14
ISSUES: Racial & Ethnic Discrimination
Chapter 1: Racism & discrimination
act only exceptionally” over the issue.
“I understand why anti-extremism
measures were taken but they were
wrong to squeeze out cohesion
measures,” he said, arguing that the
ongoing Casey review was a sign that
the government knew it had got the
agenda wrong.
It comes as Labour prepares to call
for legislation on counter-extremism
unveiled in the Queen’s speech to
be put on hold until there has been
a cross-party review of the Prevent
strategy.
The shadow home secretary, Andy
Burnham, will use the Commons
debate on the home affairs legislation
to argue that the approach could
cause further alienation. He will say:
“I believe the Government is getting
its approach to tackling extremism
drastically wrong.
“It
is
perceived
as
highly
discriminatory and has created a
deep sense of despondency in the
Muslim community. Far from tackling
extremism, it risks creating the
conditions for it to flourish. This goes
way beyond party politics and is now
a very real issue about the cohesion of
our society.”
A Home Office spokesman said that
Prevent had safeguarded people
who might be targeted by terrorist
recruiters.
He said it was vital work because the
terror threat was real, but argued that
it was not targeted at Muslims who
were often the victims of extremists.
“The Counter-Extremism Strategy is
about confronting extremist ideology
head-on, supporting mainstream
voices, and building stronger and
more cohesive communities,” he said.
12 May 2016
Ö
The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from
The
Guardian
.
Please
visit
www.
theguardian.com
for
further
information.
© 2017 Guardian News
and Media Limited
Anti-social media: 10,000 racial slurs a day
on Twitter, finds Demos
A groundbreaking study by the think tank Demos has found that 10,000 tweets
containing a racial slur are posted on Twitter every day.
Researchers revealed the most common racial slurs used
on the micro-blogging site included: "p**i", "whitey" and
"pikey".
However, as many as 70% of tweets using such language
were deemed to be using slurs in non-derogatory fashion
– often to describe themselves or their own community –
sparking debate about the extent to which Twitter truly is
a platform for racism and abusive language.
A total of 126,975 English-language tweets from across
the globe were analysed over a nine-day period by CASM,
Demos’ social media research unit, as part of the project.
Analysis suggests only 1% of tweets used a racial slur in an
ideological context within a political statement or in a call
to action in the real world. Further analysis found that as
few as 500 tweets a day were directed at an individual and
appeared on first sight to be abusive.
You are what you tweet
The
Anti-Social Media
report estimates between 50–70%
of tweets were used to express in-group solidarity with
“re-claimed” slurs used within ethnic groups. It cites “P**i”
as one term becoming appropriated by users identifying
themselves of Pakistani descent.
Last year also saw much debate over use of the term ‘Yid
army’ by supporters of Tottenham Hotspur, a football club
with a strong historical connection to London’s Jewish
community, to describe themselves.
This research comes as Twitter is being increasingly
criticised as a platform for racism. High-profile cases
such as that involving ex-footballer Stan Collymore and
journalist and feminist Caroline Criado-Perez have led to
the introduction and sustained support of a ‘report abuse’
button on the website.
In December, Labour MP Jack Dromey also caused uproar
by referring to his postman as "Pikey" in a tweet. Dromey
responded to criticism by explaining that the nickname
derived from Corporal Pike, a character in TV show
Dad’s
Army
, demonstrating the potential for racial slurs deemed
offensive to be intended non-offensively.
Jamie Bartlett, Director of CASM at Demos and author of
the report, said:
“Twitter provides us with a remarkable window into how
people talk, argue, debate and discuss issues of the day.
“While there are a lot of racial slurs being used on Twitter,
the overwhelming majority of them are not used in an
obviously prejudicial or hateful way.
“This study shows just how difficult it is to know what
people really mean on the basis of a tweet. Context is king,
and often it’s more or less lost on Twitter.’
7 February 2014
Ö
The above information is reprinted with kind
permission from Demos. Please visit
co.uk for further information.
© Demos 2017
