Islamophobia, war and non-Muslims as victims: an analysis of online discourse on an English Defence League message board

ABSTRACT This article analyses 845 posts across 78 threads on an English Defence League message board from 20 September 2013 to 4 October 2013 that examined how online activists construct and develop their racial prejudice. Through seeing whites as blameless victims, the posts highlighted the presence of hostility towards Islam and Muslims in a clear in-group and out-group racial binary, where racist comments were never contested or challenged. Rather, they were wholeheartedly supported with social and cultural division at the centre of the prejudice, scapegoating and stereotyping directed towards Islam and Muslims. For a movement that presents itself as anti-racist, the real-life everyday narrative indicates the reality of its most ardent supporters.

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