The activist networks influencing anti-Islamophobia equity training for educators
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Summary
Amira El-Ghawabi, Canada's former Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, delivered a keynote presentation titled Unlearning Islamophobia at Harmony Movement s Educator Anti-Racism Conference on April 29th.
Transcript
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Amira El-Ghawabi, Canada's former Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia,
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delivered a keynote presentation titled Unlearning Islamophobia at Harmony Movement's
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Educator Anti-Racism Conference on April 29th. The presentation draws heavily from two primary
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sources, El-Ghawabi's own Federal Guide to Understanding and Combating Islamophobia,
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and the York University Islamophobia Research Hub's 2025 report on the Palestine exception.
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Now, in December, Blacklock's reporter revealed that Al-Gawabi's office authorized an $80,000 payment to the hub,
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effectively covertly commissioning the research.
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The guide links Islamophobia with intersectional racial discrimination of those who follow Islam
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or have perceived Muslimness based on attire, names, appearances, etc.
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Even non-Muslims can be subject to Islamophobia, according to them, regardless of ethnicity.
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and ultimately this racialized protection of religion can turn criticism of Islam as a set
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of ideas into racial prejudice against a racialized group. And this approach is being rejected
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internationally. In April, Sweden dropped the term Islamophobia from official policy. Foreign
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Minister Maria Malmer Steingard called the concept problematic and announced that Sweden would
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instead use the term anti-Muslim racism or anti-Muslim hatred. The government is also urging
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the EU and UN to follow suit. And the United Kingdom did just that. It replaced the racialized
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Islamophobia with a narrow definition of anti-Muslim hostility and included stronger free
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speech protections. Al-Ghawabi's keynote also relies on research from the Hub previously mentioned.
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One of the Hub's steering committee members is Faisal Kuti, co-founder of CareCan, now the National
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Council of Canadian Muslims. And in 1999, an article he penned called No Democracy Without
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Risks, Kuti argued for including so-called moderate Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood in
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democratic processes to prevent radicalization. He wrote, quote, democracy cannot be suspended
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every time there's a chance Islamists might be coming to power. Kuti has been criticized by
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counter-Islamism researchers, and in 2015, Senate testimony for associations they describe as
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aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood-linked advocacy ecosystems and for his history in
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defending Islamic organizations facing national security scrutiny. The keynote cites data from
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the Center of Studies of Organized Hate, which is a U.S. activist group. Their program lead for
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Islamophobia in North America is Nayala Muhammad, previously served as Director of Policy and
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strategy at the Muslim Public Affairs Council, an organization that has repeatedly opposed
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designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, and has defended care against
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similar scrutiny. Problem is, once you look behind the hood, you can see how research featured in
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al-Ghawabi's keynotes to educators connects activist narratives that many countries are