“Most of us do not need to read the many reports coming out of the European Union, government departments and think-tanks to tell us there has been a rise in Islamophobia in Britain since 9/11 and the beginning of the ‘war on terror’…. Islamophobia seems to be replacing antisemitism as the principal Western statement of bigotry against the ‘other’…. This isn’t to say that we didn’t have racism pre 9/11. I’ve been called a ‘Paki’ for as long as I can remember – but now it is about being a Muslim. ‘Polite society’ no longer has to worry about seeming racist, or sounding like the BNP, if they are talking about Muslims.”

Nahella Ashraf in Socialist Worker, 9 February 2008