tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/finsbury-park-attack-39851/articlesFinsbury Park attack – The Conversation2017-06-21T10:31:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/797972017-06-21T10:31:24Z2017-06-21T10:31:24ZWhy media reporting of Finsbury Park attack differs from that of other incidents<p>Since the attack on Muslim worshippers near the Finsbury Park mosque in the early hours of June 20, in which 11 people were injured and one man died, there has been criticism of the way the incident has been covered by the media. In a statement, Finsbury Park mosque <a href="https://www.finsburyparkmosque.org/news/statement-on-terrorist-attack-on-muslims-leaving-mosques-in-north-london/">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are extremely unhappy with the mainstream media not reporting this as a terrorist attack, whereas they are very swift in describing attacks involving individuals professing to be Muslims and acting in the name of Islam. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet the difference in coverage identified by the mosque and <a href="https://twitter.com/ceryschurchyard/status/876684518077476864">others</a> in the immediate aftermath of the attack is likely to be because – unlike recent terrorist incidents at <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39355108">Westminster</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-40008389">Manchester</a> and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/03/london-bridge-everything-know-far/">London Bridge</a> – reporting of the Finsbury Park incident is governed by the Contempt of Court Act 1981. In this case, the suspect, who was held by members of the public at the scene until the police arrived and arrested him for terrorism offences, is alive and in police custody. </p>
<h2>Contempt of court</h2>
<p>The Contempt of Court Act attempts to protect the fairness and integrity of criminal and civil (non-criminal) trials. Under the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/49/section/2">Act</a>, a contempt occurs where a publication creates a “substantial risk that the course of justice in [a trial] will be seriously impeded or prejudiced”. A contempt may be committed whether or not there was an intention to create the risk to justice.</p>
<p>However, a contempt under the Act may only occur if proceedings are active. Criminal cases become active when there is an arrest without warrant, a warrant is issued for an arrest, a summons is issued, or an individual is charged, orally, with an offence. </p>
<p>This explains at least some of the difference between the reporting of the Finsbury Park incident and the earlier terrorist attacks. In the earlier incidents, the attackers died during the attack – negating the possibility of them being tried and of any trial being prejudiced by reporting. </p>
<p>With the Finsbury Park incident, there has been an arrest, which means proceedings have become active, and the restrictions on reporting required by the Contempt of Court Act apply to protect the fairness of any resultant trial. In short, because the van driver in the Finsbury Park incident may stand trial, the media must be careful not to state as fact something that might be the subject of the trial. </p>
<p>That is not to say that there has to be a trial in order for there to be a contempt of court. As long as proceedings become active and a publication creates a substantial risk that a possible trial will be seriously prejudiced or impeded, there will be a contempt, even if there is no trial. </p>
<p>This occurred in the case of Christopher Jefferies, who was arrested on suspicion of the murder of architect Joanna Yeates in December 2010. Jefferies was innocent and released without charge and another man was later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/oct/28/joanna-yeates-murder-vincent-tabak">convicted</a> of the murder. The reporting about Jefferies after his arrest was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jul/29/sun-daily-mirror-guilty-contempt">held</a> to amount to a contempt of court because it created a substantial risk of prejudicing any possible proceedings even though Jefferies never stood trial.</p>
<p>The Contempt of Court Act applies to any publication, not just the mainstream media. So those using social media to comment on a live criminal or civil case may be found to have committed contempt if their message creates a substantial risk of serious prejudice or impediment.</p>
<h2>What is allowed</h2>
<p>The Act does not, however, prevent all published discussion about a live trial. It <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/49/section/4">permits</a> a “fair and accurate report of legal proceedings held in public, published contemporaneously and in good faith”. This allows for daily media reports of a proceedings at a public trial, so long as they are fair and accurate. In fact, such reporting is one of the guarantees of a fair trial because it means that legal decisions are not hidden from public view. </p>
