ENGAGING MUSLIM YOUTH: A STUDY IN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF BARNET

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ENGAGING MUSLIM YOUTH A STUDY IN THE LONDON
BOROUGH OF BARNET

• REPORT AUTHORS
• Louise Ryan, Eleonore Kofman and Pauline Aaron

2
Intro

• Middlesex University was commissioned by Barnets
  Muslim Youth Engagement Steering Group to find
  out more about the lives, beliefs and aspirations
  of Barnets Muslim communities.
• This study was funded by Preventing Violent
  Extremism Pathfinder Delivery Fund.

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Aims of study

• The study aimed to
• gain a deeper insight into the experiences,
  attitudes and expectations of young Muslim people
  in the borough
• examine their sense of belonging and the
  factors that may enhance or weaken it.
• explore their perceptions of radicalisation.
• up-skill young Muslims through providing the
  opportunity to receive training in research
  methods and experience in carrying out fieldwork.

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Methods

• There were three strands to the research
• Short (2-page) questionnaires
• semi-structured interviews (32 questions)
• one focus group
• Questionnaires total completed 268
• Age 17-19 59, 20-24 24, 25-29 15
• Sex 42 female 58 male.
• Interviews - total 39
• 46 of interview participants were female
  compared with 54 male.
• Focus Group 8 young people (6 males, 2 females)

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Living in Barnet

• 175 respondents were currently living in the
  London Borough of Barnet, compared with 93 who
  were non-residents.
• respondents currently living in Barnet 58 had
  done so for 6 years or less, reflecting that the
  majority of our respondents were not born in the
  UK and that many arrived from countries like
  Afghanistan and Somalia.
• Nonetheless, the majority of those who lived in
  Barnet 66 - agreed or strongly agreed with the
  statement
• I feel at home in Barnet.

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Liked and disliked about Barnet

• liked most about Barnet
• clean area to live in and also that the people
  were friendly.
• liked least about Barnet the most common
  complaint was about gangs and crime.
• what needs to be improved in Barnet the most
  popular responses were
• more leisure facilities for young people,
• more facilities catering for Muslims (such as
  more mosques as well as more leisure facilities
  that Muslims felt comfortable using),
• reduce crime in the area
• improve transport

7
Muslim population density

• Most interview participants lived in
  neighbourhoods where some or most of their
  neighbours were Muslims.
• This may reflect Census (2001) data which suggest
  that Muslims tend to be specifically located in
  particular areas of the borough.
• The majority of participants said their friends
  were all or mostly Muslim, with 23 saying they
  had mixed (Muslim and non-Muslim) friendship
  groups.

8
Socialising in Barnet

• The activities that most of our participants did
  in Barnet were meeting friends, using green
  spaces like parks, going out to eat and attending
  Mosque activities.
• 38 of participants described the range of
  leisure activities in the borough as good, while
  38 described it as poor or very poor, with 23
  undecided (or dont know).
• 69 of interviewees said they felt safe in
  Barnet, compared to 28 who said they did not
  feel safe in the borough.

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Discrimination

• 77 said they had never felt discriminated
  against as a Muslim compared to 21 who had
  experienced some form of discrimination (for
  example in the workplace or in an educational
  setting).
• It is noteworthy that although they may not have
  experienced discrimination to date, several young
  people expressed concern that they may face
  discrimination when they start looking for
  employment
• I feel that I will be discriminated against if
  they know I am a Muslim (PW333)
• But I still think I will disadvantaged by being
  a Muslim (PW331)

10
Abuse or harassment for being a Muslim

• While the majority said they had never witnessed
  or experienced any form of abuse or harassment,
• a minority, 20 described incidents - usually in
  public places such as the street or on public
  transport - where they had observed anti-Muslim
  abuse.
• In the street, a gang of boys called a Muslim
  man who had a beard and was dressed like a
  Muslim a terrorist and they tried to block
  his way (PI030)
• I saw a Muslim on a bus wearing hijab and some
  people were making fun of her (IF345)
• At school some boys called me a terrorist. I
  didnt tell anyone (FSXX1)

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Causes of Anti-Muslim sentiments

• In terms of explaining the causes of anti-Muslim
  sentiments, the majority of participants pointed
  to media stereotypes and global events which
  created the image of Muslims as terrorists.
• Due to events in the world and media coverage
  (PI027)
• Because of 9/11 (AYXX2)
• feeling very Islamophobic as there is a
  demonisation in the media of Muslims (MX334)
• because of the media and after 9/11 and 7/7
  (AY306)
• Iraq war (FSXX1)

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Importance of religion

• 92 of participants said religion was important
  or very important to them, with 8 saying it was
  of little importance. In terms of practicing
  their religion 75 of all participants said they
  practiced often or very often, with the remaining
  25 practicing sometimes or rarely.
• Sources of religious instructions
• The most cited sources were family and friends,
  followed by books, then mosques and internet.
• Female participants were more likely to practice
  at home than in the mosque.

13
Politics

• While the majority said they were not interested
  in politics, there was still a strong view that
  Muslims were not fairly represented in British
  politics.
• In relation to local politics in Barnet, some
  felt that Muslims were more fairly represented
  here than at the national level. However, a very
  large proportion, said they did not know enough
  about the local political situation to answer the
  question.

