by Jules Gomes, Focus on Western Liberalism
New Definition ‘Worse than Feared,’ MP Warns
A new definition of “Islamophobia,” slated for publication in the U.K. this week, has triggered widespread alarm among free speech campaigners. A leaked version of the definition revealed that the government had rebranded “Islamophobia,” a phrase used to silence criticism of Muslims, Islam, and Islamism, as “anti-Muslim hostility.”
Leading secular and religious free speech advocates and parliamentarians warned that the alternative terminology of “anti-Muslim hostility” could still serve as a de facto blasphemy law, stifling legitimate criticism of Islam, and rendering such discussions as an arrestable offense in the minds of law enforcement officials intimidated by Muslim extremists in the U.K.
Sources indicate that Steve Reed, the Communities Secretary who is responsible for publishing the definition, postponed its publication to next week following the Islamist massacre of 15 Jews celebrating Hanukkah on December 14 at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.
The working group tasked with wording the definition, which, according to the government, is “supposed to reflect a wide range of perspectives and priorities of British Muslims,” has dropped the controversial term “Islamophobia,” according to leaked drafts of the definition.
Leaked Draft Definition Of “Anti-Muslim Hostility”
According to the BBC, the draft definition describes “anti-Muslim hostility” as “engaging in or encouraging criminal acts,” whether “physical, verbal, written or electronically communicated, which is directed at Muslims or those perceived to be Muslims because of their religion, ethnicity or appearance.”
The definition includes the “prejudicial stereotyping and racialisation of Muslims, as part of a collective group with set characteristics, to stir up hatred against them, irrespective of their actual opinions, beliefs or actions as individuals” as well as “engaging in prohibited discrimination” including “the creation or use of practices and biases within institutions [is] intended to disadvantage Muslims in public and economic life.”
“It’s even worse than feared,” Conservative MP Nick Timothy wrote on X. “This is old wine in new bottles. A terrible idea pushed by activists and extremists, rebranded as a compromise. If Labour agrees it—meaning the public sector, the police, and the courts start to follow it—we will no longer have free speech.”
Read also: Proposed definition of anti-Muslim hatred leaked by Tim Dieppe, Christian Concern