Race/Religion ≠ Extremism

Image from ITV News

In the wake of the attack in Woolwich yesterday, the onslaught of racist and Islamophobic attacks was only to be expected and we were not proved wrong. However, this is not something we should have to expect; it is highly illogical. Assuming someone is an extremist because of their religion or race is like assuming that the tail you just saw go round the corner of the road belonged to a cat. It is true; there do exist Muslim extremists, but not everyone who adheres to Islam is a terrorist. Islam, as has been repeated time and time again, is a peaceful religion and Muslim leaders across the UK and the World appealed for calm and expressed regret. Members of the religion shamed those who acted in the name of their religion.

We must remember, also, that terrorism is not inevitably linked to Black Muslim Jihadist Extremists. Anders Breivik, responsible for the attacks in Norway in 2011, defined as a White Christian. IRA terrorists defined as White Christian. Furthermore, terrorism isn’t linked to religion at all, and even if it were, the attacks on Mosques and the burnings of the Qur’an we have seen in response to terrorism attacks can be considered terrorism attacks themselves. If terrorism is religiously-motivated damaging actions, then terrorism happens more in your life than you would care to think. But it is not. Terrorism is an abominable crime where persons use terror (physical, psychological and technological) to disrupt people’s lives, instil fear and, usually, make a political statement. As far as I know, no religion in the world dictates its followers to do any such thing.

Hence, to then launch savage racist attacks on Mosques and Muslim communities is preposterous. It is utterly incomprehensible that people believe that all Muslims, or Blacks, are behind these attacks and feel proud of the damage that has been done. Immigration is the cause of all of our terrorist problems, of course (You forget that immigration includes any non-British person who becomes resident in the UK, not just those that come from the Middle-East, Africa or Asia, or are Black – the Americans count as immigrants too).

No, we are all living people, many of us distraught at yesterday’s news and wanting to ensure it does not happen again, regardless of our race and religion.

Race and Religion do not equal extremism.

Legislation is Only Half the Battle for Equality

Image by Michael Fleshman

The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill passed through its third reading in the House of Commons yesterday, allowing it to now be debated in the House of Lords before hopefully becoming law. An amendment by Labour to ensure that the Government also holds a consultation on whether to allow heterosexual couples to enter civil partnerships marks another step towards equality between heterosexual, bisexual and homosexual couples. 

The bill passed by a large majority of 205, showing concrete support for this incredible step, but it is sad that 161 MPs continue to show opposition to the motion and that 119 were not present at the vote. Still, we must remain enthused that the legislation passed through the House of Commons. Of course, there is further scrutiny, perhaps much more in depth, to be undertaken in the House  of Lords, but we are halfway to some fantastic marriage reform, allowing homosexual couples across the UK to commit to each other in marriage with their heterosexual counterparts.

Labour’s amendment to include a consultation on civil partnerships for heterosexual couples is also important. Whilst marriage is “religious” in its connotations, Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists and mixed-religious couples are excluded. Furthermore, it also demonstrates another level on which homosexual couples are differentiated from their fellow heterosexual citizens. The new proposal to the Government is simple; allow heterosexual couples to enter civil partnerships, or abolish civil partnerships. To continue this difference between heterosexual and homosexual couples is to shift equality in the wrong direction. 

However, a change in legislation is only half the battle. The country continues to face the problem with the actual day-to-day perceptions and discrimination of LGBTQ* people. As we have seen before, given women the vote and other equalities does not rid the evil that is discrimination via sexism. The same stands with LGBTQ* rights – homophobia and stigma based on sexuality continues to exist. A woman even tried to drive through the gates of the Palace of Westminster during the vote yesterday in a bid to show her lack of agreement; people will  go to incredible lengths to show their opposition. Whilst “outing” is a problem and a risk, we must continue the battle for sexuality equality.

Despite the vote being a landmark victory, we’re not quite at proper equality yet. Hopefully, we can reach a day where marriage is marriage, no matter who is in it.

Guild Receives NUS Zero-Tolerance Accreditation

A fantastic new policy was unveiled by the Guild of Students on Monday, setting out the Guild’s condemnation of harassment in any form on campus. The policy, accredited by the NUS, was launched by the Guild Vice President (Welfare) Katherine East, NUS Vice President (Welfare) Pete Mercer, Guild Women’s Officer for 2011 Kelly Rogers and Guild Ethnic Minority Students’ Officer, Sacha Hassan.

A key part of the legacy of last years’ Vice President (Welfare), Luke Reynolds, this initiative is a brilliant way of ensuring that students on campus are able to stand-up and resist harassment based on religion, sex, race, disability and sexual orientation.

Pete Mercer introduced the policy, legitimately arguing “we still have sexism in our welcome weeks, homophobia in our halls and racism on our campuses” and spoke about the recent piece of research conducted by the NUS entitled “No Place for Hate”. Horrifically, one in six respondents had experienced hate crime yet less than one in ten actually reported these incidents for fear of blame, worry of shame and discomfort with talking about it. This is the first UK-wide piece of research relating to hate crime and it is so vital and so beneficial.

An article by the Independent highlights how important this policy is as it talks through the misogynistic and sexist events that are organised as part of Welcome Weeks in universities across the country. The article mortified me – harassment has no place in our universities and Students’ Unions should be at the forefront of the fight against attitudes such as this, condemning actions of those who see it as acceptable.

Kelly Rogers stated “sexual and domestic violence does affect predominately female students” and referred to an experience with a women’s association protest against a beauty pageant in the previous academic year; she and other protestors received threats, homophobic and sexist comments, simply for disagreeing with sexual objectification, possibly one of the largest threats to women in the media.

Sacha Hassan, however, rightfully asked whether this policy was simply tokenism or a PR stunt, referring to a recent example of discriminatory behaviour by University of Birmingham students, saying the person in question “made a mistake and needs to face the consequences” and this was a perfect example of why zero-tolerance needs to be a policy that the Guild adopts.

Honestly, I am surprised this policy does not exist as standard policy on all university campuses, let alone our own Guild, based in one of the most multicultural cities in the UK. It is yet another progressive piece of policy that will be vastly important in the stepping stones to equality and tackling discrimination in wider society. Using this policy, I implore students like myself to use this policy to its full potential, challenging any form of action that can be classed as harassment. The best way to defeat discrimination is to challenge it, not to ignore it.