Abstract
The ten dominant counter-narratives identified across Europe to Islamophobia and discussed in relation to national contexts are ranked and synthesised in this chapter. These in descending order of prevalence challenged constructions of Muslim ‘threat’, challenged exclusionary national projects, emphasised cultural compatibility and conviviality, elaborated Muslim plurality, challenged narratives of sexism, sought to build inclusive futures and deracialise the state, argued for Muslim normalisation, humanity and the creation of Muslim space(s) and challenged distorted representations of Muslims in the media and elsewhere.
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Notes
- 1.
Muslim faith leaders.
- 2.
Ummah stems from the Prophetic teachings and denotes a unified Muslim body.
- 3.
“In the summer of 2015, 800, 000 thousand refugees came to Germany, almost all of them from Muslims countries, and again, we had this whole discussion on anti-Semitism and imported anti-Semitism, etc. And then we invited journalist to our homes, the homes of Jews and refuges which were living together, I was one of the Jewish members who were living together back then with Muslim refugees, but we had another Jewish members who were like this, and then we just told our stories, how our everyday lives looks like as a Jew and Arab Muslim refugee living together, and for example I always told the media that my only problem with my flat mate, is that he keeps snoring, he snores pretty loud, and another member, she was a female member, that was an extra point, because we not only speak about anti-Semitism regarding Muslims, but also about sexism and homophobia, and she for example told all the media representatives that her biggest issue with two refugees, who she just welcomed in her flat was that they did not do the dishes, and that’s it, why they would had any conflicts just because one is Jew and the two others are Muslims or Arab, or Syrian, it does not make any sense. That’s how we tried to counter these narratives” (Interview with Armin Langer).
- 4.
Daniel Bax commenting on the initiative Salaam-Shalom and the positive reactions of the media towards it, told me, “to show normality, there was, and still is, this image in many heads that Jews and Muslims can’t live together, so an initiative that says no, we can be friends was news because it was against the stereotype, the stereotype was still there but of course it was a really important initiative because it was opposed to the popular narrative”.
- 5.
ENAR. 2009. Forgotten Women: the impact of Islamophobia on Muslim women. [Online]. [Accessed on 20 March 2018]. Available from: http://www.enar-eu.org/; CCIF. Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France. 2016. Rapport Annuel. [Online]. [Accessed on 20 March 2018]. Available from: http://www.islamophobie.net/
- 6.
Centre Interfédéral pour l’égalité des chances. 2015. Le travail du centre exprimé en chiffres pour l’année 2014. Brussels: UNIA, p. 31.
- 7.
Fekete, L. 2004. Anti-Muslim racism and the European security state. Race and Class. 46(1), pp. 3–29, 12. Also see Zemni, S. 2011.
- 8.
See Dassetto, F. and Ralet, O. 2010. Mosques and minarets: tension, assertion and negotiation. Some Belgian cases. In: Allievi, S. ed. Mosques in Europe. Why a solution has become a problem. London: Alliance Publishing Trust, pp. 53–88. UNIA also published a recent chapter directed by Corinne Torrekens on the establishment of the mosque of Fléron-Retinne (see https://www.unia.be/files/Documenten/Publicaties_docs/FR_-_Intro-rapport-ccl_Compil%C3%A9_DEF_(2).pdf, accessed 26 February 2018).
- 9.
Allievi, S. 2009. Conflicts over Mosques in Europe: Policy Issues and Trends. London: Alliance Publishing Trust, p. 89.
- 10.
Bouzar D. and Bouzar L. 2009. Allah a-t-il sa place dans l’entreprise? Paris: Albin Michel; Bouzar D. and Bouzar L. 2010. La République ou la burqa, les services publics face à l’islam manipulé. Paris: Albin Michel.
- 11.
Institutional accommodation and the citizen: legal and political interaction in a pluralist society, Trends in social cohesion, No. 21, Council of Europe Publishing, 2009, available online from http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/socialpolicies/socialcohesiondev/source/Trends/Trends-21_en.pdf, accessed 5 October 2017.
- 12.
The Brussels Centre for Intercultural Action (CBAI) had an active role in the formulation and adoption of this methodology in Belgium (see Bouzar, D. and Denies, N. 2014. Diversité convictionnelle: comment l’appréhender? Comment la gérer? Louvain La Neuve: Academia L’Harmattan).
- 13.
See De Cock, L. and Meyran, R. eds. 2017. Paniques identitaires. Identité(s) et idéologie(s) au prisme des sciences sociales. Bellecombe-en-Bauges: Le Croquant.
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Law, I., Sayyid, S., Easat-Daas, A. (2019). A New Counter-Islamophobia Kit. In: Law, I., Easat-Daas, A., Merali, A., Sayyid, S. (eds) Countering Islamophobia in Europe. Mapping Global Racisms. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16260-3_11
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