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SearchToday in Islamophobia: In the United Kingdom, Tell Mama, which tracks anti-Muslim hate, recorded a 335% increase in cases in the months after October 7 2023 compared to the year before, meanwhile in Canada, Toronto police have arrested and charged a man in a suspected hate-motivated incident at a Scarborough mosque when he entered the mosque, made hate-motivated threats and slurs against people, and lastly, the Council of Europe on Tuesday recommended Denmark to employ more Muslims in academic institutions and law enforcement authorities. Our recommended read of the day is by Mukta Joshi for Al Jazeera on the Hindu American Foundation and how the US-based organization has championed the interests of Indian PM Narendra Modi’s government, while playing down its targeting of religious minorities. This and more below:
United States
Who is lobbying for India’s Modi government on Capitol Hill? | Recommended Read
“In that moment”, the staffer said, “it became clear to me that the Hindu American Foundation was acting on behalf of the Indian government.” The foundation, also known as HAF, emerged two decades ago as a voice for the Hindu community in the United States. It wasn’t formed to champion the Indian government. But since Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, HAF has ramped up its political activities in favour of the Indian government, which is led by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It has emerged, despite its claims of “nonpartisanship”, as an effective advocate of the BJP, attempting to influence the US government through meetings with members of Congress to push for the passage of multiple pieces of legislation on critical aspects of US foreign policy related to India. Its founders, board members and a parallel political action committee – the Hindu American PAC – have made significant contributions to the election campaigns of legislators who have in turn supported HAF’s lobbying efforts on these issues. In February 2017, as the Modi government was being criticised for fanning religious ethnonationalism and fomenting violence against religious minorities in India, HAF wrote to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. It requested the retraction of its report on the persecution of Indian religious minorities. It also requested the commissioners to engage with HAF’s leaders “regarding the Commission’s continued misrepresentations of India’s religious diversity, legal system, and political dynamics”. HAF is one of the organisations that have arisen in the West in recent years to campaign against what it calls Hinduphobia. Angana Chatterji, a scholar at the University of California at Berkeley, pointed out that while people of Hindu descent may experience racism, Hinduphobia is not a contemporary movement or a rising concern like that of Islamophobia. “Hinduphobia acts to align diasporic Hindu majoritarian campaigns with those of Hindu nationalists in India,” she said. In September 2021, HAF led a campaign against an academic conference called “Dismantling Global Hindutva” and used social media posts, mass emails, petitions and news releases to portray it as an attack on Hindus. “Hindutva,” meaning “Hinduness” is a Sanskrit term used for the Hindu supremacist ideology. “It’s an academic exercise to critique, maybe even to deconstruct, but dismantling is very squarely a political activity,” HAF’s Shukla told The Washington Post. The campaign and resulting backlash quickly snowballed with the scholars scheduled to speak receiving a barrage of online hate messages, even death and rape threats. read the complete article
Fear and intimidation on both sides. UW releases report on Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia
The University of Washington has released a report on the tense "campus climate" over the past academic year, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The report states that students reported both Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on campus, including anti-Israel bias and a "perceived alienation and lack of support for Palestinian and Muslim communities." Insults, intimidation, and a desire to hide their identities were reported all around. "The intent of this joint submission is not to equate antisemitism and Islamophobia, but to acknowledge that this particular moment puts into sharp relief the need to examine both in a shared context, as the present conflicts shine light on issues that impact members of our campus community who have experienced pain, isolation, fear, and discrimination," the report states. According to UW's report, during the 2023-24 academic year: About two-thirds of Palestinian students said they had experienced insults and intimidation over the previous year. About half to one-third of Muslim and Arab/Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) students reported the same. 72% of Arab or MENA, 80% of Muslim students, and 78% of Palestinian students in the focus groups said they were unwelcome because of their identities. read the complete article
Renowned sociology professor comes to Hofstra to talk about Islamophobia
