Islamophobia in Australia and Western Countries - Term Paper Example

Islamophobia Name Professor Course Date Islamophobia in Australia and Western Countries A phobia is an exaggerated, usually, illogical and inexplicable fear of class of objects, situation, and particular objects. It might be hard for the afflicted to sufficiently communicate or determine the source of the fear, but it exists. In the recent years, a specific phobia known as Islamophobia has gripped United States, Australia, and many other western societies. Islamophobia is an exaggerated hostility, hatred, and fear towards Muslims and Islam. It is perpetuated by negative stereotypes resulting from discrimination, bias, exclusion, and marginalization of Muslims from political, civic, and social life. In Australia, Islamophobia has been a threat to the Muslim community. Due to frequent terrorist attacks, Muslims have been associated with the attacks, and they are receiving threats from various places. Tony Abbott has been urged to address Islamophobia in the country due to reports that Muslim figures are receiving death threats, women abused verbally on the streets, and mosques being defaced. Many community leaders are worried about the country’s mission against the Islamic state and frequent anti-terrorism raids, which stimulates attacks on the Muslims (Mac an Ghaill & Haywood 2014, p. 283). The government and even the residents had developed an abusive language that they were using against the Muslims. The leaders and members of Islamic Council of Victoria under Colan Almir called for a meeting with the government to request for the change of the language used when addressing the Muslim Community. Muslim leaders requested the government to change or fire their speechwriters who were claiming they support the Muslims in private, but they were not saying it in public. Muslim leaders wanted the prime minister to abandon the language used and concentrate on productive and responsible language. In addition, the leaders wanted the prime minister to address the attack on the Muslims as an attack on the entire country so that the Muslims are assured that the government supports them. Muslim leaders were not happy on what the senator Palmer United told the parliament. Lambie told the parliament Islamic sheria law supporters were depraved and maniac humans. The senator claimed that they used to murder and rape to force every woman in Australia to wear a burqa. As a result, Lambie wanted burqa to be banned in Australia. Olan claimed that senator’s comments encouraged Islamophobia because it created more hatred against the Muslims. Muslims wanted the Prime minister to condemn the comments because it gave the bigots a direct permission to attack the Muslims. Muslims felt excluded from the team Australia, a term that led to many divisions between the Muslims and other residents. Muslim women fear even to go to trading centres because they fear being attacked due to Islamophobia (Bagguley 2014, p. 852). The threats against the Muslims went to an extent that the note was dropped near the mosque in Doncaster, which contained death threats. Threat notes were also dropped near Auburn and Lakemba Mosques. Threats near the two mosques were against grant mufti of Australia. In Queensland, the word evil was daubed near Mareeba mosque while in Liverpool anti-Muslim slogans were sprayed on vehicles. All these threats made the Muslims fear attending them usual prayers in the mosques because they fear being attacked by the people who dropped the death threat notes. In the streets of Melbourne and Sydney, women wearing hijab were being abused verbally. One woman claimed that a man almost run over her at a school crossing when she was trying to pick her daughter from school. The incidences scared the Muslim women to an extent that they were not free to walk on their own in the streets of Australia. Islamophobia has been a great challenge on the Muslim community in Australia. It is because they were not saved when visiting the mosques or even walking freely in the streets. The threats against the Muslims were not only on the streets but also the internet was used to attack the Muslims. Islamophobic comments dominated the social media on facebook and twitter. Social media users were posting on the pages that the Muslims should be beheaded, blown up or even deported. What followed were the raids in Brisbane and Sydney carried out by more than 800 police officers who beheaded the members of public randomly. Complaints from the leaders of Muslim communities made Australian government commit it forces to take over the Islamic state in Iraq and raised domestic alert to a higher level. New laws were legislated which granted the intelligence officials more powers when handling terrorist suspects. Abbott addressed the public claiming that every individual is on the team Australia and referred the Muslim community as the fits-class