How has the War on Terrorism following the Essays

How has the War on Terrorism following the Essays How has the War on Terrorism following the Essay How has the War on Terrorism following the Essay How has the War on Terrorism following the 9/11 onslaughts on the World Trade Centre and the resulting Iraq War effected British Muslims? Contentss Page Abstraction The Nature of the War on Panic and the Social Position of British Moslems: p3 Direct effects on the British Muslim Community portion 1: p4 The Reaction of Civil Society Direct effects on the British Muslim Community portion 2: p6 The Reaction of the British State Islamophobia in the Media and Perceptions of Muslims: p9 Social Exclusion, Resistance and individuality: p11 Bibliography: p16 Search Scheme: p18 Abstraction The war on panic was so a watershed in international dealingss and planetary political relations. It highlighted the exposure of the universes staying world power and a justification for a new imperialist re-ordering of planetary political relations under American hegemony. When the â€Å"war on terror† was announced the Bush disposal claimed that it would hold to widen throughout the universe and go on decennaries and even coevalss ( Hardt and Negri, p14, 2004 ) . In consequence, the war on panic has given rise to a new cold war state of affairs making a new enemy for the West, viz. Islam and the Muslim World. Much like communism and the Soviet Union ; Islamic fundamentalism and the civilization of the Muslim World has come to the head and is invariably presented by politicians and the media as being a massive entity incompatible with Western secular broad democracy and so a menace to the latter hence Huntington’s â€Å"Clash of Civilisations† which negotiations of the rise of â€Å"Islamism† and â€Å"the continuing and profoundly conflictual relation between Islam and Christianity† ( p208, 1997 ) and how the struggle between the civilizations of Islam and the West â€Å"will continue to specify their dealingss in the hereafter as it has defined them for the past 14 centuries† , ( p212, 1997 ) . Huntington has stated that the job for the West is non Muslim fundamentalism but instead Islam itself, â€Å"a different civilization whose people are convinced of the high quality of their civilization and are obsessed with the lower status of their power† ( p9, Runnymede Trust, 1997 ) . It is clear that the stupid and oozing generalizations of Samuel Huntington are widely accepted amongst in-between category, rational and academic circles throughout the West, one has to inquire the inquiry as to how such people can be considered faculty members. Such positions imply the demand for Muslims to somehow transform themselves into something more acceptable, a â€Å"liberal† or â€Å"modernist† Islam, an Islam which is compatible with democracy. This is the kernel of cultural imperialism and the political and cultural hegemony of the West therefore it is of import to understand this context when analyzing September 11Thursdayand the state of affairs of Muslim communities as clearly the latter is capable the planetary power dealingss of American and Western Hegemony. This creates a hard state of affairs for Muslim minorities populating in the West who are now being viewed with intuition and somehow being allied to the political relations of Al Qaeda and the 9/11 onslaughts. For British Muslims, the war on panic has created a new racialist state of affairs for Muslims and moreover has exacerbated Islamophobia. I shall be discoursing this new oppressive state of affairs for British Moslems by foremost analyzing the nature of the war on panic and so the rise of racism and Islamophobia and besides media perceptual experience and its effects on Moslems with respects to exclusion and individuality by turn toing the ways in which Muslims have challenged this state of affairs politically through new societal motions particularly after the invasion of Iraq. Overall the relationship between Muslim communities and the British province is paramount to this essay. The Nature of the War on Terror and the Social Position of British Muslims Noam Chomsky has claimed that 9-11 led to a 2nd â€Å"war on terror† ( p193, 2004 ) , for Chomsky there is non needfully anything new in the war on terrorist act, in fact the first and so original war on terrorist act was declared 20 old ages ago under the Reagan disposal against states such as Nicaragua, Grenada, Lebanon, Libya and Iran. The present state of affairs is simply a continuance of this attack to planetary political relations therefore the provinces of Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea have made it to the Axis of immorality, when antecedently the likes of Sadaam Hussein and the Afghan Mujahideen were US Alliess against Iran and communism. Although Chomsky’s analysis is feasible it is of import to cognize that there is a difference with our present state of affairs and that it is non merely a continuance of the policies of the Reagan disposal ; viz. the so called being of a multinational enemy, viz. Al Qaeda and a specific focal point on Islam, the Middle Eas t and Muslim states as the marks of