I have to agree, while I’m appalled and shaken by what I would describe as domestic terrorism, I am not surprised. I have seen my parents experience racist violence when I was a child in the 80s, and I have faced racist micro-aggressions throughout my life in England, but over the last year, I have seen first-hand the far right become emboldened in their anti-immigrant, racist and Islamophobic rhetoric and violence. Nine months ago, I came face to face with EDL members while I was a steward at a Pro-Palestine protest. I had to chaperone an elderly Muslim woman in a hijab and her daughters away from a group of thugs who yelled Islamophobic slurs at them, before directing their aggression towards a Black female steward. Just two months ago, I became a victim of racial abuse myself on a train in London, when a white man in his 20s talked loudly about voting for Reform UK in the general election, before singling me out in a carriage of white people to repeatedly shout that “Islam is disgusting” in my face. He didn’t know – and didn’t care – that I’m not a Muslim. For those who look visibly Muslim, it’s even scarier, as London-based photographer Noorunisa explains.
“It’s a very worrying time for Brown and Black women, and even more so when you are a visibly Muslim woman – we’re an easy target because you can’t hide the fact you’re a Muslim when you have a hijab on,” she says. “When I heard about the Muslim woman who had her hijab ripped off, that really scared me. I feel incredibly unsafe and I’m worried about going out to work. Trying to live a normal life is scary right now.”
And while the violent rioters are using the horrific stabbings of children at a Stockport dance class as their misinformed reasoning for attacks against immigration centres, mosques, hotels housing asylum seekers and muslim-owned shops, the government is yet to identify this criminal behaviour as anti-immigrant or Islamophobic.
“We need to understand that this violence didn’t come from a vacuum. Politicians and the press have demonised Muslims and migrants for decades, scapegoating minority communities for the failures of the political system,” Zarah Sultana MP for Coventry South tells GLAMOUR. “Now many of those same politicians and media outlets are refusing to call this what it is: Far-right, Islamophobic, racist violence. If politicians don’t acknowledge this, they can’t properly tackle it and they fail to show to Muslim communities that they recognise the reality of the threat we’re facing. We need to face-up to this racist far-right violence and end the demonisation of Muslims and migrants.”
Zarah, who herself is a young Muslim woman, is the MP who receives the most online threats and abuse, she knows all about feeling unsafe. “Women of colour and those perceived as Muslims are understandably terrified right now. Muslim women wearing the hijab are being assaulted in the street, mosques are being attacked, hotels housing asylum seekers are being torched,” she explains. “Friends are worried about going out to the shops; my sisters are being encouraged to work from home because it’s not safe for them to walk the streets. This isn’t an environment anyone should have to endure.”
And as news starts to roll in on social media and family WhatsApp channels that far right groups have started gathering around the UK, my heart sinks. My sisters have all admitted to having thoughts about leaving the UK to live abroad because they no longer feel safe, but at the same time, we acknowledge that England is our home, it’s where we were born and we won’t be forced out. My fear is slowly turning to a resilience that I shouldn’t have to show, but I will for those who are less privileged than me, and that’s what we need our white allies to do. Your Black and Brown friends are not ok, so step up and check in on them, and stand up for us in the spaces where we are not safe, whether that’s at an anti-racism protest or calling out Islamophobia from friends, family and colleagues.