<p>The Act also <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/49/section/5">states</a> that a publication which discusses, in good faith, public affairs or matters of public interest will not be in contempt if the risk to the trial is merely incidental to that discussion. This permits discussion of matters of public interest – which may also have relevance for a live trial – but where the particular trial is not a central feature of the discussion. So, for example, a newspaper article that discussed the types of evidence that should be permitted in rape trials in a balanced and measured way would not amount to a contempt of court, even if it were published during a trial where such questions were an issue.</p>
<p>The Contempt of Court Act attempts to find the right balance between freedom of expression – by permitting discussion of matters of public interest and reporting of public proceedings – and protecting the fairness of trials. Those following reporting of the Finsbury Park attack, and any subsequent trial, should bear this in mind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John McGarry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When an investigation is active, the press are subject to legal reporting restrictions.John McGarry, Reader in Law, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/797702017-06-20T23:28:20Z2017-06-20T23:28:20ZBritain must address the pervasive ‘white noise’ against Muslims<p>On hearing the news that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/finsbury-park-attack-suspect-named-as-cardiff-resident-darren-osborne">Darren Osborne</a> was arrested for terror offences including attempted murder following an attack on a group of Muslims near the Finsbury Park Mosque, it would have been easy to jump to the conclusion that the act was motivated by far-right ideologies.</p>
<p>But, while it would appear Osborne <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/finsbury-park-attack-suspect-named-as-cardiff-resident-darren-osborne">followed</a> both Paul Golding and Jayda Francis – two leaders of the far-right group <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-923X.12118/abstract">Britain First</a> – on Twitter, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/finsbury-park-attack-suspect-named-as-cardiff-resident-darren-osborne">officials said the suspect had no concrete links</a> with any far-right group nor was he <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/london-mosque-attack-finsbury-park-suspect-was-not-known-to-security-services-a3568271.html">known to the security services</a>. The investigation will now turn to what motivated the attack, which has rightly been described as terrorism. </p>
<h2>The night out test</h2>
<p>For almost two decades, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1520857373/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_14?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE">my research</a> has shown how anti-Muslim views have become increasingly unquestioned and accepted in both the public and political discourse. In this respect, despite being roundly criticised by the right-wing press, Sayeeda Warsi, former co-chair of the Conservative party, was right when she said in 2011 that Islamophobia had passed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jan/20/lady-warsi-islamophobia-muslims-prejudice">the dinner table test</a>. </p>
<p>I would go further and say that it had in fact passed the playground test, the workplace test, and the night out test. This is because those in positions of influence have historically been far too lenient in allowing things to be said about Muslims that they would not have tolerated were they said about others. </p>
<p>This “white noise” about Muslims and Islam was allowed to form a seedbed from which much of today’s Islamophobic discussion and rhetoric subsequently emerged. It has become the norm. In an overwhelmingly negative and dangerously stereotypical way, Muslims and Islam have routinely and repeatedly been positioned as the undeniable “other” to who we were, what we stood for, how we lived our lives, and what we held dear in terms of our values. In essence, Islamophobic notions and expressions were seen to “make sense” in Britain.</p>
<h2>Far-right airtime</h2>
<p>There can be little doubt that one of the main contributors to this “white noise” has been far-right groups such as the English Defence League (EDL) and Britain First. Without any constraints being placed on them, they were only allowed to become ever more confrontational and aggressive towards Muslims and mosques. The mainstream media gave them a platform from which to voice their explicit and divisive message about Muslims and Islam. </p>
<p>The day after the Finsbury Park attack, the former leader of the EDL, Tommy Robinson, was invited onto ITV’s <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/20/stirring-hatred-piers-morgan-rows-edl-leader-tommy-robinson/">Good Morning Britain</a>. While the show’s host, Piers Morgan, rightly chastised Robinson for the bigoted views he expressed, there can be no doubt that he was invited on to do exactly that. His track record shows that objectivity and sensitivity are not two of his better known qualities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqwTegQh5m4">Robinson had posted a video</a> online shortly after the recent terror attacks in London and Manchester stating that “if we don’t get this issue dealt with, the British public will,” before adding: “They [the white British] will end up taking matters into their own hands”. </p>
