslim immigration and ‘presenting the Muslims already [in Europe with] the options of adapting to our societies or leaving if they desire sharia law’. It’s as if Breivik would offer some kind contract for Muslims to sign that ensures that they will renounce their purportedly inevitable plans for installing Sharia law in Europe.

Breivik’s thinking on Muslims does not come from a vacuum. There is a long history to both assumptions that Muslims are a ‘fifth column’ and that the proper way to deal with this ‘problem’ is to cut immigration and force Muslims to take on ‘European’–read, “Judeo-Christian”–values.

Anti-Muslim ideologues across the world have inspired this misguided thinking. A number of ‘Islamophobia misinformation experts’ such as Robert Spencer stress that Muslims have a clandestine plan to use Sharia law to replace Western governments with a Caliphate. The Center for American Progress, in an influential report, examined the relationship between the ‘experts’ that disseminate these false and inflammatory facts.

Activists like Pamela Geller and terrorists like Anders Breivik pick up this misinformation. In fact, these ‘experts’–many based in the U.S.–are widely read by European anti-Muslim activists, such as those at Stop Islamisation of Europe (who link to Spencer’s and Geller’s websites) and have influenced the EDL. All of them, just like Nigel Farage, take the line that Muslim immigration is a security threat, spread fear that Muslims are agents of a Sharia take-over, and demand that Muslims ‘assimilate’ on their terms.

Prominent Ukip members have pushed policies and made statements that demonstrate anti-Muslim sentiment. In 2006, London MEP Gerard Batten worked with a former Muslim, Sam Solomon to write a ‘Muslim charter’ that asks Muslims to affirm that domestic law takes precedence over Sharia (a notion already present in Islamic theology, see Article 2, pg 11 of the Ukip Muslim charter).

Batten reproduces the very same anxieties about Islam that the ‘misinformation experts’ above articulate: “Islamic fundamentalists…believe in Islamic theocracy, a universal Muslim society, the Umma, based on political rule according to the Qur’an and Sunnah.” We see that Batten’s fear is that ‘bad Muslims’ are lurking between the ‘good Muslims’ that want to decimate Western democracy.

This argument is not exactly the same as that of the ‘Islamophobia misinformation experts’ as Batten draws a line between fundamentalists and ‘moderate’ Muslims. Nigel Farage has strategically condemned the Muslim charter and claims that they treat those from all faiths and backgrounds equally.

Farage’s fear of a fifth column lurking in the Muslim contains an implicit demand that the community prove its compatibility with European ‘values’. In fact, it might be that the massacre at Charlie Hebdo in Paris encouraged Farage to take a position even further to the right as he calls for Europeans to bravely stand up against threats to ‘Judeo-Christian’ culture. Just yesterday on Fox News, Nigel Farage said that some parts of France are ‘no-go’ areas for Muslims, causing the French Embassy in London to compare Farage to Steven Emerson (who recently made the same claim about all of Birmingham). Gerard Batten, on his blog, brought up the Muslim charter again following the attack in Paris, claiming that such attacks are a problem that only Muslims can solve.

While many who comment on Ukip suggest that it is not a far-right party, there is a significant overlap in their rhetoric about Muslims that should not be overlooked. Despite arguments that the far-right is in decline it is clear that constituents in support of far-right parties such as Britain First, the EDL, and the BNP are now voting for Ukip. Of course voters do not define a party, but Farage’s comments in Brussels suggest a latent anti-Muslim prejudice may be evident in the UK Independence Party.

The post UKIP and Islamophobia After Charlie Hebdo, by Bharath Ganesh appeared first on TELL MAMA.

President Hollande talked this evening about the need to react with solidarity between communities. We agree. It is at a time like this that we say that targeted hate towards any community must lead to a co-ordinated and united approach. Today, we stand with Jewish communities and we say #JeSuisJuif:

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This evening, Twitter users highlighted what seems to be multiple racially aggravated incidents against members of the public travelling on a Virgin Train to Liverpool. Racial abuse was targeting at Black, Chinese and ‘Romanian’ individuals and the tweets highlighted that no Virgin staff that were on hand to intervene to stop the racism listed in the tweets.

Tweets also suggest that an Arab looking gentleman was detained by police, and it seems, no action was taken against the perpetrators.

We will be writing to Virgin Trains again to highlight racism on their trains and to push home the fact that the Company should have a zero tolerance policy on their trains to such racism and bigotry. Anyone promoting racism should be immediately reported to the police and removed from the train, with police assistance. For such bigotry and intolerance to be targeted towards passengers travelling on trains in our country is intolerable and we urge Virgin Trains and British Transport Police to review on-board cameras to identify the individuals responsible and if the racism is confirmed, then charges should be sought. Nothing less will be acceptable if Virgin is to be seen to be effective in tackling such issues.

(We would like to thank the Twitter account below for highlighting the incident on-line.)

The post Virgin Comes in For Criticism Regarding Racism on Trains appeared first on TELL MAMA.

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We also want to thank Stella Creasy MP for her work in contacting the police and in trying to ensure that women were not unduly scared by the social media messages which were circulating.

