“Tell MAMA have reported a 600% increase in attacks on Muslims – including attacks and hostility against individuals and mosques, children targeted at school, death threats and physical attacks.”
By Apsana Begum MP
Last week, in Parliament I raised once again, the Islamophobic abuse I have received since being elected.
For example, here are some of the responses I received on social media on a video post of my comments about migrant survivors of domestic abuse during a debate this month.
“You was given a job in England uk to help England, all you care about is your own feel free to leave any point. What about all immigrants raping our children you deluded fool.”
“Ban all Muslim MPs. They represent Muslims not the native. Their Loyalty is to their own.”
“This is not islamabad!”
“Deport.”
“You are a traitor and will prosecuted in 2028”
“If england doesn’t kick you and every other ungrateful foreign beggar out very soon there will be no England anymore…”
“You be much happier in a Muslim country Begum.”
“People like you should be expelled from parliament. The only people you represent, are foreign nationals.”
“That’s the problem with Islam. Women are treated as second class by the men. You need to recognise the truth about this primitive religion.”
“Muslims don’t have beautiful clothes, only ugly headscarves! There is no invention, only destruction!”
“I also direct receive threats online, via voicemails, emails, and letters.”
The situation is escalating, not least exacerbated by those trying to capitalise on current events by spreading hate and division. I am aware of the heightened and very serious risk to my safety.
But this is more than just being about me.
It is important to recognise that what I am experiencing as the first hijab wearing MP reflects a growing current within society.
The data shows that Muslims are the largest target of religiously motivated hate crimes.
Following the 7 October Hamas attacks which resulted in around 1,200 Israeli deaths, including civilians and children and the subsequent Israeli assault that has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, including civilians and children, hate crime against both Jews and Muslims has risen dramatically in Europe.
In the UK, Tell MAMA have reported a 600% increase in attacks on Muslims – including attacks and hostility against individuals and mosques, children targeted at school, death threats and physical attacks.
Islamophobic hate crimes not only affect the victim but send reverberations through communities as they reinforce established patterns of bias, prejudice, and discrimination.
Islam and Muslims have increasingly been seen as culturally dangerous and threatening to the British way of life. We are constantly scapegoated and misrepresented – labelled both “deviant” and “evil.”
And being called a supporter of terrorism, a terrorist or being held responsible as a group for terrorism is a common theme. The reality is that Islamophobia is widespread and relates to whole structures of discrimination.
The socioeconomic discrimination and inequality Muslims face make them the most economically disadvantaged faith group in the UK.
At the same time, Muslims face institutional discrimination. For some time now it has been widely understood – including by the United Nations – that approaches to counter-terrorism are modelled on Islamophobic stereotypes, policies, and political structures.
Yet even, in November 2023, leaked Government documents revealed that officials had drawn controversial proposals to broaden the definition of extremism even further to include organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).
And yet, the Tories won’t even recognise Islamophobia.
When Muslims are the target of hate, this Government is silent.
They allow social media to perpetuate narratives of terrorism around Muslims, while failing to call out those that misrepresent and generalise Muslims.
But more than this, they stoke the hate recklessly peddling their so-called culture wars against the British people – pandering to a culture that tells people that it is acceptable to discriminate against, to persecute, and to abuse Muslims.
Across Europe and beyond the situation is alarming, with the rise of the threat of far-right including the re-emergence of far-right parties and politicians like Geert Wilders.
Whether in India or France, China or Iran, it should only be the choice of a woman what she wears. No state and no man should have the right to overrule that.
I think about this when reflecting that this September marked a year since the horrific murder of Mahsa Amini. When she was murdered the Prime Minister was right to describe the the attacks by the Iranian regime on women protesting for their right to not to wear the hijab, as ‘abhorrent’.
But the Government are silent about the outlawing of Muslim women’s rights to wear the abaya in France.
I look and I cannot find this Government’s opposition and outrage at the fact that Government offices across Europe can now ban employees from wearing religious symbols, such as headscarves, after a court was asked to rule on this after a Muslim employee in Belgium was told she could not wear a headscarf at work.
I am concerned and alarmed at how this ruling could exacerbate the marginalisation of Muslim women at a time when Islamophobia is already on the rise.
The constituency I represent has a product and long history of migration and anti-racism.
Whether that was our Jewish communities and allies opposing fascists at the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 or our Bangladeshi communities leading the anti-fascist mobilisation in the wake of the murder of Altab Ali in 1978.
We are one of the most culturally diverse areas in the UK and we are proud of it.
And we will always stand together – multi-racial, of all faiths and none – against division and intolerance.
- Apsana Begum is the MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook. You can follow Apsana on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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