Six Steps to Reducing Anti-Muslim Hatred
Aftermath of the Christchurch Mosque Attacks in New Zealand, 2019. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
Today’s fifth anniversary of the Christchurch mosque massacre – where 51 people were killed simply because of their faith – highlights the deadly danger of anti-Muslim hatred. The rise in anti-Muslim prejudice, as well as antisemitism, since October 7th presents a challenge and an opportunity to put in place a stronger effort to tackle prejudice and hatred.
1. Government should put the foundations in place for a societal response.
The first responsibility of government is to keep citizens safe. The funding announced to protect places of worship and community spaces is sadly necessary. That can protect people from the consequences of hatred and prejudice. It must be combined with an effective strategy to address the causes of hatred and prejudice too.
That cannot be the work of government alone – but a response across society will be stronger if the government has the foundations of an effective strategy. There are missing foundations for effective government action. These gaps should be filled this year and early in the next parliament – by appointing a lead adviser, and ensuring there is a sustained forum where the UK government engages with Muslim civic society and its allies
2. Build a broad public consensus across minority and majority groups
The term Islamophobia, coined in 1997 by the Runnymede Trust, is often used interchangeably as a synonym for anti-Muslim hatred. Some feel that focusing on the faith (“Islam”) rather than the followers (“Muslims”) can generate confusion. Whichever label is used, getting the boundaries right matters. Several definitions have been proposed in a contested debate. A government commitment in 2019 to build a consensus around a working definition was abandoned with no work done.
An effective definition would meet three tests: it needs to be legitimate with the broad majority of British Muslims; understood to be fair by their fellow citizens; and practically useful for those working in education, in workplaces and in civic groups.
A visible public engagement exercise should listen to British Muslim experiences and views, across generations and genders, about why this matters. It should engage, too, across minority and majority groups, about how to get these boundaries right. Such an exercise would have strong prospects of unlocking a much broader latent social consensus than the often polarised political, media and social media debate reflects.
Most people could agree that it is not Islamophobic to critique ideas from any faith or political perspective; nor to debate, in good faith, the challenges of identity and integration in Britain today. They would also agree that it is prejudiced to discriminate against Muslims for being Muslims, to hold all Muslims responsible for the actions of an extreme minority, or to have the type of conversation about Muslims that nobody involved would expect Muslims to be part of.
3. Don’t normalise anti-Muslim hatred when challenging it.
Anti-Muslim prejudice does have a broader potential reach than most other forms of racism and prejudice in Britain today. Research by More in Common shows that there is a broad majority concerned about anti-Muslim prejudice but that there is also a large minority who are prone to stereotypes, tropes and prejudices.
An effective approach needs to do more than raise awareness about the scale of anti-Muslim prejudice. It must reach different audiences for different challenges. Victims of prejudice need solidarity and support to report and prosecute hate crimes. Those with supportive attitudes can mobilise for stronger policies to tackle hatred. The key to reducing prejudice is to reach into those sections of mainstream society who are more sceptical about British Muslims than other minority groups – to challenge casual prejudices that stereotype all Muslims, and to broaden confidence that working together for inclusion, integration and against extremism can be a shared endeavour.
4. Tackle the deadly dangers of hateful online networks
Strengthening broad social norms against prejudice will not deal with the threat from the deadly toxic fringe. Extreme right-wing ideologies currently make up about a quarter of MI5’s casework – second to Islamist extremism. That threat comes less often from organised groups than from diffuse online networks, within which people can be socialised towards violence. While the Christchurch massacre was, for a time, a wake-up call that led to the major platforms removing some of the legal but extreme groups who promote hatred, there has been a slippage of attention and activity. There has also been a more tolerant approach to prejudice and extremism under Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter. There needs to be increased pressure from policy-makers and civic society to ensure that protection for free speech does not create safe spaces for dehumanising hatred.
5. Expand bridging contact to those less likely to experience it
Anti-Muslim prejudice is falling across generations – more in Britain than in other west European societies. One key driver of the generational change is that younger cohorts report more warmth and less social distance between majority and minority groups, reciprocally, than among older people. So there is less of a sense of a "them and us" divide.
Yet meaningful social contact – and the confidence and resilience that it can build – is unevenly spread across our society, by the geography of low and high diversity areas, but also between graduates and non-graduates, across generations, or by those with different worldviews.
Nobody should go to school in 2020s Britain without significant, meaningful contact across ethnic and faith lines – including with somebody who is Muslim, as well as somebody who is Jewish. School governing bodies could each be asked to consider how to achieve that, as part of their broader duty to promote good social relations. That may happen organically in schools in many cities – though it can be impeded when school intakes are more segregated. In areas with low levels of diversity, this may require more proactive strategies, including school linking projects. To extend success in reducing prejudice between generations, creative thinking is needed about how to emulate the success of meaningful contact between pupils in ways that can engage parents and grandparents too.
6. Grow awareness of the Muslim contribution to our national story
The armies that fought the world wars look more like today’s Britain of 2024 than that of 1914 or 1939. A third of the soldiers in the Indian Armies fighting for Britain were Muslim. There is evidence that hearing about historic and contemporary Muslim contributions does shift attitudes – especially among those prone to hold monolithic stereotypes of Muslims.
Yet most people still do not know that Muslim soldiers fought in the world wars for Britain. Awareness did double, from just one in five to four out of ten people, thanks to the successful use of the First World War centenary to raise awareness.
The anniversaries of D-Day and VE Day over the next two years are a chance to make sure that this becomes something most people know about – growing awareness of how Muslims were fully part of the multi-ethnic and multi-faith effort that we remember together today.
