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eath threats , accompanied by the image of a dead pig , covered in blood . This was the backlash that Italian-Moroccan journalist , Karima Moual , received on Facebook in 2022 , having criticised Meloni ’ s anti-Islam and anti-immigration stances .
In Italy , islamophobic hate speech is rearing its head online . Muslims are the most frequent target of hate online according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in 2024 . Meta relaxing its moderation of content and removing independent fact-checking on X in January this year will exacerbate the vulnerability of minority groups to experiencing this kind of hate online .
Crucially , this xenophobic discourse produced online is normalised by those in power ; Muslims are often misrepresented by Italian media and scapegoated by Italian politicians . This , and the lack of an intesa , a legal agreement with the state , leaves Islam in a marginalised position in Italy .
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Life for Muslims under Meloni ’ s government
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Meloni ’ s view of Islam
Instagram : @ giorgiameloni
Italy ’ s current prime minister , Giorgia Meloni , has long criticized Islamic countries as sexist and inhumane , always drawing divisions between the supposed “ civiltà ” of Italy and the values of “ il mondo islamico ”.
A quick scroll through any of her social media reveals this rhetoric but , most recently , a video from 2018 resurfaced of her declaring Islam as wholly “ incompatible ” with Italy . She plants the idea that Italy is under threat from Islam by using inflammatory language , like one Facebook post in 2019 about the need to “ defend our classical and Christian roots .”
Meloni uses the neologism “ islamizzazione ” ( or ‘ Islamisation ’) to plant the baseless idea that Islam is attempting to take over Italy , rendering Muslims the supposed agents of this invasion . We should be clear that Muslims only make up around four percent of the Italian population , though the oversaturation of references to Islam in the media would lead you to think otherwise .
‘ Islamisation ’
Islamizzazione is a dangerously effective rhetoric , though ultimately just a “ conspiracy theory ” as Bridge Initiative Senior Researcher Farid Hafez describes it . It uses the same narrative that Meloni ’ s party , Fratelli D ' Italia , constructs against immigration , because it exploits the fears of everyday Italian voters . Both migrants and Muslims are blamed for various emotive concerns : criminality and terrorism , questions of job security , and economic stresses .
These anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim narratives are intertwined as Italian Muslims are so often presented as an alien presence , enduring a double discrimination on racial and religious grounds .
Meloni and her populist peers conflate Muslims with terrorism . In response to the Berlin terrorist attack of December 2016 , Meloni declared that the reception of Muslim immigrants in Italy should be stopped , citing the “ uncontrolled reception policy ” as bringing insecurity and crime and helping Islamic terrorism .
This scapegoating has continued , with her demanding on Facebook in 2019 that Italy needs to “ block all forms of Islamic immigration ”.
Italian Muslims reject these horrendous attacks ; Milan ’ s former councillor Sumaya Abdel Qader described Islam as “ a religion that has nothing to do with those criminals ” when speaking to Al Jazeera in 2016 . Regardless , this association persists in media and politics .
This certainly aided Fratelli D ' Italia ' s election success , as they presented themselves as the secure alternative to all these worries , exploiting this popular discontent and paranoia . Meloni ’ s very election to office was symptomatic of “ the rise of a global anti-Muslim alliance ”, according to journalist and professor Alain Gabon .
Muslims only make up around four percent of the Italian population , though the oversaturation of references to Islam in the media would lead you to think otherwise
The media is complicit too . An analysis published by Scomodo in April 2024 shows a “ strong discrepancy ” between how Italy ’ s biggest newspapers – - La Repubblica , Il Corriere , and Libero – - represent antisemitism in comparison to islamophobia . Journalist Leila Belhadj Mohamed declared the titles of these big papers “ openly islamophobic ”.
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