Although the Woolwich incident has undoubtedly provoked a upsurge in Islamaphobic commentary in the media, it has also revealed how many pre-existing prejudices the British public held in its deepest recesses. Many of the reactions from the general public have been brutal in their condemnation of not just extremist Islam, but of immigration and freedom of religion. The incident has given right wing advocates and social conservatives the perfect opportunity to voice their opinions, and whether or not they have been reasonable, they have been listened to, whereas before this may not have been the case.
The European Defence League (EDL) has taken to marching, and its members have been moved to violence. Over two hundred Islamaphobic incidents, including ten attacks on mosques, were reported in just the few days following the incident. However, throughout the course of history, instability has often been the root of extremism; we only have to look at the rise of the Third Reich in Nazi Germany after the devastation that WW1 brought, or the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan after the Russian invasion.
It’s easy to condemn these incidents as the isolated actions of idiots and eccentrics. But racism and bigotry can be just as prevalent amongst the supposedly “educated” middle classes and university students. For example, Martin Sewell, an economics lecturer at Cambridge, came under fire because he possessed a store of Nazi imagery on his computer and was of the opinion that black people were impulsive and had lower IQs. Furthermore, according to a recent Nouse poll, 49% of international students feel excluded, and 30% believe that they have been the victim of racist attitudes.
It is important to realize that the demographic base from which York derives its students is relatively narrow, with over 90% being middle class and around 30% privately educated, on top of this, black students are still an extremely underrepresented minority here at York, making up only 2.5% of the student population.
University societies also expose the presence of racial prejudices amongst students. For example, Poker society once held a “black up social” and at Oxford the infamous “bring a fit Jew” social created massive outrage. Though these incidents might not necessarily be indicative of anything, they show that perhaps students are not necessarily the mostly informed or sensitive of people. However, perhaps more worryingly, they demonstrate how bigotry permeates everywhere, and is not just something that is the domain of demonised extremists.
The Woolwich perpetrators were almost certainly acting alone, and their actions cannot be considered as terrorism as a result. Consequently, I believe associating them with radical Islam may be a mistake; as, in my opinion, they were simply murderers and criminals and, as such, their association with radical Islam cannot be taken as causation.
Having understood the ways in which incidents such as Woolwich can foster extremism of the worst possible kind and realising how prevalent racial issues are, even in the safe and relatively progressive university culture, we see how we must be careful to not let incidents such as these foster further tension. The danger we currently have in our midst is not a result of how we act in our everyday lives, it is a result of how we carry ourselves when a horrific incident pushes us, and reveals the prejudices that lie within. Even those that consider themselves as reasonable people must be able to retain that reason, when it is challenged by traumatic and emotionally charging events. Most importantly, we need to be able to act logically to improve our society, rather than mindlessly lashing out against the perceived ‘other side’.