Analyzing the Trends in islamophobia.

 

Islamophobia is a combination of fear, hate, and prejudice against Muslims as well as against any object or place associated with Islam—as a faith or religion—such as Mosques, Islamic centres, Holy Qur’an, Hijab, halal food, name that sounds ‘Arabic’, men with beard, Azan (prayer call), Minarets, Domes, and so on. It also constitutes hatred, stigmatization, racism and discriminations on daily life, on Media, at workplace, at political sphere, etc. It rests in the mind and it may reflect in offending attitudes. At extreme, Islamophobia manifests through violent actions, such as burning mosques, vandalizing properties, abusing women wearing Hijab, or insulting Prophet, defaming venerated figures, or desecration of sacred symbols in Islam. Islamophobia exists almost everywhere, in non-Muslim and in Muslim populace likewise. However, from the empirics, there has been a tendency that the issue of Islamophobia is usually found significant in non-Muslim societies, or in territories where Muslims are way less in term of number if being compared with the majority population—another way of saying, Islamophobia is more obvious when Muslims find themselves among the minority groups. However, the minority status must not be the only factor, since the seeds of Islamophobia could be diverse from one place to another. For instance, the phenomenon may come as an excess to the dynamic of the domestic politics, or merely a result of political bargaining by a winning coalition. Sometimes Islamophobia is being imposed through government policies; while in many cases, Islamophobia has strong connections with key issues like unemployment, immigrants, refugees, and the similar. In another case, Islamophobia rises as an ‘outcome’ of other issue, for instance on the case of backlash following preceding terrorist incidents. In addition, it is not a surprising phenomenon as modern civilizations are living within a global village, Islamophobia may appear due to certain events in different part of the globe. In brief, Islamophobia could be driven by multiple factors within multi-dimensional context.

The main task of the Islamophobia Observatory is to ‘monitor’ events on daily basis, scanning the minds, public feelings, incidents, and materials that serves as possible indicator of Islamophobia. All of the information were gathered and presented in this report with the expectation that all Member States would have a picture about the on-going trend of Islamophobia, based on which relevant decisions and policies might be taken.

The followings are the summary of such trend: First, it seems that Islamophobia would continue to be among the most challenging issue at global level, at least for now and in the near times ahead. There has been a tendency that Islamophobia keep increasing since the past five years period; and during the past 14-months period (December 2020 until January 2022) such increase remain steady. A slight decrease happened in the beginning of the year, mid-year, and again by end-year of 2021, meaning that trend is quite fluctuating across the months, but the overall trend is increasing.

Second, in term of magnitude, Europe is region that deserve most particular attention, followed by Asia and North America. Two countries in Europe, France and United Kingdom among those that keep showing significant indicators of Islamophobia, cemented mostly through government policies, which serve more and more the vested interests far-rights ideologies. An interesting pattern noted by the Observatory thing is that now the central issue has moved far beyond immigration and refugees that used to dominate the political dynamics in Europe since the past five years. Instead, the recent trends shows that the tension was dominated by government policies and public sentiments targeting Islamic identity which somehow, getting close to the theoretical construction of ‘clash of civilizations’ prescribed by Samuel Huntington. The similar pattern was also seen in Asian region, showing the existence of ‘clash of civilization’ which eventually transform into Islamophobia, among others. In India, such ‘clash’ happened between Islam and Hindu; and on the case of Sri Lanka, Islam and Buddhism that seem to have sort of connection with the preceding tensions in Myanmar precisely the case of Rohingya. Meanwhile, Islamophobia in American region was dominated by incidents, mostly perpetrated by far right supporters. Particularly in Asia, the issue of Islamophobia is closely intertwined with other issues i.e. politics, human rights, minorities, culture, identity, humanitarian action, terrorism, extremism, etc. 

