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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In India, a report by Human Rights Watch finds that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2024 electoral campaign frequently used hate speech against Muslims and other minorities, inciting discrimination, hostility, and violence, meanwhile in the United Kingdom, police have arrested over 1,000 people in connection with anti-Muslim riots which took place over the last two weeks in England, as British Muslims reel from the violence with people traumatized and the community living in fear. Our recommended read of the day is by Samia Lokmane for Middle East Eye on how Islamophobia in France has gotten so bad that people of Algerian descent are contemplating crossing the Mediterranean for a one-way trip away from hatred and discrimination. This and more below:
France
'Unlivable': French-Algerians dream of a new life in Algeria to escape Islamophobia | Recommended Read
Souad is preparing to move to Algiers in a few months. The 45-year-old French-Algerian woman, a legal assistant living in Lyon, has chosen her parents’ country to start a new life with her 12-year-old son. “The bad atmosphere in France is pushing me towards the exit a little,” she told Middle East Eye. “Like all children of immigrants, I have always experienced racism and discrimination, but it was not on the same scale as today. It’s becoming relentless,” she added. Souad said she no longer wanted to live “in a society that rejects” her. On social media, other Algerians born or raised in France, mostly young but sometimes elderly, both women and men, married or single, with children or not, are showing the same desire to cross the Mediterranean for a one-way trip. They exchange ideas in Facebook groups such as “Make a successful hijra [migration, exile] to Algeria” or “Return to live in Algeria”, where, like Souad, they criticise the rise in racism and Islamophobia in France. In February, the Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin indicated that anti-Muslim acts had increased by 30 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. “I no longer feel at home in France. Despite my studies and my long career in teaching, I am constantly brought back to my origins,” Boussad, a mathematics teacher in a Paris high school, told MEE. “Racism has become uninhibited. It is unleashed all day long on television screens.” read the complete article
United Kingdom
“People are Traumatized”: Spreading Race Riots in UK Leave Muslims in Fear
On the evening of July 30, hundreds of people gathered in Southport, a seaside town in the United Kingdom, to attack a mosque. The attack was triggered by misinformation that the suspect in a tragic knife attack earlier that week, that left three girls dead, was a Muslim. The mob smashed the windows and threw objects at the mosque. They shouted abusive and Islamophobic slogans. 50 police officers were injured while trying to stop the attack. It was the beginning of the worst race riots in the UK in years, which spread across the nation. Ibrahim Hussein, chairman and Imam of the mosque, was trapped inside the building with seven others, bracing for violence, for four hours — until midnight. “We were scared for our lives. The building was shaking. There was severe damage to the mosque,” the 68-year-old told Inkstick. “I asked the [Muslim] community to pray at home and stay safe.” Hussein, who lived over fifty years in the UK, said misinformation was made an “excuse” to spread the violence and lamented that “Islam and Muslims are always blamed” for any incidents. He highlighted that Muslims now live in fear and that he had to tell the community to be “careful” and “not walk into a [white] group alone.” Mir told Inkstick that people are traumatized by the events and businesses have suffered. “Hundreds of people coming at your doors to attack will leave a psychological fear for a long time. Children are telling their parents to return to their country due to fear.” read the complete article
Who is Tommy Robinson, Britain's far-right Islamophobic influencer?
Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is Britain's best-known far-right Islamophobic figure. The 41-year-old is accused of amplifying the false rumor that sparked the recent racist riots in the United Kingdom. Yaxley-Lennon borrowed the name Tommy Robinson from a football club hooligan in his hometown of Luton, in order to disguise a lengthy criminal record: He has been sentenced to several prison terms for assaulting a police officer and contempt of court. Initially a member of the far-right British National Party, in 2009 he co-founded the English Defense League (EDL) to protest against the presence of a small Salafist group in Luton. read the complete article
Over 1,000 arrested in UK after anti-Muslim riots
UK police have arrested over 1,000 people in connection with anti-Muslim riots which took place over the last two weeks in England, officials said. "Forces across the country have now made more than 1,000 arrests in connection with the recent violent disorder," the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said on X on Tuesday. At least 575 people have been charged as courts continued to deal with those involved in the disorder, which took place across dozens of towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland following the death of three girls in a stabbing on July 29. Those arrested include a 69-year-old accused of vandalism in Liverpool and an 11-year-old boy in Belfast. A 13-year-old girl pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court, prosecutors said, having been seen on July 31 punching and kicking the entrance to a hotel for asylum seekers. "This alarming incident will have caused genuine fear amongst people who were being targeted by these thugs – and it is particularly distressing to learn that such a young girl participated in this violent disorder," prosecutor Thomas Power said. read the complete article
The challenges of being a Muslim woman in the UK public realm
Samayya Afzal, co-founder of the Labour Muslim Network, speaks to TRT World about the challenges she faces as a visibly Muslim woman in the British public and political realm, which, she says, have only worsened since the recent far-right riots across the UK. read the complete article
There has never been a more dangerous time to be a British Muslim
As Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, I have spent years representing the interests of Muslims worldwide. The UK has been of growing concern, hence why I gathered hundreds of British Muslim leaders for a landmark summit in 2023 – The First Conference Of European and British Muslim leaders. There they spoke to me of the palpable fear they felt for their communities’ safety in the face of rising anti-Muslim hate. Fears that, at the time, might have been deemed unduly alarmist. But not anymore. Now even leading British Muslim politicians are openly fearful for their safety because of the surge in anti-Muslim hatred. After all, this month riots have raged across the UK, targeting mosques, asylum centres, shops, libraries, hotels – even people’s own homes. Mobs of thugs destroyed property, dragged victims from their own vehicles, and targeted ethnic minority communities. This unprecedented violence was merely the latest flashpoint in a rising tide of far-Right anti-Muslim hate that has been allowed to fester for decades. But what began as the culmination of a gradual pattern is starting to tip Western societies into uncharted territory. From the Utøya massacre of 2011 to attacks on mosques in New Zealand, Quebec and London, we have seen the steady escalation of violence. With online disinformation stoking the flames, there’s no telling what will come next. read the complete article
Man charged with stirring up racial hatred online
A 40-year-old man has appeared in court charged with publishing written material online to stir up racial hatred. Wayne O’Rourke, of Salix Approach, Lincoln, was arrested on Sunday afternoon, Lincolnshire Police said. The charge relates to posts made from a social media account, the force added. Nottingham Magistrates' Court heard the posts were alleged to contain anti-Muslim and anti-establishment rhetoric. The court heard Mr O'Rourke had allegedly expressed support for the recent riots and offered advice on how to remain anonymous to his 90,000 followers. read the complete article
India
India: Hate Speech Fueled Modi’s Election Campaign
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2024 electoral campaign frequently used hate speech against Muslims and other minorities, inciting discrimination, hostility, and violence. Inflammatory speeches, amid a decade of attacks and discrimination against minorities under the Modi administration, have normalized abuses against Muslims, Christians, and others. The new Modi government needs to reverse its discriminatory policies, act on violence against minorities, and ensure justice for those affected. Human Rights Watch analyzed all 173 campaign speeches by Modi after the election code of conduct took effect on March 16. The code forbids appealing to “communal feelings for securing votes.” In at least 110 speeches, Modi made Islamophobic remarks apparently intended to undermine the political opposition, which he said only promoted Muslim rights, and to foster fear among the majority Hindu community through disinformation. He repeatedly described Muslims as “infiltrators” and claimed Muslims had “more children” than other communities, raising the specter that Hindus—about 80 percent of the population—will become a minority in India. read the complete article
International
Two dozen former Guantanamo detainees expelled from Oman to Yemen, says report
Two dozen Yemeni men and former Guantanamo detainees have been expelled from Oman, according to a report by the news site, Forever Wars. The men had been resettled to Oman after being transferred out of the Guantanamo Bay prison between 2015 and 2017, in a deal where Muscat had provided the former detainees with housing, healthcare, financial resources, and job training. Now they have been sent back to Yemen, where rights experts are worried they could face persecution or danger, especially as the US has been ramping up its attacks on sites controlled by Yemen's Houthis. Five sources told Forever Wars that 24 out of the 28 Yemeni men previously detained at Guantanamo have been returned to the country, while the remaining are expected to "face imminent deportation". One former detainee told the news site an Omani official told him the US had given the green light for the move. read the complete article