Hofstra University welcomed Dr. Salman Sayyid on Sept. 23 to host a series of lectures on Islamophobia and white supremacy in the United States. Joined by Professor Salim T.P. Daniels, who offered welcoming introductions and remarks, discussed the history of Islamophobia and how it traces back to white supremacy. He started by discussing how, despite Islam being a religion, Islamophobia is treated as a form of racism in the United States and abroad. Sayyid said that Islamophobia really increased in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, leading to increased violence targeted at Muslim people or people who are perceived as Muslim. The first murder motivated by Islamophobia was of a man who was not Muslim but Sikh. “So, in other words, what you have in racism is not the existence of racists but the process of racialization making something into a category that you can see, that you can define and you can determine how it is,” Sayyid said. “And part of it is how it teaches you to see particular ways of racial organization.” Dr. Sayyid discussed how islamophobia originates as one of the earliest forms of racism, creating a timeline with comparisons to the origins of other forms of racism. Sayyid said that in many ways, this form of racism influences the everyday lives of others, specifically through concepts like “Hot Islamophobia” and “Cold Islamophobia.” read the complete article
United Kingdom
Religious hate crimes in England and Wales are at a record high – but many still go unreported
Religious hate crimes in England and Wales are at record levels. New Home Office statistics reveal that although hate crime overall saw an annual decrease of 5% in the year to March 2024, there was a 25% increase in religious hate crimes. Hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled from the previous year, making up 33% of religion-based hate crime in the new figures. Those against Muslims rose by 13%, making up 38% of the total. There was a sharp increase in reported incidents against both Jewish and Muslim people after the Israel-Hamas conflict began in October 2023. While the total number of offences has since declined, it is still higher than before the conflict began. These figures reflect police-recorded hate crime, but other organisations also track these incidents. The organisation Tell Mama, which tracks anti-Muslim hate, recorded a 335% increase in cases in the months after October 7 2023 compared to the year before. And the Community Security Trust tracked a 147% rise in anti-Jewish hate in 2023 compared to 2022. Of these incidents, 66% were on or after October 7. read the complete article
Denmark
Council of Europe urges Denmark to employ more Muslims in education, law enforcement
The Council of Europe on Tuesday recommended Denmark to employ more Muslims in academic institutions and law enforcement authorities, according to local media. The international human rights group urged Denmark to carry out a national action plan against racism, which should lead to a greater "proportion of employees with Muslim and other minority backgrounds in the professions of law enforcement officers and teachers.” According to national broadcaster DR, the council also recommended that the action plan must "prevent anti-Muslim racism and discrimination." The previous Danish government initiated an action plan against racism in 2022 after getting a consensus from the parliament. It has been now two years since the start of the action plan. The Council of Europe's recommendations come in light of recent reports highlighting the challenges faced by Muslims in Denmark. read the complete article
Canada
Man charged in suspected hate-motivated incident at Scarborough mosque
Toronto police have arrested and charged a man in a suspected hate-motivated incident at a Scarborough mosque. In a news release on Tuesday, Toronto police said the man, 41, has been charged with harassment and uttering threats of death and bodily harm. The incident happened on Thursday around 2:20 p.m. at a mosque near Kennedy Road and Lawrence Avenue E. Police said an unknown man entered the mosque, made hate-motivated threats and slurs against people, then was forced outside. Shortly afterward, police from 41 Division arrested the man. He had been scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday morning. "This investigation is being treated as a suspected hate-motivated offence," police said in the release. According to the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), a non-profit organization, the slurs and threats were "Islamophobic, racist, and anti-Palestinian" and those inside the mosque at the time were "worshippers, teachers and students." The NCCM said no one was hurt, but the incident left people inside the mosque shaken. read the complete article
Spain
In Spain, Islamic education is overlooked despite increasing demand and need for inclusivity in schools
After years of mobilisation by Muslim families and civil society groups, Islamic education has been introduced in a small number of schools across Spain, often referred to as a "pilot plan" or "experiment." Recent discourse has centred on these initiatives, particularly regarding their failure to become widespread or permanent once they have concluded. One recent example is the four-year experiment in Catalonia, which aimed to introduce Islamic religious education as an elective in schools and sixth forms. This experiment has recently concluded, and there are currently no clear prospects for the subject to become widely or permanently integrated into the Spanish education system. Speaking about the four-year experiment, Professor Francesc-Xavier Marín, a member of the research group assessing the Catalonian experiment, said, "The administration has no interest whatsoever in establishing it permanently, which leads those interested in teaching to shift to other fields." Currently, Catalonia is home to the largest number of Muslim students in Spain, approximately 660,392, according to statistics from the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain. Jordi adds that the region is 32 years behind in implementing Islamic religious education, which should have been introduced following the 1992 cooperation agreement between the Spanish State and national Islamic entities. According to this agreement, all Muslims in Spain are entitled to receive religious education in schools and sixth forms. read the complete article