Update: Islamophobia is rising – and Britain’s politicians have been dangerously complacent in tackling it | Arun Kundnani

The Guardian — Opinion has reported on “Update: Islamophobia is rising – and Britain’s politicians have been dangerously complacent in tackling it | Arun Kundnani,” presenting it as the central development in the source material available for this brief.

The available account reports that mainstream figures have been enabling anti-Muslim racism, creating the ideal conditions for the rise of hard-right political parties Five years ago, many Muslims wondered if the prejudices they faced were set to fade away. The report also notes that The “war on terror” was dwindling in prominence, and new enemies such as Russia seemed to be displacing fears of Islamic terrorism. Yet Britain’s Islamophobia has only intensified since then. A poll published in July found that two out of five Britons believe Muslims cannot integrate into British society. Earlier in the summer, it was reported that more than half of Muslims in Britain had personally experienced anti-Islam prejudice in the last year, and a quarter in a public place. The evidence of a worsening climate for Muslims has been mounting since two summers ago, when racist riots erupted across the UK, targeting mosques and asylum hostels. Watching videos of those events, I was disturbed by the parents who brought their young children to watch while mobs attempted, with apparently murderous intent, to break into the buildings. It was not only hardened far-right activists but a much broader cross-section of British society that was willing to participate in racist violence directed at Muslims or asylum seekers assumed to be Muslim. Arun Kundnani is editorial director of Monthly Review Press Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click her

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