Religion of Peace shouts “ALLAHU AKBAR”

Byrnzie wrote:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/05/islamophobic-hate-crime-getting-worse

Islamophobic hate crime: is it getting worse?

From online abuse to fire bombs thrown at mosques, there has been a spike in anti-Muslim attacks. While many incidents are not reported to the police, groups such as the Tell Mama project paint a worrying picture of rising Islamophobia and violence


Homa Khaleeli
The Guardian, Wednesday 5 June 2013


"I don't really want to go out now," Rizwan Ali says anxiously. "If I needed something I used to just go to the shops, but I've been staying in." On 24 May the father of four had been to Friday prayers at his local mosque. On his way home he popped into Pound Stretcher to look at gardening equipment. As he browsed he noticed another customer staring at him.

"He was looking at me, as though I had done something," Ali (not his real name), explains. "Then he started shouting: 'You are a Muslim, you are a soldier killer.' I was shocked and scared. It was very upsetting. I moved to the front of the shop, but he kept following me."

Since the brutal murder of drummer Lee Rigby earlier this month, campaigners say that such anti-Muslim incidents have been repeated across the country. Monitoring groups have recorded the targeting of 11 mosques, while women wearing hijab have complained about being spat at, or having their headscarves pulled off. This week, a community centre and mosque was destroyed in a fire and police are investigating whether it was firebombed, after reports that fire crews saw the letters EDL scrawled on the side of the building. Online, activists say there have been shocking levels of vitriol unleashed. But the attacks have also revitalised the argument over whether Islamophobia, and the targeting of Muslims, is being overstated. The Metropolitan police's head of counter-terrorism, Cressida Dick, calls the wave of attacks "horrible" and agrees there has been an increase, but says "compared to previous times we have had slightly less".

Yet monitoring groups and campaigners point out that hate crime is often under-reported, with Muslims in particular reluctant to contact the police for fear they won't be taken seriously. Some campaigners point out confidence in the police may also be low in the wake of counter-terrorism strategies such as Prevent. And they say harrasment that is not violent, such as verbal abuse or spitting, can still spread fear and make communities feel under siege.

For the imam of Grimsby mosque the answer to whether Islamophobia is a problem, is clear. Dr Ahmad M Sabik says his mosque has always had a good relationship with its neighbours, pointing to regular schools visits and an active interfaith network. But days after the Woolwich killing, bricks were hurled through the window, narrowly avoiding worshippers. A group of teenagers were arrested and the community shrugged off the incident. But three days later things became more serious.

"It was about 10pm and one of the brothers was leaving," Sabik recalls. "Just as he was opening the door fire was thrown at it. We realised it was a petrol bomb. Another one had been thrown at the fire exit – can you imagine? And there was a third that they had tried to throw on the roof. There were children inside. Everyone was frightened."

Two ex-soldiers have since appeared in court, charged with arson with intent to endanger life, but Sabik worries that such incidents are not being taken seriously enough. "What happened in London was nothing to do with Islam, and what happened in Grimsby was nothing to do with British culture – but both are terrorist acts."

Fiyaz Mughal, director of conflict resolution charity Faith Matters, says many Muslims feel the same. The organisation runs the Tell Mama project, mapping Islamophobic incidents around the country. The idea for Tell Mama (the acronym stands for Measuring Anti Muslim Attacks) was sparked by the government's desire for more information – and a growing perception among British Muslims that Islamophobia was underestimated.

After the Woolwich killing was linked to Islamist extremism, the number of incidents the project recorded skyrocketed from an average of about eight a day to 221. Mughal says their numbers are higher because people do not always report cases to the police, and Tell Mama records Islamophobic incidents as well as crimes. The figures from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), which is more cautious, also recorded a spike in incidents – with 71 hate crimes or incidents reported between 22-27 May, compared with 27 reports of anti-Muslim activity in the seven days before the killing. The police's online reporting facility for hate crimes, True Vision, had 136 complaints, including physical offences and internet material (but say some of these may be duplicates). The Metropolitan police force, meanwhile, says it has had eight reports of potentially Islamophobic crime each day in London since the Woolwich murder compared to an average of one a day in the past 12 months.

...Case worker Amani El Sehrawry flicks through some recent reports to show me what the project is dealing with: a woman has emailed to flag up the verbal abuse of Muslim stallholders in Brixton market; a man has sent in a screenshot of an EDL member posing with a gun and tweeting about how he will exact a "violent revenge" against Muslims; a woman has rung in extremely distressed because dog excrement has been smeared on her house.

Meanwhile the 11 confirmed attacks on mosques, says Mughal – which include graffitti, arson, and even bacon being left outside – could have a huge impact on how safe Muslims feel. "When a mosque is attacked, it may be an attack on an institution not an individual," he says, "but it affects hundreds of people, and leads to the perception within the community that their identity is under seige. I think if it was 10 churches or 10 synagogues attacked there would not be this undermining of our work."

Abuse on social media should not be underestimated either, he insists, pointing out it can lead to offline attacks. "When we started the project we would pick up social media chatter by far-right groups saying, 'We should go and put a pig's head, or pig's trotters, outside a mosque,' but we had not had anything like that reported.

"But in the past few months we have seen eight of these incidents – a shift from talking about it online to doing it in real life."

El Sehrawry says she had to phone the police several times last week to report direct threats, something she has not had to do in the project's 14-month lifespan. "We have had people online using someone's name directly and saying 'why not stab them?'. There have been people saying we need a repeat of the Norway massacre to make a statement. It's really disgusting."

Moosavi too, believes that monitoring online Islamophobia is important. "It causes great injury and can inspire real-life hatred and discrimination:

"Online Islamophobia reflects more hidden attitudes than those that circulate in society."

mikepegg44 wrote:

the ridiculous nature of islamophobia aside, why the fuck can't people just leave each other alone. I am not saying love everyone, but just leave each other alone. Why the fuck is that so god damn difficult?

Is it me or are many people incapable of separating out crazy from the rest of the group? Religous fundamentalism/extremism = crazy and it is not representative of all involved in a religion.

Leave Muslims alone, leave christians alone, leave Greek Orthodox alone...oh, and Brittany too.

Byrnzie wrote:

Claiming that Osama Bin Laden and extremist elements within Islam represent all Muslims, is the equivalent of claiming the Wetboro Baptist Church, or even the KKK, represent all Christians.

People need to get a fucking grip.