<p>After the Finsbury Park Mosque attack, Robinson <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/19/former-edl-leader-tommy-robinson-condemned-finsbury-park-mosque/">said</a> it was one of “revenge”, a point reiterated by the leader of the South Wales National Front, Adam Lloyd. While denying any links to the suspect, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/finsbury-park-attack-suspect-named-as-cardiff-resident-darren-osborne">Lloyd said</a>: “Anyone with a right mind can see this is not a terrorist attack but a revenge attack.” </p>
<p>By stating that the attack was an act of revenge, both are suggesting that the attack was justified in that it was carrid out in return for the violence committed by Muslims. Not some Muslims, but all Muslims without differentiation: the core tenet of Islamophobia is clearly evident.</p>
<h2>A change in tone</h2>
<p>Following the Finsbury Park attack, Theresa May, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/finsbury-park-mosque-attack-latest-theresa-may-full-speech-van-crash-terror-a7797136.html">said</a> there had been “far too much tolerance of extremism in our country over many years – and that means extremism of any kind, including Islamophobia”. The prime minister said her government would act to “stamp out extremist and hateful ideology”.</p>
<p>A number of suggestions come to mind. First, May and her political colleagues could begin to think about Islamophobia away from the spectre of extremism. Islamophobia isn’t a form of extremism, nor is it synonymous with extremism. It doesn’t only occur after terror atrocities – Islamophobia affects the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-islamophobia-feel-like-we-dressed-visibly-as-muslims-for-a-month-to-find-out-66786?sr=9">day-to-day</a> lives of many Muslims going about their business – and it isn’t only perpetrated by those we might define as being extremists. </p>
<p>Second, they might consider the tone of the way they talk about Muslims in Britain. Rather than being used as scapegoats for the actions of criminals, Muslims need to be spoken about and referred to as being a part of who “we” are in the 21st century – and as partners rather than enemies. </p>
<p>Third, we need to limit the disproportionate airtime afforded far-right extremists such as Robinson. This is not to suggest that free speech should be curtailed, just that measures that seek to provide balance are assessed proportionately. The same needs to be applied to those celebrities, personalities and commentators who become famous solely for making bigoted public statements. These would include <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/media/2017/05/you-re-fired-last-katie-hopkins-sacked-lbc-after-final-solution-tweet">Katie Hopkins</a> among others. Hate should not be given preference or legitimacy.</p>
<p>Not allowing hateful messages about Muslims – or indeed any other group – to be broadcast or widely shared will help to ensure that the white noise is neither seen to be normal, nor justified. </p>
<p>Now is the time to take Islamophobia seriously.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Allen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fed by the far-right, Islamophobia continues to make it into the mainstream – where it’s eagerly received by some.Chris Allen, Lecturer in Social Policy, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/797212017-06-20T12:54:38Z2017-06-20T12:54:38ZWhy the diverse community of Finsbury Park won’t be divided by terror<p>Finsbury Park is a bustling, diverse and vibrant area in north London. It is a neighbourhood which typifies the multicultural metropolis that has emerged in cities across the world as a result of globalisation. Over a hundred languages <a href="http://www.haringey.gov.uk/social-care-and-health/health/joint-strategic-needs-assessment/figures-about-haringey">are spoken</a> in the area and foodstuffs are on sale from every corner of the world.</p>
<p>After an atrocious <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40323769">terror attack</a> on Muslim worshippers leaving Muslim Welfare House after breaking Ramadan fast in the early hours of the morning on June 19, hundreds of people attended a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40338410">vigil</a> in Finsbury Park to lay flowers and show solidarity. They held signs saying “United against all terror” and “#WeStandTogether”. </p>
<p>The mood in the area has been understandably sombre since the attack, with Muslim communities concerned by the very tangible <a href="https://theconversation.com/finsbury-park-attack-shows-the-harm-islamophobia-continues-to-inflict-on-muslim-communities-79682">threat of Islamophobia</a>. And yet Mohammed Kozbar, chairman of Finsbury Park Mosque near the site of the attack, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/finsbury-park-mosque-attack-latest-londoners-flowers-vigil-victims-muslim-community-islam-a7798511.html">echoed</a> a general sentiment: “We all have harmony in this area, and these people try to divide us, but we tell them that ‘we will not let you do that’.”</p>
<h2>Never static</h2>
