Conference illuminates problem of Islamophobia in today’s society

CONFERENCE
Michael Ball/Staff

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For more than seven hours Thursday, students and community members gathered at the UC Berkeley School of Law to discuss the presence of Islamophobia in culture and society.

At the Fifth Annual International Conference on Islamophobia Studies, founded and directed by UC Berkeley lecturer Hatem Bazian, attendees listened to panelists describe issues ranging from the discrimination against Muslims to the representation of Muslim women in the media.

Islamophobia is described by Bazian as “an irrational belief and hostile attitude directed toward Islam and Muslims that problematizes them as a subject matter.”

The annual conference is one aspect of the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, founded in response to the rise of Islamophobia in the United States and parts of Europe around the time President Barack Obama was elected, Bazian, who directs the project, said.

The project aims to establish the study of Islamophobia as an academic discipline by engaging scholars around the world with the conference. It also aims to expand the event to other countries, including France and Austria.

While the conference drew only about 100 to 150 attendees throughout the day, according to Bazian, more than 6,000 people from different countries tune in to the conference online every year. Scholars from universities around the world, such as the University of Leeds and Duke University, broadcast the event.

Sana Saeed, a journalist and panelist at the conference, said she wore a headscarf for 12 or 13 years and experienced negative comments and taunts growing up. Still, Saeed is optimistic that an emerging generation of journalists can use new media to “add nuance” to stories.

During the conference, however, Saeed also spoke of the challenges posed by new media, explaining that when stories go viral, the “speed of accountability is not the same” in comparison to other news stories, and “the damage is already done.”

Autefeh Sajjadi, a UC Berkeley senior, said she has experienced racism and hostility throughout her life, but that “it hurts more” when it comes from an educated population, such as the UC Berkeley community.

“People always say Berkeley is so liberal, but there’s still racism,” Sajjadi said. She added that she hopes people will learn more about the issue and that it should be taken more seriously in the future.

Rochelle Terman, a UC Berkeley graduate student, recognizes the connection between conferences and the availability of research studies.

“Islamophobia is an important topic to study, and conferences like these are essential to establishing research programs,” Terman said.

The conference will continue on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a benefit concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Contact Angel Grace Jennings at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @angeljenningss.

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  • Jill Clark

    Many of the presentations at the conference talked about building positive relationships between Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as what can be learned about Islamophobia through a better understanding of, and fight against, anti-Semitism. I would hope the online conversation could be as civil and inclusive as that during the conference.

  • garyfouse

    Besides pushing this idea of victimization, Bazian’s other pastime is trying to bring down Israel.

  • garyfouse

    “Islamophobia” is a tricky term to define. Is the phobia a hate or a fear? If it is a fear, is it irrational as Bazian describes it? What it should not be is a hatred of Muslims as people because most are decent people who are not violent. However, ask the Syrian Christians who are being hunted down as we speak if their fear is irrational. Ask the Coptic Christians in Egypt, whose churches are being burned and their children abducted and forced to convert. Ask the Baha’i in Iran who are being persecuted, arrested, raped, and murdered if their fear is irrational. Ask the Christians of Pakistan, who are being attacked and hit with bogus charges of blasphemy under penalty of death. In fact, ask religious minorities from one end of the Islamic world to the other if their fear is irrational. In addition, ask the Jews of Europe who are leaving in droves because they dare not walk the streets in Jewish grab lest they be attacked by young male Muslim immigrants.

    To the credit of the American people, American Muslims are not subjected to this kind of treatment. This conference is nothing more than an exercise in grievance-mongering.

    Gary Fouse
    Adj teacher
    UCI Ext

  • Mel Content

    “Phobia” implies an irrational fear. Given the behavior of tens of thousands of violent, thuggish and totalitarian idiots (and the millions of so-called “peaceful, moderate” Muslims who refuse to hold their co-religionists responsible for their own behavior) and the demonstrable track record of slavery, brutality, misery and lack of human rights in countries where Sharia law is the law of the land, fear of Islam is hardly irrational. Just another example of how liberal Political Correctness will kill us all…

  • Vladamir

    Perfect example of fools following the pied piper.

  • Dan Spitzer

    Interesting that one of the keynote speakers in this colloquium calling for tolerance should be Prof. Hatem “Hate’Em” Bazian, who famously in an anti-Iraq War rally before thousands of protesters screamed that we need an intifada in the US. Moreover, this most tolerant man of Palestinian heritage has refused to condemn Hamas and its charter which openly calls for genocide vs Jews everywhere on earth. What a hypocrite!

    • Dan Spitzer

      Also, it should be noted that if Muslim religious and political leaders, as well as demonstrators in the streets, would exhibit more tolerance toward non-Muslims along with their own women and gays, that some of the so-called Islamophobia would likely diminish. In sum, to garner tolerance and respect, one must exhibit this in kind to others…

      • Kailove

        What does that have to do with one students experience with Islamophobia on her own campus? You are either invalidating it completely or saying that it’s justified because of some leaders? Classifying an entire group by one example? Ahh, and this is what you call tolerance.

        • Dan Spitzer

          Ah, Prof. Hate’em Bazian founded and directed the conference. So it’s very leader, an ardent anti-Semite and Muslim lefty ideological reactionary, is indeed exemplary. Ole Hate’em also helped found Berkeley’s fundamentalist Zaytuna College, where the alleged virtues of Sharia Law are studied and revered. Sharia Law, as manifest today in the Islamic world, is exemplary of utter intolerance toward infidels, to say nothing of its discrimination vs women and gays…

        • objectivefactsmatter

          Step one in effective problem solving is to identify root causes.

        • Mel Content

          What does that have to do with one students experience with Islamophobia on her own campus?

          I have to laugh when some simpering apologist whines about “islamophobia”. I have witnessed very little hostility towards Muslims as a group on college campuses, even from Jewish students. OTOH, I have heard Muslim students launch into tirades about “the Jews” on more than one occasion. I hear far more anti-semitic remarks and comments from Muslims and so-called “Black Muslims” than I ever hear similar comments directed towards Muslims.