Rolled-up Trousers

For the second time in the space of a few short months, a Nazi organisation called the Scottish Defence League will attempt to demonstrate against Muslims. It will be happening tomorrow in our capital city Edinburgh.

Last November in Glasgow they were seen off by 3000 ordinary people drawn from trade unions, churches and political parties marching under the umbrella of Scotland United. It was led by the great and good from Scottish society and was an exemplar to the rest of the country in how to deal with the situation. I hope it’s a case of same again tomorrow.

Inbetween November and now though there has been little discussion of what has prompted Islamophobia to reach such a level whereby far-right hooligans are feeling emboldened enough to come out of their pubs and onto the streets.

At that extreme end, we’ve had a stream of cases in recent months of individuals even stockpiling explosives and weapons for what they see as an impending civil war. In England these include the cases of Robert Cottage, Martin Gilleard, and Neil Lewington. In Northern Ireland, arrests involving ricin have been made, while in Scotland, Neil MacGregor threatened to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque and behead a Muslim a week.

Mosques are regularly being attacked, but it is the human casualties that are more troubling. Last Ramadan, Ekram Haque was killed outside a Tooting mosque by a gang in front of his three-year-old granddaughter. He is not the first such fatality.

The danger is that grievances are likely to escalate in the coming years. The far-right obviously hope they can stoke this further in an atmosphere is rising unemployment and tightening finances. They want to recruit from the pool of Scots, half of whom see Muslims as a “threat”, and 42% of whom see there being “serious conflict” between Muslims and the rest of society.

Ask most Muslims what they think is the cause of rising Islamophobia, the reply is invariably “the media”. Every little incident is sensationalised as a major national catastrophe by right-wing tabloids based in England in particular. Sometimes it is even made up. Often they say they are legitimately covering the utterances of right-wing commentators. This has been going on relentlessly for a decade and has undoubtedly fed the grievances of the far-right who just hold up the front pages of these newspapers without comment. The Nazis on our streets are their sons, their ugly spawn.

I am not saying that Muslims are beyond criticism. Just that reporting should be true and proportionate. Politicians who want to have “debate” should, if they are sincere, talk to Muslims, not at them. Talk with Muslims, not about them.

All of this needs investigation. I will then, if elected this year, work across the House of Commons to establish an all-party inquiry into Islamophobia. We have precedent in this from the similar committee looking into anti-semitism which examined the causes and made recommendations on the way forward. Rigourous investigation needs to be brought to the phenomenon of Islamophobia to stop the hate spiralling further in the tough years to come.