The future for Muslims in the UK is "bleak and dystopian"

[Scirocco]

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/nov/17/muslims-face-bleak-and-dystopian-climate-in-uk-says-head-of-thinktank

According to a report by the Runnymede Trust. The crisis in Palestine and Lebanon is considered to be a major contributing factor.

Yes - It’s very worrying . Society seems to be becoming more fragmented and divisive than ever and that makes some communities very vulnerable. The speed of the riots in the summer was incredibly alarming. I do think it’s really important that everyone tones down the rhetoric . It’s understandable that people are angry ( eg about Southport stabbing or Gaza ) but I hope that anger is not misdirected to innocent targets.

Do we think newspaper articles are news?

The riots were a long time coming. There's been poisonous rhetoric about Muslims in the UK for years both by politicians and in the mainstream press.

They're an easy scapegoat on which to blame everything wrong with society.

What's dawah?

Christians pray in the street here particularly at Easter and Remembrance Day. I don’t think praying is meant to intimidate.

It's a Christian country.
Try going to a Muslim country and saying Christian prayers en masse in the street.

It depends what you pray for!

Riots will always attract idiots and I agree many will be racists however there has been so much mass immigration in such a short space of time that tensions have been bubbling over within mainstream society for the last couple of years or so and of course the thugs use that concern to start trouble and riots.

There has been talk about many Albanians arriving here on the boats and I’m not aware that they’re a majority Muslim population? Excuse my ignorance if that’s incorrect but mass immigration is the problem not certain religions is it not?

The governments should have planned for this population increase and then people wouldn’t be so frustrated. Decent people wouldn’t riot and fight in the street of course but I don't believe the majority of people have issues with a particular region. Thugs use any opportunity to kick off but that’s not how most people feel. Most people are respectful of others.

I can’t imagine why anyone would object to people praying.

It's not about immigration as such, it's about asylum seekers.

Brexit happened because so many Eastern Europeans came to the UK keeping wages low and competing for work. At least that was the catalyst.

After Brexit, the government continued to bring in large amounts of immigrants. But what changed were people crossing the channel from France in small boats.

Many of these people are fleeing Afghanistan and Iran but some are economic migrants from Vietnam and Albania. The UK struck a deal with Albania to return people so they don't come anymore.

Many of the people on the boats destroy their ID so it's difficult to process them. The immigration department has also been starved of funds meaning that claims are taking years.

Even though these people are only about 3% of annual immigration, they've become a lightening rod for everything wrong in the UK.

Many are male and Muslim and the government and media have created a lot of division leading to tension. Things got so bad that during the riots they tried to burn down a hotel with asylum seekers inside.

The riots weren't about immigration as such, the Southport murderer was rumoured to be a Muslim asylum seeker.

My first reply was a (very 🥴) long winded way of saying that I don’t think most people have a problem with certain religions thankfully. It seems to be the minority mindset and racist thugs who create tensions and make certain minorities feel threatened and that’s not fair. Most people are accepting of other good people regardless of faith, ethnicity etc

I agree with pretty much everything you’ve written.

Bloody hell that was quick. Once again blame Muslims for everything that is wrong in the world.

Praying on the streets is intimidation? Have heard it all now.

OP and PPs Id be interested to know if you live in a city/ town with a high Muslim population?

Growing up in Bradford (or ‘Bradistan’ as people call it), I can tell you that a lot of division is self imposed. Often they build their own communities and will not integrate or often even speak with non-muslims.

The future for ALL of us is bleak and dystopian under Labour.

I live in a multicultural city and I'm Muslim.

The city I live in is pretty diverse and accepting in comparison to some, but even here there is a lot of concern about religiously motivated hatred. This is a genuinely worrying time to be Muslim in the UK and in many places around the world - our children aren't safe and we experience a lot of verbal and physical aggression. The findings of the Runnymede Trust are consistent with how many people have been feeling for quite some time about the spread and normalisation of anti-Muslim hate and prejudice in the UK.

Who's calling Bradford that, by the way?

Are Muslims actually less safe in the UK than the average Muslim country?

I am sorry you feel unhappy about anti Islam sentiment but try not to conflate violent bigotry and racism with genuine concern about the growth of Islam in Europe.

Anti semitism is a far far more real and present danger.

This.

Just existing as a Muslim is intimidation to some.

Here we go. Didn't take long for the hierarchy of racism to be pointed out.

We pray five times a day. The other day I prayed in the park while my kid was on the swings. But according to you I was trying to mark territory yeah?

You come on a thread about the threat to muslims in the UK. Pretty much dismiss their concerns and throw in a cheap islamaphobic shot and then suggest that anti-semitism is the real danger. I would not dismiss your concerns for anti-semitism so why are you dismissing a Muslim's concerns about their safety? Both can be true.

And you used the word aggressive. Call it what you want but the meaning is the same.

Your hatred towards Muslims is evident. Just say it as it is.