We hope that the perpetrators are caught and that the victims of these hate crimes receive the justice that is needed. They deserve our support and the best way to handle such issues is to let the police bring the perpetrators to justice rather than the community ‘patrols’ type remedy which was being circulated by social media yesterday evening. Such ‘patrol’s’ would simply ratchet up community tensions.

We wish the victims a speedy recovery and that justice in these cases is done.

Police in Waltham Forest are investigating two racially aggravated incidents in the proximaty of Boundary Road, E17. Both incidents took place 5 days apart and are not related. Incidents of this nature are taken with the utmost seriousness. On-going work is taking place to dispel a large number of false rumours currently circulating on social media regarding these events.

Police will continue to work with partners, faith groups and senior stakeholders in order to provide reassurance to residents within the Boundary Road area. There will continue to be a policing presence in Boundary road over the next few days and engagement by the local neighbourhood team.

The post Waltham Forest Social Media Messages – Latest Update by Police appeared first on TELL MAMA.

A few days ago, the perpetrator was sentenced to the following, a 12 months community order, 120 hours of unpaid work, a £250 compensation payout and £85 in costs. The attack on Hasina was also highlighted in the local press.
This is a statement from Hasina and from the partner body, SARI, who picked up the case with TELL MAMA and the result that sends a clear message that anti-Muslim bigotry will be taken to prosecution where possible.

Hasina’s Statement

“Ultimately this is about my human rights as a woman, choosing what to wear is a basic human right.  It is my body and if I chose to cover it that’s my decision.  There are lots of beautiful women who chose to cover their bodies and they should not live in fear of being attacked.  What is frightening is that a small woman was attacked by a male in broad daylight in a public place, there were many onlookers who turned a blind eye and who did not even approach the woman to ask if she was OK. That is a very bad snapshot of society.

I hope other women come forward and report the attacks they have experienced.”

SARI’s statement re: Hasina’s case:

Alex Raikes MBE, Interim Director of Stand Against Racism & Inequality (SARI) says, “We have been supporting Hasina with regards to this appalling incident and working with her to achieve justice for the attack she faced and to overcome the trauma it has caused her.  Hasina has also been supporting SARI with the work we are doing to prevent this sort of abuse and to foster respect for all faith communities. 

This is an Islamophobic incident where a complete stranger decided they could assault someone just because they of their faith and the way they dress. 

This attack was not just on Hasina – it was on her family and her entire community.  It was on all people who are Muslim. 

The United Kingdom is proud that it is a free country where people are entitled to freedom of their religion or belief, their customs and their way of life.  We are a country that has strong laws about equality and human rights including people having a choice to celebrate their religion of choice. 

In this case a woman’s human rights were violated.  No one should be attacked because of who they are. 

The majority of British people are tolerant and embracing of difference and it is very sad that just a few individuals choose to be so hostile to their fellow human beings rather than enjoy and celebrate the diverse world they live in. 

SARI asks that all Bristol residents who read this article do all they can to stop hate crime and racist abuse.  This means not walking by when they see someone being bullied, harassed or attacked but speaking out and saying this is wrong. 

SARI is seeing a rise in unprovoked attacks on Muslim communities.  40% of our caseload (500 cases in 2013-2014) were Muslim.  We also find that perpetrators of this abuse will target anyone they perceive to be Muslim even if they are not.  We have seen attacks on taxi drivers and many on women and children who, like Hasina, are just trying to go about their normal lives.  This includes a mum with her two children being kicked and verbally, racially abused just because she was wearing Hijab while on the way to the shops and just last week we saw a Life Sentence imposed on another male who attempted to murder a Somali man because he is Muslim.  He is now in a coma and unlikely to recover.  We are supporting his family with the horrendous impact this has had on their lives”.

The post Success: Anti-Muslim Bigot is Prosecuted Through partnership of TELL MAMA, SARI and Hasina’s Courage appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Any balanced and fair person will be sickened by the predatorial grooming actions that have come to light since Rotherham and which have involved men from a variety of ethnic groups. Some commentators and extremist far right bigots have tried to link their faith as being a cause, even though any and every faith strongly reject ideas of rape or intercourse with children. Yet, they selectively choose and twist historical elements within Islamic history to ‘prove’ that their twisted ideology is right. This self-selecting of information which resonates with their extreme rhetoric is another feature of today’s modern world.

Furthermore, some of those who promote this notion, easily forget the victims or the fact that child sexual exploitation is an issue that affects all communities. Yet, we have never had any faith linked to such behaviour, even when Christian priests have been found to have been involved in paedophilia over a number of years.

Lastly, there is something sinister about this graphic which has already done the rounds on social media. The suggestion that the police or social workers should not be approached is ‘advice’ that can cost lives and is deeply damaging by breaking down trust in the State’s mechanisms to support vulnerable young girls. Whilst purporting to stand up for the protection of young English girls, the advice is not to engage with support services or the State. This is precisely the opposite of what young girls should do and that is to engage with and get support if they feel that they are being targeted.

