Izlaganje sa skupa

PART II: MUSLIMS PERCEPTIONS OF BRITISH COBAT TROOPS

Ahmed Hankir ; Department of Psychiatry, Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies, Cape Canaveral, FL, USA; Bedfordshire Centre for Mental Health Research in association with the University of Cambridge (BCMHR-CU), Cambridge, UK; Leeds York Partnership Foundation Trust, Leeds, UK
Frederick R. Carrick ; Bedfordshire Centre for Mental Health Research in association with the University of Cambridge (BCMHR-CU), Cambridge, UK; Department of Neurology, Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies, Cape Canaveral, FL, USA; Harvard Macy and MGH Institutes, Boston, MA, USA
Rashid Zaman ; Bedfordshire Centre for Mental Health Research in association with the University of Cambridge (BCMHR-CU), Cambridge, UK; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Jamie Hacker Hughes ; Veterans and Families Institute Anglia Ruskin University, Norwich, UK; Visiting Professor of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, UK; Visiting Professor of Military and Veteran Psychology, University of Northumbria, UK ; Honorary Professor of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

Sažetak

Background: On the 22nd May 2017, suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) in the
Manchester Arena killing 22 people and injuring 116 others. Following the 'massacre in Manchester', the leader of the Labour
Party, Jeremy Corbyn, linked UK foreign policy with terrorism on British soil. Controversial and contentious though Corbyn’s
claims may be, the terrorists themselves have also reported that what motivates them to carry out their abominable atrocities are British military operations in Muslim majority countries. Indeed, on the 22nd May 2013, British serviceman, Lee Rigby, was brutally attacked and killed by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. The perpetrators of this heinous act told passers-by at the scene that they wanted to avenge the killing of Muslims by the British Armed Forces.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, mixed-methods study on Muslim perceptions of British combat troops and UK foreign policy. Participants were selected by purposive sampling. We crafted a survey that explored Muslim perceptions of the British military and the government’s foreign policy. Response items were on a Likert-scale and there was white space for free text comments which were subjected to thematic analyses.
Results: 75/75 (100%) of the participants recruited responded. (75/75 (100%) Muslim participants, 43/75 (57.3%) female
participants, 32/75 (42.7%) male participants, mean age 20.5 years, (Std. Dev. ±2.5)). 66/75 (88%) of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that British military operations in Muslim majority countries have negatively influenced perceptions towards combat troops. 42/75 (56%) of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that contact with a combat troops or veterans would positively influence their perceptions towards them. Themes of free text comments included the role that the media plays in demonising Muslims, the transcendental bond that Muslims around the world have for each other and ‘the brainwashing’ of British combat troops by the Government.
Discussion: The fact that many of the participants in our sample agreed or strongly agreed that social contact with service
personnel or veterans would positively influence perceptions towards them is encouraging. The results of our survey lend support for future intervention studies investigating whether contact between Muslims residing in the UK and British combat troops would promote unity and community cohesion.

Ključne riječi

stigma; Islamophobia; Muslims; social contact; British combat troops; radicalisation

Hrčak ID:

263794

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/263794

Datum izdavanja:

15.6.2017.

Posjeta: 229 *