Readers may remember Theresa May’s hostile environment posters in 2013, were explicitly aimed to create a hostile environment for immigrants and their families already living here.
The media in Scotland have clearly struggled to find equivalent phenomena here. Today BBC Scotland have found only:
Police are investigating after racist graffiti was sprayed on the side of Edinburgh Central Mosque. The building, on Potterrow in the city centre, is thought to have been targeted with hate messages at about 21:30 on Friday. A spokesperson for the mosque said it was “deeply saddened and concerned” by the incident.
They have been careful not to to tell us that reports from The Herald, STV News, The Scotsman, have revealed that the messages were only such as “leave Scotland” and “get out of Scotland” sprayed in red paint on the mosque’s exterior wall.
Why?
Not bad enough? Best to not say unless you have something explicitly racist. If BBC Scotland is to malign the policing and education performance of the SNP in Government, they’ll need stronger words than that.
Why is this all they have?
Why Scotland HAS avoided far-right unrest – Sir Prof Curtice fails to understand who Scotland’s Muslims are and even misunderstands his own percentages
It’s complex, maybe too complex for some.
One important reason is the almost complete lack of presence of the racist far-right, blaming minorities for majority problems, in Scotland’s present and past. There is a contrasting history of the racially inclusive far-left, blaming the rich for everyone’s problems.
Another important reason is that, and you’d think a prof might have thought of this, all Muslims are not the same. There are greater differences between some Muslims, because of their different cultural backgrounds and histories, than between some of them and their white neighbours.
Here is a referenced list of some of these significant differences:
First, white groups will be understandably repulsed and made hostile by patterns of Honour Based Violence, Forced Marriage and FGM, which are more common among some migrant groups, typically rural, uneducated, highly conservative, sexist, racist, mountain cultures, some ‘Christian’. https://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/pdf/434027/526774/526824/19-2024-response?view=Standard
A Freedom of Information request to police Scotland revealed the above. If such crimes were occurring with similar frequency across the UK, as they are in Scotland, then the figures for the UK would be around 12 times greater They are not.
There were nearly 2 000 UK cases of FGM in just the first three months of 2019 suggesting a shocking 8 000 per year 286 times as many or 24 times as many per capita as in Scotland. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/female-genital-mutilation/january-to-march-2019
There were 1 764 UK cases of Forced marriage in 2018 suggesting a rate 33 times higher or 3 times higher per capita than in Scotland.
Click to access Forced_Marriage_Unit_Statistics_2018_FINAL.pdf
There were 152 cases of Honour Based Violence in Scotland in 2018 but across the UK, for 2017 (most recent figures), there were more than 4 000 cases (estimate) giving a rate 26 times higher or 2 times as high per capita. https://unherd.com/2019/01/britains-honour-crime-shame/
Second, see this extract from a Scottish Government research survey in 2011
‘In addition, Hussain and Miller (2004) argue that Muslims in Scotland are more likely to identify themselves as Scottish than Muslims in England are to identify as English (Hussain and Miller 2004, 2006). In their study, comparing experiences of Islamophobia and Anglophobia in Scotland, Hussain and Miller established that the Muslims interviewed found it very easy to identify with Scotland. They suggest this could be explained partly because their religious identity is seen as cultural and not territorial. This finding is supported by research conducted by Masud (2005) into the experiences of Muslims across Britain after the London bombings in 2005. In this research conducted across Scotland 27“it was widely acknowledged and appreciated that compared with other parts of the country, especially England, Scotland was a tolerant place” (Masud 2005).’
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2011/03/08091838/4
Third, remember the Glasgow Celtic, Green Brigade protest against Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and the crowdfunding which raised thousands to pay for sporting facilities in Palestine? People in the Arab world and Islamic people in Scotland know about this.
Fourth, 100 000 people marched in Glasgow in 2003 against the Iraq war. Glasgow’s Islamic population saw this. The Herald newspaper exposed many of the atrocities committed by the Coalition there.
Fifth, 1.8% of the prison population in Scotland is Muslim. This is broadly in proportion to the 1.45% of Scottish population which is Muslim, and in significant contrast to the very large figure of 13% for Muslim prisoners in England and Wales.
Sixth, notably, although Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are still over-represented in more deprived areas of Scotland, they are less likely to be living in such areas in Scotland than they are in England.
Seventh, Muslims in Scotland are fast becoming a highly-educated population – currently exceeding the total population figure for ‘degree level and above’ education by 10 percentage points.
Eighth, almost 1 in 3 (31%) of the Muslim population is ‘economically active’ full-time – whether as an employee, or self-employed. For the population as-a-whole, the figure is 51%. It is notable that both of these percentages are higher than the corresponding figures for England and Wales which are 19.8% for Muslims and 34.9% for the overall population
Ninth, comparisons with the Muslim population in England and Wales suggest that Muslims in Scotland are somewhat socio-economically better off.
Click to access scottish_muslims_in_numbers_web.pdf
Tenth, ‘there are no radical preachers in Scottish mosques who are urging Muslims to commit violence abroad or at home.’
Eleventh, in 2017, Transport Minister Humza Yousaf, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, first took his oath of allegiance in English and then in Urdu in the Scottish Parliament. Not something you can imagine in France. https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/9147/yvonne-ridley-french-police-could-take-lessons-scotlands-cops-after-burkiniban
Finally, see this:
‘Good community relations mean young Muslims in Scotland eschew extremism Unlike in England, there is mutual respect between the Scottish government, the Muslim communities and the police’ https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/14/good-community-relations-young-muslims-scotland-eschew-extremism
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 