Elham Assad Buaras
The Mayor of London’s plans to expand the controversial Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) for motorists has resulted in a surge in online racist abuse against him, according to data published by his office on July 5.
The report titled Measuring Hate: Understanding Abuse Towards the Mayor of London found that in ‘March 2023, nearly 10 percent (9.6%) of all racist/racialised abuse Sadiq Khan received was related to ULEZ.’ The report also found that Khan, who is of Pakistani origin, has already received more abuse from India this year than he did last year, ‘increasing by 107% in 6 months already.’
Khan was elected as London’s (and any major Western capital’s) first Muslim mayor in 2016. According to the study, he has received at least 304,000 racist messages on social media. These messages were partially fuelled by a long-running Twitter feud with then-US President Donald Trump.
London’s ULEZ, which charges drivers of the most polluting vehicles £12.50 a day, is set to more than double from August 29, in an expansion that also faces a challenge in court.
Instances of racist abuse towards Khan linked to ULEZ nearly tripled in January-March from the prior three months, reaching a record last month, the Greater London Authority said, citing internal research that analysed Twitter posts. “Sadiq has always faced huge levels of racist abuse online, with the volume of attacks increasing again substantially in recent weeks,” a spokesperson for Khan said.
“Policies that address air quality and public health have undoubtedly become a major focus of online hate in the UK and across the world.”
The zone’s expansion, championed by Khan as vital to preventing deaths and illnesses linked to air pollution, has pitted health campaigners against those who say they cannot endure another economic hit during a cost-of-living crisis in Britain.
While public figures face frequent invective online, often from anonymous users, the City Hall analysis underscores the polarising nature of the ULEZ debate in London.
At a public town hall meeting in March, Khan said he found it unacceptable that those with legitimate objections to ULEZ were “joining hands” with far-right sympathisers. Much of the hate speech aimed at the mayor on Twitter was Islamophobic in nature. Words like “jihad” and “Islamist” were frequently used; examples include a Twitter user named Mark irrationally remarking that ‘Muslims won’t be affected by the charge!’
Another pushed one of many Islamophobic conspiracy theories, arguing that ‘Khan is implementing Islam throughout London. And no one stops him or does anything about it. They oppose the ULEZ, a major distraction. All the while, he’s turning the city into a Muslim enclave.’
Others irreverently reiterated Khan’s religion when critiquing the new scheme: “A Muslim mayor who’s pushing Ulez on the people, and he ain’t for the British people.”
While some Twitter users were less subtle with their Islamophobic rants, ‘Khan turned Cockney London into a TOTAL SH#THOLE, Full of his Mosques, Building Housing for ‘Muslims ONLY’ poisoning our GOOD QUALITY air just by opening his mouth and talking sh#t, implying ULEZ everywhere WANTS 15-minute cities, IS a Terrorist supporter, and is a Fabian Khan OUT!’
According to the report, most hate speech from India took place between August 15 and 16, 2019. This was when Pakistani protests outside the Indian High Commission received significant media attention. This was also the year the Hindu nationalist Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, was reelected in India. Anti-Islamic rhetoric pervaded the electoral cycle and was followed by the Delhi Riots in 2020.’
Abuse from India linked the mayor to the protests, citing the often-used slur “Londonistan”. Some of the most visible tweets from this period were from a senior Indian government member.
After dropping to 5 per cent in 2020, racist abuse from India increased in 2021 to 16 per cent. This abuse centred around an offensive video circulated in May 2021.
It pictured a man calling for people to “f*** the Jews and r*** their daughters.” The #Londonistan slur was commonly used. The report predicts, ‘With tensions high in India and across South Asia, we expect any major news event with even a tenuous link to either India or Pakistan to trigger rises in abuse towards Sadiq.’
A spokesman for the Mayor of London told The Muslim News, “Sadiq has always faced huge levels of racist abuse online, with the volume of attacks increasing substantially in recent weeks. Policies addressing air quality and public health have undoubtedly become a major focus of online hate in the UK and across the world.” She added, “But this is a problem much bigger than the mayor.
Those from minority backgrounds face unacceptable levels of vile abuse online, often with real-world consequences, and social media companies must do more to end the proliferation of dangerous conspiracy theories and racist abuse online.”
Georgie Laming, head of campaigns at Hope Not Hate, which monitors far-right and extremist groups, said: “Sadiq Khan is subjected to strikingly high levels of racial abuse, which speaks to the vilification of Muslim figures in public life. While opposition to Ulez comes from many sources, a small but vocal contingent has adopted a toxic and increasingly extreme anti-Khan angle.
The involvement of individuals linked to the conspiracy theory-driven protests that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic and elements of the far right in anti-Ulez campaigning has fuelled the levels of abuse.”
Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, said: “Self-regulation by social media platforms has failed. Twitter is failing to act on racist abuse that its own terms and conditions prohibit.
“This is why we need the Online Safety Bill to hold failing platforms and their owners to account for abuse, hate, threats, and coordinated foreign harassment campaigns.”
Illustration from City Hall’s report titled Measuring Hate: Understanding Abuse Towards the Mayor of London. Photo: Sadiq Khan/Mayor of London
(Credit: Flickr Commons CC)
