The Tell MAMA Annual Report 2015, The Geography of anti-Muslim hatred, sets out that
for 2015 1,128 reports of anti-Muslim incidents were received from victims, witnesses and
third-party organisations.115 437 of these incidents or crimes were classified as ‘offline’,
referring to where they took place in person between victim (or property) and perpetrator,
and this represents a 200% increase over the previous reporting period.116 364 incidents or
crimes were classified as ‘online’, meaning they occurred on social media or other internetbased platforms.
61% of victims for whom details of gender have been recorded were female. 55% of all
victims were visibly Muslim, but 75% of all female victims were visibly Muslim. Further to
this, in a survey conducted in February 2015, almost one in five British Muslim women
agreed that they ‘do not feel safe in Britain’ and 40% felt that most Britons do not trust
Muslims.117 There is also evidence to suggest that anti-Muslim attacks against women are
often misogynistic.118 Tell MAMA therefore found that anti-Muslim hate is gendered, with
Muslim women more likely to be attacked than men in most settings. The data also suggests
that white males represent the largest proportion of perpetrators.
When looking at offline incidents reported to Tell MAMA each week during 2015, there are
clear spikes immediately following significant international Islamic extremist events. This
displays increased anti-Muslim feeling and emphasises the need for universities to remain
aware of the impact such events may have on both their students and staff.119
The recorded data does not reveal how many incidents involved Muslim university students
or how many took place on university campuses. It is therefore difficult to assess the scale of
the problem in the UK higher education sector. However, the findings are still relevant to the
higher education sector and provide useful insights for universities when considering both
prevention and response. An awareness of this data may help to understand what the
potential impact may be on the more localised university community. This in turn can enable
institutions to take the appropriate steps to prevent incidents where possible and to ensure
processes are in place to respond effectively should an anti-Muslim incident occur. For
example, the Tell MAMA data suggests that within London, incidents frequently occur in
areas with high access to public transport and close to major roads. Awareness of this is
important for understanding how and when students may be affected.
Wider stakeholder evidence
UUK received input from UJS as part of the wider stakeholder engagement, in addition to
the antisemitism roundtable. The types of incidents reported to UJS and Jewish societies
range from comments and graffiti on campus, to lecturers making inappropriate comments,
to acts amounting to the glorification of violence.
UJS reports that in general, where ‘blatant antisemitism’ is involved, such as graffiti, posters
or threats to individuals, both university leadership and campus security are supportive and
Available at http://tellmamauk.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/tell_mama_2015_annual_report.pdf
Previous reporting period was 12 months to March 2015.
117 p.17, Tell MAMA Annual Report 2015.
118 Ibid. p.18,
119 Ibid. p. 22
115
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