Saturday 10 December sees our third annual Islamophobia conference take place. It is entitled ‘The Environment of Hate and the Police State,’ the reason being in part to show how the former contribute ls to the rise of the latter. Ironically IHRC finds that a group of trolls over the last two days have proven the point in a combination of blogs and tweets.
The target of their ire is a combination of ourselves, the leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn and the US based academic and author Hatem Bazian whose book ‘Palestine… it is something colonial’ was launched by us on Wednesday 7 in London.
Whilst the bias expressed by trolls is hardly a concern, the fomenting of it by civil society organisations and figures is unforgivable, particularly as it does in this instance attempt to delegitimise academic discussion, anti-racist activism and political dissent. The tenor of slurs are Islamophobic and project tired tropes that sadly have gained currency in recent times. This is the Environment of Hate that has no logic behind it, just bile.
The wider implications of the Environment of Hate need to be urgently addressed and Saturday’s conference is open once again to all those who wish to challenge the oppression faced by so many who unlike us are unable to speak up and speak out.[END]
