Countering and preventing hate towards religious communities
In a special production for Get The Trolls Out!, UK-based community media podcasters Lydia El Khouri, Gloria Khamkar and Chiara Muzzi speak to experts about antisemitism and Islamophobia. What are the root causes and possible remedies for these phenomena? How are religious communities in Europe dealing with potential threats to their security? Which organisations are raising awareness and taking action to ensure that gatherings and events stay safe, hate crimes are reported and online abuse is prevented? Jonny Newton, Head of Government Affairs and External Relations at the UK Community Security Trust (CTS), and Enes Bayraklı, head of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Turkish-German University in Istanbul, share their insights.
You can replay the podcast via the GTTO podcast pages on Anchor and Spotify.
Screenshot from Community Security Trust (CST) website
The Community Security Trust (CST) is a British charity that aims to provide safety, security, and advice to the Jewish community in the UK. It provides advice, training, representation and research. In this podcast, Jonny Newton, Head of Government Affairs and External Relations at CTS, talks about the history of the charity and its links to communal ancestors, zooming in on the crucial work done today to keep Jewish communities safe. CTS focuses on increasing awareness of security issues in the community, monitoring antisemitism in the UK and helping train officers on hate crimes.
Some of its most important work is done in schools, empowering kids and young adults from all faiths or none to become upstanders rather than bystanders.
CTS works closely with community stakeholders and cooperates with other minority communities, recognising that hate crimes target vulnerable groups across faith, language, gender and sexual orientation. In 2012, the CST provided the model for the anti-Islamophobia project Tell MAMA, run by the interfaith organisation Faith Matters), with which it now works closely. Mutual cooperation is key to creating progressive, interfaith community relations where there is ‘more in common than what divides us’.
In the second part of the podcast, Enes Bayraklı speaks about the root causes of Islamophobia. Bayraklı heads the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Turkish-German University in Istanbul and has been the co-editor of the annual European Islamophobia Report since 2016. The report investigates in detail the underlying dynamics that directly or indirectly contribute to the rise of anti-Muslim racism in Europe. This extends from Islamophobic statements spread in national media to laws and policies that restrain the fundamental rights of European Muslim citizens and ultimately threaten the whole of society. The European Islamophobia Report 2021 discusses the impact of anti-Muslim racism on human rights such as freedom of association, freedom of speech, and religious freedom, and the state of law in Europe.
In the interview, Bayraklı explains how Islamophobia functions by constructing a collective identity with negative connotations. He also explains that the term ‘anti-Muslim hatred’ doesn’t cover the full range of violence experienced by Muslim communities in Europe and that ‘anti-Muslim racism’ is a better concept. According to him, Islamophobia has become a structural element and a distraction tactic for certain politicians.
The role of media in normalising hate was also discussed. According to Jonny Newton from CST, media have a crucial role in ‘reporting situations as they are and helping us to understand nuances’. At the same time, media coverage of hate crimes has a multiplier effect which can then trigger more hate incidents. So how do you get the balance right? This remains an open question.
About the producers
Lydia El-Khouri has a weekly show on Radio Verulam, a community radio station in St Albans, Hertfordshire, presenting and producing The Parents’ Show for over ten years. Lydia is also a programme manager at Textgain - AI for good.
Dr Gloria Khamkar is Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the Faculty of Media and Communication of Bournemouth University. Gloria is also a Community Radio Practitioner at Unity101 FM in Southampton.
Chiara Muzzi is a radio presenter and producer and was a development manager for Source FM until June 2021, where she sought to increase the diversity of voices, especially women’s, and support the radio in a strategy for sustainability, both financial and environmental.
