Photo: Felton Davis, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Britain’s new Labour government is likely to adopt a definition of Islamophobia “so vague” that it will act as an effective “Islamic blasphemy code,” critics have said.
Commentators warn that the proposals would do “virtually nothing to tackle instances of anti-Muslim hatred,” but would further “impede and restrict freedom of thought and speech.” This would fit in with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer’s clampdown on free speech following the nationwide riots triggered by last month’s Southport stabbing.
Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, also told The European Conservative that “if the authorities start prosecuting people for ‘Islamophobia,’ but not people who blaspheme against Christ, that would be the clearest example of our two-tier criminal justice system we’ve had so far. And there’s a lot of competition.”
Meanwhile, author Douglas Murray has described the West’s inclination to “promote every belief system apart from the one that got us here” as “madness.”
Labour supported the adoption of a definition of Islamophobia while it was in opposition, and accepted it internally in 2019.
The definition states:
Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.
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