Shabna Begum says racist riots will return if Islamophobia continues to be ‘an acceptable currency’ in politics
Islamophobia has become “brutally divisive” in the UK and failure to challenge its root causes will lead to more racist riots, the head of the UK’s leading race equality thinktank has said.
Shabna Begum, who became the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust earlier this year, said the country was entering a new phase in how it talks about Muslims.
Continue reading...‘Dehumanising rhetoric’ blamed as almost half of respondents say they recently suffered discrimination
Muslims across Europe are grappling with a “worrying surge” of racism that is being fuelled in part by “dehumanising anti-Muslim rhetoric”, the EU’s leading rights agency has said, as it published a survey in which nearly half of the Muslim respondents said they had recently experienced discrimination.
Published on Thursday by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the survey of 9,600 Muslims across 13 member states found that racism and discrimination threads through most aspects of their lives.
Continue reading...Exclusive: London mayor boosts counter-hate funding as British Jewish group warns of danger of ‘reprisal’ attacks
Sadiq Khan has warned of a potential increase in hate crime in Britain triggered by the rise in Middle East violence, as a leading British Jewish group warned of the danger of “reprisal” attacks here.
The London mayor’s warning comes after a series of Israeli airstrikes against targets in Lebanon, which have killed Hezbollah’s top leaders as well as its followers, and it is feared, scores of civilians. Khan is pumping extra emergency funding into groups in London countering hate.
Continue reading...Some question the appointment of an official who has worked on controversial countering violent extremism programs
The Albanese government has announced British Australian public servant Aftab Malik as the special envoy to combat Islamophobia in Australia after months of delays.
But it has also sparked criticism, with some people within the Muslim community calling into question the thinking behind the appointment.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal ‘all communications’ will be solely attributed to special envoy
The Australian government is seeking to create some distance from its new special envoys on antisemitism and Islamophobia, suggesting they do not characterise their comments as official government policy.
Documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal the instructions the government has given its new special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, including the need to highlight “diverse Jewish Australian identities”.
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Continue reading...Wesam Charkawi says Albanese’s party has ‘created this movement through their decisions’ as pro-Palestine communities feel Labor has failed them
A new Muslim political movement backing independent candidates says Labor will have itself to blame if Peter Dutton wins the next election, and that people should not assume the candidates they support will preference Labor.
Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, one of the conveners behind the Muslim Vote movement, said the group would be aiming to support “at least five candidates” in New South Wales and Victoria.
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Continue reading...Campaigners warn against ‘false sense of security’ and say asylum seekers in Scotland are fearful of the far right
Anti-racism campaigners have vowed to show the far right they are not welcome in Scotland after an anti-immigration rally was organised in Glasgow.
But they warned against a “false sense of security” as the disorder witnessed across England and Northern Ireland earlier in the month has not been seen in Scotland.
Continue reading...Michelle O’Neill and deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly call unrest in Co Down and Derry ‘disgraceful’
Northern Ireland’s first minister and deputy first minister have condemned a racist attack on a mosque in County Down and last night’s violence in Derry.
The mosque was attacked at about 1am on Saturday, when graffiti was sprayed on the front door and walls of the building in Greenwell Street.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Justin Welby condemns violent disorder of recent days as ‘unchristian’
The archbishop of Canterbury has warned Christians they should not be part of any far-right groups, criticising the use of Christian imagery in this summer’s riots as “an offence to our faith”.
Writing in the Guardian, Justin Welby condemned the violent unrest, which he described as “racist”, “anti-Muslim, anti-refugee and anti-asylum seeker”. His intervention follows a week of disorder that began after a mass stabbing of children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport last month.
Continue reading...Severe cases of far-right violence need to be recognised as terrorism and not ‘thuggery’, write Rusi researchers
The recent riots in the UK, sparked by the Southport stabbings, have exposed troubling double standards in how society perceives and responds to far-right violence compared to Islamist extremism. This disparity calls for a serious redefinition of how we address far-right extremism, recognising it as the grave threat it truly represents.
Far-right motivated violence is often classified as mere “thuggery” or hooliganism, while similar acts motivated by Islamist extremism would is likely to be swiftly labeled as terrorism. This inconsistency undermines the perceived severity of far-right threats and hinders the political will to take equivalent action.
Emily Winterbotham, Claudia Wallner and Jessica White are researchers at the Royal United Services Institute.
Continue reading...Neil Basu, former head of UK counter-terrorism, condemned rampaging rioters as ‘bullies and cowards’
The worst of the far-right violence seen in England this weekend should be treated as terrorism, a prominent former police chief has said, amid warnings over a new wave of unrest targeting migration lawyers.
Police have made 378 arrests since the violence broke out last week, with rioters setting fire to a library, looting shops and storming hotels housing asylum seekers.
