Anti-racism march in London. Flickr/The Weekly Bull. Some rights reserved.
We recently held an international conference at the University of Bath bringing together over a hundred delegates to think about how we can research and respond to contemporary conflict and 'terrorism'. We've had a number of responses to the conference, mostly positive (see #iprunderstandingconflict). Several responses and comments, however, have suggested a certain confusion about one of the major themes: Islamophobia. In this article we address some of the issues raised, concentrating on the facts and on what we think are the substantive issues at stake, and in doing so focus in particular on an opinion piece written by the communications officer of the National Secular Society, Benjamin Jones.
On the basis of a single slide from one of more than 90 conference presentations, Jones informs his readers that, 'Much of the conference was devoted to... the demonization of ex-Muslims as "McCarthyites".' Impressed as we are with Jones's confident pronouncement on a conference he did not attend, we think that as the organisers we can speak with more authority. So let us set the record straight. Discussion of 'ex-Muslims', barely featured at the conference at all, save for a passing remark by Professor Deepa Kumar in her keynote address on the 'Matrix of Islamophobia'. One of the slides from that presentation, which seems to be the sole basis for Jones's claims, and similarly overwrought claims made on social media, had nothing to do with non-devout Muslims, or atheists from Muslim backgrounds. Rather the term 'ex-Muslims' was used by Professor Kumar to designate particular individuals and organisations operating in a broader network of Islamophobic groups (particular reference was made to the US group, Former Muslims United).