<p>The recreation ground of Finsbury Park was opened in 1869 as the <a href="http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol6/pp111-122">first public open space in Hornsey</a> for Islington Parish’s urban and overcrowded residents. In the decades that followed, the area became rapidly urbanised, built up as a commuter suburb for the new middle classes. By the 1920s the area had fallen on hard times, many houses became multiple occupancy and working class communities moved in from other parts of Islington. As a result, by the 1930’s in streets such as Campbell Road <a href="http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp29-37">30% of houses had become overcrowded</a></p>
<p>Many migrant communities found their home in the area after World War II. It moved from being a largely Irish area to an Afro-Caribbean one in the decades following the war, as a Monserratian diaspora settled there. As time went on, Greek Cypriots and later Turkish Cypriots became established, developing the rag trade centred on Fonthill Road. As the Cypriot populations began to move on, Turkish and Kurdish communities made the area their home, particularly to the north in neighbouring Green Lanes. By the 1980s and 1990s, Somalis refugees had began to settle.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174694/original/file-20170620-4975-9kx4xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174694/original/file-20170620-4975-9kx4xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174694/original/file-20170620-4975-9kx4xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174694/original/file-20170620-4975-9kx4xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174694/original/file-20170620-4975-9kx4xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174694/original/file-20170620-4975-9kx4xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174694/original/file-20170620-4975-9kx4xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seven Sisters Road, 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author's photograph</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, depending on how you define the boundaries of Finsbury Park, it is home to some 30,000 to 60,000 people across the boroughs of Islington, Haringey and Hackney. The area now has a large population churn, and as one Finsbury Park community worker told me as part of my ongoing PhD research on the diversity of the area: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s a lot of migration, that’s what I hear from people, they’re here for a short amount of time, whether it’s [due to] housing or whether it’s to a better place.“ </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A superdiverse neighbourhood</h2>
<p>The area could now be called "superdiverse”, meaning the migration has become more complex, and is no longer in the form of post-war waves of people coming for specific jobs. Diversity has many forms and residents vary by religion, ethnicity, legal and employment status, sexuality and class. </p>
<p>These days Finsbury Park is recognised for its North African presence with the top of Blackstock Road being colloquially called by some “little Algiers”. But a resident you meet on the street could equally be Polish, Congolese or Venzeulan. Languages spoken in the neighbourhood include <a href="http://tubecreature.com/#metric=tongues&year=2015&selected=940GZZLUFPK&layers=TTTTTF&zoom=13&lon=-0.1141&lat=51.5646">Amharic, Portuguese and Albanian</a>. </p>
<p>Through my research in the area I have found one of the biggest threats to Finsbury’s Park way of life is gentrification, the displacement of working class and migrant communities. It is clear the area is changing and the influx of larger corporate supermarkets, coffee chains and <a href="http://www.telfordhomes.london/microsites/city-north/">developments</a> threaten the uniquely independent character of the area. </p>
<p>It now includes pockets, just streets apart, which vary from <a href="http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/idmap.html">being among</a> the 2% most deprived in the country to the 50% least deprived, in part due to the diversity of housing provision, ranging from social housing flats to sought after period houses in close proximity. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174726/original/file-20170620-30880-5ch8y8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174726/original/file-20170620-30880-5ch8y8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174726/original/file-20170620-30880-5ch8y8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174726/original/file-20170620-30880-5ch8y8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174726/original/file-20170620-30880-5ch8y8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174726/original/file-20170620-30880-5ch8y8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174726/original/file-20170620-30880-5ch8y8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Rotisserie chicken on Seven Sisters Road, 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author's photograph</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet amid this change, the multicultural metropolis shows no sign of receding. It is there to see on the street, at the convivial café, newsagent or park and through community and social interactions. Finsbury Park’s streets are superdiverse not just through the bodies moving through them, but through the goods that are sold there, the languages spoken, the smells of different foods cooking and through the interactions that occur. </p>
