International policy analysts agree that Islamophobia is on the rise, especially in the West, and say that to combat it, governments should criminalize hate speech and calls for violence.
Speaking to the Lusa agency about the increase in Islamophobia at a time when almost a month has passed since the conflict between Israel and Hamas, analyst Filipe Pathé Duarte emphasized that at the same time there is a “association, rhetorical and argumentative, between security, migration and Islam”.
“Islamophobia is also on the rise and especially in the West, taking into account a rhetorical and argumentative association between security, migration and Islam”says the also academic at the NOVA School of Law in Portugal.
“On the other hand, also related to this Islamophobia, there are some problems in integrating migration flows from Islamic countries. Not only problems on our part in this integration, but also a kind of ‘self-ghettoization’ of the same communities.”he added.
The same reasoning was demonstrated by the vice-president of the Observatory of the Islamic World (OMI), João Henriques, who argued that the phenomenon has already led many governments to take measures to combat Islamophobia through hate crime legislation, together with measures to combat Islamophobia. Combating Islamophobia, preventing hateful behavior based on conducting awareness campaigns about Muslims and Islam, aimed at dispelling negative myths and misconceptions.
“Islamophobia is associated with negative prejudices against Muslims and Islam, which are based on the claim that this faith, Islam, is an inferior religion and can threaten not only the dominant values of Western society, but also the physical integrity of citizens .”he claimed in statements to Lusa.
João Henriques explained that in the West the Islamic religion, tradition and culture exist “They are seen as a real threat to their values, to the values of the West, that is to say of Europe, of the United States”that feeling “can affect non-Muslims equally, based on perceptions of nationality or ethnicity and even skin color”.
Moreover, he added: Islamophobia “is interpreted as fear, prejudice and hatred against Muslims”leading to the provocation of hostile and intolerant behavior through threats or intimidation against Muslims.
To combat the phenomenon, Pathé Duarte emphasized that Islamophobia, as should be done with anti-Semitism, can be combated by criminalizing hate speech and calls for violence and also by raising awareness through training.
“This training must be promoted, especially of structures that are directly involved in this type of discourse, whether in institutional and public structures, or through the ‘media’ for example.”he insisted.
The same must be done, he argued, to combat anti-Semitism, also on the rise in the West, especially in Europe and the United States.
“Anti-Semitism is growing partly because, in my opinion, there is structural anti-Semitism, especially in the West and in Europe. Especially in Europe we see this structural anti-Semitism clearly visible among the extreme right, clearly among the extreme left and also visible in Islam.”he claimed.
“On the other hand, I also believe that anti-Zionism is also anti-Semitic and that is why anti-Semitism is growing. Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitic in intent and effect because it employs anti-Jewish rhetoric and is used to disenfranchise, demonize, denigrate, or even punish all Jews or those who even feel any connection to Israel.”he concluded.
On the same topic, João Henriques considered anti-Semitism to be one of the most important problems facing contemporary society. “despite the fact that it is one of the oldest forms of hatred in the world, dating back to Biblical times”defining itself as “a prejudice or hostility towards the Jewish people because, according to their enemies, they are considered harmful to society in general”.
Source: DN
