'The Government's Call for Evidence on Islamophobia is a Rigged Box-Ticking Exercise'
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In an era where British Muslims face rising levels of hostility - from hate crime in the streets to institutional discrimination - one might expect that a Government working group tasked with producing a definition of Islamophobia or 'anti-Muslim hate,' might be a good-faith effort.
Unfortunately, the recent call for evidence by the UK Government's working group on an Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hatred definition has left activists disappointed, and with the impression that it is not a sincere effort.
In fact, the process appears to be little more than a farcical box-ticking exercise, leading to the conclusion that the procedure has been structurally rigged to avoid engagement with the very communities whose rights it claims to serve.
'Reform UK and the Rising Threat to Muslims and Minorities in Britain'
The rise of Reform should worry all of those who value justice and equality and the democratic fabric of this country
Dr Sabera Bhayat
Firstly, the process for submitting evidence on how to define Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hate appears to have been designed to avoid actual engagement. Anyone who has submitted evidence to a standard Parliamentary inquiry knows the word count for consultations tends to be around 3,000 words.
It would have made sense for this process to have been the same, for the obvious reason that Islamophobia is a multi-faceted and nuanced sociological and political problem that requires in-depth analysis. Such work requires evidence drawn from the lived experiences of ordinary Muslims, academic literature, case studies, legal precedent and data analysis.
However, the amount of evidence that can be submitted to the working group is constrained by tight limits, in some cases disallowing answers that exceed 70 to 100 characters. To put that into perspective, this is barely more than one tweet's worth of letters.
One cannot even scratch the surface of a problem like Islamophobia, covering legislative gaps, media biases, hate crime trends or workplace discrimination, within such restrictive limits. This does not appear to be an open and sincere invitation to share knowledge; rather, it has the look of a bureaucratic muzzle disguised as a public consultation.
Excluding the Experts
If the format of the inquiry were the only issue, then perhaps the working group may have been able to retain some legitimacy. Unfortunately, there are much deeper and more disturbing problems, which, arguably, completely undermine its efforts.
Reports claim that the working group was prohibited by the Government from engaging with grassroots civil rights Muslim bodies like the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).
MCB and other Muslim bodies, like Muslim Engagement & Development (MEND), are the very organisations that have been working for years
Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
In an era where British Muslims face rising levels of hostility - from hate crime in the streets to institutional discrimination - one might expect that a Government working group tasked with producing a definition of Islamophobia or 'anti-Muslim hate,' might be a good-faith effort.
Unfortunately, the recent call for evidence by the UK Government's working group on an Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hatred definition has left activists disappointed, and with the impression that it is not a sincere effort.
In fact, the process appears to be little more than a farcical box-ticking exercise, leading to the conclusion that the procedure has been structurally rigged to avoid engagement with the very communities whose rights it claims to serve.
'Reform UK and the Rising Threat to Muslims and Minorities in Britain'
The rise of Reform should worry all of those who value justice and equality and the democratic fabric of this country
Dr Sabera Bhayat
Firstly, the process for submitting evidence on how to define Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hate appears to have been designed to avoid actual engagement. Anyone who has submitted evidence to a standard Parliamentary inquiry knows the word count for consultations tends to be around 3,000 words.
It would have made sense for this process to have been the same, for the obvious reason that Islamophobia is a multi-faceted and nuanced sociological and political problem that requires in-depth analysis. Such work requires evidence drawn from the lived experiences of ordinary Muslims, academic literature, case studies, legal precedent and data analysis.
However, the amount of evidence that can be submitted to the working group is constrained by tight limits, in some cases disallowing answers that exceed 70 to 100 characters. To put that into perspective, this is barely more than one tweet's worth of letters.
One cannot even scratch the surface of a problem like Islamophobia, covering legislative gaps, media biases, hate crime trends or workplace discrimination, within such restrictive limits. This does not appear to be an open and sincere invitation to share knowledge; rather, it has the look of a bureaucratic muzzle disguised as a public consultation.
Excluding the Experts
If the format of the inquiry were the only issue, then perhaps the working group may have been able to retain some legitimacy. Unfortunately, there are much deeper and more disturbing problems, which, arguably, completely undermine its efforts.
Reports claim that the working group was prohibited by the Government from engaging with grassroots civil rights Muslim bodies like the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).
MCB and other Muslim bodies, like Muslim Engagement & Development (MEND), are the very organisations that have been working for years
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