Professional Documents
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Introduction
for this presentation we are looking at Islamophobia globally 1st we are looking at Islamophobia in Europe and will look at the Islamic history there and how 9/11 effected Muslims in Europe We are then looking at France & the UK as case studys The Bosnian genocide will then be looked at We will then ask, why does Islamophobia exist in Europe? The USA will be the next case study to look at Islamophobia there particularly since 9/11 We are then going to explore India to see if the conflict between religions there is anything to do with Islamophobia We will then conclude our presentation and it will be your chance to ask any questions
What is Islamophobia?
A fear of Muslims and Islam (www.blog.beliefnet.com) Rynnymede Trust in 1997: dread or hatred of Islam and, therefore, the fear and dislike of all Muslims. It also included any act of discrimination against Muslims. It could also involve the perception that Islam has no values in common with other cultures and is a violent political ideology rather than a religion.
(www.exmuslimdiaries.wordpress.com)
France
Catholicism is the most widely practised religion in France with approximately 30 million churchgoers, Islam is in second place, with 3.7 to 5.5 million Muslims out of metropolitan Frances total population of around 63 million (5 to 9%).
www.ambafrance-uk.org
French activists have recognised a rise of Islamaphobic and racist values in France against the Muslim and Arab community particularly in the past 2 years. Other experts also say that 'church people are more understanding and tolerant than secular people. This is most apparent in the issue of Islamic veil, as some secular people encouraged the passing of a law that bans such a veil in French schools, while the Christian community has lately denounced such situation. www.islamonline.net The big problem is that it is not a religious state and French law now dictates the no religious symbols can we used or worn in public places such as schools, this includes religious practices such as the headscarf. Many Muslims in France feel persecuted that they cannot wear the headscarf in public places like schools as this is a major part of Islam, many parents have had to take their children out of school and educate them at home or pay to put them in private Islamic schools just so the girls have the right to cover themselves as the holy Quran says they should. We can take a look at this short video which highlights how the headscarf ban in particular has effected muslims in France.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQtTBhbzG8g&feature=related
UK
Islamaphobia has been present in western culture for many centuries. It has taken different forms, however, at different times and in different contexts. The current context in Britain includes the international situation, concerns about asylum and refugees, and widespread scepticism in relation to all religious beliefs. Life for Britain's 1.6 million Muslims has never been easy. For decades they have struggled in the face of discrimination. But since 11 September 2001, things have become even worse. There has been an upsurge in attacks on Muslims and their places of worship. The police have been ineffective in preventing such assaults. They seem more concerned with harassing young Muslims under new stop-and-search powers granted by the Terrorism Act. There has been little evidence that such heavy-handed tactics achieve anything other than alienating the Muslim community.
Akbar S. Ahmed, (2003), Islam under siege, polity Press in association with Blackwell publishing LTD.
Bosnia has a long history but to stay on track I'm starting in 1980. in1980 the population of Bosnia consisted of 1.3m Bosnian Serbs (Orthodox Catholic Christians), over 1m Bosniaks (Sunni Muslim), and 0.7m Bosnian Croats (Roman Catholic Christians), all with strong historical and local claims to a homeland there. 1987 Slobodan Milosevic became Serbia's leader (and thus effectively Yugoslavia's as well) and he encouraged Serb nationalism All of the countries in Yugoslavia where given independence as well as Bosnia but Bosnian Serbs were not happy Bosnian Serb army got control of nearly three quarters of Bosnia Cities where used by the UN as safe haven for the Muslims but they all got taken over by the Serbs and where ethnically cleansed except for Sarajevo Srebrenica was a UN safe area but Serb troops destroyed all the soldiers trying to protect the town and when they reached Srebrenica began killing thousands of Muslim civilian Food supplies and water began to dwindle, buildings were damaged, people were injured. All of the Muslims wanted to get out of there and they were told that all women and children would be allowed to leave but men would have to be screened 1st then sent on if they were not war criminals As the women and children left on tanks and buses the men where lined up and shot and that is the mass graves you see on the next slide
Bodies of victims being found who have been lined up and killed with the intention of ethnic cleansing.
What happened in the Bosnian genocide was eerily similar to what happened to the Jews in the Nazi concentration camps The Bosnian genocide has elements of Islamaphobia, with the Muslim people facing death because of an unreasonable hatred against them There are many accounts of women and young girls who were abused sexually, tortured and forced to drink alcohol in order to entertain islamaphobic soldiers When you look in depth at specific cases it is easy to see that these soldiers where islamaphobic and i do think the genocide did happen because of hatred to the Muslim people However, I also think the hatred for the Muslim people was because of geography too, a lot of the conflict was territorial and about power If we go back to the definition of Islamaphobia it says it is a hatred of Muslims and any act of discrimination against Muslims The genocide definitely fits that definition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX5oxxv9Q1E&feature=related
Islam came to India in the early 7th century with the advent of Arab traders, it started to become a major religion during the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent. Islam's spread in India mostly took place under the Delhi Sultanate (12061526) and the mughal empire, greatly aided by the mystic Sufi tradition. During the 14-17th centuries, North India was under Muslim rule,
To conclude....
As you can see from this presentation there are huge concerns for Muslims all around the world as they have been harassed and attacked because of their faith Islamaphobia does exist globally and is a big problem today Does everyone agree that the things we have discussed concerns Islamaphobia or would you make a different argument?
Any Questions???