A fortnight after the murders of 50 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, the pain is still agonising. The urgency of confronting the violent threat posed by far-right extremists across the world has been brought home in the most horrifying way. Facebook’s announcement this week that it will ban white separatist and nationalist content comes too late for the victims of this attack and others, including that on a Pittsburgh synagogue last year. Governments including Austria’s are investigating links between international far-right groups and the Christchurch killer.
Last week’s announcement by the UK government of additional funding for security at places of worship was a significant gesture. But it falls far short of what the Muslim Council of Britain and former Conservative party chair Baroness Warsi had called for. Reports of a soaring number of anti-Muslim hate crimes, including the stabbing of a teenager in Surrey by a white man screaming abuse, provide disturbing confirmation that fear and anger about Islamophobia – defined by MPs as a prejudice rooted in racism and targeting “expressions of Muslimness” – are grounded in facts.
Despite the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in the run-up to 2016’s EU referendum, by a man fixated on the threat to the “white race”, the current government has not only failed to do enough to challenge Islamophobia across the country. It has not even made a serious effort to root out bigots from its own ranks and somehow remains unabashed in the face of increasingly furious criticism from Lady Warsi – the undoubted hero of this sorry tale.
This is not to put all the blame for rising intolerance on the Conservatives. British racism has deep roots, and the surge in Islamophobia in the decades since 9/11, linked to the “clash of civilisations” rhetoric of the Bush-Blair years, overlays older prejudices. The media, old as well as new, have played an important role in creating and disseminating stereotypes, and stirring up xenophobia and distrust. Coverage of Islamist terrorism and immigration are key examples, but not the only ones. Greater numbers of Muslims in public life would enrich our society. The Conservatives are not alone among political parties in having members with racist views.
But the Tories are in government, and their complacency on this issue is disgraceful. A recent letter to this newspaper from leading Islamic figures pointed to “systemic and institutionalised Islamophobia” around the world. Yet the UK’s ruling party refuses to get its own house in order, with 15 suspended councillors reinstated despite evidence showing they had posted or shared offensive or racist material, and a lack of transparency about how disciplinary processes work.
Shocking though this is in the aftermath of Christchurch, it is not at all surprising when you consider the party’s limitless indulgence of former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, or the 2016 mayoral campaign fronted by Zac Goldsmith. In December, a complaints panel found Mr Johnson’s comparison of burqa-wearing women to “letterboxes” had been “respectful”, while even the supposed moderniser David Cameron found nothing to criticise in the dog-whistle tactics employed against Sadiq Khan – tactics highlighted by Lady Warsi among others at the time.
Such denials and inaction create the overwhelming impression that the Conservative party thinks the charge of racism will not harm it; that its voters don’t care. As long as such shameful calculations prevail, it is little wonder that Islamophobia remains unchecked in politics and beyond.