The graphic is also misleading and based on the assumption that only ‘English’ girls are at risk and the picture has a young white girl placed on it. Yet, gangs of men are also preying on Asian and Muslim women too though this is not highlighted in this deeply racialised graphic.

Child sexual exploitation is therefore an issue for all communities and given the sad reality of greater risks through on-line activity. If there is one fact that should be promoted, it is this one so that we can all be aware of the risks to young children who need our support and protection.

The post Graphics Which Play on Fear, Bigotry and Racial and Religious Segregation appeared first on TELL MAMA.

So, could we take that to also mean that migrants from non-EU countries would therefore, according to Lord Tebbit, be subjected to the Cricket Test and then be bowled a googly with the, ‘So who did your father fight for in the Second World War‘ test?

Looks like according to Lord Tebbit, its ‘howzat’ for those pesky Axis loving foreigners.

The post Lord Norman Tebbit says EU Migrants Should Be Assessed on Which Side Their Parents Fought For appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We work in partnership with a range of mainstream and statutory organisations such as Victim Support, local police forces, advice agencies and with social media platforms, (where applicable). We share platforms with some organisations and we have a ‘no platform’ policy of talking at events with extreme groups.

Just because we share platforms with organisations does not mean that we are part of them or that we work with them. For example, we have shared platforms with the Quilliam Foundation, an anti-extremism organisation, who kindly organised an event for us. They are a separate organisation and we, as Faith Matters, co-ordinating the TELL MAMA project, are a separate organisation. Our independence is fundamental to us and we will maintain our independence for the benefit of users and beneficiaries.

2) Are you the only organisation undertaking anti-Muslim monitoring work?

Yes, no other organisation in the UK is undertaking anti-Muslim mapping, measuring and monitoring work. We are leaders in the field in developing knowledge in this area and whilst some organisations may suggest that they do work in anti-Muslim prejudice monitoring, they simply do not focus wholly on it or have the capability to fully analyse what is happening at a grass-roots level. Obviously, the police do, yet our work is providing a third-party community based service where anti-Muslim bigotry can be reported in.

3) Are you a Muslim organisation?

No, we work with faith communities through Faith Matters and we are not a ‘Muslim organisation’. What is key though is that TELL MAMA provides a community centred focus for information on anti-Muslim hate to be reported in and this is unique about the service. As we have stated before, one or two organisations will suggest that they do work on anti-Muslim hate crimes and what they do is to provide community information on where to report in. They do not have systems for case recording, data collection, analyses and routes into police forces where cases can be worked upon. We do and we hope that they will ensure that members of the public refer in information. Sadly though, some organisations who work with Muslim communities could do much more to ensure that people report into us and they choose not to provide a range of information sources to Muslim communities, whilst talking about ’empowering’ Muslim organisations. This actually does a dis-service to Muslim communities.

4) What is your stance about homophobia and intra-Muslim bigotry?

We understand that people will have their own religious beliefs about issues relating to LGBTQ relationships. Our position is clear. We are not the ‘thought police’ and people can believe what they want. However, if that hate and bigotry is promoted publicly and targeted against people from these communities, or against groups like Ahmadiyya communities, we will support people reporting in that bigotry and we would expect that action is taken. Just as Muslims should not be targeted, so other communities should not be targeted and our Director, Fiyaz Mughal, has also stated this on many occasions, texts of which can be found here, here and here

5) How can mosques and Islamic institutions help you?

We need them to report in hate crimes and they can do so through the following methods listed below. We also want individuals to come forward and report in anti-Muslim hate, whether at a street level or on-line, to us. It is essential for people to access justice and to stand up and be counted. We are also aware that some may not, and we can take in anonymous reports from them.  The key here is, don’t suffer in silence.

TELL MAMA can be contacted by phone on 0845 456 1226. By e-mail on info@tellmamauk.org, by Twitter on @tellmamauk and by Facebook: TELLMAMAUK. Individuals can also text us and we can call you back: 01157070007

The post 5 Things You May Want to Know About TELL MAMA appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Or retweets content from the unpleasant @JihadistJoe or individuals wanting Islam banned and mosques shut down in Britain.

How about manipulating police appeals with a crude anti-Muslim reference? On November 17 @DowHeater tweeted “FOUR Nasty Evil Bastard #Muslims kick a pregnant woman to the ground PL RT.”But the police make no reference to religion.

@DowHeater tweets another manipulated screen shot of a BBC news report that includes the word “Muslim”. Yet again, there is no reference to religion in the original article.

What about the far-right English Defence League? Turns out they’ve earned @DowHeater’s respect: “Don’t Believe BS abt #EDL these ppl have taken a lot of shit and lies thrown at them, #respect”

In August, @DowHeater exploited a series of murders to call for the boycott of Muslim businesses.

In July, the @DowHeater account wanted “Islam out of the UK” after linking to a story about Vue Cinemas ‘discriminating against non-Muslims’ (a story more complex than originally reported).

