The Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism (FAIR) was a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

advocacy Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...

and

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

group which campaigns against

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

in the form of

Islamophobia Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

.T. Modood in: Spencer (2003) p. 106 It was established in 2001 as an independent

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

with the aim of monitoring media coverage of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and Muslims, and challenging examples of Islamophobia through dialogue with media organizations. It produced numerous publications relating to Islamophobia in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Formed in 2000, Navid Akhtar and Samar Mashadi have been directors of FAIR.

Aims and activities

According to the group's mission statement, it was set up "for the purpose of raising awareness of and combating Islamophobia and racism, monitoring specific incidents of Islamophobia and racism, working towards eliminating religious and racial discrimination, campaigning and lobbying on issues relevant to Muslim and other multi-ethnic communities in Britain." FAIR was active in campaigning for passing of the

Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (c. 1) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which creates an offence in England and Wales of inciting hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion. The Act was the Labour Governm ...

which outlawed the incitement towards religious hatred in Britain. They issued a

memorandum A memorandum (: memorandums or memoranda; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered"), also known as a briefing note, is a Writing, written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviation, ...

in 2002 entitled "''The Religious Offences Bill: A Response''" to the

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Select Committee in which they raised a number of publications by the far-right

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...

inciting hatred against Islam and the Muslim community in Britain, stating that this exposed a loophole in British law wherein some communities were protected from incitement to hatred whilst others were not. In 2003, FAIR reported 29 incidents of assault or attacks against Muslims for that year, though they believe many went unreported. This included attacks on Muslim women and people wearing traditional Muslim clothes, as well as vandalism of

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s and Islamic centers. Also reported were desecration of Muslim graves. In 2004, the FAIR carried out a survey in association with the Muslim College and the Al-Khoei Foundation which found that since the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, 80 percent of Muslims surveyed reported being subjected to Islamophobia; 68 percent believed they had been treated and perceived differently; and 32 percent reported being discriminated against at airports in the United Kingdom. FAIR have also co-organised events and demonstrations alongside the

Muslim Council of Britain The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is an umbrella body of Muslim organisations in the United Kingdom, with over 500 affiliated mosques and organisations. It was formed in 1994 in response to British government's expressed wish for a single r ...

(MCB) and the National Assembly of Black People. FAIR was dissolved on May 24, 2016.

Publications

* ''Counter-Terrorism Powers: Reconciling Security and Liberty in an Open Society: Discussion Paper- A Muslim Response''. (2004), London * ''A Response to the Government Consultation Paper, 'Towards Equality and Diversity: Implementing the Employment and Race Directives. (2002) London.

Notes

References

* * * * *{{cite book , last=Spencer , first=S. , title=The Politics of Migration: Managing Opportunity, Conflict and Change , year=2003 , publisher=Blackwell Publishing , isbn=1405116358 , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofmigrat0000unse

External links

Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism
(fairuk.org) official website. Opposition to Islamophobia Advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Civil rights organisations in the United Kingdom Islamic organisations based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2001 Anti-racist organisations in the United Kingdom Muslim anti-racism