Category: Statements

The European Parliament has voted for a complete ban on a range of single-use plastic materials across the union in a bid to stop pollution of the oceans.

Last Wednesday, October 24, It was by an overwhelming majority that the European Parliament adopted the draft directive against marine pollution. The text was approved by 571 votes against 87, including 34 abstentions.
The European Commission proposed a ban in May, pushed by a surge from the public opinion following alarming documentaries such as David Attenborough’s BBC Blue Planet series. Single-use plastics make up 70% of marine pollution, and their impact on wildlife is dramatically worrying. The strategy of this project is part of the European transition towards a circular economy and will also contribute to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals, the global climate commitments and the EU’s industrial policy objectives.

FEMYSO strongly supports this initiative for our Planet and is pleased to see that what started as local initiatives such as our Green Up My Community Campaigns is now a European directive fighting marine pollution.
By analysing the most common litter found across beaches, the EU targeted 10 plastic products widely used by the general public. Six specific products are now banned on the European market, this includes cotton swabs, cutlery, plates, straws, drink-stirrers and balloon sticks. All will now have to be made of sustainable materials. The “polluter-pays” principle is also strengthened to put a harder pressure on manufacturers.

Food containers and plastic cups will unfortunately still be allowed, but states will need to ensure consumption reduce. In this regard, the Parliament has set a goal of 25% less consumption by 2025. Plastic bottles, the main source of marine pollution, also remain authorized but their cap will have to be attached and their collecting will be strengthened.

FEMYSO warmly welcome the adoption of this historical measure and enthusiastically supports all sustainable and eco friendly initiatives from the EU tackling the environment.
Find out more about this adopted project, check the key document from the European Commission *here*

In these troubled times, FEMYSO stands with the Jewish community against the cold hearted, devastating and heinous shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA, US.

The Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO) is deeply saddened to witness that once again hatred is the cause of another atrocity. This attack does not only target the Jewish community but all people fighting for tolerance, freedom and peace.

FEMYSO strongly condemns Anti-Semitism and all forms of hate crime. Such attacks should not be tolerated and we call upon the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. We also call upon entities in the wider political and civil society spectrum to put more effort into tackling this tide of hatred and violence.

We offer our sincere condolences to the families of the victims and our thoughts and prayers are with them during this time of grieving.

When in darkness, one should always remember to turn on the light, so let us be the light today by showing our support to the ones who suffers.

We commend the fundraising campaign organised by CelebrateMercy and MPower Change, where “the Muslim-American community extends its hands to help the shooting victims, whether it is the injured victims or the Jewish families who have lost loved ones” -> https://www.launchgood.com/project/muslims_unite_for_pittsburgh_synagogue#!/

femyso.org

Brussels,
29/10/2018

Public discourses across Europe hammering that Muslims are a problem are currently justifying the adoption of policies, legislation and practices that are putting our core democratic and fundamental rights principles at risk. We shouldn’t fall into the trap of scapegoating Muslims and migrants and blaming them for the EU’s crisis. This will further divide us instead of enabling us to live together in a safe society.

Counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation measures recently adopted in some EU countries have already led to serious human rights violations, including racial profiling by law enforcement authorities, police abuses during raids and the use of administrative restrictions on the basis of vague and discriminatory criteria. In the United Kingdom for instance, surveillance cameras are placed in so-called ‘Muslim areas’ and social workers are required to denounce ‘radical’ behaviour, often defined by strict observance and rarely linked to any criminal offence. As a result, many innocent Muslims are targeted mainly on the basis of their religious practice, with no evidence pointing to their involvement in any criminal act.

These laws and policies ultimately also have a negative impact on the rights of all Europeans, whether it is restricting freedom of expression, increasing surveillance or targeting human rights defenders. As a progressive society, we shouldn’t accept these as collateral damages in the name of security.

They are fuelling a generalised suspicion and marginalisation of Muslims following terrorist attacks and the current migration context in Europe. As are stigmatising and racist discourses, representing Muslims as the “enemy from within” who needs to be controlled and policed, and as threats to “European values” and the “European way of life”, which in practice actually only mean that diversity is not welcome in Europe. Instigating fear and suspicion in the European population’s hearts and minds will only lead to further insecurity and violence, instead of creating resilient and trustful communities that can work together for a better future for all.