<p>You cannot walk down the street without being exposed to the multitude of lives being lived simultaneously. It is a place of intersection and exchange and it facilitates mobility, particularly as tens of thousands of people move through Finsbury Park every day through its transport hub. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174705/original/file-20170620-30846-6afo66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174705/original/file-20170620-30846-6afo66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174705/original/file-20170620-30846-6afo66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174705/original/file-20170620-30846-6afo66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174705/original/file-20170620-30846-6afo66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174705/original/file-20170620-30846-6afo66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174705/original/file-20170620-30846-6afo66.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">International names inscribed on the street on and around Stroud Green Road, 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author's photograph</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Amid all this, residents <a href="https://www.hackney.gov.uk/Assets/Documents/Hackney-Profile.pdf">maintain</a> respect for others and the area’s multiculturalism, often because they appreciate the difference of their neighbours. For example, in 2013 after women from St Thomas’ church and Finsbury Park Mosque realised they were based on the same street and yet hardly knew each other, they decided to set up a <a href="http://www.finsburyparkmosque.org/news/latest-news/the-mosque-sister-committee-meet-the-women-committee-of-st-thomass-rd-church-2/">sisters group</a>, meeting every couple of months to share lunch and tea, chat and practice a unique form of inter-faith solidarity.</p>
<p>These gestures of everyday multiculturalism show that Finsbury Park won’t be divided by an attack on its freedom precisely because its residents celebrate their differences. It is a neighbourhood which doesn’t seek sameness but thrives on variation and refuses to be defined. In the face of hate it unites, not in spite of, but because of its diversity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Stansfeld receives funding from a CASE Award; a +3 Studentship from the Economic and Social Research Council’s (ESRC) South East Doctoral Training Centre and Ordnance Survey. </span></em></p>‘We all have harmony in this area, and these people try to divide us, but we tell them that “we will not let you do that”.’Katherine Stansfeld, PhD Candidate, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/797152017-06-19T15:49:36Z2017-06-19T15:49:36ZFinsbury Park Mosque: from ‘terrorist hostel’ to symbol of modernity, openness and tolerance<p>The shadow of Abu Hamza and Al Qaeda lies long and heavy across Finsbury Park Mosque in north London. The mosque has long been cast in the public imagination by the terrorist activities that were so brazenly carried out there until Hamza and his followers were finally ejected after police raids in 2003.</p>
<p>Along with a former MI5 agent, Reda Hassaine, who was undercover in the mosque during the late 1990s, I wrote the <a href="http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/14396/">book</a> about how Hamza captured the mosque by force from what was, at the time, a rather naive mosque committee. The committee thought he would be an honest broker in a dispute between two factions – but he turned out to be a thorough menace. His charm fooled them. Not only did he indoctrinate young men in the ways of <a href="https://theconversation.com/mohammed-emwazi-is-another-reminder-of-abu-hamzas-legacy-of-hate-in-london-38249?sr=2">jihad</a>, sending them variously to Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan, he trained them how to raise money through credit card fraud and other scams, like selling stolen property which police found during their raids.</p>
<p>A new committee has worked hard since 2004 to reform the practices at the mosque – and they have done an excellent job. But it has proved impossible to remove <a href="https://theconversation.com/finsbury-park-attack-shows-the-harm-islamophobia-continues-to-inflict-on-muslim-communities-79682">the reputational stain</a> that was created by several years of Finsbury Park being a meeting place for Abu Qatada, Omar Bakri Mohammed and the followers of the now banned Al-Muhajiroun and even <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-anjem-choudary-be-stopped-from-radicalising-other-prisoners-64144?sr=2">Anjem Choudary</a> – imprisoned last year on terror related charges for supporting Islamic State.</p>
<p>I recall on the anniversary of 9/11 on September 11 2002, when radical islamists descended on the mosque in their hundreds to “celebrate” the twin towers tragedy. They praised the killers as martyrs and did it in the full glare of the media. I broadcast live from the spot in an atmosphere of seething radical rage. I will never forget it.</p>