Australia, Nigeria, Malaysia and Indonesia issued travel alerts to their nationals living in or visiting the UK, warning them to stay away from demonstrations.
Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, warned the riots have made many of the health service’s multicultural workforce feel “afraid and unwelcome” and the Royal College of Nursing called on ministers to ensure that anyone who targets nurses “pays a very heavy price”.
Ministers announced plans to introduce more than 500 new prison places over the next month to help cope with an influx of accused rioters expected to be held on remand.
The prime minister’s spokesperson criticised comments by Elon Musk after the X owner posted that “civil war is inevitable” in response to a video showing riots in Liverpool.
MPs and 60 anti-racist and migrants’ rights organisations called for parliament to be recalled to address the violence and “to ensure that all people and communities of colour are protected”.
Continue reading...Police say they are searching for a male who allegedly vandalised the inner-west Sydney office in what is the latest political graffiti attack
Police are investigating after the New South Wales Greens’ office was graffitied with Islamophobic and white supremacist messages.
The graffiti, which occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning at the office in inner west Sydney, called an Islamic prophet a white supremacist.
Continue reading...Deputy PM Angela Rayner says she does not recognise Donald Trump running mate’s ‘characterisation’ of Britain
Senior Labour figures have rejected comments by Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, that the UK could become the first “truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon” under the party.
They were reacting to comments that were made by Vance, a junior senator for the state of Ohio who has been announced as Trump’s running mate, at a conference for US conservatives.
Continue reading...Australian cricket star labels opposition leader’s remarks an ‘absolute disgrace’ as newly formed Muslim Vote group sparks debate
Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja has accused Peter Dutton of “fuelling Islamophobia”, after the opposition leader said he was concerned about a future minority Labor government relying on crossbench support including “Muslim candidates from western Sydney”.
Dutton’s comments also prompted criticism from industry and science minister Ed Husic. “There’s not only been a Muslim candidate from western Sydney for more than a decade now, there’s also two of us who serve as ministers,” Husic said, refering to himself and early childhood minister Anne Aly.
Continue reading...The Guardian used public records and open source materials to identify Daniel Linden of the Shirion Collective
A prime mover behind the Shirion Collective, a conspiracy-minded, pro-Israel disinformation network seeking to shape public opinion about the Gaza conflict in the US, Australia and the UK, is a tech entrepreneur named Daniel Linden living in Florida who co-wrote a guidebook for OnlyFans users, the Guardian can reveal.
Shirion has harassed pro-Palestinian activists, including many Jews, offered bounties for the identity of pro-Palestinian protesters, spread conspiracy narratives centered on figures like George Soros, and boasted of an AI-surveillance platform but offered few concrete details of how the technology functions.
Continue reading...Civil liberties group calls for hate crime charges against suspect in alleged racist attack at apartment complex pool
The US’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization is calling for hate crime charges to be filed against a Texas woman accused of trying to drown a three-year-old Palestinian-American girl while saying that the child’s mother wasn’t really American.
For now, the suspect in the case has been booked on counts of attempted murder and injury to a child.
Continue reading...Comments from former Ukip leader, who also said he will stand for parliament in the future, described as ‘outright Islamophobia’
Nigel Farage has come under fire for using his first election interview to “spout Islamophobia, hatred and divisive comments” after he said a growing number of Muslims do not share British values.
The honorary president of the Reform UK party drew heavy criticism on Sunday after claiming Rishi Sunak had allowed “more people into the country who are going to fight British values” than any UK leader before him.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ads containing AI-manipulated images were submitted to Facebook by civil and corporate accountability groups
The Facebook and Instagram owner Meta approved a series of AI-manipulated political adverts during India’s election that spread disinformation and incited religious violence, according to a report shared exclusively with the Guardian.
Facebook approved adverts containing known slurs towards Muslims in India, such as “let’s burn this vermin” and “Hindu blood is spilling, these invaders must be burned”, as well as Hindu supremacist language and disinformation about political leaders.
Continue reading...Anna Haholkina tells of shock and says no one from deputy Italian PM’s League sought her permission
A woman whose photograph was used in a poster campaign by Italy’s far-right League, a member of Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition, has said she will consult lawyers, describing the images as “racist”.
Anna Haholkina, a Ukrainian-Italian model who lives in Rimini, said she was shocked to see her face on the posters that have sprung up in Milan in recent weeks as the League, which is led by the deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, intensifies its anti-Islam stance in the run-up to next month’s European elections.
Continue reading...Mothin Ali has not been suspended from city council despite proclaiming ‘Allahu Akbar’ and other remarks causing offence
A Green party councillor at the centre of an antisemitism row has apologised “for the upset caused” by his remarks but hit back at “Islamophobic” attacks against him.
The Green party has launched an investigation into Mothin Ali, who was elected to Leeds city council last week, but has declined to suspend him.
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