Indeed, instead of being able to fully participate in European society, Muslim people’s lives are dictated by a sense of insecurity, injustice and fear of retaliation. In the words of Amar, subjected to a house search in France in 2015 : “It feels like if you display your religion, if you are bearded or wear a religious symbol or dress or if you pray in a particular mosque you can be considered to be “radical” and thus targeted. If you try not to display your religion too much, then they think you are concealing something.” Even children are being criminalised, resulting in traumatic experiences for them. For example, a 5-year-old girl in France was suspected of fasting and brought to hospital by eight armed policemen, although her parents and doctors denied that she was fasting.

Now the European Parliament, instead of putting energy into developing long-term solutions to address the current consequences of the EU’s socio-economic crisis, has gone one step further with the establishment of a closed-door special committee on terrorism. Discussions in this committee further illustrate a tendency to reiterate racist connotations between terrorism and Europe’s Muslim population. There is a strong trend in European and national policies and practices to racially define terrorism and radicalisation by over-focusing on Muslim populations, whilst completely ignoring far-right terrorism and radicalisation for instance. However, this threat is real and has already killed in Europe : far-right attacks targeting Muslims and progressive forces have led to several deaths and uncovered plots, including in France and the United Kingdom.

The ‘escalator’ approach whereby a conservative religious practice would lead to support for violent terrorism is bound to target innocent Muslim individuals and families, fuel suspicion towards any practising Muslims, and to generate violent backlash from the mainstream population. In addition, discriminatory measures are fuelling a sense of insecurity, injustice and defiance toward authorities, making them counter-productive in the long term.

EU decision makers need to get serious about tackling Islamophobia, which has become a major society issue impacting all of us. They should focus on treating Muslims as human beings with equal rights who are concerned, just like everyone else, about having a decent life and ensuring they and their families are safe, instead of trying to score political points ahead of the EU elections by pandering to racism.

Signed by : 
European Network Against Racism
Collective Against Islamophobia and Discrimination CTID (Netherlands)
Euro-Mediterranean Center Migration & Development – EMCEMO (Netherlands)
Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO)
Farid Hafez, political scientist, editor of the European Islamophobia Report, University of Salzburg

This article was originally published on EUObserver on 21 September 2018.

The Eureopean Network Against Racism (ENAR) together with 20 other organisations wrote an open letter to First Vice-President Timmermans, Commissioner Jourová, Director-General Tina Astola with important recommendations to ensure the European Commission Coordinator on anti-Muslim hatred has a clear mandate and sufficient resources.

Dear First Vice-President Timmermans,
Dear Commissioner Jourová, 
Dear Director-General Tina Astola,

On behalf of the signatories part of an informal European coalition against Islamophobia, a platform of anti-racist/human rights/faith-based NGOs combatting anti-Muslim racism and hatred, we are writing to ask the European Commission to provide its Coordinator on anti-Muslim hatred with a clear human rights-based mandate and meaningful resources. The European Commission’s decision to appoint a new coordinator is an opportunity to make this happen.

In December 2015, following the first ever European Commission Fundamental Rights Colloquium, we welcomed the appointment of a European Commission Coordinator on combating anti-Muslim hatred. This was a strong and concrete commitment to tackle increasing racism against Muslim people in Europe. The coordinator took some steps to increase the relationship with NGOs and the recognition of anti-Muslim hatred. Two years after the coordinator’s appointment, this political commitment must now lead to a shift in strategic approach and to tangible actions, which have been lacking so far.

As expressed on several occasions by the coalition, the mandate and the approach of the coordinator has serious gaps to tackle the issue effectively, to ensure meaningful participation of Muslim communities and anti-racism NGOs, and to develop policies to combat Islamophobia. The appointment of one dedicated person does not replace strong political will, actions and effective policies.

Inadequate human and financial resources, expertise, objectives and evaluation processes partly explain disappointing results to date. The lack of transparency concerning meetings with national governments, the failure to organise a meeting between NGOs and Commissioners, the framing of anti-Muslim hatred as a religious issue instead of a human rights one, the absence of European Commission representatives at several events on Muslim women’s rights and the engagement of the coordinator with very questionable figures fuelling Islamophobia, are among the most problematic illustrations of these systematic gaps.

In addition, the coordinator has conflated the fight against Islamophobia, anti-blasphemy laws, Islamism and counter-terrorism in a number of social media posts and declarations. In a context of generalised suspicion of Muslims, EU policy makers advancing equality and non-discrimination must see Muslims as human beings who enjoy fundamental rights as any other person. The fight against Islamophobia is about politically addressing structural forms of discrimination and racism affecting Muslims or those perceived as such.

