A recent study found that people who read the news, whether liberal or conservative, are more likely to feel angry towards Muslims.

Although negative attitudes towards non-Christian religions have existed in the west for centuries, recent years have seen an undeniable increase in the unsettling trend towards a distinct distrust of Islam.

Whether it’s France banning the burkini, UKIP proposing a ban on veils, or President Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric, Islamophobia is becoming more accepted and, frighteningly, more mainstream. Once prejudice is created, it is difficult to destroy and the ramifications of this current distrust have real-world consequences for Muslims, with people encountering prejudice in their daily routines, at the workplace and even in their children’s schools.

Our panel brings together event chair Peter Morey, lecturer in French and European Politics, Jim Wolfreys, Franco-British broadcaster, Myriam Francois, and International Relations expert, Dibyesh Anand, to discuss the current global trend of Islamophobia, the role played by governments and media and its political and personal ramifications for Muslims.

About The Speakers

Dibyesh Anand

Professor Dibyesh Anand. Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster. He is the author of monographs “Geopolitical Exotica: Tibet in Western Imagination” and “Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear”.

 

Myriam Francois

Myriam Francois is a writer, broadcaster and academic with a focus on current affairs.  Her writing has been featured in the Guardian, CNN, the New Arab, Jadaliyya, ABC, etc.  She is the presenter of two BBC One documentaries, The Muslim Pound and A Deadly Warning: Srebrenica Revisited.

Jim Wolfreys

Jim Wolfreys lectures in French and European politics at King’s College London. He is co-author (with Peter Fysh) of The Politics of Racism in France. 

About The Chair

Peter Morey

Peter Morey is Professor of English and Postcolonial Studies in the School of Arts and Digital Industries at the University of East London. He specialises in colonial and postcolonial literature, culture and theory, and has a special interest in issues of race, nation and diaspora with particular reference to South Asian writing. Peter’s publications have also focused on the debate around Muslims, and their affiliations in the era of the War on Terror, has been the main focus of his recent work.