Friday, March 15, 2019

Who are the terrorists?

White Britons are twice as likely to hold extremist views as people of Pakistani descent, research has suggested.
When asked whether they supported actions including suicide bombings and terror attacks as a “form of political protest” or to “fight injustices”, 15 per cent of white Britons were classed as sympathisers, compared with 8 per cent of Pakistani-origin respondents.
When divided by religion, 18 per cent of Christians and 8 per cent of Muslims were sympathisers, while 59 per cent of Christians and 68 per cent of Muslims condemned the statements.
Professor Kam Bhui of Queen Mary University of London said, “This raises concerns about right-wing extremism and suggests that a focus on tackling Islamic fundamentalism is flawed, and we need to consider extremism more generally.”
Dr Clive Gabay, senior lecturer in international politics at Queen Mary University, said the latest study must serve as a “wake-up call” following research suggesting that large numbers of Brexit voters had racist and prejudicial attitudes towards migrants.
“Racism is a serious factor in the current political debates around immigration and integration, and we need to be mindful of the re-emergence and growing popularity of extremist anti-BAME and anti-immigrant views,”
Official statistics published last week showed that 43 per cent of suspected terrorists arrested are white, compared to 32 per cent who are Asian.

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