Article by Aftab Malik, the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia

Five years ago, then prime minister Scott Morrison stated on national television: “I don’t know if Australians understand Islam very well.”

It seems this is still the case in 2024.

After spending five weeks travelling across this nation as the new special envoy to combat Islamophobia, defined broadly as anti-Muslim hate or prejudice, I have heard heartbreaking stories that illustrate how Islamophobia manifests in everyday life, and negatively affects the lives of everyday Australians.

Sometimes it manifests as discrimination or harassment. Sometimes as abuse. Sometimes outright hatred. And sometimes violent acts or vandalism.

The offensive graffiti discovered on a busy underpass in Sydney’s west over the weekend is just the latest visible reminder of Islamophobia in Australia.

It puts into context just how wrong Senator Dave Sharma was stating that Islamophobia is “fictitious”.

Every day, Islamophobia affects children, teenagers at their most vulnerable, and adults alike.

The fact is that there has been a 600% increase in reports of Islamophobia since the 7 October atrocities last year and it wasn’t uncommon beforehand.

The evidence documenting anti-Muslim hate is overwhelming. Over the past decade, countless studies have detailed incidents of anti-Muslim crime and discrimination, and analysed the media tropes that perpetuate stereotypes about Islam and Muslims.

This body of work paints a troubling picture of a world in which harassment and abuse of Muslims are equal parts common and perceived as socially acceptable.

Many of the reports of abuse and violence take place in ordinary settings, where bystanders rarely intervene, and in the main, the victims are identifiable Muslim women.

These are common outrages. They’re everyday discrimination. They have all been reported to the Islamophobia Register Australia. They deserve our collective condemnation.

As an aside, the fact there are Muslim community organisations documenting Islamophobia on a register, and a special envoy to combat it, is a clue as to whether Islamophobia exists.

The offhand dismissal of the everyday abuse of our community juxtaposes awfully with the recent commentary by some of our leaders, and it’s dangerous. It tests us as a community and it tests Australia as a society.

I understand emotions are high right now. All Muslims do. But we should treat people the way we want to be treated.

In that spirit I offer this: attacks on any places of worship are horrendous – especially because they are sacred spaces for people to worship in the knowledge that they free and safe to do so.

I condemn the recent antisemitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney.

I also condemn the incidents of arson, graffiti and vandalism which have haunted mosques across Australia that have largely gone unnoticed without any outrage from our leaders.

I urge our politicians and community representatives not only to be passionate but also empathetic. We cannot condemn one form of hate and then deny the existence of another.

There are some who believe Islamophobia is a concept designed to shut down freedom of speech and stop criticism of Muslims or Islam. That’s not the case. People are free to dislike Islam, or any other faith.

But it manifests as Islamophobia when dislike turns into harassment, intimidation and abuse of Muslims, and discrimination against them. That’s real and it should be a concern for all members of society.

Senator Sharma has agreed to meet me this week. By no means is understanding alone the cure for Islamophobia, but it is a first step towards change.

It is imperative that we stop politicising suffering and work towards a more inclusive society, where every person, regardless of their faith, can feel safe and valued.

Source: The Guardian

Half of Luxembourg’s Muslims said they experienced racism in the last year, and 60% in the past five years, according to a report by the European Agency for Fundamental Rights.

The report, released Thursday and based on data collected in 2021 and 2022, points out that all respondents to the survey in the Grand Duchy came from countries south of the Sahara, noting that discrimination based on skin color is also the key driver of racism in Luxembourg, the report said.

Almost four in ten Muslims in France and 53% in Belgium said they had experienced racism in the last five years. Muslims living in Austria and Germany claim to be particularly affected by discrimination, with 71% and 68% respectively saying they had experienced at least one act of discrimination in the last five years.

“It is increasingly difficult to be a Muslim in Europe,” the report based on a survey of 9,600 people in 13 EU member states said.

Half of European Muslims questioned said they confronted racism in their daily lives, compared with 39% in 2016, the year of the previous study.

Multiple difficulties

A quarter of the Muslims living in Luxembourg claim to have been discriminated against when renting or buying property. When it comes to healthcare, 28% of Muslims in Luxembourg reported discrimination over the last five years, putting the Grand Duchy behind only Austria (45%) and Germany (31%) in this category.

More than a third of Muslims in Luxembourg say they experienced harassment – 35% said they had been insulted, while 5% experienced physical violence. Half of Luxembourg Muslims believe their last police stop was due to racial profiling.

Confidence in the police is significantly lower among those who say they have been victims of racism (6.1/10) compared to those who have never been discriminated against (8.6/10).

These figures appear to be consistent with those of the Observatoire de l’Islamophobie au Luxembourg (OIL). In 2023, 23% of the 299 Muslims surveyed by the OIL said they had been direct victims of Islamophobic incidents, while 1% said they had been victims of violence because of their faith.

Measures for action

The EU should focus on racism against Muslims, which is “exacerbated by dehumanizing rhetoric across the continent”, rights agency president Sirpa Rautio said. Muslims are the EU’s second-largest religious group at 26 million, or 5% of the total population.

To improve the situation in Luxembourg, but more broadly at European level, the rights agency recommended strengthening anti-discrimination laws.

The agency also advised EU member states to introduce national action plans to combat racism. Luxembourg has already implemented this recommendation.

The agency also recommends targeted aid to improve the living conditions of Muslims, as well as their improved access to education and employment. Such measures also would improve access to affordable housing and reduce the school drop-out rate.

Source: Luxembourg Times

Among the factors noted in the report:

• 105 countries (53%) experienced widespread government harassment of religious groups, up from 85 (43%) and 96 (48%) in 2013.
• Limited harassment—isolated cases or cases that affected a small number of groups—took place in 52 countries (26%) in 2015, up from 44 (2%) in 2014.
• In Europe, in 17 countries, up from 9 in 2014, occurred incidents of mob violence related to religion (individuals assaulted or displaced because of their faith) and incidents of violence used to enforce religious norms.
• Sub-Saharan Africa showed a greater use of violence to enforce religious norms—25 countries in 2015 up from 9 in 2014.
• Government use of force against religious groups increased, with 23 countries (12%) experiencing more than 200 cases of government force in 2015, up from 21 (11%) in 2014.
• An even greater increase came in the number of countries with at least one but not more than 200 incidents of government use of force against religious groups: 83 nations (42%) vs. 60 countries (30%) in 2014.

The study is part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project that analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world. The project is jointly funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation.

The study is available on the Pew Research Center site.

Source: Church of Scientology