Defining Islamophobia
1. Islamophobia is a combination of religious, racial, and cultural oppression targeting the presence, dress, behavior, job and educational opportunities, and institutions of anyone perceived to be Muslim, Arab, or generally Middle-Eastern. For more on Islamophobia, read Paul Kivel's Challenging Christian Hegemony.
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2. Islamophobia is a contrived fear or prejudice encouraged by the worldwide power structure that places the U.S. and Europe as the center of civilization. Islamophobia is designed to create a sense of fear about Muslim people and Islamic culture as another way to justify and keep in place already existing disparities in economic, political, social and cultural relations. Islamophobia is used to justify the use of violence as a tool to achieve "civilizational rehab" of communities that are presented as posing a threat (Muslim or otherwise). For more, see the University of Berkeley at California's Center for Race and Gender website.
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3. Islamophobia is "unfounded hostility towards Muslims, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims." The term was coined in 1991 about Muslims in the United Kingdom (England) in particular and Europe in general, and was based on the more common "xenophobia" framework (i.e. creating fear of others). For more, see the 1991 Runnymede Trust Report.
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INTERSECTIONALITY OF OPPRESSION: Anti-sharia/anti-”foreign law” bills are the legislative version of anti-Muslim sentiment; these laws track more closely to Voter ID and Right-to-Work bills than anti-immigration laws. The same legislators who promote these laws are also promoting anti-immigrant law, anti-abortion law, voter ID and voter "fraud protection" law, laws targeting LGBTQ communities, and other laws targeting working and poor people. In other words, the current legislative agenda is about preserving power and advancing a right-wing domestic policy agenda. See Manufacturing Bigotry.
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For a list of articles, books, and videos that will help you go deeper, visit the Movement to End Racism and Islamophobia website.
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For another resource on Islamophobia, check out Jewish Voice for Peace's Network Against Islamophobia.
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12 SUGGESTIONS FOR CONFRONTING ISLAMOPHOBIA - click here.
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SURJ Statement in Response to shooting in Orlando
OUR GRIEF IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR RACISM
We are devastated with grief for the lives lost in the shooting at the Pulse Night Club’s Latin Night. In this moment of tremendous pain, we are outraged at the media fanning the flames of Islamophobia, and the whitewashing of the victims.
The same media outlets and talking heads that are pumping out anti-Muslim sentiment were using that same platform mere weeks ago to promote extreme anti-trans ideology and stereotypes of the queer community as "bathroom bills" and hate legislation were passing.
We call on the major news networks to join Showing Up for Racial Justice to act against simplistic attacks on Arabs, Muslims, South Asians and other marginalized groups.
When there is a loss in queer communities, we feel it very deeply. SURJ was founded and is led by queer people, with a deep commitment to queer and trans liberation. LGBTQ lives are precious, and often on the line. Anti queer and trans violence is a frightening reality, and it is most likely to impact queer and trans people of color, including Muslim, Black, immigrant, and Latinx LGBTQ people.
We are heartbroken and grieving, but we will not be misled. Just as we are committed to ending homophobic and transphobic violence against our own communities, we will be working side by side with our Muslim, Arab, Persian, South & East Asian neighbors to end Islamophobia. We will continue to align ourselves with the resilient organizing of immigrant and Latinx communities in the struggle against racism and deportations.
Responses that call for more policing in LGBTQ spaces only aggravate the targeting of the most marginalized among us- specifically Black Trans and Latinx Trans women, queers of color and poor and working class queers by law enforcement, the courts and the prison system.
The pain and heartache we feel in this moment will not drive us apart. Instead, it serves as a reminder as to how important our work for shared liberation from homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, white supremacy, and other forms of oppression.
To donate, click here. Via Muslims United for Victims of Pulse Shooting
#PulseOrlando #hatekills
We are devastated with grief for the lives lost in the shooting at the Pulse Night Club’s Latin Night. In this moment of tremendous pain, we are outraged at the media fanning the flames of Islamophobia, and the whitewashing of the victims.
The same media outlets and talking heads that are pumping out anti-Muslim sentiment were using that same platform mere weeks ago to promote extreme anti-trans ideology and stereotypes of the queer community as "bathroom bills" and hate legislation were passing.
We call on the major news networks to join Showing Up for Racial Justice to act against simplistic attacks on Arabs, Muslims, South Asians and other marginalized groups.
When there is a loss in queer communities, we feel it very deeply. SURJ was founded and is led by queer people, with a deep commitment to queer and trans liberation. LGBTQ lives are precious, and often on the line. Anti queer and trans violence is a frightening reality, and it is most likely to impact queer and trans people of color, including Muslim, Black, immigrant, and Latinx LGBTQ people.
We are heartbroken and grieving, but we will not be misled. Just as we are committed to ending homophobic and transphobic violence against our own communities, we will be working side by side with our Muslim, Arab, Persian, South & East Asian neighbors to end Islamophobia. We will continue to align ourselves with the resilient organizing of immigrant and Latinx communities in the struggle against racism and deportations.
Responses that call for more policing in LGBTQ spaces only aggravate the targeting of the most marginalized among us- specifically Black Trans and Latinx Trans women, queers of color and poor and working class queers by law enforcement, the courts and the prison system.
The pain and heartache we feel in this moment will not drive us apart. Instead, it serves as a reminder as to how important our work for shared liberation from homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, white supremacy, and other forms of oppression.
To donate, click here. Via Muslims United for Victims of Pulse Shooting
#PulseOrlando #hatekills