If the European Commission is serious about upholding European core values of equality and non-discrimination, it needs to make important strategic changes and concrete actions including :

● Profile of the coordinator. Ensure that the coordinator is appointed based on relevant skills and competences in order to work meaningfully on the issue of Islamophobia as a form of racism. This will also facilitate the relationship and trust with NGOs who have extensive knowledge about the issue and its manifestations. It would be desirable to appoint a coordinator from the affected communities.

● Clear mandate. Clarify what the role of the coordinator entails in terms of representation, official communication and actions that can be undertaken, also defining the remit of issues to be covered.

● Communication and consultation process. Transparency is key to build trust with civil society organisations who are on the ground in direct relation with communities. Communication and consultation processes need to be clarified to ensure meaningful participation of civil society.

● Concrete objectives and action plan. The role of the coordinator cannot only be about listening and bringing issues to the political level without any accountability. The coordinator needs to set concrete objectives to achieve during their mandate and work on an action plan with evaluation processes.

Finally, we officially request a meeting with First Vice President Frans Timmermans and Commissioner Věra Jourová to discuss the above-mentioned recommendations. This is a necessary signal at a time when parties using blatant islamophobic rhetoric have come to power.

Yours sincerely,

Signatories :

European organisations
1. European Forum of Muslim Women (EFOMW)
2. European Muslim Initiative for Social Inclusion (EMISCO)
3. European Network against Racism (ENAR)
4. European Network on Religion and Belief (ENORB)
5. Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO)

National organisations
6. Alliance of Inclusive Muslims (AIM)
7. Anti-Racist Forum, Finland (ARF)
8. CAGE, UK
9. Center for Danish Muslim Relations, Denmark (CEDAR)
10. Collective against Islamophobia and Discrimination, The Netherlands (CTID)
11. Collective against Islamophobia in Belgium (CCIB)
12. Collective against Islamophobia in France, France (CCIF)
13. Coordination Contre le Racisme et l’Islamophobie, France (CRI)
14. Etudiants Musulmans de France, France (EMF)
15. Euro-Mediterranean Center Migration & Development, The Netherlands (Emcemo)
16. Justice & Liberties For All Committee, France (CJL)
17. Muslim Council of Britain, UK (MCB)
18. Muslim Human Rights Committee, Sweden (MHRC)
19. Muslims for Progressive Values, the Netherlands (MPV Nederland)
20. RADAR/Art.1, The Netherlands
21. Farid Hafez, editor of the Islamophobia Studies Yearbook and co-editor of the European Islamophobia Report and Salzburg University

Dear President Tajani,

On behalf of the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO), we write to express our deep concern regarding MEP Marcel de Graaff’s speech in Plenary on behalf of the ENF group on March 14th, resulting in hate speech and incitement to hate which fueled xenophobic and anti Muslim hatred. He claimed that the inclusion of Muslims is a dangerous threat to Europe as he accused Muslims of systematically “launching Europe back to the Middle Ages” by stating that the religion of Islam is the definition of inequality, polygamy, child marriage, slavery and honor killings. All his speech is rooted in Islamophobic rhetoric and incitement to hatred towards refugees and Muslims.

Over the past two decades the European Union has given more attention to the promotion and protection of fundamental rights, and the rhetoric of Mr. De Graaff’s speech blatantly shows that he does not share the European Union’s core values of democracy, solidarity, equality, human rights, respect for fundamental rights and the rule of law. This occurrence is not an isolated case, and therefore it calls to step up the political will to recognise and to condemn political hate speech and political incitement to hatred, especially when done by an MEP.

Addressing Islamophobia is an important part of increasing the trust and confidence of European Muslims in their own local and national institutions: the police; the local authorities; the rule of law and legal framework; and all those whose job it is to protect them and keep them safe as citizens. Apart from EU non-discrimination legislation, broader human rights policies are also needed to ensure the protection and respect of human rights within the EU.

We urge you, President Tajani, to support appropriate dispensary measures from the Parliament’s rule of procedure against MEP De Graaff for the hate speech and incitement to hatred targeting refugees and Muslims. And to take urgent action against this growing political hate speech and incitement to hatred that are damaging to the values of the European Union, of solidarity, equality and unity.

FEMYSO was founded in 1996 and has grown into a wide network of 35 youth and student organisation across 24 European countries, all working to benefit their wider communities and societies, and serve mankind.

The FEMYSO vision for European Muslim youth is proactivity, ethical living and service to humanity. We have trained thousands of young Muslims, contributed to the emergence of a strong confident identity of young European Muslims, and built strong partnerships with organisations across society, Muslim and non-Muslim, all motivated by a commitment to live by our European principles and build a more diverse, cohesive, and vibrant Europe.