<p>In the same way that Finsbury Park Mosque acted as a magnet for radicals, so it seems it is now a magnet for those with equally <a href="https://theconversation.com/finsbury-park-attack-shows-the-harm-islamophobia-continues-to-inflict-on-muslim-communities-79682">abhorrent views</a>, who see this historic stain cast over this small corner of Islington borough as some kind of representative symbol of British Islam.</p>
<p>Ironically, the new committee at Finsbury Park is a symbol of modernity, openness and tolerance. It holds an open house every year and welcomes non-Muslims to share in the mosque’s faith in a multi-faith context. The committee is not naive – it knows that the fact that the mosque was used as a kind of Al Qaeda hostel and a proofing ground for terrorists was going to be a hard myth to dispel. When I say to people that I worked undercover in Finsbury Park Mosque when Hamza was in charge their eyes widen and faces fix with incredulity. Finsbury Park Mosque has become totemic in the politics of terror.</p>
<p>But in a sense this is always the problem with totems, they last long in the memory because they are meaningful in popular culture. We reach for them when we try to explain conflict, trauma and bad news. A number of the 9/11 conspirators had been through Finsbury Park Mosque, as had the London bombers of July 7 and 21 2005.</p>
<p>The difference now is that the intolerance that emanated from that holy place back then has moved on. Of course others have today demonstrated with a hate filled agenda that they aren’t interested in the innocence of Finsbury Park’s current worshippers – they are attacking the symbol of British Islamic radicalism which no longer resides in this part of north London.</p>
<p>Hamza is of course now locked up thousands of miles away in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/abu-hamza-sentenced-life-impisonment-terrorism-conviction">supermax prison in Colorado</a>, having been sentenced in 2015 to life without parole. He is undoubtedly paying for his crimes, as evidenced in a New York court during his lengthy trial in 2014. But the radical menace he unleashed now claims fresh innocent victims, only today it is sadly those Muslims who have shown that Islam can be tolerant, open and inclusive.</p>
<p>It is these extremes from all sides that we must challenge. They are the threats to democracy and the values of civil society that we need to protect.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kurt Barling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The north London mosque has worked hard to recover from the dark days of the 1990s. It didn’t deserve to become the victim of extremism.Kurt Barling, Professor of Journalism, Middlesex UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/796822017-06-19T13:09:22Z2017-06-19T13:09:22ZFinsbury Park attack shows the harm Islamophobia continues to inflict on Muslim communities<p>Following the attack on a group of Muslim worshippers in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-40323279">Finsbury Park</a> that left one person dead and 11 injured, Londoners have once again demonstrated their strength and unity in the face of violence. </p>
<p>Neil Basu, deputy assistant commissioner for the Metropolitan Police and senior national coordinator for counter terrorism, <a href="http://news.met.police.uk/news/incident-in-seven-sisters-road-247036">commended the response of the Muslim community</a>, who stopped the man suspected to have carried out the attack before turning him over to police. One man who apprehended the man <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-40323698/finsbury-park-attack-he-was-shouting-i-want-to-kill-all-muslims">told</a> the BBC that the individual had said he “wanted to kill Muslims”. </p>
<p>The Finsbury Park attack occurred just after the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fairfax-loudoun-police-searching-for-missing-17-year-old-reported-to-have-been-assaulted/2017/06/18/02e379ac-5466-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html?utm_term=.d0fd7c0f10f5">murder</a> of a teenage Muslim girl in Virginia and an attempted <a href="https://www.thelocal.se/20170614/man-with-alleged-nazi-links-admits-driving-his-car-into-refugee-demonstration-in-malmo-sweden">vehicular attack on Iraqi migrants in Sweden</a>. There is little doubt that this incident targeted the Muslim community, and while we cannot speculate as to what exactly motivated this violence, such an incident demands that we reflect on the harm that Islamophobia can cause.</p>
<h2>Heightened tensions</h2>
<p>The attack took place near Finsbury Park Mosque and the Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road, north London. Finsbury Park Mosque is infamous because the violent extremist, Abu Hamza, preached there before his arrest in 2004. Since then, under new leadership, the mosque and its leaders have made outstanding contributions to the local community, which has been <a href="http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/finsbury-park-first-mosque-to-win-prestigious-national-award-1-3836208">recognised nationally</a>. Regardless of this recognition, parts of the press continue to demonise the mosque. </p>
