From: Islamic Human Rights Commission

8 November 2017

PRESS RELEASE – UK: National Islamophobia Conference

For the fourth consecutive year Islamic Human Rights Commission will be holding a national 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, alongside this we have seen the alarming growth of nativism in the UK and around the world.

Nativism is the policy of promoting the interests of “native” inhabitants against those of “immigrants”. It is racism masquerading as patriotism. This racism reared its ugly head in the run-up to the Brexit referendum and in its aftermath. Since then, incidents of racism and Islamophobia have been on the rise. Following the vote, people were attacked on the streets and told they now had to leave the UK.

The election of Donald Trump in America has allowed nativism to enter mainstream politics. He branded Mexicans as lazy and “rapists”, Muslims as terrorists and imposed a ‘Muslim Ban’. His anti-immigration stance and his plan for a wall on the Mexican border 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 will be taking questions from the floor.

Notes to editors:

Date: Sunday, 10 December

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

Speakers: TBA

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