I’ve already dedicated more words than intended in exposing the vile @DowHeater account. Accounts like @DowHeater are only content with caricatures of religious identity – where the crimes of a minority are held up as the majority and where ethnicity brings an assumption of faith. The echo chamber is self-evident.

Robust critique of religion is welcome but advocating for its removal from Britain is not.

The post The Central Conduits of Anti-Muslim Bigotry and Online Hate appeared first on TELL MAMA.

In my view there are three fundamental causes of anti-Muslim prejudice.

Firstly, prejudice against otherness and difference is a universal human failing. There are many types of difference:

• Colour
• Culture
• Language
• Religion

Most other groups in Britain exhibit perhaps one or two differences. For example Black Caribbeans have a different colour, but their culture, language and religion are often the same or similar to white Britons.

In the case of Muslims in Britain, all four of these factors often apply at the same time. That makes this first universal failing stronger in its impact upon Muslims.

Secondly, for approximately 25 years, anti-Muslim prejudice has been fuelled by the deplorable behaviour of some Muslims. This began with the book burning and death threats against Salman Rushdie arising from his book “The Satanic Verses”. We subsequently saw terrorism overseas by Muslims such as the East Africa embassy bombings, 9/11 and then terrorism at home in the form of 7/7. Against this background no Muslim should be surprised by a rise in anti-Muslim prejudice.

Thirdly, we Muslims often create difference between Muslims and others when we don’t need to, by the language that we use. To give just three examples.

Allah instead of God
Isa instead of Jesus
Moussa instead of Moses

Each of the above choices creates the implication that Muslims are talking about someone different. Our own language creates the implication that Muslims worship a different god from Jews or Christians.

The anti-Muslim sentiments that exist in certain parts of the population are then fed by some politicians such as Nick Griffin of the British National Party and by some segments of the media for their own political or commercial purposes.

The common denominator of anti-Muslim prejudice is that, at its most fundamental, it denies Muslims the same rights that others take for granted. This includes the right to practice their religion and to express their views on political domestic and foreign policy issues.

Muslims and the media

Countering anti-Muslim prejudice requires good media skills.

While some Muslims are of course media astute, my perception of Muslim organisations and Muslim leaders generally is that their media skills are woefully lacking. This arises from many of these leaders having grown up overseas and therefore not fully understanding British society at its most intuitive level.

For example, after the 7/7 bombings in 2005 many Muslim leaders, including I recall the Muslim Council of Britain, combined condemnation of the terrorism with attempts to explain what had caused it. There were two fundamental failings in what I recall hearing and seeing at that time.

Firstly, there was condemnation of terrorism in the abstract but almost no condemnation of the terrorists as real people. In an interview, I once described the 7/7 bombers as “bastards.” While such language may make some Muslim leaders uncomfortable, there are many other words that could be used on prime-time television which would adequately condemn the bombers as individuals who had betrayed their society and their religion. I did not hear such condemnations in 2005.

Secondly, when 54 people had just been murdered, nobody in British society was in a mood to hear analysis. What they wanted to hear was condemnation, loud and clear. The time for analysis was another day. The failure of most Muslim leaders to understand that illustrates just how woeful was their understanding of the media and of British society more generally.

How anti-Muslim prejudice can be combatted most effectively

In my view the most effective way to combat anti-Muslim prejudice is to avoid getting into a situation where Muslims are seen as separate from the rest of society pleading a special “Muslim case.”

Instead, anti-Muslim prejudice needs combating, not just because it is bad for Muslims, but because it is bad for the health of our society as a whole. Prejudice directed against one part of the population soon becomes prejudice directed against other parts of the population.

This requires Muslims to be well-connected with all other parts of society that are their natural allies. For example it is ludicrous when Muslim groups allow themselves to have bad relations with Jewish groups as a result of different views about the Middle East when Jews have more experience of suffering persecution than any other group in British or European society.

Moreover effectively combatting anti-Muslim prejudice requires for Muslims to be more engaged in the political system. It is essential for Muslims to join and be active in all political parties, apart from those far right parties which are explicitly xenophobic.

The key message should be that Muslims seek no special rights as Muslims. What Muslims want are the same rights that all citizens are entitled to, and that any denial of these rights for anyone in society hurts every citizen.

While Muslims understandably regard their own religion as the best, when engaging in the political space, we need to forget that and concentrate on common messaging and common campaigning with all other groups which believe in equal citizenship. Furthermore Muslims need to remain vociferous in condemning bad behaviour by other Muslims, whether that bad behaviour occurs overseas or in Britain.

The post Anti-Muslim prejudice: some causes and counter-strategies, by Mohammed Amin appeared first on TELL MAMA.

“People are outraged over Katie Hopkins vile #Palestinian comments stop being outraged, that’s what keeps her in media. Unfollow & ignore her,” wrote the journalist Sonia Poulton. Sensible advice but it misses a crucial point.

Ignoring her out of a sense of outrage overlooks those who agree with her sentiments. Others admire what the Hopkins Troll represents – an unfiltered voice who is granted a large media platform in the age of ‘PC gone mad’.

