Interaction between Fear and Hatred

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Interaction between Fear and Hatred

• Syed Mansoob Murshed
• Institute of Social Studies (ISS)
• University of Birmingham
• Murshed_at_iss.nl

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Fear

• The dislike of a visible minority
• Anti-Semitism in Europe
• African Americans in the USA
• Muslims in Europe
• There is a process of the production of fear
  (Glaeser, 2005)
• Repetitive hate messages in the media
• It is costly to sift through these messages to
  establish any degree of veracity

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Fear

• Racism has become more culturally based rather
  than biologically based.
• Huntington, Lewis
• Politicians Norman Tebbit, Wilders

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Attitudes towards Muslims in Europe
http//pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID
262
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By age or education?
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Netherlands and the UK (Quotes from Stewart, 2008)

• according to a poll conducted in 2006, 63 of
  Dutch citizens felt that Islam is incompatible
  with modern European life.1
• In the UK 63 of the population reporting a
  generally favourable view of Muslims in 2006 and
  71 of British Muslims having a generally
  favourable view of British Christians. Over half
  of non-Muslims in Britain thought British Muslims
  were devout and honest.
• 1 http//www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/12143

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Hatred Two conflicting hypotheses

• Clash of civilizations
• Discrimination
• Horizontal inequalities faced by Muslims
• Economic discrimination
• Practices frowned upon
• Collective sense of historical and present-day
  humiliation

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Quranic Verses celebrating national, racial and
religious diversity

• O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and
  female, and have made you nations and tribes that
  ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you,
  in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct.
  (Hujrat-Private Apartments) 049.013
• Say (O Muhammad) We believe in Allah and that
  which is revealed unto us and that which was
  revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and
  Jacob and the tribes, and that which was
  vouchsafed unto Moses and Jesus and the prophets
  from their Lord. We make no distinction between
  any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered.
  (Ale Imran- The Family of Imran)003.084
• And of His signs is the creation of the heavens
  and the earth, and the difference of your
  languages and colours. (Ar Room-The Romans)
  030.022
•  

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And early Muslims

• O people, Remember that your Lord is One. An Arab
  has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab
  over an Arab also a black person has no
  superiority over a white person, nor a white has
  any superiority over black, except by piety and
  good action. Indeed the best among you is the one
  with the best character. Listen to me. Did I
  convey this to you properly? People responded,
  Yes. O messenger of God, The Prophet then said,
  then each one of you who is there must convey
  this to everyone not present. (Excerpt from
  Muhammads Last Sermon as in Baihiqi)
• "Make thine heart a throne of mercy towards thy
  people. Show them perfect love and care. Never
  treat them as a ravening beast that tears and
  rends their properties and their persons. For
  they are in one of two groups. Either they are
  thy brothers in the Faith- or they are thy
  fellow-human beings of one flesh with thine own."
  Ali, the 4th Caliph, also the cousin and
  son-in-law of Muhammad to Malik-e-Ashtar his
  governor designate to Egypt. (Nahjul Balagha)

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Collective sense of historical and present-day
humiliation

• Historical
• Muslims were in Medieval Europe, until ethnically
  cleansed
• Sykes-Picot Middle Eastern disposition
• Present day
• Palestine
• Kashmir
• Bosnia

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Quotes from 2006 Pew World Survey

• European Muslims who think Islamic identity is
  growing tend to consider it a good thing. This is
  especially so in Great Britain, where 86 say the
  perceived intensifying trend is a good thing, and
  Spain where 75 agree.
• Among those in the French general public who see
  Islamic identity on the rise, 87 call it a bad
  thing in Germany, 83 say so in Spain (82).

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Muslim attitudes
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Interaction between Fear and hatred

• Two sides
• The state or majority
• Dissident minority (Muslim militants, say)
• State has a security budget, spending of which
  entails a trade-off
• Between transfers
• And suppression (policing etc.)
• Strategies in peaceful behaviour that entail
  costs
• Taxation to finance security expenditure
• Loss of face to hawkish constituencies

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Identity

• Identity directly enters the utility function of
  putative terrorists.
• Individuals derive utility from actions
  conforming to their group
• similar actions by other individuals who also
  belong to their group
• and their own perceived social position in
  society.

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Identity (2)

• It is possible to show that individuals derive
  disutility from the non-conformity of other group
  members, and may correct deviant behaviour
• This solves the collective action problem in
  forming militant dissident groups.
• Individuals may have multiple identities.

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• The individual derives utility from his own
  actions (er), and from the actions of other
  like-minded individuals belonging to his group
  (e-r), and above all his own identity or self
  image (Ir), which depends on the actions (er,
  e-r) just described, as well as the inverse of
  the groups social standing, ?.

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The parameter ? represents the basis for group
action

• Based on economic discrimination or horizontal
  inequality
• Cultural factors such as historical and
  present-day injustices to the group.
• Both the above have been emphasised by Sen (2008)
  as salient to identity based conflict.

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Interaction between Fear and Hate

• An increase in state militancy
• Right wing vote bank
• Anti-Muslim parties
• A rise in dissident militancy
• Similar to the above, but also worsening
  horizonatal inequalities
• Wars in Iraq, Palestinian situation which
  increase.

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Conclusions

• Space needs to be created so that most Muslim
  migrants are able to merge their personal
  identities within their adopted European
  homelands. In other words, policies that make it
  difficult to be both European and Muslim are
  bound to be self-defeating
• Muslim horizontal inequalities in Europe need
  addressing.