Tackling Islamophobia – a toolkit for educators

Aims To address delegates concerns about educating against Islamophobia To provide ideas and activities which break down stereotypes and combat misinformation about Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim.

Definition: "lslamophobia - Irrational hostility, fear and hatred of Islam, Islamic Culture, Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, and active discrimination towards this group as individuals or collectively” The OSI report on ’Muslims in Europe – A report on 11 EU Cities:

Concerns

A Very Real Issue… 47% of Britons see Muslims as a threat. Only 28% of Britons believe Muslims want to integrate into British society. 52% of Britons believe that Muslims create problems. 45% of Britons admit that they think there are too many Muslims in Britain. 58% of Britons associate Islam with extremism. (University of Essex, 2012) In Feb 2010 Bus drivers in Merseyside were cautioned for refusing to stop to pick up Muslim students wearing headscarves on their bus routes. Following an investigation by police, officers were charged with boarding buses to protect students from racist abuse while they travelled on public transport 11 th January 2012 – a Surrey teenager was kicked, pushed to the floor and had her face drawn on by a group of older girls because she was wearing a hijab.

Muslim Headscarf Foreign Pray Bomber Person Koran Religious Asian Terrorist Turban Scary

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CRACK THE FACT

Muslims have contributed significantly to UK society

All Immigrants are illegal

The majority of new jobs in the UK go to immigrants

In 2010 Immigrants accounted for 15% of people who were hired. This means that 85% of “new jobs” went to British workers.

Most terrorist attacks in Europe are committed by Muslim extremists

In 2011 there were 174 terrorist attacks in EU member states. NONE of these were carried out by Al-Qaeda affiliated or inspired groups In 2009 and 2010, there were 543 terrorist attacks in Europe, of which only 4 were committed by Muslims. This means that only 0.7% of terrorist attacks– less than 1%– were committed by Muslims.

Over 1000 people have been arrested whilst marching with the English Defence League

A GLA study of 352 articles in a week during 2007 found that 91% of articles about Muslims were "negative". A Channel 4-commissioned survey of 974 articles from 2000 to 2008 found that Two thirds portrayed British Muslims as a "threat" and a "problem“ References to "radical Muslims" outnumbering references to "moderates" by 17 to one. 74% of British public claim they know ‘nothing or next to nothing about Islam’ & 64% only learn about Islam from the media Islamophobia in the Media

Activity: The influence of the Media The Facts Behind the Headlines

MUSLIMS TELL BRITISH: GO TO HELL! The headline refers to three Muslim members of the public who turned up at court because they agreed with the extremist views of the man being sentenced. They protested about the sentencing outside the court before leaving peacefully. There is no evidence that these people actually told the ‘British’ to ‘go to hell’ or that they had any signs with this written on.

MUSLIM SICKOS MADDIE KIDNAP SHOCK The Daily Star reported that there were two people having a conversation in an internet chat room. They were talking about the disappearance of Madeline McCann and one person asked the other if they thought Maddie’s parents might have played a part in her disappearance. The other person said yes. There is no mention of how the Daily Star knew that these two people were Muslim or how they were in any way connected to Maddie’s disappearance other than talking about it over the internet.

Daily Star reporter quits in protest at tabloid's 'anti-Muslim' coverage In March 2011 Richard Peppiatt admitted to making up stories about Muslims and accused the paper creating racial tension In his resignation letter to the owner of the newspaper, Richard Desmond, Peppiatt said that ‘the lies of a newspaper in London can get a bloke's head caved-in down an alley in Bradford.’ He also said that another reporter working at the paper objected to writing anti-Muslim articles, and was consequently bullied out of her job: "She was given every anti-Muslim story to write for about two weeks, so as a result of that she quit. I'm deeply ashamed to this day that I didn't walk out with her. "

What can we do about the influence of the media? Remember you can’t generalise about groups of people: people are individuals. Know your facts – don’t believe everything you read or hear. Search for evidence to prove that the information you have is true. Be prepared to challenge the stories you read or hear Challenge the media – write to your paper Find an different news source

Muslim Headscarf Foreign Pray Bomber Person Koran Religious Asian Terrorist Turban Scary

Concerns