non merely military and political onslaught but besides cultural and rational. Meanwhile at place in Britain, a British Muslim has to invariably watch the unfolding events through the media in Afghanistan, Iraq and the resulting arguments about Islam, Muslims, secularism and integrating. What consequence does this hold on the Muslim mind and outlook? How has the War on Terror affected Muslims as a minority life in Britain? It is clear that in many contexts across the state today, when a Muslim with a face fungus or hijab ( headscarf ) walks into a public topographic point such as the London Underground the so called â€Å"host† community may experience a specific sort of ill will or fright of that single due to the new political state of affairs we are populating under and the stereotypes it creates. Edward Said maintains that â€Å"modern Hesperian reactions to Islam have been dominated by a radically simplified type of believing that may still be called orientalist† ( p4 1981 ) the latter being the manner the West perceived the â€Å"orientâ₠¬  throughout the 17Thursday, 18Thursdayand 19Thursdaycenturies giving it â€Å"a particular topographic point in the Western European experience† viz. that of lower status ( p1, 1991 ) . It is true that such ways of thought can non be separated from the historical imperialist enlargements throughout the Muslim World. As a consequence British Muslims will instantly hold a stigma on them, therefore when a terrorist onslaught is committed the latter would be associated with Islam. It is interesting to see that bondage in Africa, colonialism, the atomic bomb in Hiroshima or the US bombardment of Indo-China in the sixtiess and 1970s is non attributed to Western civilization or Christianity. On the contrary, the old colonial orientalist ways of believing remain rampant and it is in this context that we must understand the effects the war on panic on British Muslims particularly when we analyse race dealingss, the reaction of the New Labour authorities to the war on panic and changeless media demonization of Muslims. Moslems are presented as being monolithically reactionist, conservative, patriarchal and homophobic even though these inclinations are cosmopolitan. Muslim Asiatic adult females in the media for illustration are invariably portrayed as being veiled, subservient, inactive and helpless against a so called oppressive Islamic civilization ( Khan, p3, 1999 ) . Colonialism has ever been justified on moral evidences ; one can see that clearly with the war in Iraq. However of all time since British regulation in India, there has existed the demand to make an image of the colonised as being from a civilization â€Å"in disarray† frequently this focused on â€Å"women who urgently needed rescuing by white Godheads and ladies† ( Khan, p6, 1999 ) . This was a dominant ideological justification for the invasion of Afghanistan. The War on Terror has hence become a pure battle for freedom, democracy and autonomy yet from the point of position of British Muslims is the complete antonym due to its direct effects viz. increases in hatred offense, racial torment, favoritism, media stereotypes, anti-terrorist statute law and its disproportionate usage against Muslims, the Gallic hijab prohibition and of class Guantanomo Bay. Alongside the bombs that have rained down on Afghanis, Iraqis and menaces against Syria and Iran it is no admiration that Muslims in Britain feel under besieging and that the war on panic is a war against Islam. Direct effects on the British Muslim Community portion 1: The Reaction of Civil Society It is true that when we talk about the British Muslim community we are mentioning to a preponderantly migratory community. Many of the first modern-day Muslim immigrants arrived in Britain during the sixtiess and 1970s from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. In 1961 the Muslim population was 82,000 but by 1971 it was 369,000 ( p14, Runnymede Trust, 1997 ) , many of the immigrants from Pakistan came from the Mirpur territory of Azad Kashmir due to the building of the Mangla Dam which displaced big Numberss of people who were so compensated and used the money to migrate to the UK ( Anwar, p23, 1979 ) . Many of the first immigrants from the Carribean and South Asia experienced both racial favoritism, racial force, ill will from the media and established politicians as seen with Enoch Powell’ s celebrated â€Å"rivers of blood† address in 1968. Racial onslaughts besides became common throughout the 1980s and 1990s, in 1993 the BNP won its first of all time triumph in a local c ouncil election in Millwall, Tower Hamlets and in that same twelvemonth at that place were130,000 racially motivated reported condemnable incidents non including the non-reported instances ( Anwar, p11-14, 1998 ) . It is of import to understand that any post-9/11 anti-Muslim racism is simply a continuance of an already bing system and civilization of white Anglo-Saxon domination and xenophobia. Nevertheless racism, like a chameleon alterations in conformity to its societal context therefore Islamophobia after 9/11 does intend that racism has a specific focal point on the Muslim