America, the land of opportunity, is fast becoming the United States of Islamophobia. So reveals a survey published this week by the Othering and Belonging Institute of the University of California, Berkeley.
Of the 1,123 Muslims polled, 67.5 per cent said they had been victims of Islamophobia, the university's stand-in term for anti-Muslim bigotry. Call it the collective dehumanisation of Muslims.
Women as usual bear a greater brunt of such dehumanisation, the poll confirms. Beyond the survey, the institute said America began to experience two shifts in Islamophobia since the Sept 11 incident.
Firstly, "Islamophobia became the operationalising tool to single out Muslims and Islam, based on the actions of individual deviants, shifting the blame of a few to be absorbed by all Muslims". Secondly, "there was a shift from "lone-wolf" or individual acts against Muslims to more organised and well-financed efforts at institutionalising and legalising Islamophobia."
If The Guardian is right, inciting hate towards American Muslims and Islam became a multimillion-dollar business five years ago. To be exact, a US$206 million-dollar business. To the institute's observation, we add this: what began as American shifts in othering Muslims have now become European as well. France is a leading Muslim "otherer".
It is for this reason US Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Jan Schakowsky led 25 lawmakers in calling for the appointment of a US State Department envoy to combat Islamophobia around the world.
The Middle East Eye, a regional news portal, which sighted the July 20 letter to US State Secretary Antony Blinken, quoted the lawmakers as saying: "It is past time for the US to stand firmly in favour of religious freedom for all, and to give the global problem of Islamophobia the attention and prioritisation it deserves." We agree. Here is why the institute's Islamophobia project and the US lawmakers' demand for a State Department envoy to be appointed to combat global dehumanisation of Muslims are important.
Start with the institute's Islamophobia project. In the US, as the institute has unmasked over the years, anti-Muslim bigotry takes multiple forms. And they span the gamut of legal, political and social landscapes.
The institute's aim is to first document the "multiplicities of Islamophobia" and then seek to counter them. This is a noble aim that other institutes of higher learning must emulate, most certainly those in Europe where dehumanising of Muslims is a staple "diet" of politicians and the media.
The institute's survey of Islamophobia is one such document that records, arguably the first ever to do so, the collective experience of Muslims at the receiving end of anti-Muslim bigotry. The poll findings are a must-read for world leaders and policymakers seeking to create an inclusive society.
Now for the US lawmakers' call for a State Department envoy to combat global anti-Muslim bigotry. True, this isn't a panacea for every anti-Muslim bigotry, but at least the envoy and his office will be able tell the world which are the countries of particular concern and how deadly is anti-Muslim bigotry there.
To use a medical analogy, first the disease then the cure. Better still, prevent the disease from happening. Because no one is free until everyone is.