<p>On the night of the attack, Mail Online <a href="https://twitter.com/IlhanNur/status/876607979163987973/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmic.com%2Farticles%2F180248%2Fdaily-mail-other-media-outlets-criticized-for-victim-blaming-muslims-for-finsbury-park-attack">referenced</a> Hamza – who was <a href="https://theconversation.com/abu-hamza-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-after-years-of-abusing-the-limits-of-free-speech-36087?sr=1">sentenced</a> to life in prison in the US in 2015 – in their headline for a report on the attack.</p>
<p>As a researcher on Islamophobia, I have had the opportunity to speak with members of the mosque’s leadership a few times. I recall a conversation I had with Mohammed Kozbar, then chairman of the mosque, in 2012 about a <a href="http://www.islamophobiawatch.co.uk/pigs-head-attack-on-finsbury-park-mosque/">pig’s head</a> left on the gate to the mosque in 2010 and a hoax anthrax <a href="http://bioprepwatch.com/stories/510507971-anthrax-hoax-at-london-mosque">threat</a> sent to the mosque in 2011. He told me then that the community was feeling vulnerable and fearful. He reminded me as well that the media rarely, if ever, reported on the positive contributions made by members of the mosque.</p>
<p>In 2015, in a <a href="https://www.tellmamauk.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/tell_mama_2015_annual_report.pdf">report</a> for Tell MAMA (the UK’s primary watchdog for anti-Muslim hate) and the Metropolitan Police, I identified a cluster of nine anti-Muslim hate crimes and incidents targeting the mosque. The misplaced association of the congregation with violent extremism continues to make the site a target for hate. In this sense, it should sadly come as no surprise that Finsbury Park has been targeted once again.</p>
<p>Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred have demonstrably increased year on year. This is evident in police data that I have reviewed from <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-2012-2014-in-london-an-analysis-of-the-situation/">2012 to 2014</a> and in <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/category/reports/">reports by Tell MAMA</a> that include data from victims, charities, and police forces across the country. Between May 2013 and September 2016, 100 mosques <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/over-100-mosques-targeted-and-attacked-since-may-2013/">were targeted</a> and attacked. </p>
<p>Spikes of hate tend to follow attacks perpetrated by Muslims in the UK and abroad. These dynamics are evident in research on the attacks in Paris in 2015. The three atrocities that claimed lives in Westminster, Manchester, and London Bridge have led to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/07/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-increase-fivefold-since-london-bridge-attacks">major increase in anti-Muslim hate</a> based both on police evidence and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/24/muslim-leaders-in-manchester-report-rise-in-islamophobic-incidents">reports</a> from Muslim communities. </p>
<p>These spikes are not localised and they affect Muslim communities across the country. In this sense, the way that Muslims are framed in reporting on terrorism directly harms communities by putting them in the cross-hairs of lone criminals, angry citizens, and extreme right-wing terrorists.</p>
<h2>Anti-Muslim hate plays a role</h2>
<p>This attack, as the Metropolitan Police were quick to note, has all the hallmarks of a terrorist incident, and it is being <a href="http://news.met.police.uk/news/incident-in-seven-sisters-road-247036">investigated as such</a>. More details about the attacker’s motivation is likely to emerge as the investigation continues. </p>
<p>There is a blurry line between hate crime and terrorism. And it is difficult to impute any kind of causality between far-right extremists and such an attack.</p>
<p>What is clear, however, is that irresponsible sensationalism and the growth of Islamophobia inspires fear, anxiety, and hate towards Muslims. A <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/inquiry7/">report published in May</a> from the Home Affairs Select Committee showed that social media is an important medium for sharing and distributing these sentiments. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provide an environment in which cliques of users normalise and legitimate anti-Muslim ideologies.</p>
<p>It is important that the Finsbury Park investigation questions whether or not the attacker was influenced by extreme right-wing opinions disseminated online. However, it is also crucial to see if this individual was influenced by the press when he selected Muslims in the Finsbury Park area as his target.</p>
<p>Whether or not this incident is considered a terrorist attack should not distract us from the bigger problem: the failure of politicians and the media to effectively counter Islamophobia has caused Muslims to become targets of violence on their way home from prayer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bharath Ganesh's research at the Oxford Internet Institute receives funding for analysing the dynamics of online extremism as part of the VOX-Pol Network of Excellence, funded by the European Union. He was previously Senior Researcher at Tell MAMA.</span></em></p>A man has been arrested after driving a van into worshippers near a mosque in north London.Bharath Ganesh, Researcher, Oxford Internet Institute, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.