community. Frequently, South Asiatic migrators were distinguished by the province by skin coloring material, therefore the linguistic communication of anti-racist rhetoric frequently referred to both South Asians and Afro Caribbean as â€Å"Black† , however although Afro-Caribbean’s may be comfy with this world South Asians prefer to specify themselves in other ways, viz. through faith ( Pilkington, p37, 2003 ) . This is particularly true now of many Pakistanis and Bangladeshis be they foremost, 2nd or 3rd coevals. Nevertheless British Moslems are a diverse community including non merely South Asians but besides other migratory communities such as Somalians, Turks, Arabs, North Africans and converts. Tariq Modood has pointed out how racism in Britain in the wake of the Holocaust has moved from 19Thursdaycentury theories of biologically inferior and superior races to a racism based on civilization. Indeed cultural racism therefore focuses more on â€Å"cultural differences from an alleged Brits or ‘civilised’ norm to revile, marginalise or demand cultural assimilation from groups who besides suffer from biological racism† ( Modood, p154-55, 1997 ) . Modood has besides rather right asserted that Islamophobia â€Å"is at the bosom of modern-day British and European cultural racism† ( p163, 1997 ) , and so the war on terrorist act with its linguistic communication, political orientation, arguments and the political ambiance it has created which question the compatibility of Muslims with a sensed impression of Britihsness and the British manner of life. I believe that today, Muslims in Britain and so Europe are confronting a really similar state of affairs to the Jews of Western Europe in the 19Thursdayand early 20Thursdaycenturies. There have been two dramatic effects of the War on Terror on the British Muslim community. The first is the reaction of what I shall term British civil society to Muslims affecting favoritism, racial torment and force against those of Muslim visual aspect. The 2nd is the reaction of the British province and preponderantly I am mentioning to anti-terrorist statute law such as the Anti-Terrorism Act 2000 and the Anti-Terrorism, Crime A ; Security Act 2001 ( ATCSA ) which has been a really unjust and oppressive governmental response to the tenet of the War on Terror. I shall be discoursing the inside informations of each of these structural effects on the British Muslim community with mention to single instances so as to foreground how post 9/11 anti-Muslim racism is both institutionalized and single. Islamophobia is the â€Å"unfounded ill will towards Islam† and Muslims, so Islamophobic inclinations can be dated as far back as the 11Thursdaycentury and the campaigns ( p4-5, Runnymede Trust, 1997 ) , in fact today it is common for the media to hold the words â€Å"Islam† , â€Å"Muslim† and â€Å"terrorist† lumped together but it is unusual to see that the IRA or the Ugandan Lords Resistance Army are neer viewed as â€Å"Christian terrorists† . In fact association of immorality and Satan with Islam was common throughout the 11Thursdayand 12 centuries ( Q News, p22, Jan 2004 ) The 1997 Runnymede Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia was hence of import in exposing the rise of a new racism which presents Islam as being massive, different, inferior from Western civilization and finally the enemy. The War on panic and so the political relations station 9/11 has created a state of affairs where many British Muslims particularly adult females have suffered â€Å"heightened favoritism and abuse† affecting verbal maltreatment in the street and Muslim adult females holding their hijabs forcefully removed. In fact many British Sikhs besides suffered racial force and maltreatment for being mistaken as Muslims ( Richardson, p23, 2004 ) . Therefore it is clear that Islamophobia can consequence all cultural minority groups for illustration â€Å"a black individual or Hindu may be attacked or abused on the street because Britain is in difference with a state which happens to be Muslim† besides a Muslim may be attacked because of their colored visual aspect ( p41, Runnymede Trust, 1997 ) , whilst a white convert Muslim may be targeted because of his of hers spiritual visual aspect. A community militant from Newham Monitoring Project, an anti-racist administration based in Ne wham East London explained to me that after 9/11 â€Å"it was duck runing season on Muslims† , the work at NMP involves covering with racial torment with a 24 hr exigency service line for victims of racism ( NMP Annual Report, 2003-4 ) , post 9/11 there were infinite instances of racial torment and force against Muslims in the East London country. Administrations such as Newham Monitoring Project and the Islamic Human Rights Commission which trade with racial torment and human rights instances noticed an addition in racial force and torment against Muslim persons, belongings and topographic points of worship. The War on Terror has besides greatly benefited the British Nationalist Party and its leader Nick Griffen which has won assorted local council elections in the North of England where the public violences, in