Islamophobia and Racism: Bill M-103
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As we know, Bill M-103 was a Private Member’s Bill introduced by Liberal MP Iqra Khalid. As the voting record shows, MPs voted along party lines: all Liberal and NDP Members of Parliament present voted in favour of the bill, while all Bloc Québécois and Conservative Members. Conservatives who voted against the bill argued that such language would lead to censorship of criticisms of Islam itself. Obviously, such arguments are not valid, as they allow criticism of Islam and Muslims. However, the conservatives may use racial existentialism. The term Rana uses in his article. This term struggles to identify categories of race and to deny the power of modern racism by arguing that race as a concept is no longer important and is not used in Islamophobia (Rana 1). In reality, Muslim and Islam have become a category of race. The bill sponsored by Iqra Khalid focuses on the term "Islamophobia". It states:
"condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination and take note of House of Commons’ petition e-411 and the issues raised by it" (Motion-103). I believe the conservatives seem to have a problem with the term "Islamophobia" as it is tied to "racism". They seem to deny their racist intentions even though they want to criticize Islam which is Islamophobic itself. Although they may believe in racial existentialism in reality they criticize the term islamophobia, this reflects the global systemic racism. Also, the fact that they normalize criticisms of Islam is Islamophobic and racist itself.