Self defence is no offence: Resisting racialization and criminalization of Muslims in neoliberal Britain
| Dates: | 28 February 2017 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Faculty of Humanities |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public |
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| Speaker: | Dr Waqas Tufail |
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Join us for this event, which is part of the CoDE Seminar Series.
The seminar will present findings from an on-going study exploring the context and aftermath of the 'grooming' scandals that came to dominate headlines in the popular press. The 'grooming' scandals referred to revelations that groups of men had been sexually abusing scores of young girls in several towns in the UK. The subsequent discourse racialized South Asian men and held the culture of Muslim communities in particular to be the main cause.
Following the emergence of the 'grooming' scandal, violent anti-Muslim racism has taken place on a regular basis in the towns affected. In Rotherham, 81-year old Muslim grandfather Mushin Ahmed was beaten and stamped to death by two white men who repeatedly referred to him as a 'groomer' during the assault. More than a dozen far-right demonstrations have taken place in Rotherham since news of the scandal broke. Multiple interviewees from within Rotherham have spoken of the town being 'under siege' from organised fascists. In an unprecedented move, Muslim communities within Rotherham unanimously agreed to boycott South Yorkshire police for not taking racist attacks against Muslims seriously and a national defence campaign was launched to have charges dropped against 12 local Muslim men charged with serious offences after responding to repeated instances of far-right provocation.
The event posits that the rhetoric and actions of local liberal elites, in addition to the expected hostility from far-right and conservative agitators, served to exacerbate rather than ameliorate the targeting of Muslims with Rotherham. Using the events in Rotherham as a case study, the event presents an in-depth, localised analysis of racial neoliberalism in Britain today where race, class, gender and anti-Muslim racism intertwine.
Speaker
Dr Waqas Tufail
Organisation: Leeds Beckett University
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Room 2.07
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester
