European monitoring reports legitimized Islamophobia as a concept but not proactive policy

Evidence

It is also worthy of note that these conditions are the same conditions through which Islamophobia has been responded to at the european level. If one considers the response to Islamophobia at the pan-european level, it is this same backdrop that has initiated the various reports and monitoring projects that have been put in place and undertaken. As such, it is not surprising that the EUMC has produced reports following the events of 9/11 and 7/7 or that other organisations have followed suit. This is not a negative process because it is through these sources, and the activities that have emerged from them, that things have gone some way towards helping familiarise and endorse both the term and concept on a european platform. They have therefore attributed Islamophobia with some much needed legitimacy and credibility. In acknowledging the positives it is also worth noting the negative flipside to this situation and acknowledge how – at the pan-European level at least – activities that have been proactive towards Islamophobia have been near non-existent. — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 572

Categorization

• XREF: Core to the reader’s module: this is Allen arguing that the very monitoring reports gave the term legitimacy on a European platform — a claim about how the definition gained institutional currency.