Islamophobia is running rough-shod over the whole integration debate.
The social and economic issues minority ethnic communities in Europe face are hardly ever discussed and marginalisation and exclusion are put down to one factor – Islam. This was the message that the IRR sought to convey at the launch of the findings of its one-year research project on Integration, Islamophobia and Civil Rights in Europe. Around seventy people involved in ‘integration issues’ from France, the UK, Norway and Germany attended the launch to hear presentations from A. Sivanandan (Director, Institute of Race Relations), Liz Fekete (IRR deputy director and report author), as well as research participants: Khalid Salimi (director Horisont inter-cultural centre, Oslo); Nina Mühe (researcher on Germany for the ‘Muslims in EU Cities’ project of the Open Society Institute EU Monitoring and Advocacy Programme); Abdelaziz Chaambi (DiverCités, Lyon); Fouad Imarraine (Collectif des Musulmans de France) and Azkar Mohammed (Pioneers Leading the Way, Birmingham).
‘For too long, a coterie of individuals with an extremist, assimilationist agenda have been allowed to dominate the debate on integration,’ Liz Fekete told the audience. ‘The people you will hear from today are the real experts. It is their voices that should be amplified in the media.’
You can listen to the presentations at the links below.
Related links
Listen to the presentations by: Liz Fekete, A. Sivanandan and Khalid Salimi
Listen to the presentations by: Abdelaziz Chaambi, Fouad Imarraine, and Azkar Mohammed
IRR News story: New report says Islamophobia warps integration efforts
Download the introduction to Integration, Islamophobia and civil rights in Europe (pdf file, 44kb)
IRR News story: Nativism vs integration