Toxic narratives: the role of the media in Islamophobia in Italy

Insight by Adil Mauro

Two out of three Italians are afraid of Muslim communities. According to a Swg survey, 67% of Italians have a ‘propensity to demonise Islam’ and only 33% consider themselves open and in favour of integration. A survey in line with what happens in other European countries. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) reports that today one in two Muslims in the Union is a victim of ‘racism and discrimination in daily life’. For FRA director Sirpa Rautio “we are witnessing a worrying increase in racism and discrimination against Muslims in Europe. This is fuelled by the conflicts in the Middle East and aggravated by the dehumanising anti-Muslim rhetoric we see across the continent”.

Islamophobia is a widespread phenomenon and the absence of a systematic and complete collection of data contributes to the entrenchment of false beliefs in society, such as the number of Muslims living in Italy. Their presence in the country is overestimated: they represent 5% of the resident population but the perception is that they are 19%, according to a study conducted by Ipsos.

“People of the Muslim religion are very diverse. We cannot speak of a community, but of several realities, individuals and associations. I think this is one of the reasons why it has always been difficult to obtain official recognition from the state”, Tunisian-born journalist and podcaster Leila Belhadj Mohamed tells Voice Over.

A legitimacy made even more difficult by the current executive. Last October, the members of the Council for Relations with Islam announced their resignation. In a letter addressed to Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, they denounced the suspension of all started and planned initiatives and the lack of legal recognition of various Islamic bodies. In about two years, the parties have only met once, on 13 July 2023.

Despite the blatant disinterest of the Meloni government, there are many outstanding issues that need to be urgently addressed. For Belhadj Mohamed, they range from denied space in cemeteries (“we have a huge problem with the burial of our loved ones, a situation that worsened during the pandemic”) to the need to use existing regulations, “starting with the Mancino law whenever there is an Islamophobic attack or a case of religious discrimination”.

Unpopular topics in a country that harbours an irrational fear of people who profess the Islamic religion. A survey conducted in 15 Western European countries by the Pew Research Center sees us in first place among nations frightened of Islam. Despite the fact that an Islamic attack has never taken place in Italy, 16% of our fellow countrymen believe that several Muslims support extremist groups: a higher figure than that found in countries affected by terrorist attacks such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The role played by the media in demonising Islam is crucial. “Hours of television programming are devoted to marginal episodes of local news in order to exacerbate a feeling of hatred towards Muslim people”, says Belhadj Mohamed. “However, the huge discrepancy in the perception of Islam between those who have the opportunity to inform themselves even on social media and that part of society that relies only on traditional media must be underlined”.

The attempt to overcome a stereotyped view of Islam is also shared and pursued by Sabika Shah Povia, a freelance journalist of Pakistani origin who covers racism, political and religious extremism.

“When we talk about Islam, it seems that a clash of civilisations is taking place, an opposition between us and them. And the Muslim woman is portrayed as a victim, submissive or otherwise unable to choose for herself. And when she does not fit into these categories, she is a complicit woman, with negative connotations. Instead the Muslim man in these narratives, from 11 September 2001 onwards, always plays the role of the villain. As a journalist, a problem I often find in articles about a Muslim girl who is perhaps the victim of some violence is the misuse of fictionalised phrases, such as ‘the dream of this girl who only wanted to live Western-style’. Not an accurate description at all, in many cases made by people who know nothing about these girls. And this is something I am also noticing a lot when it comes to reporting on what happens in countries like Iran: the women killed during the demonstrations ‘only dreamt of the wind in their hair’. But you cannot reduce that battle to the desire for the wind in your hair, we are not writing novels, we are journalists and we should be reporting”, says Shah Povia.

The limits of the world of information on these issues became evident with the feminicide of Saman Abbas, an 18-year-old girl of Pakistani origin killed between 30 April and 1 May 2021 in Novellara, in the province of Reggio Emilia.

“In that case, the description of the Pakistani community had been ‘Muslims kill their daughters’ without trying to understand why this girl lived so isolated and why no one had noticed anything before. No questions as to why there are no long-term integration paths for people arriving here”, the journalist points out. “There are so many problems, but we just tell them in a superficial way, making everything into one monolithic block”.

A frequent phenomenon in such cases - or in the aftermath of a terrorist attack - is the request by the media and politicians for every single person of the Islamic faith to condemn the violent act in question and publicly disassociate themselves. 

For Shah Povia, this is an issue that has never gone away. “As an Italian Muslim person, I feel part of this society, but when they ask me to dissociate I end up outside their idea of society, on the side of the enemy. It is a problematic request because it does not favour integration in the country but creates resentment”.

However, something - starting with the inevitable controversy over the veil that accompanies any discussion on Islam - is changing in Italy too, says Belhadj Mohamed.