Jews in the United Kingdom have been reporting incidents of antisemitism for years, and Muslims have finally decided to follow suit. With the backing of the UK government, a project has been set up to monitor and record incidents of anti-Muslim hate. In its first year of operation, it has recorded a staggering 632 incidents all over the United Kingdom. Based on the Community Security Trust model which is well known for recording such incidents, “Tell Mama” is operated by an interfaith organization called “Faith Matters”.
“Faith Matters” reports that the victims of anti-Muslim hatred vary in age from the five-year-old to the 89-year-old Muslims. According to its records, women are more prone to such incidents. Almost three-quarters of anti-Muslim attacks occurred on the world wide web in the last year. The organization hopes that by Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (Mama), it will be able to bring about a significant change in what people in the UK consider acceptable behavior. Director of Faith Matters Fiyaz Mughal, speaking to the media, said:
By highlighting these incidents we want people to realize that Islamophobia is equally as disgusting and poisonous as anti-Semitism and I think that people do not take it to that level right now – at least some people don’t. We need to reduce the volume of online hate towards Muslim communities. We also should create frameworks for the police and other institutions to get them up recording and prosecuting in this area.
Tell Mama is planning to go smart, with its free smartphone app expected to be released within a few days. According to Faith Matters, this will make it easier for more Muslims to report incidents of hate on their phones. Mughal hopes this will lead to more people reporting any hate crimes against them, without which he believes Islamophobia can never be tackled and eliminated from British society.
The organization says that the 632 incidents were of varying degrees and differing natures. For example, in January 2013, a pig’s head was thrown into a London-based Afghan family. Several other incidents involving pig-based items have occurred in the United Kingdom over the past year, including one in which a cross wrapped in ham was left just outside a Muslim home in Nottinghamshire. 39-year old Murad Alam was forced to leave his home and two young sons after the incident.
To be honest I don’t think Islamophobia is taken very seriously – it feels like if what had happened to me happened to a Jewish family there would have been outraged. There’s a sense that because of history of terrorism, that is attached to Islam, non-Muslims feel that all Muslims deserve to be abused.
Alam reported the incident to the police, he felt as though he needed to take action in order to prevent other Muslim families in the United Kingdom from going through the same pains as himself. He is grateful to Tell Mama for the service it is providing to the ever-growing Muslim population in the UK.
I looked online and found the service so called and told them what had happened. They spoke to the media and it was great for me; I needed people to know what had happened.
According to the UK Home Office, 82% of hate crimes were based on race, whereas merely 1621 hate crime incidents were based on religious differences. A census conducted in 2011 showed that there were a total of 2.7 million Muslims living in England and Wales, 4.8% of the total population. Compared to 2001, when there were just 1.5 million Muslims, this is a marked increase. That is why it is all the more important to start tackling intolerance towards Muslims.
Although the Jewish community in the United Kingdom is much smaller than the Muslim population, the Community Security Trust (CST) has been recording hate crimes against its members for almost three decades. Tell Mama hopes to make up lost time, something that Mark Gardiner of the CST appreciates.
CST is glad that our work countering antisemitism has helped Tell Mama provide the Muslim community with a proper mechanism, for reporting and understanding anti-Muslim hate crimes. It has taken CST nearly 30 years of focus and professionalism to reach success today. What Tell Mama has achieved with wroking for one year is very impressive.
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