ISLAMOPHOBIA IS NEW RACISM The ignorance, fear and hatred of Islam, summed up under the rubric of Islamophobia, is spreading in dangerous ways. It is a new form of racism based on religious association and must be treated like other forms of racism. The Runnymede report, “Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All,” in November 1997 defined Islamophobia as “the dread, hatred and hostility towards Islam and Muslims perpetrated by a series of closed views that imply and attribute negative and derogatory stereotypes and beliefs to Muslims.” The report added that Islamophobia is based on “an outlook or world-view involving an unfounded dread and dislike of Muslims, which results in practices of exclusion and discrimination.” A report by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) titled “Summary Report on Islamophobia in the EU after 11 September 2001” documents acts of discrimination and racism against Muslims in 15 EU member countries. The reports findings show that “Islamic communities and other vulnerable groups have become targets of increased hostility since 11 September. A greater sense of fear among the general population has exacerbated already existing prejudices and fuelled acts of aggression and harassment in many European member states.” There have been some encouraging developments in the fight against religion-based racism. But acts of hatred and discrimination against Islam and Muslims are on the rise. The Danish cartoon crisis and its aftermath are still fresh in the global memory. The speech by Pope Benedict XVI at Regensburg University in 2006 caused an uproar because it claimed that Islam is based on unreason and violence. During the US elections of 2008 and 2012, Barack Obamas “Muslim past” and alleged “Muslim identity” was unabashedly used to discredit and demonize a US president through Islam. Others were attacked because of their alleged “soft” take on the Muslim world. Despite growing evidence, some doubt that Islamophobia is a serious issue. In 2007, Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights at the time, said that “bigotry and prejudice, especially in regard to Muslims, were common in Europe” and called on governments to tackle the issue. Basing her remarks on a report by Senegals Doudou Diene regarding intolerance towards Muslims in Europe, she added that Europeans “are shocked at times when it is pointed out that bigotry, prejudice and stereotyping is still sometimes very present in their attitude toward others.” The “fear-factor” in the Wests relation to Islam also surfaces in the European opposition to Turkeys European Union membership. When the EU Commission issued a positive report about Turkeys membership progress in 2004, Frits Bolkenstein, the EUs internal market commissioner, quoted Bernard Lewis and expressed concern over Europe becoming “Eurabia.” He said: “I dont know if it will take this course, but if hes [Lewis] right, the liberation of Vienna [from the Ottomans] in 1683 would have been in vain.” The commissioner, who was referring to the defeat of the Ottomans at the gates of Vienna, used a clearly culturalist-essentialist argument to push Turkey outside Europe. The rise of extreme right-wing politics in various European countries has made the situation more threatening. Islamophobia appears in all sorts of shapes and colors from politics and immigration to schools and the workplace. But the most dangerous place is peoples imagination. In an age in which reality is substituted by images and stereotypes, contrived on unfounded facts, fears and misconceptions, people increasingly lose touch with reality. Many do not even realize they hold racist ideas. But the fact is that racism has not disappeared but changed. The race and ethnicity-based racism, going back to the 19th century, was replaced by culture-based racism in the 20th century. Instead of blackness or other qualifications, people were subjected to racism on the basis of their ethno-cultural identities such as Pakistanis, Japanese, Chinese, Turks and others. Islamophobia is the third phase where we see the emergence of religion-based racism: Islam and Muslims are demonized and discriminated against primarily because of their religious identity. Islamophobia is racism with a new face and must be rejected just like anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination against Christians, Hindus and other communities.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 04:04:40 +0000