The fight against Islamophobia is going backwards
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Version 0 of 1. Islamophobia does not only affect British Muslims; it plays directly into the hands of extremists who claim that western societies will never accept Islam and its followers. Challenging this type of prejudice thus goes hand-in-hand with any successful counter-extremism strategy, the latest of which the home secretary has outlined. It is for this reason that, in the aftermath of the 2010 general election, Sayeeda Warsi worked hard to form a government working group on anti-Muslim hatred. Against the backdrop of her warning in 2011 that Islamophobia had “passed the dinner-table test”, the then Conservative minister brought together representatives from Muslim communities, anti-racism groups and academia. Related: David Cameron plans to ban suspected extremists from working with children The group was launched in 2012 and was based in the Department for Communities and Local Government, which until 2015 was under the control of Eric Pickles. For those who grasped the role of Islamophobia in fuelling support for extremism, the formation of the group was a no-brainer: bring representatives together, show British Muslims that their grievances are taken as seriously as, say, antisemitism and racism, and tackle head-on one of the core claims that violent Islamists make to ordinary Muslims: “western governments are not interested in helping you”, or “they’ll help the Jews but not you”. Unfortunately, over the three years that followed, the work was painfully slow and lacked support from central government. Too often its members, many of whom had been working on community engagement for years, felt frustrated, unsupported and as though they were being sidelined as a consequence of disputes among ministers who should have known better. I was one of two academics appointed to the group to research the drivers of anti-Muslim hatred and how to build bridges between the research community, government and British Muslims. My time and involvement were all funded by my academic institution. That would not have been worth mentioning had there actually been research and support. But there was neither. The normal starting point for any research project would be to review the existing evidence – to find out what we already know – and build from there. But an early request for a paltry sum (£5,000) to pay for researchers to complete this basic task was stalled; eventually the job was handed to an intern who had never worked in the area before. When I was asked to recommend other social scientists who might contribute to the group, some of whom have spent decades working on Islamophobia and prejudice, the names disappeared into a black hole. Requests for meetings with ministers were ignored or simply declined. In the end, and after listening to various ministers issue one empty promise after another, I was forced to approach an external research trust to secure support to explore what might reduce anti-Muslim sentiment in society. The government did not contribute anything. During a generally unpleasant four years, the basic message appeared to be that the government was simply not that interested in anti-Muslim hatred. In fact, to my knowledge, and despite increased concern over extremism and disillusionment among British Muslims, the government has still not undertaken any research into what causes Islamophobia and what might be done about it. How does the government hope to foster trust and support among communities if it does not appear to take their grievances seriously? After the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013 the government established a new extremism taskforce. but the working group was not invited to feed into the process – to discuss what was happening on the ground, what might help, or what might make things worse. Nor to my knowledge did the government engage with any researchers who specialise in radicalisation. Instead, the taskforce consulted widely with the Quilliam Foundation, a thinktank that, some say, lacks credibility with many ordinary Muslims, pushes theories of radicalisation that are typically not supported within the academic community, and undertakes research that is seldom subject to rigorous peer review. The thinktank once claimed to have convinced the former leader of the English Defence League to work on countering extremism. Last week he was revealed to have joined anti-Islam protests in the Netherlands, calling on people to march against Muslims. This is not a model of best practice. Last week David Cameron announced the launch of a new “community engagement forum”, designed to give the prime minister a chance to “hear directly about their work in our communities, the challenges they face and so that they can be part of our one-nation strategy to defeat it”. Was this not the purpose behind the establishment of the working group on anti-Muslim hatred three years ago? I am not clear how this new group differs from the working group, aside from the fact that it once again includes individuals and organisations that are highly divisive within Muslim communities. Such is the disconnect in this area that the government did not even bother to notify community representatives on the working group about this new strand of work. For these reasons, and after three years of pushing against what often felt like an extremely cold and closed door, I have decided to resign from the group on anti-Muslim hatred. I will continue to research issues relating to prejudice but as an independent academic. When Lady Warsi resigned from the government in 2014, she argued that the government’s failure to engage with Muslim communities was undermining Britain’s fight against extremism. She was right. We are today no closer to understanding and tackling anti-Muslim hatred. If anything, it feels as though we have gone backwards. The success of Britain’s counter-extremism strategy will ultimately hinge on its ability to engage across all communities and inspire their trust. Working in this way, in sharp contrast, is only likely to fuel their disappointment. |