From: Islamic Human Rights Commission

5 December 2017

PRESS RELEASE – UK: Islamophobia Conference – 10 December 2017

Date: Sunday, 10 December from 10.30am – 4.30pm

Venue: P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD

For the fourth consecutive year Islamic Human Rights Commission will be holding a conference focused on tackling Islamophobia. The event is set to take place on Sunday, 10 December 2017 and will feature esteemed panels of speakers from varying backgrounds and disciplines.

Last year’s Islamophobia conference discussed the creation of a police state in the UK. While the policies aimed at surveilling, criminalising and extraditing Muslims, refugees and migrants have continued unabated, we have seen alongside this the alarming growth of nativism in the UK and around the world.

The election of Trump in America has allowed nativism to enter mainstream politics. He branded Mexicans as lazy and as rapists, Muslims as terrorists and imposed a ‘Muslim Ban’ which the US Supreme Court has also now approved. His anti-immigration stance and his plan for a wall on the Mexican border has resonated with people who feel they have been marginalised and silenced by immigrants, foreigners, the ‘other’ who are destroying their way of life.

Across Europe we see a similar trend; the rise of the far-right has been fuelled by nativist sentiments. Ideas of foreigners taking over, of destroying indigenous cultures and imposing their own alien way of life have been the main talking points for the likes of the Afd in Germany, Marine Le Pen in France and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. Recent elections in Germany, Austria, France and the Czech Republic saw major electoral gains for far-right parties / candidates. Europe’s shift to the right signals a new era of nativist policies, and foreshadows a future of uncertainty and instability for minority communities.

Speakers who are attending will be making presentations that are both individual and relevant to the topic before taking questions from the floor.

Notes to Editors:

Date: Sunday, 10 December from 10.30am – 4.30pm

Venue: P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD

Speakers:

Luis Manuel Hernandez Aguilar
Arzu Merali
Amrit Wilson
Hatem Bazian
Phil Miller
Martjin de Koning
Ramon Grosfoguel
More TBC

For more information, or to attend please contact the Press Office and speak to Nadia on +44 20 8904 4222 or email nadia@ihrc.org.

If you want to bring a fixed camera please let the Press Office know in advance. Video, audio and photographs will be available after the event.

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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Islamic Human Rights Commission
PO Box 598
Wembley
HA9 7XH
United Kingdom

Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
Email: info@ihrc.org
Web: www.ihrc.org
Twitter @ihrc