fact Nick Griffen has gained plenty assurance to dispute Labour MP Anne Cryer in her Dagenham and Keighley Seat ( Tania Branigan, The Guardian, April 20Thursday, 2005 ) . It is of import to foreground that the BNP has focused its run against Muslims utilizing acceptable Islamophobic discourse which is widely accepted by mainstream society. The BNP has in fact changed its more open racism and so Nazi inspired biological racism in the 1980s, concentrating more on cultural racism and therefore Islamophobia which is made more legitimate by the War on Terror and besides by the fact that many Labour MP’s and politicians such as Robert Kilroy Silk and so broad authors have made racialist remarks on Muslims every bit good as generalizations about Islam. The docudramaThe Secret Age nt, broadcast 15ThursdayJuly 2004 exposed the BNP’s blazing anti-Muslim stance. Nick Griffen appeared on an interview on Newsnight explicating how his positions on Islam and Muslims are widely accepted by well-thought-of journalists such as Richard Little John ofThe Sunand Polly Toynbee who writes forThe Guardian. The BNP has hence leafleted Afro Carribean, Hindu and Sikh communities every bit good as in-between category and working category White communities about the immoralities of Islam and how Muslims are taking over Britain. The BNP’s racialist generalizations of Islam involve non merely showing it as being monolithically rearward, a menace to democracy and women’s rights but besides make highly remarks such as how Islam’s main method of spreading was through colza and how the Prophet Muhammed was a moonstruck and a pedophile ( â€Å"The Secret Agent† , July, 2004 ) . The BNP has besides been involved in distributing myths about Muslim and As ylum Seeker communities in the North of England, for illustration claiming for illustration in the Burnley constituency that Muslims are exempt from paying council revenue enhancement if they can show they used a supplication mat for worship in their places, ( Miah, Q News, p9, Nov 2003 ) . Indeed such myths simply exacerbate bias, engendering hatred and division. For hapless white working category communities in the North of England it produces person to fault for their jobs, viz. the every bit hapless South Asian Muslim communities. The War on Terror has hence legitimised racism against Muslims and so in the context of the North of England the BNP has used on in the wake of the â€Å"race riots† in the North of England in the summer of 2001 and the labored race dealingss between South Asian Muslims and White people to smother racial tensenesss. The riots themselves were exacerbated by onslaughts on members of the Muslims community in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham by far right fascists. Islamophobic discourse station 9/11 has merely benefited the BNP making more racial tenseness and a state of affairs of societal exclusion and marginalization for the Muslim community in the North of England. BNP electoral triumphs simply add to the exposure of the Muslim community and one could state that Tony Blair and George Bush has been the best thing to of all time go on for the British far right. Direct effects on the British Muslim Community portion 2: The Reaction of the British State It is no surprise that station 9/11 the British province has followed the American illustration with respects to security step. Unfortunately this has simply led to the racial profiling of Muslims and those of Muslim visual aspect as terrorist suspect. The Labour Minister responsible for antagonistic terrorist act Hazel Blears late stated that Muslims will be stopped and searched more frequently so the remainder of the populace, claiming that â€Å"there is no acquiring off from it† and how terrorists were concealing behind Islam ( Vikram Dodd and Alan Travis, â€Å"Muslims face increased halt and search† , The Guardian, 2neodymiumMarch, 2005 ) . Massoud Shahjareh of the Islamic Human Rights Commission reacted by stating that Blears was demonising and estranging our community. It is a legitimisation for a recoil and for racialists to hold an onslaught on our community and so as already discussed this can be seen with the BNP’s run scheme as the political state of affairs creates a justification for their open anti-Muslim campaign, it is merely in recent old ages that the BNP has been able to elect up to 20 local council members across the country.. In pattern The Anti-Terrorism, Crime A ; Security Act 2001 ( ATCSA ) ; passed in the wake of September 11Thursday, has led to the detainment of 16 foreign subjects without test, moreover 30,000 places have been raided, 700 people arrested of which merely a mere 3 people have been charged ( stoppoliticalterror.com ) . Stop and hunt of Asians has increased therefore it is clear that the Muslim community, refugees and refuge searchers have become blazing marks of station 9/11 anti-terrorist statute law. One such victim was Barbar Ahmed, a alumnus with an MA who worked at Imperial College, London in Information engineering Support. He was arrested by armed constabularies officers in December 2003 that broke into his house in the early hours of the