Third, at the time the COVID-19 pandemic continued to yield devastating repercussions worldwide, anti-Muslim groups in some countries have tapped the crisis to fuel hatred towards Muslims. Social media was inundated with claims of Muslims breaching the lockdown by continuing to attend mosques to pray, because of which many Muslims have been attacked. Fake stories blaming Muslims for spreading the virus intensely circulated on social media, casting Muslims as a threat to nations. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, incidents of violent attacks against Muslims have reportedly redoubled in countries of the region. Some leaders and prominent figures have also used the Corona virus crisis as a tool to further their agenda against Muslims. Therefore, in this report the Observatory would add COVID-19 into the main factors been identified as major contributors to Islamophobia at global level, in addition to far-right ideologies, refugee crises, immigration issue, extremism & terrorism, and rhetoric by media.

Fourth, in term of manifestation, Islamophobia was dominated by discriminations against Muslims which was followed by far-right campaign and government policy. It was observed that the number of incidents caused by far rights, which was dominant during the last few years, has now been showing a declining pattern, but in reality their influence has doubled and this time was exercised through government policies and political pressures. It could therefore be assumed that the far right ideology has taken significant portion of influence over administrations and ruling governments, especially when we look at the pattern from the result of recent elections in countries of Europe and Asia. Lower percentage of Islamophobia manifestation were seen through a number of incidents such as mosque burning, provocative statements in social media, mail threats, burning and desecration of copies of Holy Quran, insults of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), physical assaults, and verbal abuses.

Fifth, in four out of five regions in the world, Islamophobia continued to be marked by the growing popularity of right-wing parties and movements, evolving into a global wave of anti-establishment, ultra-nationalism, and the mushrooming of extreme right-wing parties. The Islamophobia Observatory believes that the majority of Islamophobia manifestations during the past few years was driven mostly by far rights, therefore, special attention need to be given to the expanding influence of far-right movements in countries, i.e. Avanza Libertad (Argentine), Republican Party (Chile), Fidesz (Hungary), Law and Justice (Poland), Vox Party (Spain), UKIP Party (UK), Freedom Party-PVV (The Netherlands), Ano (The Czech Republic), National Rally (France), Five-Star Movement and Northern League (Italy), Alternative for Germany-AfD (Germany), Freedom Party-FPO (Austria), Social Democrat (Sweden), Bharatiya Janata Party-BJP (India), SLPP (Sri Lanka), and so on.

Sixth, particular attention should also be given to the situation related to headscarf, hijab, veil, burqa, and other dresses associated with Muslim women. In 2020, the phobia against such dresses significantly declined due to the world-wide campaign to wear face masks as part of protective gear against Corona virus; but in 2021 such trend again rise sharply. Countries like France, Switzerland, and Austria started to implement at full force, the policy to ban the use of headscarf at public offices, universities, and schools. In addition, the incident related to hijab has been three-fold in countries like US, Canada, and UK. The Observatory also noticed further kicks on the implementation of policies against headscarf in countries i.e. Belgium, Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia, Kosovo, and Sri Lanka. Seventh, it is quite relieving nevertheless, to note that during the covered period, there were efforts in many places around the world to promote harmony and tolerance, while countered anti-Islam sentiments and other Islamophobic activities, of which the Observatory would consider as positive signs towards combating Islamophobia and incitement of hatred and violence towards Islam and Muslims. There have also been significant measures towards ensuring a better protection of Muslims and other minorities. Within the Muslim world, some Muslim countries have been more engaged in the global efforts to address Islamophobia. A similar sign of enthusiasm was also seen at the United Nations and at the European Union. Meanwhile, significant counter-balance to the fast growing far-rights were seen in the US, Brazil, Canada, Spain, UK, Germany, and Australia. In addition, the UN has started to materialize its Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech; The EU has also made commitments on their initiative on ‘Countering Racism and Xenophobia’. It has been found quite here and there, significant push towards the full implementation of OHCHR Resolution 16/18on Combating Intolerance, Discrimination, Stereotyping, and Incitementof Violence against Persons Based on Religion; and so on.