Riots in more than half a dozen British cities and towns in a few days, aimed at a specific religious/ethnic minority, with deadly violence intended & performed.
These are attempted modern pogroms, and we should identify them as such.
History is clear and we should be too. 🧵
These are attempted modern pogroms, and we should identify them as such.
History is clear and we should be too. 🧵
If this violence were aimed at Jewish communities, we would have little reticence at calling it an attempt at pogroms. Because, unfortunately, we had such attempts multiple times in living memory, and we recognise it, correctly. When it comes to Muslims, we don't.
But the reality is, we have been building up to this for years & decades. We saw the signs building in plain sight, when far-right propaganda was made 'respectable' & passed the 'dinner table test' more than a decade ago. When our mainstream political parties saw fit to use it.
Our media regularly engaged in rolling out anti-Muslim bigotry, because it knew it got views and social media traffic, and spoke to the worst of what it means to be British. But make no mistake; they spoke to something very real, which must be confronted, instead of appeased.
We have to take Islamophobia as seriously as we take Antisemitism. Enough is enough. The sickness is there and it must be named as such - but we still exist in a country where just the *word* Islamophobia is somehow controversial, wholly understand false claims. Shameful.
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