Council Motion A
Proposer Cllr Cawley-Harrison
Seconder Cllr Bull
In accordance with Council Standing Order 25.1, notice is provided of the intention to suspend Council Standing Orders: 13.1, 15.6 b [i] and 15.6 b [iii] at the Full Council AGM meeting on Monday 20th of May for consideration of item 16. This is to allow Motion B to be jointly proposed by Cllr Ejiofor and Cllr Morris and to be jointly seconded by Cllr Chenot and Cllr Moyeed.
This Motion will also allow the proposers to have 5 minutes each to move Motion B, and remove the right of reply.
Motion B
The All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims definition of Islamophobia
Proposer: Cllr Ejiofor, Cllr Morris
Seconder: Cllr Chenot, Cllr Moyeed
Haringey is home to people of many faith and ethnicities. Amongst them are an estimated 36,130 Muslims. This Council is proud of that diversity and believes Haringey’s Muslim residents are an important asset to the borough, have the same rights as all other groups and individuals, and are as worthy of the same respect as any other resident in, and outside of, Haringey.
Haringey has a strong history of fighting racism in all its forms, including adopting the IHRA definition of Anti-Semitism in 2017; and in its most recent Borough Plan, adopted earlier this year, pledging to “develop multi-agency approaches to tackle and reduce Hate Crime based on a zero tolerance approach”.
Recent terrorist attacks against the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand and the Finsbury Park Mosque in Islington have highlighted the severe Islamophobic attacks that Muslim communities around the world are faced with, and the Council wishes to offer its condolences to all those impacted by, and who lost loved ones in these attacks. The Council also acknowledges that Islamophobia is not a recent phenomenon and that we must do more as a society to tackle this rising form of intolerance and persecution.
In light of this, the Council expresses its gratitude for the work done by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims to produce a definition of Islamophobia.
Council notes:
1. That on the 27th November 2018, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims published a report entitled Islamophobia Defined: the inquiry into a working definition of Islamophobia. Amongst its conclusions are that:
a) British Muslims “have a strong sense of belonging to Britain and of feeling part of British society” and are “more likely than the British public as a whole to say that their national identity is important to their sense of who they are”.
b) Despite this, negative attitudes towards British Muslims are prevalent among their fellow citizens and that this contributes to multiple forms of discrimination including a “growing number of Islamophobic hate crimes”.
c) That Islamophobia can negatively impact non-Muslims. For example, Sikhs have been targeted with abuse by people who misidentify them as Muslims.
d) “adopting a definition of Islamophobia will demonstrate to Britain’s Muslim communities that we, as politicians and we together as a society, recognise the impediments to the flourishing of Muslims in Britain and will take steps to demarcate the healthy preservation of expressions of Muslimness consistent with the law, fundamental freedoms and human rights.”
e) “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
2. That Islamophobia Defined provides the following as examples of Islamophobia in “public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in encounters between religions and non-religions in the public sphere could, considering the overall context, include, but are not limited to:
a) Calling for, aiding, instigating or justifying the killing or harming of Muslims in the name of a racist/ fascist ideology, or an extremist view of religion.
b) Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Muslims as such, or of Muslims as a collective group, such as, especially but not exclusively, conspiracies about Muslim entryism in politics, government or other societal institutions; the myth of Muslim identity having a unique propensity for terrorism, and claims of a demographic ‘threat’ posed by Muslims or of a ‘Muslim takeover’.
c) Accusing Muslims as a group of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Muslim person or group of Muslim individuals, or even for acts committed by non-Muslims.
d) Accusing Muslims as a group, or Muslim majority states, of inventing or exaggerating Islamophobia, ethnic cleansing or genocide perpetrated against Muslims.
e) Accusing Muslim citizens of being more loyal to the ‘Ummah’ (transnational Muslim community) or to their countries of origin, or to the alleged priorities of Muslims worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
f) Denying Muslim populations, the right to self-determination e.g., by claiming that the existence of an independent Palestine or Kashmir is a terrorist endeavour.
g) Applying double standards by requiring of Muslims behaviours that are not expected or demanded of any other groups in society, e.g. loyalty tests.
h) Using the symbols and images associated with classic Islamophobia (e.g. Muhammed being a paedophile, claims of Muslims spreading Islam by the sword or subjugating minority groups under their rule) to characterize Muslims as being ‘sex groomers’, inherently violent or incapable of living harmoniously in plural societies.
i) Holding Muslims collectively responsible for the actions of any Muslim majority state, whether secular or constitutionally Islamic.”
3. That Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru have already adopted the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia at a national level.
Council believes:
1. That Muslims are valued members of the community in Haringey and of the United Kingdom.
2. That Islamophobia has no place in Haringey, or in our wider society.
3. That fears that applying the APPG definition will constrain freedom of speech are misplaced. Islamophobia Defined explicitly defends the right of Muslims and non-Muslims to engage in the “criticism, debate and free discussion of Islam as a religion”, whilst setting out criteria to distinguish that from “the victimisation of Muslims through the targeting of expressions of Muslimness to deny or impair their fundamental freedoms and human rights”.
Council resolves:
1. To welcome, endorse and adopt the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia.
2. To contact the Members of Parliament for Tottenham and Hornsey & Wood Green and ask them to lobby the Government to adopt the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims’ definition of Islamophobia.
3. To condemn all bigotry and any discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, religion, denomination or any characteristic protected by the Equality Act.