forenoon, he was beaten unconscious by the constabulary, dragged, had his private parts searched and forced into a Muslim supplication place of which the officers so mocked him by stating â€Å"where is your God now? † ( freebabrahmad.com ) . Barbar Ahmad received over 50 hurts some really serious including a fractured skull, bruised kidneys and blood was besides found in his ears and piss. He was so interrogated for 6 yearss and had his place searched and was so released on 8ThursdayDecember without charge due to miss of grounds to imply him for the terrorist act charges. Barbar Ahmad was re-arrested on 5ThursdayAugust 2004 on an extradition warrant from the US, foregrounding how British Moslems can easy be the mark of the US legal system thereby overthrowing the national sovereignty of the British legal system. If we take the Babar Ahmed instance as an illustration, it is clear that after his apprehension and terrible whipping by the constabulary in December 2003 and his recent re-arrest under and extradition warrant from the US, a just test has neer one time been granted and moreover the accusals made against him involve an alleged panic secret plan on the Empire State edifice in New York, however the grounds for this allegation is based on a 30 twelvemonth old travel booklet that was found in Babar Ahmed’s father’s house when it was raided by constabulary ( freebarbarahmad.com ) . The political relations of the War on Terror has hence meant a corruption of democracy and in peculiar an absence of democracy for Muslims in Britain be they British citizens or non. The Guardian late published an article saying that â€Å"Of the 701 people arrested under the Terrorism Act since the September 11 onslaughts, half have been released without charge and merely 17 convicted under the a ct. Merely three of those instances relate to allegations of Islamist extremism. The other strong beliefs involved Irish paramilitaries both republican and loyalist a Sikh extremist group and the Tamil Tigers† and that senior anti-terrorist functionaries have besides admitted that the terrorist menace was exaggerated ( April 23rd, 2005 ) . Another illustration is the Algerian Raddah Kadre who is held in Belmarsh on extradition to France with charges of holding association with terrorists. Nevertheless Kadre has merely been convicted with keeping a bogus passport and non terrorist act. Furthermore the celebrated Ricin panic secret plan collapsed in tribunal when 8 of the 9 were acquitted due to miss of implying. In add-on the instance of Kamel Bourgass who murdered a Police officer in Manchester was convicted of slaying and cabaling the cause a public nuisance grounds which had nil to make with terrorist act, besides Bourgass’s 4 codefendants were acquitted and cleared of those charges. Nevertheless the media continues the panic narratives, with changeless articles about shoe bombers, ricin and cyanide chemical onslaughts on the resistance and coverage for assorted fundamentalist sermonizers such as Shiekh Abu Hamza and Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed. This has simply contributed to the farther marginalization and societal exclusion of British Muslims. It is in this facet of the War on Terror that one can see clearly how the authorities and media work manus in manus in the demonization of the Muslim community and making increasing fright of an enemy within and therefore supplying a justification for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. With respects to societal exclusion, it is of import to now analyze the effects the War on Terror and the ambiance it has created has on the media and its effects British Muslims. Islamophobia in the Media and Perceptions of Muslims Herman and Chomsky have stated that the media â€Å"often supplemented by official censoring, makes it clear that the media serve the terminals of a dominant elite† sing that the province bureaucratism dominates â€Å"the levers of power† ( Herman and Chomsky, p1, 1988 ) . Much of the media are integrated into the market, moreover media houses are dominated by â€Å"very affluent people† who are constrained by â€Å"owners and other market net income orientated forces i.e. major corporations, Bankss and authoritiess and so this can be seen for illustration in the manner a corporation such as Mobil Oil can buy newspaper infinite to acquire its point of view across ( p14-15, 1988 ) . Richardson highlights how newspapers under capitalist economy are run much like a concern, therefore the newspaper is a merchandise to be sold â€Å"and making so in the most profitable mode possible† with the purpose to seek high â€Å"audience penetration† making †Å"stories that are diverting, enjoyable and engaging† . With respects to British circular documents the latter is aimed at â€Å"powerful center and upper classes† ( p35, 2004 ) With this in head and so the deficiency of cultural minorities working for newspapers it is clear that the media follows a â€Å"propaganda model† and fails to be nonsubjective and in fact marginalises the voices of cultural minorities which are over-represented in the poorer and â€Å"disempowered subdivisions of British