‘Commission on British Muslims & Islamophobia’ and ‘Alif-Aleph UK – British Muslims and British Jews’
Phase 1
The Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia (CBMI) is a reliable reflection of the recent history of anti-racism in the UK. CBMI was set up by the Runnymead Trust, a charity set up in the 1960s by a group of human rights activists, as a research think-tank to respond to ‘race riots’ in Notting Hill and other centres of Black immigration. By 1993, the trustees recognised the need to address religious discrimination as well as colour racism. They set up a Commission on anti-semitism which produced a report in 1995 called ‘A Very Light Sleeper’. An awareness that parallels between anti-Jewish prejudice and the new growing anti-Muslim prejudice emerged during this period and one of the recommendations of the commission was that Runnymede should set up another Commission, on ‘British Muslims & Islamophobia’.
Phase 2
Our Report in 1997 was titled ‘Islamophobia – a Challenge for us All’. This was the first time that the subject of Islamophobia had been comprehensively tackled in relation to a British Muslim population estimated at between 1.2 and 1.4 million. Sixty recommendations were put forward in the report targeted at government departments, bodies and agencies, local and regional statutory bodies, and voluntary and private bodies.
In 2000, following analysis of the 60 Recommendations contained in the 1997 Runnymede Trust report on Islamophobia found that many of the original recommendations had not been implemented and a decision was made to re-convene the Commission, with Richard Stone as Chair.
In 2004, CBMI produced its first report: Islamophobia – issues, challenges and action. The Report put the word Islamophobia on the map. It also documented home-grown anti-Muslim prejudice, discrimination and violence, before increased unease and tension following the Twin Towers attack in 2001, and the potential damage to community relations after the London bombings in 2005.
Phase 3
At the request of many British Muslims, in 2006 the Commission was reconvened once more.
It is being established following growing calls from a number of leading British Muslims who are keen to see tangible progress on the Recommendations of the ‘Preventing Extremism Together’ Working Groups, set up by the Government in the aftermath of last year’s bombings. The initiative was launched with keynote speeches from a number of Parliamentarians, and Professor Tariq Ramadan, one of Europe’s leading thinkers on Muslims in the West.
A national Commission of twenty-two leading figures from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds have been established, alongside six Regional Commissioner groups to ensure that the views of UK’s Muslim communities are brought to the fore.