A snapshot of support is often found in Daily Mail reader comments or on Twitter (not the most reliable source but the Hopkins Troll operates in murky waters).

“Personally I can’t stand the woman but she has every right to express her opinions. I think that the vast majority of the ordinary British public (that excludes Guardians readers !!) would agree with her.”

“No comment, else I’ll also be arrested.”

Hopkins tweeted during an episode of Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody:

 “Father beats his daughter with an iron bar. But he is a good Muslim, prays in his cell & attends the mosque. So that’s all happy days then.”

“The police are singing from the same hymn sheet. Mohammed is going DAAAAAAAN. Allahu Akbar”.

The episode handled a complex case of ‘honour’ violence. But there is no honour in a father assaulting his daughter with an iron. In the episode, PC Esther Morris said: “It’s not a religious matter. No religion endorses honour violence.” Yet, that statement is missing from Hopkins’ Twitter feed. Hopkin’s inflammatory tone did find some support.

A representative of Luton Central Mosque spoke of the accused’s good character to the community cohesion team. But in the end, the suspect was convicted of ABH and sentenced to three years in prison (a sentence he is appealing). For the daughter, she fled Luton with her husband, disowned by her family.

24 Hours in Police Custody ensures the accused and victims of crime remain anonymous. Yet, by virtue of being a Muslim of Pakistani descent, Hopkins calls the convicted man Mohammed (without evidence).

During a stream of online criticism, Hopkins tweeted: “Allah doesn’t guide me. He is not a dog and I am not blind. I see that all religion is evil.” A statement that seems a little disingenuous in the context of previous statements.

On a similar note, she tweeted: “Nurun has left the building. Thank crap for that. The token headscarf wearer is no more,” after Nurun Ahmed was fired from The Apprentice on October 22 2014.

Rather than judging a person for the content of their character, the Hopkins Troll reduces the latter to what makes them different: religious identity. The same tactic is used when ridiculing a person’s weight.

The post Katie Hopkins accused of making more anti-Muslim statements appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We decided to investigate this further and judge whether the proliferation of anti-Muslim attacks in the summer of 2013 was a temporary spike. To do this, we submitted a Freedom of Information Request to the Metropolitan Police requesting a detailed breakdown of every anti-Muslim hate crime from April 2012 to August 2014 by borough (which is available as a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet). Looking at the data, we find an even more disturbing story, illustrated in the infographic below.

Before the Woolwich incident, from April 2012 to April 2013, there was an average of 28 anti-Muslim hate crimes per month. In April 2013, there were 22 anti-Muslim hate crimes in London, but in May (when Lee Rigby is murdered) that number soars to 109 crimes. As the infographic shows, this spike lasts until about July 2013. By August, it appears that anti-Muslim hate crime is back to a normal level.

However, if we measure anti-Muslim hate crimes from August 2013 to September 2014 the average number of hate crimes sits at 45 per month, a 60% rise compared to the average prior to the Woolwich incident, suggesting a long-term increase in the average level of anti-Muslim hate crimes in London.

By early 2014 Muslims are back on the front page, with the ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal in Birmingham framed as a ‘jihadist plot’ to take over schools. In the summer and early autumn, the Gaza-Israel conflict and ISIS are in the news, correlating with an increase in anti-Muslim attacks. In fact, some anecdotal evidence from Tell MAMA’s verbal abuse cases suggests that perceptions about ISIS motivate anti-Muslim hate nationally and in London. Coverage of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, twisted by the far-right into a ‘Muslim’ issue, further contributes to anti-Muslim discourse in late 2014.

The data from the Metropolitan Police shows that the spike in anti-Muslim attacks in the summer of 2013 led to a sustained increase in the base level of crimes into 2014. If we look at the last two years, we find that between October 2013 and September 2014, there is a 6.5% increase in the total number of anti-Muslim hate crimes over the previous year (October 2012 – September 2013). It is clear that anti-Muslim hate did not simply taper off and fall back to a low level after 2014. Instead, it got worse in 2014.

The post Anti-Muslim hate crimes, 2012-2014 in London: An Analysis of the Situation appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The post Infographic Showing the Peaks and Troughs on Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We within TELL MAMA have worked for over a year in the city and there is a real sense of identity to Leicester, though like any urban conurbation, there are problems. Yet, Leicester is a place where may communities get on and who call home.

After receiving a report on comments on the Leicester EDL Division Facebook page we decided to take a look at the page. We were also curious to look at the page on the back of a recent posting which we had listed. What we found was truly shocking and we have listed some of these comments below.  Furthermore, we will be flagging this page with Facebook as a perfect example of how the platform is being used by extreme far right groups to foment hate speech. Furthermore, Facebook cannot expect projects like TELL MAMA to report in every comment which is simply ludicrous.

Here are just a few comments from the Leicester EDL Division Facebook page. They have been reported to Leicestershire Police.

Ian Humphries Thar muzzie bitch propa pissed me off. Wants 2 integrate but cant spend 2 days in sum1 elses home wivout wantin 2 change everything 2 suit her. Dont work 4 kids but still got a fairly new car who’s payin 4 that oh yeah us the good ol British taxpayer. Well done Suki n Kit 4 tellin her how it is.