society ( p36, 2004 ) . The media is hence the most powerful tool in implementing negative stereotypes of Muslims and so since 9/11 the invariable televised coverage of terrorist act and instantly associates violence entirely with Islam. Indeed the media has ever had a colonial and orientalist repute, however negative linguistic communication of Muslims creates an sole sense of â€Å"otherness† amongst the British populace. The media frequently promotes an â€Å"us and them† political orientation, with changeless mentions to Islam and Muslims being separate from the West, which in itself is a blemished analysis of the universe foremost in the manner it creates division and does nil for the involvements of peace and secondly it shows complete ignorance for the fact that there are 1000000s of Muslims populating throughout Western Europe and America. A recent article in the Evening Standard entitledcivilization clangnoticing on the recent menaces by a little group of Muslims made against the poli tician George Galloway ; stated in true Huntington manner the clang between a broad society and its Muslim minorities, foregrounding how Moslems are in demand of a â€Å"great societal transformation† and that a civilization that holds that adult females â€Å"have fewer rights than others, so liberalism has to face that culture† ( John O Sullivan, Evening Standard, 22neodymiumApril, 2005 ) . In an article in The Sunday Times magazine about Muslim minorities in Holland, the forepart screen was entitled â€Å"a continent in convulsion† saying that â€Å"Muslims will shortly outnumber Christians in some Dutch metropoliss, Liberal Holland is raising roadblocks. Should we? † The article used negative linguistic communication such as â€Å"Islamic immigration† and implied the demand for Western European societies to move against this menace ( Moynahan, Sunday Times Magazine, Feb 27Thursday2005 ) . Islam hence becomes entirely inhibitory, autocratic and patriarchal towards adult females and a violent militaristic menace to the West which is entirely democratic, free, broad and non-violent, hence making negative perceptual experiences of Muslims. In fact Western society nowadayss itself as the Jesus of Muslim adult females, proposing the demand for Muslims to alter in conformity to Western secular civilization. This can be really patronizing to British Muslim adult females, of which many from the 2nd and 3rd coevalss wear hijab out of pick. Sitara Khan sites an illustration of a BBC 4 programme about honour violent deaths and whether it is â€Å"Islamic† or non. She highlights how on the same twenty-four hours there was coverage of kid sex maltreatment instances within the Roman Catholic churches in Ireland â€Å"but no commission of experts on Christianity was summoned to determine the legitimacy or otherwise of this type of evildoing harmonizing to Biblical sources† . Despite the diverse experiences and backgrounds of Muslim adult females â€Å"she continues to be viewed by the establishments in Britain as a victim of a backward and barbarian civilization whose redemption lies in the custodies of the white ma n† ( Khan, p108-10 1999 ) . Prior to 9/11 the hijab and Islamic frock was non truly viewed with such aggressive intuition whereas today it is a living symbol of the Islamic menace to Western modernness. Unfortunately station 9/11 circular columns frequently help develop in-between category and upper category perceptual experiences of Muslims, of which Polly Toynbee is celebrated. In The Independent article in February 1996 she commented on province support of Muslim schools claiming that the province will be â€Å"educating kids to believe adult females are of inferior status† . But one has to inquire how many Muslim adult females do white journalists and womens rightists such as Toynbee, consult when composing their articles? Today it is clear that there are many extremely educated Muslim adult females and that â€Å"in some Muslim communities the proportion of university educated adult females is significantly higher than the national average† ( Alibhai Brown, p15, 2000 ) . Post 9/11 Toynbee continues her to do wild statements of how â€Å"Muslims are the best America haters around† and that â€Å"moderate† Muslims are making nil to root out extremists ( The Guardian, August 18Thursday, 2004 ) . In 1997 Toynbee wrote an article entitled â€Å"In defense mechanism of Islamophobia† saying that â€Å"I am an Islamophobe, I judge Islam non by its words† but its actions ( Richardson, p128, 2004 ) . One could state the same about Christianity and Western society however the War on Terror has made anti-Muslim racism universal in the sense that a BNP leader and a broad can spurt the same rhetoric making a unsafe state of affairs for British Muslims as minorities. A recent Channel 4 docudrama entitled â€Å"Are Muslims Hated? † stated that Islamophobia is an hyperbole and how it is being used to forestall broad unfavorable judgments of Islam. Unfortunately such statements after 9/11 show ignorance for the colonial power dealingss that Muslim states and minorities are subjected to and a 1993 Liberal Democrat statement doing clear that in a