Australians. Despite the fact that he praised the Muslim community, he condemned the Muslims, who protested against the raids in Lakemba. Abbott told them that they were foolish because they failed to meet him in the wake of the team Australia comments that he made (Bleich 2011, p. 1587). The government efforts impressed the Muslims, but they were not satisfied. Colan as the leader of Muslim community said that the signs show the government listens to their complaints, but the language they used is not catching up. Colan claimed that there should be more support from the government for the Muslims. He said that if the government does not offer the support, are worried that more Australians will be radicalized against the Muslims. As per the Muslim leader, all the talks in the country especially in the media will give the bigots more courage to attack them. It is because they feel they are covered and invisible in a cloud of Islamophobia. Muslim leader added that the prime minister should remind the Australians that when the team Australia is not about deporting the Muslims. The Muslims are fellow members of the team who have resided in the country for several centuries, and they should continue living together. Many leaders including Wakim Joseph, the co-founder of Arabic Council in Australia claimed that Abbott should make bold statement condemning Islamophobia. Due to Islamophobia, there is no socialization between the Muslims and other Australian members. The Australian members are against the Muslims due to the frequent terrorist attacks. On the other hand, the Muslims fear to interact with other residents due to the threat notes dropped in mosques and even direct threats in the public. In outside Australia, Islamophobia existed even before the terrorist attacks were experienced. In United Kingdom, Islamophobia existed before the attacks of 2001, but it increased in notoriety and frequency in the past decade. Eight components of Islamophobia were identified by Runnymede trust in UK as per 1997 report. Another follow-up report was released in 2004 after 9/11 and the initial years of Iraq and Afghanistan wars (Ernst 2013, p. 91). As per the second report, it was indicated that the impacts of the terrorist attacks made the lives of the British Muslims more difficult. In 2011, a meeting held between league of Arab States and United Nations Alliance of Civilization and Islamophobia was identified as an important area of concern. Specific set of analysis was developed basing on measurements of public opinions of minority and majority groups in various countries. It was to guide the policymakers in their efforts to deal with Islamophobia globally. Research indicated that more than 160 Muslim-American terrorist perpetrators and suspects were identified in the United States in the decade after the 9/11. It was only a percentage of many thousands of acts of violence occurring in the United States every year. After the collection of all these violence acts, the government established a system media coverage and government prosecution is bringing Muslim-American suspects of terrorism to national attention. United Sates realized the Muslim-American terrorism was more prevalent than what they knew. Islamophobia is affecting more than a small group of Muslims. Through various global polling efforts and research vehicles, Gallup has gathered a wealth of data and information about Muslims. The details of data and information were public opinions about different aspects of tolerance, treatment, and respect in relation to Muslims worldwide. It was only but a brief thought and opinion displayed by people from different communities, regions, and countries. The findings showed chronicle perceptions associated will Islamophobia worldwide. Many Muslims all over the world are claiming that they are not respected by the western countries. Significant percentages of western countries have the same sentiment that Muslim societies are not respected by the western countries. Specifically, 48% of Canadians and 52% of Americans say that western countries do not respect the Muslim Societies. Smaller percentage of British, Italian, German, and French respondents agree with the sentiments. As per the research, United Kingdom, United States, and France maintained their sentiments from 2008 to 2011 but Germany dropped their sentiments by 9%. Several elements can affect the degree of respect and interactions between western societies and Muslims leading to Islamophobia. The elements include the difference in political interest, religion, and culture, which shapes the opinion of one population against the other (Hogan 2012, p. 140). Meaning of Islamophobia attributes to hatred and fear of Muslims to their culture, culture and to the religiosity of Muslims and Islam. The survey was done on what was the possible cause of tensions between the western countries and the Muslims and different results were received from