Jacqui Jackson If she’s not allowed to stay in a house with a male in it HOW THE FUCK DID SHE GET 4 KIDS WITH NO HUSBAND, she’s a MUZSLIME SLUT WHORE

The post Leicester EDL Division Facebook Page Simply a Platform for Haters appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Sadly, what is depressing is that no-one stepped in to assist the woman and once again, anti-Muslim abuse on the buses comes up and public transport seems to be an arena in which such bigotry is promoted, mainly to visible Muslim females.

“I’ve been meaning to send this for a while and I don’t even know why but I felt quite ashamed that the incident happened to me, however with much thought I should speak up and I should bring light to such incidents.

This happened around the first week of September.

I was on the bus and I actually didn’t even notice the man nor what he was saying as I was just minding my own business. He was speaking for about 5 mins until it heard he was having a conversation about God and what he believe in, which is totally fine…however he quickly moved on to how Muslims believe in THAT God and how crazy we are… Again if he wants to think that, that’s fine, but it moved onto much deeper issues about terrorism, wars and over taking the country.

He was obviously targeting me due to the fact I was the only Muslim on the bus and I was clearly wearing a headscarf signifying I am Muslim.

He continued taking about how we must go back to our country ( I’m actually half British ) and how we come to this country and make wars, how all we do is make wars and how Muslims are terrorists. He got louder and louder talking about how we are a threat and how we are terrorists etc

Obviously I remained silent, the entire bus was also silent and everyone obviously knew he was talking about me.

I honestly felt threatened, uncomfortable and also the fact I was coming off the bus, he was behind me and came off the bus with me. At this point I was honestly scared for my life as I just didn’t know what he was capable of. He then proceeded to follow me off the bus and down the street still saying things about how we come to the country and start wars and how we come and just build mosques everywhere and how we need to get out. Of course I remained silent and walked down the street I lived on, he then walked away.

Hope this helps with your journey in highlighting Islamophobia and issues that are happening. And what scared me the most is I am a vocal person but this was the first time such a thing had happened to me, I was just in shock and I can’t believe I even felt ashamed after almost like it was my fault this happened, and I think many other women out there will probably feel the same when such a horrible verbal attack happens.

Good luck with all the research and I hope one day we can all live without fear.”

The post Another Muslim Female Who Suffers Anti-Muslim Hate Speaks Out appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This is the text of her report to us which highlights the impacts of anti-Muslim hate and intolerance. She makes clear that it was not so much the physical violence that affected her, but the words that affected her identity and her personal sense of well-being. We salute Maryam for her courage and for her ability to stand up and reject the violence and bigotry of her attackers and she also reported the assault immediately to the police after it happened.

Anti-Muslim Hate and the Attack on Maryam

“My name is Maryam. I am 19 years of age. I’m in my first year of a Photojournalism degree at Staffordshire University.

I was involved in a racial attack yesterday which included my scarf getting pulled off and my friend got called “a fucking paki slag“

Me and my friend were in Piccadilly Gardens drinking hot chocolate and catching up about work/Uni as you do. A Hijabi “beggar” came to a group of white girls that were sat next to me and my friend, having her hand out asking for money and they replied by swearing at her and saying “why are you begging in my country, go back to your own county. What if I went to your country and begged for money I would get kidnapped and killed“

I overheard what these girls were saying and to be honest I couldn’t keep quiet. I spoke to the girls politely and said “listen that wasn’t a nice thing to say.. ” They lashed out at me for butting in I guess and swearing, and saying “go back to your country you fucking terrorist paki, I will bomb your face off” which didn’t stop her from slapping me against my face, pulling my headscarf and kicking me on the left side on my hips.

That didn’t bother me. What bothered me was what she said. The words hit me more than the physical attacks.

You know when you hear these things being said and you get really upset that people are saying these things, but try having someone screaming it to your face. I felt weak. I feel horrible from shock I started crying. My friend, from the shock stood there didn’t know what she was doing, wallah it was not nice.

And yes, maybe it wasn’t my business because I knew I was getting myself into trouble, but then I thought if I don’t stand up against these people, who will? Will they ever learn? I can’t keep seeing people get verbally abused. It was a disgusting scene and I hope, I really hope no one ever goes through this.

I did go to the police station and filled a report and a statement and there’s 0.1% chance they will find these girls but I did the right thing.

Yes I got verbally and physically abused but if it meant to stand up for what’s right regardless of who you are and where you come from, I will go through that pain again and again and again.

And like they say, “stand up for what’s right even if it meant to stand alone“

The post Young 19 Year Old Hijabi Muslim Student Suffers Anti-Muslim and Racist Assault appeared first on TELL MAMA.

You see, here lies the problem. Over 80% of the resources of TELL MAMA goes on reporting in social media hate given the level of anti-Muslim bigotry on-line. The two main platforms through which anti-Muslim hatred are promoted are Facebook and Twitter, yet, none of these social media giants, (with all of their associated profits), take financial responsibility with regard to supporting organisations who are at the front-line of tackling hate.

