The All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims (APPG) attempted to propose a working definition for Islamophobia. It opened submissions on the definition between May and June 2018 that addressed a range of issues. The consultation process included written submissions from academics, legal experts, and organisations, with community consultations within local communities in Manchester, London,… Continue reading “What’s in a definition? The UK’s emerging quest for a definition of Islamophobia”
What is behind the shift in norms around racism and the politics of immigration in recent decades? Although many are focused on the daily onslaught against norms under the current US president, from a broader perspective, norms around issues of race and the politics of immigration have clearly shifted since I began studying the radical… Continue reading “The Shifting Norms that Threaten Our Democracy”
Racism and anti-Semitism remain problems in global soccer. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia supporters of the Moroccan national soccer team fought with fans holding Israeli flags at the end of Morocco’s loss to Portugal. David Whelan, the former owner of Wigan Athletic, was also accused of making anti-Semitic statements (He repeated a common… Continue reading “Anti-Semitism in global soccer”
Anti-Muslim hate crime, which spikes following terror attacks, is inextricably intertwined with racism. This article has been difficult to write because I was hoping that, in 2019, I would not need to start talking about international terrorism and how it can impact the streets of Britain. Instead, we are focusing on the terrible events that happened… Continue reading “Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Is a New Form of Racism”
Those of us living in Britain today, whether we originally hail from these shores or not, are only too aware that we are living through a major historical moment. Those of us involved in analysing the radical rights are also very conscious of the fact that, whatever deal is (or isn’t) reached between Britain and… Continue reading “Nazi Analogies Won’t Help Counter Radical Right Agendas in Post-Brexit Britain”
For the last ten years, I have been regularly involved in either contributing to, or running, events for Holocaust Memorial Day. As well as more formal talks and activities, every year ‘Q & A’ discussion at such events have tended to relate the horrific events of the Nazi regime and its genocide to more contemporary… Continue reading “Holocaust Memorial Day in 2019 and Beyond”
It’s become clear that racism isn’t a side effect of far-right ideology, it is a foundational quality of radical right parties in the US and Europe. Is racism a necessary component of the radical right’s appeal? When I was conducting my research on the radical right in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I tried… Continue reading “Racism Is A Core Component Of The Radical Right”
Numerous reports, investigations, and the exposure of a neo-Nazi among their ranks raise concerns about the state of the Canadian Armed Forces. In November 2018, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) announced that it had suspended four soldiers from their duties for running an ‘army-surplus’ website that largely catered to white supremacists by selling clothing, flags,… Continue reading “Is There A Radical Right Racism Problem In The Canadian Armed Forces?”
What does the rise of a radical-right party like the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) have to do with anti-discrimination policy in Europe? In the year 2000, after the FPÖ became part of the government in Austria, the EU passed the Racial Equality Directive (RED) as a response to the party’s anti-immigrant position. In 2015, I… Continue reading “Legislating Equality: Anti-Discrimination Policy in Europe”
Since the death of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled from 1939 until his death in 1975, Spain has been a country without a strong radical right-wing presence. In fact, in 2017, Senior Analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute Carmen González-Enríquez declared Spain ‘inoculated’ against radical right-wing populism because of the legacy of… Continue reading “Vox and the Return of the Radical Right in Spain”