democracy freedom of address has bounds and is constrained by the other â€Å"fundamental democratic values† such as the publicity of equality so as to deter group bias ( Runnymede Trust, p25, 1997 ) . Furthermore a bar of unfavorable judgment of Islam is non truly the job as clearly cardinal to the linguistic communication of the War on Terror has been the changeless unfavorable judgment of Islam. The job is an unequal unfavorable judgment of the universe, Islam and the West are non equal entities, the latter clearly implements, political, economic and cultural high quality over the former whic h is presented to the universe as being inferior. The deficiency of societal and political equality in the universe therefore demands to reform if Moslems are to experience less the marks of Western onslaughts be they verbal, physical or militaristic. Unfortunately as the War on Terror continues into its 5th twelvemonth this seems extremely improbable. The separation therefore is made between being British and being Muslim ( Richardson, p118, 2004 ) and in my position such media coverage is frequently indirectly responsible for racial torment. When a Muslim reads the newspaper, she is forced about into an excusatory place, that somehow she is a cause of society’s ailments. A Muslim is either a â€Å"fundamentalist† or a â€Å"modernist† , neer merely a Muslim as so the latter two labels mean nil to a Muslims mundane life in Britain. This shows clearly how both the province and media work together in making an ambiance of fright and racism which gives support to the extremists of the far right BNP. Social Exclusion, Resistance and individuality It is of import to analyze the effects the war on panic has in making societal exclusion for Muslims and furthermore the effects on individuality. Amongst Muslim communities, societal want and unemployment is prevailing within many Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities which are besides among the lowest income families in Britain ( Richardson, p29, 2004, Pilkington, p96-98, 2003 ) . Many Moslems are besides overrepresented among school students aged 16 with the poorest makings and many Muslim alumnuss have worse occupations so people of Indian and Chinese backgrounds ( p29-30, 2004 ) . Alongside the media demonization, racial torment and province repression the War on panic does non assist in bettering the societal state of affairs of Muslims. If anything it increases the chances of favoritism and equal entrees to occupation chances due to stereotypes. Khalida Khan a community militant for the Muslim women’s administration An Nisa has in Q News stated that feelings of disillus ion, disenfranchisement and the injury of racism has led to a â€Å"growth of desperation, defeat and extremism† ( Nov 2003 ) in reaction to a feeling of cultural lower status. Although there is some truth in Khans statement I believe that there is a inclination as faculty members to pigeonhole Muslim young person, it is hence of import to understand the diverse experiences of the community and how Muslim individuality reacts to this state of affairs. From the information I have gathered it is clear that integrating and Islam has become a dominant discourse amongst the media, academic circles, the authorities and the populace in general. The War on Terror has had some a portion to play with respects to making negative perceptual experiences but at the same clip has really helped make a new state of affairs for Muslims. A particular study on immature Muslims in the Guardian involved journalists discoursing the issues of the twenty-four hours with immature educated and professional Muslims. Many of them expressed their concerns over the issues such as anti-terrorist statute law, Islamophobia and the war in Iraq but claimed that the sarcasm of the War on Terror is that it has helped farther the â€Å"integration of Muslims† therefore Muslims have been given the â€Å"opportunity to startle the community and do their voices heard† ( November 30Thursday, 2004 ) . This can be seen in the many protest motions that have emer ged for illustration in reaction to the war, where many Muslims participated in the anti-war protests. One such adult female was Salma Yaqoob, a Muslim adult female from Birmingham and clinical psychologist who was spat on by a member of the populace after 9/11 for have oning the hijab. Now she is standing as a campaigner for the Respect party in Birmingham, going the first hijabi adult female to make so. This is an illustration of how the War on Terror has politicised Moslems who antecedently had nil to make with political relations. Many Muslims may besides be voting against the Labour Party which historically received Muslim support. In the Tower Hamlets constituency Muslims have the opportunity to take the pro-war Labour MP campaigner and ballot in George Galloway of the Respect Party, in fact Galloway seems to be trusting on Muslim support therefore the War on Terror in some contexts has allowed Muslims to be in a powerful place in taking societal motions ( respectcoalition.org ) . Many other runs have emerged in reaction to detention of Muslims without test in