In it, we focused on the ways in which the framing of anti-Muslim racism as Islamophobia closes down legitimate critiques of religion which impacts on women and LGBT rights as well as free thought and expression. We also emphasised the overlapping ways in which racism affects both Muslim women and other Black, minoritised and migrant women to conclude that an extensive focus on Muslim women alone does not do justice to either group. Such a focus erases the connections between anti-Muslim racism and other forms of racism, despite them all being manifestations of the same axes of power, violence, ideology, and policies.
Notably, we highlighted that the isolation of some women’s experiences as being about ‘Muslimness’ can deny secular Muslim women and secular organisations a seat at discussions around women’s support and safety and privilege religious, theological, or faith-based solutions instead of feminist approaches.
We recommended that the WEC keep an important space open for dissent by dropping the term ‘Islamophobia’ and adopt the term ‘anti-Muslim racism’ instead. We urged the WEC to recognise anti-Muslim racism as a form of racism that manifests along the same axes of power, violence, ideology, and politics as other forms of racism. In this vein, we recommended that the WEC conduct its inquiry into community cohesion with a view to understanding Black, minoritised and migrant women’s experiences as a whole instead of separating Muslim women’s experiences.
We welcome the opportunity to address the WEC further on these issues.
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| Maryam Namazie is a political activist, campaigner and blogger |
 one off session around Gendered Islamophobia on Wednesday, 15th Janua...&p[url]=https://www.thepensivequill.com/2025/02/joint-submission-to-wec-on-gendered.html&p[images][0]=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCBNbI4YZ74RITIgoHOaHKNldUsBVEBPoqpOnlTGBMaNfeS9Ssxi4v0RXs505-sew36tNGCEZhGvweFJbNmRs54iUpGGlrnDFmLYCNMoFGy98duojNxEntiCOZX15oh1aqY3grg0d3kmG4brRzJa5YtH3Os38rSm8jTCymwhqsRuSzTArMJSZF7J2syUQ/s1600/04%20Atheism.gif){kind=link}
My views exactly. Islamophobia on its own is a clunky term but more importantly it is used to silence dissent within Muslim communities particularly from women activists. It has also been used to avoid discussion and actions around delicate but real community issues such as the grooming sex abuse scandals in Rotherham, Oldham, Rochdale, Barrow and other English towns and cities. I concur with Maryam that anti-Muslim racism is a more appropriate term as the prejudices and hostilities that Muslims encounter have a much more racial/ethnic/cultural hue than theological.
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