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Over the summer, we have witnessed the rise of Islamic State capture both our international anders-fist-2_2194376b headlines and our online social media streams.In their attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate, the militant groups stronghold has posed a threat to livelihoods in the Middle East and to the international community who have expressed opposition to their extremist ambitions.
Although military action is not necessarily something one should commit to lightly, in the desperate face of ISIS’s aggression, many countries have felt it necessary to combat the increasing terrorist threat and act to resolve the subsequent humanitarian crisis.

The reality of the situation is severe, and the direct and indirect effects of ISIS’ crimes are widespread. One such indirect adverse effect may have to do with something that hits closer to home. In light of recent events, islamophobia is ripe not only in the UK but all over the western world. A growing trend over several years, it is something which is often seemingly brushed away with a feeling that islamophobia is not so much a physical danger, as a political one. However, right wing extremist groups have experienced a rise over the last years, and have been involved in violent attacks and terror, not least in Norway where Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people who where directly or indirectly involved with the then government Labour party. The reasoning behind this terror action can in many ways be summed up by islamophobia: Breivik held ambitions to eradicate all those who politically accepted immigration and muslims living in Norway.

Now, the court case of the 2011 attacks in Norway were in many ways based around questions about the mental capacity of the attacker. In the end, the court accepted that he was criminally sane. However, the fact that the courts were more preoccupied by the mental capacity of the terrorist rather than his ideology and own reasoning behind it is in many ways frightening. Do we take the threat of right wing extremists seriously enough?

The extreme ideology of ISIS is something we should, and do, take seriously. It is however perhaps time we take a look at the adverse effects ISIS is having on islamophobia closer to home. In the UK, several right wing groups are gathering support, and some are acting up in a violent manner. Now, although these groups in no way can be said to pose the same threats to safety for a large number of people as ISIS does, it is nevertheless important to keep them in mind and to investigate these groups further. Amongst them may be an individual willing to go the extra mile for their ideology.

Examples of such aspirations are already surfacing, and have been for some time. People that decide to take it into their own hands and do something. Unsurprisingly, this adds up to the vast amount of hate crime we see around the country. As the BBC reported yesterday, hate crimes have risen by 65% in London alone this year. Although much of it is not organised, and certain right wing groups officially distance themselves from violence, the people that act violently against muslims and supporters often have connections to such groups. For example the English Defence Leage’s protest chant of ‘Not racist, not violent, just no longer silent’ stand in stark contrast with some their supporters in the past violently attacking muslims. The islamophobic rhetoric of the EDL and even political parties such as the BNP can, even if officially non-violent, inadvertently influence some of their supporters to take the next step and become extremists in their own right. The risk is there that we will see more and more violence, even terror, both from islamic extremists but also from right wing extremists in the future.

We are very ready to act in the face of what we see as the global injustices committed by the Islamic state, and rightly so. It becomes more and more transparent though that we have perhaps overlooked quite an important effect of their actions, ignoring the homegrown threat of rising islamophobia back home.

Author

  • Ingvild Lockert

    Second year on Bsc Government and Economics at LSE. Norwegian bred, with a pinch of life spent in France and now London, UK. Most passionate about the political debate and long-time member of the Labour Party.

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