08 February 2013

The Liverpool View: Islamophobia in contemporary Britain

.... Like anti-semitism, Islamophobia is not used to dismiss disagreement over belief, but rather, is used to highlight those instances when a person essentialises all Jews or all Muslims as having certain characteristics, or conveying all Jews or all Muslims as a threat that needs to be dealt with using discriminatory policy.

It may be uncomfortable to accept, but throughout history, many people, tribes and nations have been guilty of racist and xenophobic attitudes and behaviour, including Brits.

We need to have enough maturity to recognise that even in the present era, prejudices against various groups are still rampant.

In Britain, one of these marginalised groups are Muslims, who are often imagined in negative ways which not only leads to oppression and injustice, but is typically based on inaccurate understandings of a group constructed as an Other, who are in reality, more similar to the average Briton than many realise.” [University of Liverpool] Read more