Bullying Muslim women has become a cheap shot in the UK election

On the unlikely chance that you needed a reminder that Islamophobia is alive and well in the UK, look no further than the media circus surrounding the upcoming general election on July 4. 

Muslim voters participating in legitimate forms of political democracy have been accused of displaying more loyalty towards the Middle East than their constituencies.

Any form of protesting in support of Palestine or against our government’s aiding and abetting of genocide is automatically labelled antisemitic and Islamist in nature. Even something as innocuous as holding a placard depicting the Prime Minister next to a coconut can see you charged with a racially aggravated public order offence if you happen to be Muslim and pro-Palestine. 

The ongoing genocide in Gaza, and British Muslims’ vocal opposition to our government’s role in these war crimes, had already caused hostility towards Muslims to increase.

In February, two women in east London were mowed down by a car which sped up when the driver noticed their hijabs. We have seen these same patterns replicated elsewhere, in other Western countries, like the USA, where there have been incidents of visible Muslims and Palestinians targeted with violence and abuse, like the Texas woman recently accused of trying to drown a Palestinian toddler after starting up a fight with the child’s mother in a swimming pool or Wadea Al-Fayoume, the Palestinian boy stabbed to death in Illinois shortly after October 7.

An Islamophobic election

But as the General Election in Britain grows closer, it seems that, as usual, Muslim women are facing the brunt of the nation’s disdain for all things Islam.

As I explored in my recently published book, Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain, visibly Muslim women like me exist at the intersection of gendered Islamophobia and violent misogyny.

The disdain society holds towards us as women in a patriarchal system, but also as covered women in a hypersexualised society in which anything but liberal feminism is deemed archaic and oppressive, is compounded by the deep-rooted and systemic hatred of Muslims that Britain is predicated upon.

The violence of the state, the white supremacy of mainstream feminism and the neoliberal military machine which sees Muslim lives around the world as collateral damage collide on the site of Muslim women’s bodies.

In the run-up to the election, this is manifesting in multiple ways, one of which is the wave of AI-produced images that have circulated online. These have included Keir Starmer depicted in a hijab and abaya by GB News presenter Darren Grimes or the sensationalist images widely shared amongst far-right social media accounts like Tommy Robinson’s portraying a fictional “future” of Britain in which morose-looking blonde girls are forced into wearing hijabs whilst brown, Muslim men look on, almost always laughing. 

As polling day gets nearer, rightwing figures are attempting to stir up the nationalist paranoia of a subset of Britain who believes that their country is held up in an Islamist takeover plot and who buy into the fallacy of the Great Replacement Theory, which stipulates that immigrants, especially Muslims, are taking over the white native populations of Europe.

Ultimately, this feeds their political aims and funnels support towards extreme right parties such as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK or Britain First. It makes sure that migrants, Muslims and anything deemed anti-British are the villains of the election rather than the sort of rightwing politics that has wrought havoc upon the nation over the last decade and a half. 

Either victim or villain

But notice how Muslim women are always the butt of this not-so-funny joke. 

Whether it’s the casting of hijab-wearing Muslim women as tyrannical and aggressive, threatening to subject innocent British girls to backwards ideas like modesty unless Muslims are kicked out, or the portrayal of us as the mute victims of an exceptional misogyny displayed only by Muslim men, the message is clear.

Muslims are the problem and the aesthetics of the Islamic veil — signifying both antagonistic extremism and ultimate victimhood all at once — are employed to frighten voters into choosing whichever candidates on July 4 are the least likely to make these AI images a reality.

Recent comments by Nigel Farage, whose platform has been built upon racism, Islamophobia and nationalism, fit this mould too. Speaking to Sky News Presenter Trevor Phillips, he spoke about a growing number of young Britons holding views that are “radical" and “anti-British” and claimed that Britain is moving towards “sectarian politics with women completely excluded”.

When prompted on whether he was speaking about Muslims, Farage confirmed he was. Here too we see an obsession with Muslim women that is less about genuine concern for the inclusion of Muslim women in civic life and more about pitting the Muslim community as a parallel world entirely at odds with the values of modern liberalism, ultimately to promote his electoral interests. 

Visibly Muslim women are forced to wade through the muddy seas of Islamophobia and misogyny daily, with everything we do scrutinised, politicised and criminalised. Still, this atmosphere being whipped up for the election will have long-lasting effects beyond July 4.

As we are seeing in political trends across Europe, as the far-right rises to power, Muslims — and especially visibly Muslim women — will become increasingly dehumanised, securitised and subjugated. 

Nadeine Asbali is a freelance writer and secondary school teacher based in London. She is the author of Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain

Follow her on X: @nadeinewrites

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.