With 80% of our resources depleted in terms of human resource, financial and research costs, (plus a range of other project related costs), this simply cannot continue on. Facebook and Twitter cannot expect organisations to haemorrhage resources because of their platforms and where their stock response is that more monitoring and bureaucracy needs to take place so that the social media platforms may improve their customer service profiles. This is simply ludicrous and ultimately beneficial for the social media platform with no recompense for the pressures caused to third-party reporting agencies, many of whom are swamped with on-line reports from members of the public.

However, we must also not lose sight of the fact that this Government has not taken a robust approach to social media providers in making clear that they must invest and support hate crime projects at the front-line of tackling bigotry and supporting victims. The discussions with social media providers have been piece-meal, cordial and based on ensuring that these social media giants remain on-side. Money, it seems, speaks rather than ensuring that these multi-billion pound companies pay their duty to society as a means of off-setting the very real problems that these platforms have created for victims of hate and civil society groups.

It is therefore essential that the Home Office, civil society groups working on hate crime work and social media providers meet. With resources shrinking and with social media company profits rising, there is a natural balance in exploring how both Twitter and Facebook can pool a fund in the future. This facilitated dialogue is essential with both the Home Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government being involved.

In the end, the public purse cannot foot most of the bill of hate crime work which is largely happening now. It should be Facebook and Twitter who should foot the bill given the level of resource that their platforms suck out of organisations like TELL MAMA.

The post Facebook and Twitter Have to Take Responsibility and Pay For Impacts of Their Platforms appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The recent killing of a Canadian soldier, (Corporal Nathan Cirillo) by unstable Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, shocked the nation and his attempt to murder Parliamentarians led to a siege that ultimately ended in his death and fomented a fear that more attacks could be underway.

Zehaf-Bibeau’s mother made clear in a recent press interview that her son was detached from her and that he “was lost” and “did not seem to fit in.“

What is worrying though is that anti-Muslim sentiment seems to bedding into a country that has had a liberal environment and which has been a bulwark against intolerance and bigotry over many decades.

The sticker sent to us may demonstrate the phenomenon of cumulative extremism where the extremist rhetoric and actions of an individual or group can develop and bring out an extremist counter-reaction. The sticker is very similar to rhetoric promoted by extreme far right groups in the US and within the UK. It should focus us all in order to put a greater effort in ensuring that extreme groups do not influence the social space through their poisonous rhetoric. We simply cannot allow those who seek to divide, to win. It is not an option.

The post ‘Fit in or F*** O**’ Stickers Appear in Canada appeared first on TELL MAMA.

What is also noticeable is that members of the public and many organisations who work with Muslim communities are not aware of the Cross Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred, nor are they aware of who the members are or whether the Group has an elected or selected Chair, or whether it even has a Chair?

Approximately a year ago, the Director of TELL MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal OBE, resigned from the Cross Government Working Group on anti-Muslim Hatred and the recent resignation of Dr Chris Allen should set off alarm bells as to the future existence and efficacy of this Group. Whilst the Group’s aims and objectives were substantive, Dr Allen makes clear that the Group attempted to tackle anti-Muslim bigotry by discussing projects such as the Big Iftar and Srebrenica Memorial Day, both of which are laudable, yet tangential to real problems around anti-Muslim hatred affecting the lives of people here in the UK.

The loss of two active ex-members of the Group who have significant experience in various areas of research, mapping, measuring and monitoring of anti-Muslim hatred cannot be simply brushed aside. In fact, Dr Allen brings with him over a decade of research experience in the media and anti-Muslim hatred and is one of the leading academics in this area. Yet his comments are damning on the Group and he goes onto state:

“And this is where the problem lies. Whether it was the murder of Mohammed Saleem in Birmingham last year, the bombs left outside mosques in the West Midlands, calls for a ban on the niqab in hospitals, or the hoax allegations made via Operation Trojan Horse, the voice of the group was non-existent.”

The following statement (below) from Dr Allen goes onto suggest that some on the Group had no stomach to stand up and be counted in this area of work. Which begs the question. If this was the case, why were participants not removed and effective members placed in the Group who were willing to speak and go public on issues. Part of the work around tackling anti-Muslim hatred is speaking publicly about it, yet it seems that this was not the case with some members on the Group.

Additionally, Dr Allen also hints that the Cross Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred had no political buy in and had been rejected by a number of key Governmental departments. The Department for Education and Health are cited for their lack of response on correspondence written by members of the Group and simply seemed to brush off requests.

“Probably because some were too scared to put their heads above the parapet, others fearful of losing their seat at the government’s table, the group let the politicians off the hook. It had no bite, no influence, no impact. For me, this was most apparent when some of us sent letters requesting meetings with ministers from the departments of health and education: one was ignored, the other declined.”

