Better enforcement of existing regulations on hate speech and content that incites fear and violence against minority groups is urgently needed, says Yasin, Imam and Director at the Bournemouth Islamic Centre.
Responding to the Punish a Muslim Day letter that was sent around recently in various parts of the United Kingdom, he noted that incidents of this nature happened too often.
The letter, which suggest 3rd of April to be marked as a day of punishing Muslims, lists a number of actions that people are asked to take against Muslims, assigning virtual points to the activities based on the level of severity. Included are forcibly removing the hijab from a woman’s head to throwing acid, and committing murder. No organisation or individual has claimed responsibility for the letters so far.
Sentiments toward the letter online has been of alarm but also concern that it was set out to create fear and terror amongst Muslims . Posters on the Studentroom.com.uk, UK’s largest online forum for college and university students, have called out the letter as being the work of trolls attempting to cause panic among the public, but nevertheless cautions other students of Islamic faith to be vigilant (Anon., 2018).
This is not an isolated incident, but rather one of many among a rise in xenophobia and ethnically targeted actions against minorities.
“Just a few months ago there was a threatening message left in our answering machine” said Yasin, who has been leading the prayers at the mosque since it was founded in 1992.
He explained that there was a higher number of such incidents in summer time compared to the rest of the year
Yasin said that the public sentiment is tremendously affected by coverage of events in the Media, and that reports of terrorist attacks committed by extreme Islamists has lead to spikes in attacks and intimidation targeted towards Muslims.
Yasin runs the Bournemouth Islamic Centre largely with the help of volunteers and private donations – there are only four official staff – but said that they regularly meet with society stakeholders and organizations to discuss multi-ethnic issues.
“We meet once every three months with the Racial Equality Foundation, and with the Bournemouth Police. They do assure us that they are working on solving these issues.”
Zeeniya, an international student currently enrolled in a post graduate program in Bournemouth, said that seeing the letter has come as a shock to her, despite being somewhat used to the growing anti-Islamic rhetoric in Europe and the United States.
“Some of the things they have called out for are specifically targeting things that we do as part of our religious identity like the adornment of the Hijab. That really worries me. It feels like walking around wearing a target” she said.
Not all Muslim women wear the Hijab but oftentimes but their dress code is often recognisable, and with close to half of the Muslim population in the UK coming from Middle East, Asia and Africa (Ali, 2015), it is often easy to be recognised as a Muslim.
All the more troubling, as Samir Jeraj, Policy and Practice Officer at Racial Equality Foundation, notes that hate crime often targeted people who looked different.
Jeraj listed ease of access to technology and being able to organise activities online as one of the driving factors behind the increase in hate crime.
Just earlier this week Facebook banned Britain First, a far-right political group that has a stated goal of preserving the ethnic and cultural heritage of Britain, along with its leaders, from the social network for violating the community guidelines. Facebook stated that the content in question was “designed to incite animosity and hatred against minority groups” (Facebook, 2018).
“There needs to be a stronger emphasis on Facebook and Twitter being far more proactive in shutting down hate, but we know people with that intent will manage to find other ways such as subreddits or 4chan” said Jeraj, referring to two well-known websites that serves as a platform for discussions and user generated content.
Andy Williams, Community Safety Manager for the Bournemouth Council, believes existing laws and regulations are adequate but agreed that the hate crime legislation could be simplified, calling what is there at the present a “confusing landscape”.
Williams said that the Bournemouth Council works with Tell Mama, a project that records anti-Muslim incidents in the UK, to promote reporting of hate crimes against Muslims and that they hold regular meetings with members of the Muslim community in Dorset.
“We have also worked with the Bournemouth Islamic Centre & Central Mosque to run a number of “Understanding Islam” courses for our staff and others, and representatives from the Mosque regularly attend local schools to provide educational inputs” said Williams.
Statistics released by the Dorset Police shows that last year there were 27 incidents of crime against Muslim communities in Dorset, almost twice the number from 2016, where 15 such incidents were reported (Sawyer, 2018).
Jeraj believes that a solution could come from a better understanding, with citizens playing a more active role in educating themselves about the communities around them so that they would not be misled by information circulated by hate groups.
“At the end of the day, people in communities have an awful lot in common. They want a peaceful place to live and they want the best for their families and their children. We have far more in common than we believe and we will be strengthened by sharing and learning from each other.”