Sincerely yours,

Youssef Himmat
FEMYSO President

Brussels, March 16th 2018

Background

The European Commission published its White Paper on The Future of Europe – the Commission’s contribution to a new chapter of the European project – on 1 March 2017. The White Paper mapped out the challenges and opportunities ahead of us and the key drivers of change that need to be addressed in order to consolidate Europe as a common project.

In his State of the Union speech on 13 September 2017, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker outlined his vision for the future, to ensure the well-being and security of European citizens in an inclusive Union and in an increasingly multipolar world. At the December 2017, European Council first conclusions will help to decide on course of action to be rolled out in time for the EP elections in June 2019.

A broad debate across the continent, including the European Parliament, national Parliaments, local and regional authorities followed the publication of the White Paper. It has also seen the participation of 270, 000 citizens who attended 1,750 events across Europe, supported by the Commission.

The “Engaging Muslim Young People” event, hosted by Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans and European Parliament First Vice-President Mairead McGuinness was an opportunity to listen to the ideas and concerns of young Muslims from across the continent as Europe navigates its path and maps out its future. 28 Muslim students and activists in 17 Member States attended the event which was structured around 3 workshops.

Below are the 10 key issues raised by the participants, each followed by proposals for action to be taken by the European Union and its Member States.

Key issues raised and proposals for action

Workshop I – The Social Dimension of Europe

1. Corporate Taxation

Considering that Europe’s social security systems represent the bedrock of Europe’s cohesive and prosperous societies, the EU and its Member States must put an end to aggressive tax planning and tax avoidance by certain corporations in line with the Commission’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Package of 28 January 2016.

• Ensure that tax is paid by companies where profit and value is generated;
• Ensure effective access to tax information between Member States.

2. Education

In too many countries, teachers are still badly paid in relation to the fundamental role they have in today’s society. Furthermore, school curricula do not reflect the diversity of European history and its current society.

• Encourage Member States to increase investment in their education systems, including with regard to teachers’ wages, especially those working in primary and secondary education;
• Include Muslim heritage and history in education curricula, particularly in the field of history of science, in order to build a more accurate and representative collective memory.

3. Social inclusion

While integration is often presented as a two-way process, integration strategies rarely promote migrants’ meaningful participation. Furthermore, urban design in several cities has exacerbated social segregation.

• Conceive integration policies as a two-way process, requiring active engagement from governments’ side;
• Implement policies and legislation to counter blatant segregation and gentrification in cities;
• Call on Member States to increase investment in social assistance and social policies;
• Adapt taxation systems in such a way to relieve the worst and less well off;
• Support business incubators in order to cultivate investors and citizens who have innovative ideas.

4. Discrimination and racism

Structural discrimination and racism still exist in various Member States in various areas of life, including in education and employment. The situation of veiled Muslim women in the workplace is of particular concern following the CJEU judgment issued in Case C-157/15 Achbita of March 2017[1].

• Adopt legislation and policies to address the adverse impacts of the CJEU’s ruling on persons who wear visible religious clothing at the workplace;
• Encourage the use of anonymous job and internship applications;
• Take measures to increase the recognition of degrees held by third-country migrants.

Workshop II – Harnessing Globalisation

5. The EU’s external relations with Muslim-majority countries

There is no significant control of companies based in EU Member States selling arms and weaponry to regimes in Muslim-majority countries. This state of affairs is particularly serious in the MENA region from where the majority of the refugees fleeing to Europe come.

• Implement binding legislation, preferably regulations, on arms embargos on European companies selling and exporting weaponry to countries in the MENA region. Recommendations on such matters are insufficient.

6. The European Commission’s Diversity Strategy

While the European Commission is a global player and aspires to lead the way in diversity, its own internal personnel Diversity Strategy which aims to reflect the diversity of our society does not specifically address racial, ethnic and religious grounds as grounds worthy of focus alongside gender and disability.

• Amend this strategy to include racial, ethnic and religious grounds as grounds worthy of focus;
• Develop specific measures to ensure that all EU institutions become more diverse workplaces.

Workshop III- Muslims in Europe

7. Data collection

Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA on racist and xenophobic hate crime and hate speech  falls short of providing detailed indications on how law enforcement and judicial authorities should investigate and prosecute hate crimes.

• Continue to support and encourage Member States to ensure that bias is properly investigated and prosecuted in cases of anti-Muslim hate crime and to collect and disaggregate hate crime data to include anti-Muslim hate crime.

