In 2014, the media in Britain and the Western world dealt with a false message described as a plan to Islamize schools and change some educational laws in classrooms in favor of giving them an Islamic character in Birmingham and other British cities.

A new podcast by The New York Times re-highlights the details of the alleged plot, which includes allegations that "radical" Muslims aimed to "take over" about 20 public schools in Birmingham, although several investigations were opened at the time. No evidence was found to prove the existence of this conspiracy.

In a report published by the Australian website, The Conversation, academic writer Chris Allen at the University of Leicester says that journalists Brian Reid and Hamza Sayed sought to discover the author of the anonymous letter that sparked this scandal.

The writer admits that he, in turn, fought a psychological struggle over the validity of these allegations, as he lived in Birmingham for more than two decades, and conducted extensive research on Muslim communities in the city.

While it was interesting to investigate the mysteries of these allegations, the author states that he was concerned that this would distract attention from the negative effects of this scandal on the lives of ordinary people.

For him, it is important for others to understand that the legacy of this issue is still felt today, and that Birmingham and Muslim communities alike are still seen as a source of problems.

accusations of extremism

An anonymous letter published in the British newspaper "Sunday Telegraph" claims that teachers and principals in some schools have been systematically replaced by people who seek to run them according to "radical" Islamic principles.

Against this background, then-Education Minister Michael Gove appointed the former head of the counter-terrorism unit, Peter Clark, to verify the validity of these allegations, a decision that indicates an important shift. Rather, it is an investigation into potential extremism, with West Midlands Police even expressing concern about how the city's Muslims will perceive the decision.

Indeed, the investigation did not find any evidence of terrorism, violent extremism or radicalization in any of the schools examined, however the government stated that more efforts should be made to address the problem of extremism in schools, and the solution offered by the UK government was the inclusion of “British values Basically” within the educational program in schools, the “problem” was effectively attributed to Muslims, and while most educational institutions continued to operate as usual, local schools and Muslim communities continued to suffer from the consequences of this scandal.

lasting legacy

In a telling moment from the New York Times podcast, former students at a school affected by the Trojan horse scandal explained that they were afraid to mention the name of the school they attended for fear of the potential harmful impact of this information on their future education or career prospects, that they feared being victims of the so-called “fallacy.” guilt in association,” that is, to be seen as extremists or supporters of extremist principles.

In the words of the author, an entire generation of Birmingham Muslims is threatened with social stigmatization because of the Trojan Horse scandal.

In fact, this stigma started long before that, as the writer says that when this issue was raised he was already conducting research on the "Hero Project" in which more than 200 video surveillance cameras and an automatic number plate recognition system were installed in areas that include The largest number of Muslims in the city.

Initially, this was interpreted as an initiative to reduce street crime, but later it was found that West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council were lying, because the project was funded by an anti-terror program.

By the time these cameras were dismantled in 2011, Muslim communities were feeling more fear and marginalization.

On the other hand, other city dwellers have concluded that there is no smoke without fire.

hotbed of extremism

The writer notes that the belief that many people outside the UK have about Birmingham is based on a statement made by terrorism expert Steve Emerson on Fox News when he described the city as having a Muslim majority.

Emerson was mocked, but since then Birmingham and its Muslim communities have become two sides of the same coin, and that was evident in the aftermath of Khaled Masoud's murder of 5 people in London in 2017.

Against this background, the Financial Times described Birmingham as a "hotbed" of Islamic extremism, while The Independent described it as a "breeding ground for British terrorism".

As the podcast explains, the evidence supporting the allegations of the Trojan horse scandal was very flimsy, and taking these allegations seriously is very confusing in many ways. Smoke without fire has had a tangible and detrimental effect on Birmingham and its Muslim communities.

elemental legacy

“Islamophobia” is a concept that literally means the collective morbid fear of Islam and Muslims, but in reality it is a type of racism based on a set of actions, feelings and stereotypes that are hostile to Islam and Muslims.

Colonial historians trace the first use of the concept of "Islamophobia" - which means "Islamophobia" or the pathological fear of Islam - to the early 20th century.

French sociologists used this concept to describe the rejection of part of the French administrators and their hostility to the Muslim communities that they were managing during the occupation and were supposed to coexist with them and integrate into their social systems, given the dictates of the administrative and political tasks assigned to them.

Contemporary French philosopher Pascal Bruckner sees - in his book "Imaginary Racism.. Islamophobia and Guilt" - that Islamophobia is a pure slander used by Islamists as a weapon of collective intimidation, and concludes that anti-racists themselves have become racists, calling for the defense of "Western values" in the face of these.

In an article for Middle East Eye, researchers in Islamic studies and political sciences John Esposito and Farid Hafez considered that recent years have witnessed a "cultural war" against Islamophobia studies in European countries such as France, Germany and Austria, where governments and political parties denied And thinkers in these countries the presence of the problem of Islamophobia they have or in the dealings of their societies with Muslim minorities.

They stated that over the past two decades Islamophobia studies has increasingly emerged as an academic sub-field that documents and challenges racism, discrimination, hate speech and violence against Muslims around the world.