It has now been one month since Paris was left in a state of emergency due to an attack by Daesh, ISIS, IS, ISIL, which ever of the many names they are reported under within the mainstream media today.
It has also been the same amount of time since the much less publicised attacks in Beirut, carried out by the same extremist group.
Both are seen as terrorist attacks, but were they covered fairly within the mainstream press, and if not, is this in fact contributing to an increasing level of Islamophobia within the UK?
The IDC are a regional based organisation set up in order to challenge the stereotype, remove misconceptions around Islam and Muslims and teach authentic Islam.
Abu-Tayeb KhairDeen is the Founder and trustee of the Islamic Diversity Centre North East. The IDC are a regional based organisation set up in order to challenge the stereotype, remove misconceptions around Islam and Muslims and teach authentic Islam. Mr KhairDeen said " The mainstream media are not doing their job, in fact they are making the situation far worse........ the mainstream media is meant to be objective, neutral and reflect what is actually happening out there but it is very very clear that there is a double standard in the mainstream media nationally, local media is a bit more balanced and in tune with their communities. It seems quite evident that there is an agenda that is being fulfilled."
Mr KhairDeen believes that the mainstream media's agenda is perpetuating the increase in Islamophobia stoked up by the extreme political right.
Since the latest terrorist events, the IDC have been made aware of an increased number of attacks on members of the Muslim community within the North East. "After the attacks in Paris on the Friday evening, by Monday I was dealing with about five cases of physical assaults to Muslims in Newcastle alone". These included attacks on two schoolboys aged 12 and 13, and on numerous Muslim women. Mr KhariDeen continued " You can see a trend happening here, it's usually the vulnerable from within a community that get attacked, it is very very cowardly, but the point is there is definitely a backlash to any incident like this and they always focus on the most vulnerable in our communities."
"After the attacks in Paris on the Friday evening, by Monday I was dealing with about five cases of physical assaults to Muslims in Newcastle alone."
The picture used in the headline of this piece is taken from an English Defence League March, held in Newcastle. The EDL are seen as a far right group and have been in existence since 2009, long before the terror attacks took place last month.
Terrorism is just one of a number of reasons that they believe the Islamic faith must be fought. A demonstration to voice these reasons took place the day following the Paris attacks in Bradford.
One section of their manifesto for this demonstration based on terrorism is shown below:
Clearly the far right group do not believe that the Government are taking strong enough action in protecting the country and it's "cultures" and by doing so are leaving it more open to attack.
This is where they find an unlikely common ground with the Muslim community, in the argument that the government is actually making the country more susceptible to attacks from extremists. They of course differ on the reasons why the government is making the UK a target for attacks. Both ends of the spectrum are pointing the blame at military action, just one believes we're not doing enough while the other thinks we are over stepping our bounds.
This is currently the only Sunderland mosque outside of University grounds, however work has started on a new mosque in Millfield.
Zaf Iqbal, is Chair of Sunderland Together and Co-Chair of Inter-Faith Forum as well as many other roles (including the building of a new mosque) said "I can only speak for Sunderland , the Paris attacks were sad, we were all upset by it but really want to make it clear that ISIS do not represent Islam in any way whatsoever. We are against the bombing of Syria, don't believe that is the way to defeat ISIS, but is more likely to radicalise impressionable young people."
On the subject of Islamophobia he went on to add "they are contributing to it, mainstream media especially , but the government is not helping either , don't think either wants to dispel it"
This is a view also shared by Abu-Tayeb, which you can hear by listening to the full interview with him below.