14
British government policy

• Most participants stated that British government
  policy influenced the willingness of young
  Muslims to feel part of British society. In
  giving reasons for their answers the respondents
  repeated the themes highlighted throughout the
  interviews discrimination, economic
  disadvantage, the war on terror, the ways in
  which anti-terrorist legislation reinforced
  stereotypes of Muslims as terrorists.
• British foreign policy in countries like Iraq
  may seem that Britain targets Muslims (PI030)
• Young Muslims feel left out of British society
  mainly because of British foreign policy (PI027)

15
Media

• The majority of participants said that Muslims
  were not fairly represented in the Media.
• Just over 1/3 said that Muslims were not fairly
  represented in the local media. However, about
  1/3 of participants said they could not comment
  on the local media as they did not read Barnet
  papers.

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Young Muslims and disaffection

• A small minority said that young Muslims were not
  disaffected.
• However, the majority asserted that young Muslims
  were disaffected and explained this in terms of
  negative stereotyping/ media representations and
  inequality/ discrimination.
• Muslims in general are treated differently and
  therefore dont feel at home (PI030)
• Because it is difficult for them to succeed in
  everyday life because they are treated as second
  class citizens (PW332)

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Radicalisation

• This issue was discussed at great length in the
  focus group. People described a combination of
  interconnecting push and pull factors.
• Pull factors (active recruitment)
• This occurs in places such as universities,
  colleges, but also on street corners and in some
  mosques through distribution of literature, free
  books, and other materials, through invitation to
  lectures and small discussion groups.
• in college they have been trying to recruit, in
  universities they try and recruit, its
  everywhere, people are experiencing that stuff
  all around (FG002).

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Radicalisation

• There is a sense that young people feel alienated
  from many Imams whom they feel cannot
  communicate with them or understand their
  situations.
• It was also remarked upon by several participants
  that young people often dont fully understand
  the teachings behind their religion and so are
  vulnerable to persuasive arguments from those
  seeking to radicalise them.
• its a problem with the people themselves,
  theyre not educated enough in their religion to
  understand. Honestly, because I have friends
  they can read the Quran inside out ok, but then
  they take the literal meaning. There is the
  literal meaning and then there is the real
  meaning, and thats the thing. (FG005).

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Push factors

• The young people talked about anti-Muslim
  stereotyping in the media, being labelled a
  terrorist. There were several examples where
  people (particularly women wearing the hijab)
  were called terrorist on public transport.
• feeling under scrutiny by the police. Several
  participants described incidents where they had
  been stopped by police or immigration officers.
• It was also noted that many young people are
  feeling frustrated by the on-going war in Iraq
  and Afghanistan
• You see these images, you feel really down
  because you see all these children dying and its
  so graphic and its like you ask yourself why am
  I here, why am I sitting here.the Iraqi war,
  and its been going on for how many years now
  and you feel that you cant do anything then
  there is going to be a lot of anger and you feel
  like you want to vent, theres going to be a lot
  of frustration (FG006)

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Radicalisation push factors

• Another push factor noted by many of the
  participants stemmed from structural inequality,
  lack of opportunities for young Muslims, high
  levels of poverty and deprivation. These factors
  can create a sense of hopelessness and
  disaffection among young people that may make
  them more open to radicalising influences.
• What we can do is try to eliminate the
  grievances that these young Muslims have in order
  for them to be recruited (by extremists), its
  the grievance that needs to be stamped out. If a
  young Muslim person is going to a university, if
  its economically viable, hes got a good family,
  hes got some sort of future to look to, he knows
  that after university hes going to get a good
  job, then he will continue with his life, hes
  going to have something a goal that he can
  pursue, I dont think it would be very easy for
  these kind of Iman/Preachers, to radicalize him
  (FG002)

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Between a rock and a hard place

• For some young people negotiating between their
  Britishness and their Muslim identity was seen as
  difficult
• the first thing they say theyre British, they
  are British, we are British but the thing is
  youre stuck between a rock and a hard place
  Right now youre stuck in between, thinking am I
  British or am I a Muslim and you cant balance
  it out and its supposed to be the same because
  Islam is a religion and Britain is a citizenship
  and thats the thing(FG001).

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14. Tackling disaffection

• Respondents indicated that improvement in four
  key areas would help young Muslims to feel more
  engaged with the wider society
• A greater variety of activities for young people
  would help them feel more involved in local
  initiatives.
• Investing in more activities which encourage
  different communities to come together.
• Several interviewees expressed a need for greater
  intercommunity dialogue. Building on this idea
  was the suggestion of teaching other communities
  about Islam, perhaps through schools.
• Structural inequalities have emerged as an
  important theme which underpins disaffection
  among young Muslims. Therefore the need for equal
  opportunities was also suggested as an important
  step to greater engagement.
• A number of participants discussed the need to
  stop negative stereotypes about Muslims,
  particularly in the media.

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Relating the local, national and global

• A key finding is the way the local context is
  framed and experienced through the lens of the
  global
• The relationship between local and national was
  also complex feeling at home in Barnet did not
  necessarily mean feeling at home in Britain.
• These young people had an international
  perspective what has been called an
  international imagined community (Spalek) -
  which made it difficult to disentangle national
  issues from wider global events