 

8. Stigmatising speech in the media and politics

While recognising that the EU’s red line on free speech is ‘incitement to hatred or violence’ against groups or individual members of such groups, certain political discourse severely stigmatises Muslims, going as far as to question their status as EU citizens and to depict them as a threat.

• Openly counter and condemn stigmatising speech by politicians against Muslims when this occurs, thereby demonstrating the EU’s strong leadership and consistency with regard to stigmatising speech and hate speech;
• Adopt guidelines addressed to the audio-visual media watchdogs in each Member State in order to provide a comprehensive and pedagogical approach to media outlets in relation to issues related to Muslims.

 

9. Rhetoric surrounding certain counter-terrorism measures

The rhetoric surrounding certain counter-terrorism policies and certain measures themselves have had the effect of stigmatising and generalising Muslims.

• Ensure that actions falling under the “Prevention” pillar of the European Union Counter-Terrorism Strategy and actions taken by national governments in the framework of counter-terrorism or state of emergency do not infringe on fundamental human rights and do not directly or indirectly alienate Muslims from their society by framing them as potential terrorists;
• Implement police guidelines against discriminatory practices, in particular ethnic profiling;
• Widen the scope of de-radicalisation and counter-terrorism measures and the accompanying discourse to apply across the political spectrum including far-right extremism, which is often fuelled by leaders and members of far-right political parties.

10. The non-recognition of Islamophobia

While several governments and indeed, the European Commission employ the term “anti-Muslim hatred“, various Muslim organisations and NGOs support the use of the term “Islamophobia“[2]. The non-recognition and lack of understanding of Islamophobia is detrimental to countering its impact.

• Officially recognise Islamophobia as a specific form of racism, which is structural and affects visible Muslim women disproportionately;
• Raise awareness about Islamophobia by means of legislation and awareness campaigns;
• Adopt national plans against racism which address Islamophobia as a specific form of racism.

[1]       The CJEU held that an internal rule of an undertaking which prohibits the visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious signs does not constitute direct discrimination under the Employment Equality Directive 2000/78/EC.  Muslim organisations have denounced the negative impact of this ruling on veiled Muslim women’s access to the job market. Other human rights defense organisations such as Amnesty International expressed their “disappointment” regarding the ruling and declared that it gives “greater leeway to employers to discriminate against women – and men – on the grounds of religious belief.”
Source: https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2017/03/eu-ecj-rules-no-violation-in-dismissal-of-women-for-wearing-headscarves-at-work/

[2]       A commonly held definition employed by these NGOs and organisations defines Islamophobia as “Acts of violence and discrimination, as well as racist speech, fuelled by historical abuses and negative stereotyping which leads to exclusion and dehumanisation of Muslims, and all those perceived as such. Islamophobia has nothing to do with criticism of Islam”.

FEMYSO condemns in the strongest possible terms the murder of three Roma sisters aged four, eight and 20, who died in a fire after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at their camper van on the outskirts of Rome, Italy early Wednesday morning. Such attack is as a heinous crime that is calling for an unbiased police investigation, and we’ll not rest until the perpetrators are brought to justice regardless their origin.

We would like to express deep condolences to the family and surviving children.

We appeal to the media and politicians to keep sensitivity in their coverage and in political responses to make sure they don’t fuel already existing antigypsyism in the society.

We repeat our call to the Italian municipal authorities, the Italian government and the European Commission to ensure that Roma families in Italy have a chance for equal citizenship and being offered decent housing conditions and facilities where their children grow up in a secure environment and can invest in a better future.

***

FEMYSO joins the open letter of Graziano Halilovic that you can find here:Graziano Halilovic- an open letter.

The European Network against Racism (ENAR), Open Society Justice Initiative and the European Parliament Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup (ARDI) are calling on the European Union to address the urgent challenge of ethnic profiling by police forces across Europe—which leads to individuals being singled out for identity checks or searches purely because of their race, ethnicity or perceived religion.

In the United Kingdom, Black people are stopped by police at six times the rate of White people and Asians at almost twice the rate of Whites. In Granada, Spain, Roma are 12 times more likely to be stopped than White people. In Belgium, there has been an increase in ethnic profiling by police of young males of African or north African background since the Brussels and Paris terrorist attacks.

These organisations are urging the European Commission led High Level Group on combating Racism, Xenophobia and other forms of Intolerance to establish a sub-group of experts on the issue, aimed at developing standards on combatting racial and ethnic bias in policing. These standards should include strong prohibitions against ethnic profiling, the collection of data on police stops, and the provision of appropriate training for police officers.