The Way Forward
Over the last 36 months TELL MAMA has been pro-active in mapping, measuring and monitoring anti-Muslim hatred whilst supporting over 2,000 affected individuals. During that time, actual support from the Cross Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred has been inconsistent and extremely patchy with a lack of direction and focus on core issues around tackling anti-Muslim hatred. Getting people round the table to break a fast around Iftar are useful ways of bringing communities together, though we fully support Dr Allen in his call that tackling the motivations and actions of anti-Muslim hatred are fundamental to addressing the problem. This, he suggests, is where the Group has failed and has not even acknowledged this most basic of facts. Instead, tangential activities have taken up their work themes.

Whilst we support the existence of a Cross Government Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred, we make the following call to the Department for Communities and Local Government:

– Anti-Muslim Hate cannot be tackled by supporting secondary and peripheral projects that do not tackle the central hub of the problem. This includes highlighting who is promoting the bigotry, how they are promoting it and ensuring access to justice for victims.
– The names and details of people on the Group should be published for transparency. Keeping the Group and its members private, fuels the far right ideology of a shadowy ‘Muslim’ group at the heart of Government. If people sit around the table with Government and who are willing to support work on tackling anti-Muslim hatred, they have in effect, taken the position to place themselves in the public interest sphere.
– The Department should also cite key office bearers such as the Chair and Vice Chair and publish work themes to ensure transparency at the heart of Government.
– The impact of the Group should be measured and results published annually. To date, not a single annual report has been published, given the fact that the Cross Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred has been active for well over 2 years.

Lastly, the loss of Dr Chris Allen is no light matter for the Working Group. Serious reflection and public engagement are needed to show the value of this Group. At this point, the Group is largely irrelevant which is a real shame. An opportunity to co-ordinate action against anti-Muslim hatred has been squandered and if anything, this does a dis-service to the victims of Islamophobia who are not interested in breaking Iftars, but in ensuring that they and other Muslims are not targeted and affected by vile bigotry, hate and intolerance.

The post The Resignation of Dr Chris Allen from the Cross Govt Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred is a Wake Up Call appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We still see the case where an idea spawns in some part of the country on the back of our work on anti-Muslim bigotry over the last 2 years. Much of our work has shown that visible Muslim women at a street level suffer anti-Muslim bigotry and this has spurred some groups and individuals into coming together to access funding.

Many have little understanding about how to document anti-Muslim bigotry, the risks involved in getting it wrong and how to ensure that on-line and off-line work is segmented. Some also have no understanding in how to tackle internal forms of anti-Muslim bigotry, such as intolerance openly targeted at the Ahmadi community and who simply skirt over the issue in order to say that they have delivered their project and to ensure that boxes are ticked.

Nonetheless, it is important to acknowledge that people want to create change for the better whilst looking to tackle anti-Muslim bigotry. This is important work since anti-Muslim bigotry has been allowed to fester through civil society inaction and through press and political statements made at various points in the last few years.

However, what we are also seeing is that Police and Crime Commissioners who are looking for solutions to some of these problems at a local level are being lobbied by groups who will talk about tackling anti-Muslim bigotry, but who will have affiliates or members who hold views that are deeply homophobic or antisemitic and in some instances, will voice them publicly.

Playing Politics With Those Who Do Not Believe in Real Equality

Or take the issue of umbrella bodies or ‘affiliates’ which some groups will use to lever themselves into political positions with a Police and Crime Commissioner or with a local Community Safety Councillor. The use of the term localism and ‘affiliates’ means that they are usually able to press the buttons of local politicians, yet politicians must wake up and wake up fast to the fact that public funds must not be used to fund groups that have no desire in standing firm against hate and intolerance against other communities, yet who believe that they can work on anti-Muslim hate.

We acknowledge that bigotry in various forms sadly is part of human nature and that all of us must tackle it through education or by highlighting it where appropriate. This means that all communities suffer from it and within religious conservative circles, there is a higher chance that issues such as gender equality or LGBTQ rights will not be seen as rights, but as privileges that are made by people and which go against ‘God’s Laws,’ according to some in these conservative circles. Within some sections of Muslim communities this is no different and should not be used by bigots to target Muslim communities with as if it unique to them. What is of relevance though, is that access to public funding means responsibilities and this means that groups accessing it to counter hate crimes or anti-Muslim bigotry must also tackle internal forms of intolerance within the relevant communities they work within.

There is simply no point in playing politics on such matters, nor should Police and Crime Commissioners automatically assume that funding such programmes means that they can be seen to be pro-active in these areas. The use of such funding for political favour would be a slap in the face of taxpayers of this country who would want to know that if such funds were granted, they would be used for specific work purposes which would also tackle intra-community intolerance where it takes place.

Sadly, we believe that some of the groups looking to do such work by accessing Police and Crime Commissioner funds would not speak, raise, rebut or challenge internal issues of LGBTQ hate or even antisemitism. Public funding of such groups cannot be allowed to happen and this is why we are suggesting that all forms of public funding agreements stipulate that public funding, where it is to be used for hate crime work, must also ensure that intra-community intolerance is appropriately challenged and countered. Keeping quiet for the sake of keeping on board ‘affiliates’ is not a way of countering bigotry, it is a means of self-protection at a cost to cohesion in our society and this is unforgivable.

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