Arzu recalls the response of friends and people she met in Bosnia the day after the UK’s Brexit Referendum. In the result to leave the European Union, and the campaign that led up to they saw their own experiences before the Bosnian war unleashed in the British public space. Ten years on,
Arzu argues that we need to join the dots and realise that the narratives of the UK and the west more broadly as ‘liberal’ ‘tolerant’ and ‘just’ are fictions that we have internalised. This week’s sentencing of the Filton Four, and the decision by the Court of Appeal to uphold the proscription
Arzu Merali looks at how the Michaela School judgment fits into new narratives of nation in the UK, and how it heralds the collapse of minority rights norms. [This article was first published on 22 May 2024 in The Long View journal. Read the full issue here]. Listen to the audio or
Arzu reflects on the notorious ‘Punish a Muslim Day’ letter found in circulation in the UK for Middle East Eye Once upon a time there was a letter and the letter was posted down the streets of Leicester, London, Sheffield, Bradford and Cardiff. Sent to Muslims in areas deemed to have high Muslim
In the wake of the publication of a landmark report documenting a rise in anti-Muslim racism in the UK, one of its authors, Arzu Merali, argues for a deeper understanding of the systemic roots of Islamophobia.* “While the media has always been identified as a problem area when it comes to rising
Arzu spoke at the launch of the research authored by herself and Professor Saied R. Ameli on hate against Muslims in the UK. From the IHRC website: IHRC launched its second UK-wide study, ‘Environment of Hate: The New Normal for Muslims in the UK’. It is an indispensable work which draws
Arzu was asked to present her thoughts in a panel discussion, as Head of Research at IHRC, at the launch of the Tolerace toolkit dealing with racism and how to counter it, in various European settings. The launch took place in Lisbon, Portugal, in February 2013. What follows was written up and