November marks the beginning of Islamophobia awareness month (#IAM). IAM was co-founded by MEND with other British organisations in 2012 to deconstruct and challenge the stereotypes about Islam and Muslims. The month-long campaign aims to work with Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC), local council, in particular the lead on hate crime or community safety, councillors and local MPs, Mosques, universities, schools, community organisations and others to raise awareness of the scourge of Islamophobia and encourage better reporting of incidents to the police. The Metropolitan Police has reportedly helped kick off this year’s campaign launch by stressing the need for communities to report incidences of hate crime and Islamophobia with contributions from and voluntary work offered by 150 organisations.
As part of the #IAM programme, the Labour Muslim Network is also expected to release a report at the end of this month on ‘Islamophobia and the Muslim experience’ in the Labour Party. The report is likely to highlight that 44% Labour Muslim members and supporters did not “believe the Labour Party takes the issue of Islamophobia seriously”.
