![[Farid Hafez]](https://bridge.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-04-at-10.45.01-AM.jpeg "Farid Hafez")
The Bridge Initiative is a multi-year research project on Islamophobia housed in Georgetown University.
The Bridge Initiative aims to disseminate original and accessible research, offers engaging analysis and commentary on contemporary issues, and hosts a wide repository of educational resources to inform the general public about Islamophobia.
Research & Resources
The Synergy of Bigotry in Europe
Successful Islamophobic politics in Central Europe Currently, Islamophobic policies have strong support in Central and Eastern Europe. With the young Sebastian Kurz as chancellor of a coalition government formed by right-wing Freedom Party and the traditionally centrist-right People’s Party, Islamophobia has become a central feature of Austria’s policy making. As the latest European Islamophobia Report has revealed, many…
New German Initiative unites Islamophobes and cultural Muslims
This article by Bridge Initiative Senior Research Fellow Farid Hafez originally appeared on Anadolu Agency. SALZBURG Just at the height of electoral success of the most anti-racist (in terms of its program) Green party in Germany, former chairman Cem Özdemir made headlines with the founding of the “Initiative of secular Islam”. The weekly Der Spiegel…
Why is Europe Obsessed with Female Muslim Clothing?
A few years back, British superstar celebrity chef Nigella Lawson made global headlines because she decided to wear a full-body modest black wetsuit (aka “burkini”) to an Australian beach as paparazzi clicked away. Internet commentators fixated on the fact that Miss Lawson chose to “be covered head to toe in a burkini, the modesty-saving outfit…