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This paper looks at the profiles of those who engaged in Islamophobic language/extremist behaviour on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic. This two-part analysis takes into account factors such as anonymity, membership length and postage frequency on language use, and the differences in sentiment expressed between pro-social and anti-social tweets. Analysis includes comparisons between low, moderate and high levels of anonymity, postage frequency and membership length, allowing for differences in keyword use to be explored. Our findings suggest that increased anonymity is not associated with an increase in Islamophobic language and misinformation. The sentiment analysis indicated that emotions such as anger, disgust, fear, sadness and trust were significantly more associated with pro-social Twitter users whereas sentiments such as anticipation, joy and surprise were significantly more associated with anti-social Twitter users. In some cases, evidence for joy in the suffering of others as a result of the pandemic was expressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research on Islamophobic hate crime has examined in detail the verbal, physical and emotional attacks against Muslims. However, the experiences of non-Muslim men who suffer Islamophobic hate crime because they look Muslim remain 'invisible' in both official statistics and empirical research. Drawing on data from qualitative interviews with 20 non-Muslim men based in the United Kingdom, we examined their lived experiences of Islamophobic hate crime. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. A deductive approach to thematic analysis was adopted to analyse participants' narratives, and six overarching themes were developed: (1) nature of Islamophobic hate crime; (2) triggers of Islamophobic hate crime; (3) impact of Islamophobic hate crime; (4) reporting incidents, responses and barriers to Islamophobic hate; (5) victims' coping strategies; and (6) recommendations on tackling the problem. Our findings show that participants experienced Islamophobic hate crime because of 'trigger' events, namely the Brexit vote, Donald Trump's presidency and ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks in European countries such as France, Germany, Sweden and the UK. Participants described being verbally and physically attacked, threatened and harassed as well as their property being damaged. The impacts upon victims included physical, emotional, psychological and economic damage. These experiences were also damaging to community cohesion and led to polarization between different communities in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we examine Shakespeare's sixteenth‐century play, The Merchant of Venice. Anti‐Semitism is a key theme in this play. The well‐known central character, Shylock, is a Jewish man ridiculed and victimised because of his identity. Much literary research has been done on the anti‐Semitism of the play, and many social studies have compared anti‐Semitism and Islamophobia, but scarcely any research brings a Shakespearean play from the sixteenth century into the context of twenty‐first century Islamophobia. There are a number of similarities between the manner in which Shylock is ostracised and the current victimisation that Muslim communities are facing in Europe and more specifically the UK. With this in mind, we explore contextual and thematic elements of this play and argue that it is possible to apply the way Shylock is unfairly victimised on stage because of his identity as a Jew to the treatment of some Muslims today. In particular, the treatment he faces shares stark similarities with the types, impacts and consequences of Islamophobic hate crime today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2014, the city of Birmingham (UK) became embroiled in a high-profile scandal that would bring it and the wider education system under disrepute. The ‘Trojan Horse’ affair, as it become known, began with an anonymised letter that claimed hard-line ‘Islamists’ were plotting and planning to take over a number of schools in Birmingham. Amongst the allegations were that some of the schools had been promoting gender segregation and that children were not safeguarded against the risks of extremism. This article examines some of those issues in relation to the Trojan Horse scandal and uses a qualitative study focused on participants from the area of Birmingham. As the tribunal hearings against the teachers have now found no wrongdoing, the findings reported in this article suggest that Muslim communities feel unfairly categorised as extremists and that such issues have impacted upon their sense of identity and belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Tunisia in 2015, and in Woolwich, south-east London where British Army soldier Drummer Lee Rigby was murdered in 2013, there has seen a significant increase in anti-Muslim attacks. These incidents have occurred offline where mosques have been vandalized, Muslim women have had their hijab (headscarf) or niqab (face veil) pulled off, Muslim men have been attacked, and racist graffiti has been scrawled against Muslim properties. Concurrently, there has been a spike in anti-Muslim hostility online, where Muslims have been targeted by campaigns of cyber bullying, cyber harassment, cyber incitement, and threats of offline violence. Against this background, we examine the nature and impacts of online and offline anti-Muslim hate crime. We draw on our different experiences of conducting research on anti-Muslim hate crime, using two independent research projects in order to consider the affinity between online and offline anti-Muslim hate crime. We argue that, in reality, online/offline boundaries may be more blurred than the terms imply. For victims, it is often difficult to isolate the online threats from the intimidation, violence, and abuse that they suffer offline. Moreover, victims often live in fear because of the possibility of online threats materializing in the “real world.” We conclude that there is a continuity of anti-Muslim hostility in both the virtual and the physical world, especially in the globalized world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facebook has become one of the fastest growing social media platforms. At the end of 2013, Facebook had 1,23bn monthly active users and 757 million daily users who log onto Facebook. Within this online space, there are also a growing number of online virtual communities, and hate groups who are using this space to share a violent, Islamophobic and racist narrative which attempts to create a hostile virtual environment. It is important to analyse these 'new' communities by monitoring the activities they conduct, because the material they post, potentially can have a damaging impact on community cohesion within society. Moreover, as a result of recent figures that show an increase in online anti-Muslim abuse, there is a pertinent need to address the issue about Islamophobia on social media. This research examined 100 different Facebook pages, posts and comments and found 494 instances of online hate speech directed against Muslim communities. The findings revealed some interesting parallels and common characteristics shared within these groups, which helped the author to create a typology of five characteristics of anti-Muslim hate espoused on Facebook. Overall, this study found Muslims being demonised and vilified online which had manifested through negative attitudes, discrimination, stereotypes, physical threats and online harassment which all had the potential to incite violence or prejudicial action because it disparages and intimidates a protected individual or group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Government has recently announced a new Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 to facilitate tackling the threat of violent extremism. In light of this and previous initiatives, this paper provides a critical assessment of UK counterterrorism policy. This policy has created a notion of 'suspect communities' such that it has alienated young Muslims at the community engagement level, conceivably and empirically, potentially further exacerbating concerns government and communities have over questions of radicalisation, extremism, and the associated political and criminal violence. This paper argues that such policies can lead to the institutionalisation of Islamophobia, acting as an echo chamber for far right extremism to flourish. Significant gaps in government policy in this area can only be addressed by fostering effective relations between communities and policy makers, with enablers such as police officers, youth workers, activists and faith leaders empowered to formulate nuanced approaches in various local area settings. Given the social, cultural and political situation regarding British Muslim youth, including those presently thought to be fighting in parts of Iraq and Syria, as well as ongoing threats on UK soil presented as imminent and dangerous by UK government, there remain acute challenges with limited opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Woolwich attack in May 2013 has led to a spate of hate crimes committed against Muslim communities in the United Kindom. These incidents include Muslim women being targeted for wearing the headscarf and mosques being vandalized. While street level Islamophobia remains an important area of investigation, an equally disturbing picture is emerging with the rise in online anti-Muslim abuse. This article argues that online Islamophobia must be given the same level of attention as street level Islamophobia. It examines 500 tweets from 100 different Twitter users to examine how Muslims are being viewed and targeted by perpetrators of online abuse via the Twitter search engine, and offers a typology of offender characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the report on the 'Trojan Horse' affair issued by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) , the regulator for education in Britain that there was a coordinated, deliberate and sustained action for the initiation of Islamic essence into some schools in Great Britain. It also mentions the investigations conducted by various organizations which include The Education Funding Agency and the local authority of Birmingham City Council.