Do We Need to Re-Think What is Meant by Islamophobia?
(Picture from The Conversation.com)
Locally and nationally Muslims are openly voting as a block. Not all of them. Not all the time, but the emergence of Aspire in Tower Hamlets (Bangladeshi), Newham Independents, (largely Pakistani) and four independent Muslim MPs in the 2024 election were all the result of campaigns built on the interests of a religious block, (perhaps ethno-religious blocks). There was a clear attempt by George Galloway to align his Workers Party to the Muslim community in the UK, (as he had previously done with Respect and in byelections).
The academic Matthew Goodwin has lamented the lapse into identity-based sectarianism, but perhaps it is better that it is in the open, as opposed to being conducted privately, within the meeting rooms of the Labour Party. Rather than creating a problem, it may actually be exposing the Balkanisation of British society; revealing what was hidden by and undiscussed within the parameters of what was allowed under multiculturalism. Only when the problem is in the open can it be properly addressed.
Given that the new Labour government is committed to redefining Islamophobia in law and creating punishable offences, this has suddenly become a more important topic.
“According to the 2021 census, 6.5% of the population in England and Wales identify as Muslim. In Rochdale, which has just elected George Galloway to be its MP, the proportion of the population identifying as Muslim is far higher – at 30.5%.
“As is often the case in byelections, the turnout for the contest that elected Galloway was low. But Galloway received 12,335 votes in a constituency which contains 34,871 Muslims. His campaign focused almost entirely on the war in Gaza rather than local issues, and although we don’t know what proportion of his vote was Muslim, it is a fair assumption that a large percentage of it was…”
(from The Conversation.com)
Several of the smaller parties in Newham campaigned with Gaza as a central theme in the general election, but the one which stood out was Newham Independents. The support of a communitarian agenda was central to their appeal. There is no sign of this changing.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia declared that
Is this still valid when, The Muslim Vote Says: “We are focused on seats where the Muslim vote can influence the outcome”? “Unite behind a single Muslim Vote candidate” or when
Adnan Hussain and Newham Independents say: “This is for Gaza”?
But The Muslim Vote declaims: “We are a united force of 4 million acting in unison”?
(from the Muslim Vote website)
This looks suspiciously like a “conspiracy” of people “more loyal to the Ummah… than their own nation”.
Claims of Islamophobia have been used to shut down discussion of an important topic (remember when Trevor Phillips was suspended from the Labour Party over allegations of Islamophobia).
It is currently so broadly defined so as to catch any statement perceived to be negative, by activists. It needs to be defined somewhat more clearly and conservatively. Unless speaking the truth is going to become a criminal offence.