“Heightened concerns over both migration and the threat of terrorism are fueling discriminatory policing practices,” said Rebekah Delsol, who heads the Justice Initiative’s project on fair and effective policing. “Action at EU level would provide an impetus for change in many settings; changes that are already valued on the streets by those police forces that recognise the importance of this issue.”

Amel Yacef, ENAR Chair, said: “Ethnic profiling cannot be an ‘acceptable’ price to pay for security. It damages and alienates innocent individuals, results in tensions between communities and is ultimately an ineffective security strategy. We need European standards to promote fair and effective policing.”

“Ethnic profiling on the basis of ethnicity, race, nationality or religion is a discriminatory practice and is a breach of fundamental rights standards,” said Judith Sargentini MEP. “You cannot single out people and the practice must be stopped. Moreover singling people out based on their ethnicity, race, nationality or religion has a counter effect and often erodes trust in our society and trust in law enforcement agencies.”

Though increasingly active in the areas of justice and home affairs, the European Union has so far been reluctant to address the issue of ethnic profiling, claiming it is a national competence. However, national standards on the issue vary wildly: with the exception of police forces in England and Wales, and in some municipalities in Spain, most European member states do not keep records of police stops that do not lead to an arrest. This is also an issue for ethnic and religious minorities when they face intrusive stops, ID checks and searches when they cross internal EU borders.

A number of existing EU norms already outlaw racial discrimination, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Framework Decision Against Racism and Xenophobia, and the Race Equality Directive. Developing EU-wide guidelines on ethnic profiling would ensure these norms are implemented in practice.

Background information:
Police, human rights officials and the European Commission will join civil society activists and members of the European Parliament in Brussels today for discussions on developing EU-wide standards on combating ethnic profiling. The event is being hosted by Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA, NL) Cécile Kyenge (S&D, IT), Afzal Khan (S&D, UK) and Sajjad Karim (ECR, UK). For more information: http://www.enar-eu.org/Round-table-on-ethnic-profiling-towards-EU-guidel…

FEMYSO

In December 2015, Donald Trump issued a statement that called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” A few months earlier, he called Latino immigrants drug dealers, criminals and rapists. During his campaign for presidency, Trump has made several other bigoted and misogynistic remarks that have alienated many. The Islamophobic, racist, xenophobic and misogynistic rhetoric adopted by Trump throughout his campaign has had a negative impact on minorities and women not just in the US, but also globally.

An NBC poll conducted in December 2015 for example, showed that one in four Americans supported Trump’s ban on Muslims entering the United States. In March 2016, more than half of the American population supported this idea. This is echoed amongst the younger generation too, as seen in a report issued in April 2016 which stated that Trump’s campaign was having a ‘profoundly negative effect on children and classrooms’ producing fear and anxiety among children of colour and intensifying racial tensions in the classroom. Teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of candidates on the campaign trail.

The US presidential election this year has proven to be a difficult one, and has had a negative impact on many minority groups, also resulting in repercussion for those in Europe. The results from the European Referendum in the UK caused a ‘horrible spike’ in hate crime according to the Met Police, particularly targeting those of Eastern European backgrounds. A survey by Tell MAMA, a project that measures anti-Muslim hate, found a 326% rise in incidents post-Brexit including a situation where a woman’s hijab was pulled off in a busy London street.The normalisation of racial language and abuse may be something that will continue in the rest of Europe and become more deep-rooted as we see the possibility of far-right leaders such as Marine Le Pen and Norbert Hofer feel empowered by a Republican win and may create opportunities to make minorities more vulnerable.

In an uncertain time, we must emphasize how imperative it is to stand together, united. We may not know what the future holds, but we can probably expect one thing; the situation for many minority groups in society will become worse as young Muslim women consider taking off the hijab for their own safety.For us, the European Muslim youth and all who believe in fighting against racism and bigotry in every sense and believe in standing up for humanity, it is important to unite in solidarity. We cannot sit back and allow hate crimes to increase and for individuals to feel like they are in danger in their own country. We have to at least speak up and follow the heritage of our Prophet (pbuh), who taught us to stand up against all types of injustice. We need glimpses of hope and not greater powerlessness and hopelessness caused by racist beliefs and discriminatory structures. Let’s not build walls, instead, let’s build bridges. Let’s make it possible to live in an open society with equality, justice and peace. It may be difficult to rise up to the challenge in the current climate, but we have no other choice than to be resilient.