different countries. Nations in North Africa, Middle East, Canada, and United States cite the same cause as religion, and political interests are the primary cause of the tensions. European nations said that the political interest is the main driving force of the tensions. Sub-Saharan Africans blamed religion more than politics as the main cause. As per the surveys in various countries, religion and culture outweigh politics as the main cause of the tensions between western countries and Muslims. As per the discussions of Islamophobia, religious and cultural differences are ingrained within the populations while political interests can change and vary. In America, prejudice that Muslim-Americans face exists in both young and old, learned and uneducated, men and women. Differences in the level of prejudice exist within various demographic groups. For example, men have a great deal of prejudices towards Muslim-Americans than women. It is more likely that those reporting great deals of prejudice against Muslims completed high school level of education while those reporting smaller levels or none did not complete high school level of education. In America, those who are reporting more prejudice against Muslims are like to be Republicans. As per the study conducted, 50% of those reporting a great deal of prejudices against Muslims are Republicans compared to 17% who are Democrats while 7% are independent not belonging to any party (Shryock 2010, p. 105). Those who did not report any prejudice against the Muslims are 23% for the Republicans and 39% for the Democrats. Gallup conducted another survey asking the Americans whether the Muslim-Americans were loyal or disloyal to the United Sates. Those who claimed that they were disloyal fueled the flames of Islamophobia in the country. If one claims or believes that Muslims are disloyal, he/she believes that they should not be treated fairly, trusted, and they should be feared. It is because that many people believe that Muslims are disloyal to United Stated, which is a crucial component of Islamophobia. Many women are claiming that Muslims are not loyal to the U.S. as compared to men. As per the age factor, that claim that Muslims are not loyal to United States are older than those say that they are loyal. In 2008, Gallup conducted a study in United Kingdom, France, and Germany focusing on issues relating to cultural and social interaction of Muslims. The results indicated that adults agreed that people from minority groups preserve their cultural life in their countries. Minorities of the respondents express some fears of cultural aspects of Muslims. Between 16% and 21% of people in France, United Kingdom, and Germany do not like Muslims as their neighbors. All these disagreements between the Muslims and non-Muslims led to Islamophobia. Islamophobia should be addressed and bring people closer to live together as neighbors. Many people in the western countries are reluctant to have Muslims as their neighbors to live together and socialize. Reluctance will make people decide whether to live or not to live in diverse communities all over the world. Individuals living in mixed communities will be open to their neighbors leading to reduced Islamophobia (Bangstad 2012, p. 5). As per the studies, 48%, 51%, and 49% of populations in United Kingdom, Germany, and France respectively said they live in the neighborhood with people sharing religious and ethnic backgrounds. On the other hand, 54%, 53%, and 74% of the Muslims in U.K., Germany, and France respectively said that they are living in diverse neighborhoods. It indicates that both Muslims and non-Muslims can live, socialize, and interact together without any problem. It is the responsibility of the respective nations to address Islamophobia and bring together all the people to live in diverse neighborhoods. References Bagguley, P. (2014). Xenophobia and Islamophobia in Europe. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37(5), 851-853. Bangstad, S. (2012). Review of Chris Allen, Islamophobia. Contemporary Islam, 1-6. Bleich, E. (2011). What is Islamophobia and how much is there? Theorizing and measuring an emerging comparative concept. American Behavioral Scientist, 55(12), 1581-1600. Ernst, C. W. (Ed.). (2013). Islamophobia in America: the anatomy of intolerance. Palgrave Macmillan. Hogan, J. (2012). Chapter 8-Defining the Nation Through Its Other: Islamophobia in Post-9/11 Letters to the Editor: Chapter taken from Gender, Race and National Identity ISBN: 978-0-203-89124-7. Routledge Online Studies on the Olympic and Paralympic Games, 1(51), 135-153. Mac an Ghaill, M., & Haywood, C. (2014). British-Born Pakistani and Bangladeshi Young Men: Exploring Unstable Concepts of Muslim, Islamophobia and Racialization. Critical Sociology, 0896920513518947. Shryock, A. (Ed.). (2010). Islamophobia/Islamophilia: Beyond the politics of enemy and friend. Indiana University Press. Read More