Humza Yousaf became the first Muslim head of state in western Europe in 2023 when he was appointed First Minister of Scotland.
maybe its the fact i now live in Wales and its always been like this, but I’d say racism (not overt, yet) is creeping back in into the UK. Its nothing like i experienced as a child in the 80s/90s (arson, round the clock harrassment, assaults break-ins, death-threats, property damage, racist graffiti. It all mostly stopped after the Stephen Lawrence murder) but its subtle.
At first you think its a one off, but certain things keep happening. People block you from walking on a pavement or wont give you the time of day.
That said, things that happened in the wake of the brexit vote hasn’t happened since. So there’s that.
Charles Windsor is the Head of State of Scotland (along with the rest of the UK). Yousaf is the ‘Head of Government’.
Humza Yousaf became the first Muslim head of state in western Europe in 2023 when he was appointed First Minister of Scotland.
This is a really specific point, but the sub-heading irks me in several ways.
First, how do so many people not know the difference between a head of state and a head of government? Scotland’s head of state is Charles III.
Second, by what definition is Yousaf the first Muslim head of government in western Europe? I assume they must at least mean ‘in western Europe in the modern era’, since various parts of Iberia obviously had Muslim rulers for over seven centuries in the Middle Ages.
Third, Scotland isn’t an independent state, and the head of government of the United Kingdom is Rishi Sunak. So if they’re counting Humza Yousaf, that means they’re counting leaders at sub-national levels of government (such as devolved government in the UK, Länder in Germany, etc). But if they’re counting devolved government, why does Humza Yousaf (first minister of Scotland, population 5.4 million, since 2023) count but Sadiq Khan (mayor of London, population 8.8 million, since 2016) apparently doesn’t?
Religious intolerance is such a bigoted thing to do, why would I care whether the person in front me is a muslims, jew, atheist or whatever?
(I’ll play devil’s advocate here because obviously I don’t [edit: missed word] condone any kind of prejudice or racism. So please take what I am about to say not as something I endorse.)
Religious intolerance at least makes more sense than racism based on nationality. You cannot choose what nationality you were born into. And while religion is not always a choice, it can be changed. This is why we had crusades, why people convert, etc. I cannot make a white German an African American, but I can convert a muslim to christianity.
This also matters much more than nationality. Religion or faith in general is based on rules about how to live your life. And as much as you want to be living independently - you cannot live by your set of rules if everyone around you has a vastly different set of rules. The rational response would be to find a compromise and adapt. The subconscious response often is “change your rules to mine”. Because rules can be changed indeed. Skin color can’t.
Well, it is bigoted, but at same time cultural clashes can be unsettling for some people. Its an oversimplification to reduce just to religion.
There are places where people celebrate each other’s cultures rather than make it a cultural clash. That does require a bit of maturity from everyone. But it’s way more pleasant than even having a uniform culture.
It does - and might be more possible with a little bit of help from the media and government, who instead pour fuel on the fire for political gain.
It’s a very difficult topic, however.
My parter and i are different races, but culturally English - we were both born here. Our mixed race son goes to school in the suburbs that is about 70% or 80 % white - which is representative of the local demographic.
I have white friends in the inner city where that ratio is reversed and many immigrants don’t have great English and are just beginning their integration journey.
I’m honest enough to say I wouldn’t be comfortable with that. I don’t know if I should be or not .
