State counter-terrorism focus has fostered and furthered Islamophobia in the UK

Evidence

Following the commencement in 2001 of the ‘war on terror’, the UK government acted to restrict civil liberties and to enact laws giving the state enhanced powers to combat terrorism and to protect its citizens specifically against the threat posed by ‘Islamist extremists’, foreign and domestic. The state’s counter-terrorism focus upon Muslim communities over the past two decades has had a role in fostering and furthering Islamophobia, a form of racism that is readily identifiable in the UK today. — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 384

Categorization

• XREF: The claim that the state itself foments Islamophobia places this report firmly in the structural/state-critical camp, sharply contrasting with Bleich’s attitudinal concept — the report treats institutional racism, not just public attitudes, as central. — connects to: Islamophobia is one of several challenges British Muslims confront. — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 47; UK counter-terror funding redirected civic support away from Islamophobia work. — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 496; British institutions have normalized surveillance of Muslims across daily life — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 172 (+11 more)

Related

• Islamophobia is one of several challenges British Muslims confront. (similarity 0.88)
• Muslim political actors in 1990 Britain already perceived a state campaign against them. (similarity 0.85)
• UK counter-terror funding redirected civic support away from Islamophobia work. (similarity 0.85)
• The UK’s counter-terrorism apparatus decentralizes surveillance into everyday public institutions, which enables discrimination. (similarity 0.84)
• Prevent is a racist, Islamophobic state policy causing concrete harms (similarity 0.84)
• Official counterterrorism policy creates the terrain from which far-right Islamophobia grows (similarity 0.83)
• UK governments deployed the term Islamophobia only to co-opt Muslims into security policies. (similarity 0.83)
• Integration rhetoric predates anti-terror policy and lacks an evidence base (similarity 0.82)
• Combating Islamophobia requires seeing it as interlaced with xenophobia and classism. (similarity 0.82)
• British institutions have normalized surveillance of Muslims across daily life (similarity 0.81)
• Post-2000 European Islamophobia emerged from terror, media, and the war on terror (similarity 0.81)
• Islamophobia operates as a policing of Muslim claims-making. (similarity 0.81)
• Prevent counter-terrorism policy harms and alienates British Muslim communities. (similarity 0.81)
• Integration policy must be decoupled from counter-terrorism aims. (similarity 0.81)
• Counter-terrorism policy forced Muslim groups into complicity or exclusion. (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Islamophobia is produced by state action, not only cultural bias #corroborates (0.85)
• State policies authorizing suspicion are the cornerstone of dialectical Islamophobia #corroborates (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 136
• Islamophobia is driven by state violence rather than mere ignorance #corroborates (0.78)
• Post-2000 European Islamophobia emerged from terror, media, and the war on terror #expands (0.75) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 568
• A worldwide Muslim threat narrative came to frame British perceptions #expands (0.75)
• Islamophobia is transmitted through state-polity dialogue via law and rhetoric #expands (0.72) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 83