Britain and Guantanomo Bay ; therefore it is clear that all these motions have brought the concerns and civilization of British Muslims into the mainstream. Even the media has had to react as can be seen with Channel 4’s Muslim orientated Shariah Television where Muslims gather to discourse societal issues and spiritual religion. As a consequence we may see more Muslim MP’s and public figures thereby disputing the jobs of under-representation and marginalization. In many ways these political reactions of Muslim communities to the constructions of the War on Terror has meant that Muslims are altering the perceptual experiences of themselves coercing British society to go more plural. Tariq Ramadan has referred to this as a â€Å"silent revolution† ( Q News, December 2003 ) and that Muslims are eventually building a â€Å"European Muslim individuality capable of going accepted at the mass level† , ( Ramadan, p254, 1999 ) . The dialectic of the War on panic is that although it marginalises Muslims it may assist supply a better apprehension of Islam at the same clip therefore a soundless revolution may yet go a loud one in clip. Bibliography Written Beginnings Debating Cultural Hybridity: Multi-Cultural Identities and the Politicss of Anti-Racism, edited by Pnina Werbner and Tariq Modood, Zeb Books, 1997 A Glimpse through Purdah: Asiatic Womans–the myth and the world, Sitara Khan, Trentham Books Ltd, 1999 The Myth of Return: Pakistanis in Britain,Muhammad Anwar, Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, 1979 Between Cultures: Continuity and Change in Lives of Young Asians,Muhammad Anwar, Routledge, 1998 Racial Disadvantage and Ethnic Diversity in Britain,Andrew Pilkington, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 Who do We Think We Are: Imagining the New Britain, Yasmin Alibhai Brown, Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 2000 To be a European Muslim, Tariq Ramadan, The Islamic Foundation, 1999 Misrepresenting Muslimism: The Racism and Rhetoric of British Broadsheet Newspapers, John E Richardson, John Benjamins Publishing Co, 2004 Covering Islam,Edward Said, Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd, 1981 Oriental studies: Western Concepts of the East, Penguin Books, 1991 Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media,Edward S Herman and Noam Chomsky, Pantheon Books, 1988 Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky, Metropolitan Books, 2003 Multitude,Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Hamish Hamilton, 2004 The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel P Huntington, Simon and Schuster, 1997 Islamophobia: A Challenge for us all, The Runnymede Trust, 1997 Newham Monitoring Project Annual Report 2003-4 Media Beginnings Q News, Jan 2004,Islam the Enemy Q News, Nov 2003, Shamim Miah Q News, Nov 2003,where are we heading, Khalida Khan. Q News, December 2003 Interview with Tariq Ramadan The Guardian, 2neodymiumMarch, 2005,Muslims face increased halt and hunt,Vikram Dodd and Alan Travis, The Guardian April 23rd, 2005,words of warning backed by small grounds, Vikram Dodd and Alan Travis Flushing Standard, 22neodymiumApril, 2005,civilization clang, John O Sullivan Sunday Times Magazine, Feb 27Thursday2005,Puting the fright of God into Holland, Brian Moynahan The Guardian,Young, Muslim and British, November 30Thursday, 2004 Are Muslims Hated,C4 Documentary, Keenan Malik, January 8Thursday2004 The Secret Agent, BBC Documentary, July 15Thursday, 2004 Web sites Stoppoliticalterror.com Respectcoalition.org Freebarbarahmad.com Search Scheme I managed to obtain a really diverse scope of beginnings. I used assorted books on cultural surveies to sketch the general sociological state of affairs of cultural minorities this involved utilizing authors such as Tariq Modood and Sitara Khan. This nevertheless could hold been improved by obtaining books with a specific focal point on British Muslim such as â€Å"Muslim Britain† edited by Tahir Abbas and Philip Lewis’s â€Å"Islamic Britain† . Nevertheless I believe I compensated for this due to my entree to assorted community beginnings such as Q News and community administrations such as Newham Monitoring Project, Islamic Human Rights Commission and run groups. My usage of Huntington, Chomsky, Said and Hardt and Negri’sBattalionadded an internationalist attack so as non to be nescient of the planetary constructions and how they influence the state of affairs for British Muslims. My subdivision on the media could hold possibly referred briefly to tabloi d newspapers every bit good as the circulars such as The Guardian, nevertheless as I was utilizing John E Richardson’s extended research on the representation of Muslims in the circular imperativeness I focused on the latter. I deliberately ended with Tariq Ramadan’s of import positions on European Muslim individuality so as to make a sense of hope for the hereafter as his research looks at Islamic Bibles so as to obtain an apprehension of what it means to be Muslim and European. Although he is theological at times it would hold besides been good to unite this with Homi Baba’s more sociological research on cultural hybridity.