To think these riots are about anti-muslim feeling more than immigration....

[SaltAndVinegar2]

...and to wonder what the rioters actually think the solution is?

I mean there are plenty of Christian immigrants and no-one is attacking churches. Inner city churches are often mostly made up of ethnic minority and immigrant people

Just watched Ed Balls interview with Zarah Sultana.
ZS: "it's important to call out these riots for being islamophobic because mosques and muslims are being targetted"
EB: "do you agree we need to control immigration"
followed by constant interruption and not allowing her to actually say anything. He came across terribly. There have been 8000 complaints about this interview!

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/ed-balls-gmb-zarah-sultana-riots-b2591311.html

These rioters want to get rid of muslims whether British or immigrant - that is the unpalatable truth. It's not about immigrants in general at all, and only partly about the ones in the hotels. It's scarily reminiscent of what I've read about the early days of the 1930s in germany before Hitler came to power.

In an otherwise depressing thread, that made me half-smile...have the number "terrier attacks" now made them more of a threat than that posed by xl bullies?

YANBU

I’m not saying that I haven’t seen terrible things said about brown and black people, but what has / is been said about Muslims is just something I’ve never seen before.
The dehumanisation of Muslims and how accepted it is absolutely horrible*.

*I know I need a bigger word than just horrible

@StuffandFluff 😆😆😆😆 I was so confused at first. I do love terriers!

Probably, because that’s the religion which most often is in the news in regard to acts of terrorism or abuse. I think people are fearful.

Anti immigration tends to be cyclical. There is always a specific scapegoat group that are "invading". Black people, Irish people , wrong type of European (this went on for years, if you're not aware , you were not paying attention) and in recent years muslims. They don't want any of us really, but priority is always given to the group that can make headlines and incite the most hate and fear. On and on it goes.

That’s a choice of how the news is framed. Again, it’s a “white people” choice.

Thousands of muslim children have been murdered in Gaza recently. Thousands. And this by a nation state funded and given those weapons in part by the United Kingdom.

Statistics show that most hate crime is against Jewish people. They have to have guards protecting their schools all the time. The rise in hatred towards Jewish people in the UK is largely forgotten @SaltAndVinegar2

@spectre8

It is definitely the extremists that gives Muslims a bad name and although they are a very small percentage of the Muslim community, unfortunately there are quite a few of them in numbers (estimated 25,000 in UK in 2017)

The actions of extremists are heard very loudly and it is a real shame that we don't hear loud voices of regular Muslims standing up and loudly saying 'That's not in our name, we totally condemn this!' and being totally visible in that.

Of course, normal Muslims should not have to condemn a terror attack they weren't involved in just because they are also Muslims, but for example, the counter protestors now are also innocent and shouting loudly that the current violence is not in their name and
making it absolutely clear that they condemn the violence. And it is having an impact, the message is getting through.

I have never ever seen a protest that is by Muslims about other Muslims...there have been loud protests about, for example, schools causing offence, or Gaza, but there are never any protests against Islamic extremism, or about Muslim on Muslim conflicts.

It is a shame because I am sure that regular normal Muslims are outraged by the few extremists giving them a bad name and are working behind the scenes to stop religious extremism from flourishing, but we just don't hear about it or how outraged they are that their religion is being hijacked.

I really hope things get better because the division in the UK for the last few years, what with Brexit then Covid and the cost of living, the protests for the last few months and now these riots, have been horrendous.

That’s a choice of how the news is framed. Again, it’s a “white people” choice.

How should any terrorist attack be framed?

Fairly. They tend to use passive language when reporting on the mass murder of muslim civilians in Gaza. “x people died in Gaza” as if they just fell over.

You've got a short memory.
Until recently there have been regular pro-palestinian marches with people using anti semitic chants.

@brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr the poster you replied to was talking about terrorism. I’m not sure why you keep referring to Gaza?

Yes its anti-Muslim hate and less to do with immigration. If it wasn't anti-Islam they wouldn't be attacking mosques. MNers, as always, minimising the disproportionate impact on Muslims.

Are you saying its a pity that Muslims are being targeted but maybe if innocent Muslims protested and condemned things that they have had nothing to do with it wouldn't happen? Because that is how your post reads.

This thread isn’t going to last long!

Nobody was bothered about all the Ukraine nationals allowed in in recent years.

There's a real hysteria about Muslims in the UK now. A lot of it is rooted in fear.

Exactly. My DM was racially abused when she arrived in this country in the 1940's. She was still called a "dago" or "wop" in the sixties when I was born. She was a white, Catholic, Italian. There's always someone to abuse, for whatever reason.

I only hear of anti muslim racism, but it could be because I'm an immigrant. People don't want me to think they mean me, and my dh, so they say 'muslim' rather than 'immigrants'. I'm a secondary school teacher, and the conversations I hear from colleagues has surprised me, there's been a definite reduction of tolerance/kindness in the last couple of years towards muslims, even from left wing colleagues.

My dh is Italian, and our eldest son is quite dark at this time of year. He grew a beard in his first term of uni last year, and his uni friends started (jokingly) calling him 'The T........' and 'S...... B.....' . I don't want to repeat it, but I thought it was a sad reflection of their generation's assumptions and stereotyping of young muslim men.

This.

That appeared to be perfectly OK to many , sadly.

The chants of Infidada revolution, that ok too? The from the river to the sea? We support the Houthis chants, that OK too? Attacking a man on ceasefire marches because he condemned Hamas, that OK too?

We must condemn all racist, islamophoia, anti semitism and not be selective.

Exactly this. To fight against thugs all must be dealt with equally. Its not right to terrorise a teacher for a cartoon. This is the UK and only UK law and UK policing must apply. No vigilante groups of any persuasions

Perhaps because the Ukrainians were mainly women and children? That is the general perception of refugees. The majority of immigrants crossing the channel are young men. When societies are threatened by war, the vulnerable are usually sent to safety first.

Antisemitism has been loudly condemned. There have been speeches from government, arrests and prosecutions. There have been marches against antisemitism. It hasn't been ignored.

Talking about Islamaphobia doesn't take away from antisemitism. People are allowed to focus on Islamaphobia right now when there are violent riots all sparked by anti Muslim disinformation, it isn't some kind of competition.

It's young men people tend to fear and that's true with regards to a lot of the fear around Muslims in the UK.