Mattias Gardell teaches the history of islamophobia

Tuesday at Stockholm Pride the author of "Islamofobi", Mattias Gardell, gave a lecture on the history and expressions of islamophobia. He claims that the discussion about openness is just as much about the borders within groups.

LGBTQ people have had about the same status throughout history in the muslim world, as in the so-called western world; from the invisibility of same-sex relationships to the concept of homosexuality acknowledged in public spaces. Even though LGBTQ people around the world have similar experiences, it is important to be aware that there are borders within the group too, which have to be opened. The walls built by islamophobia marks one of these borders.

Mattias Gardell brings us along on a journey throughout history, showing that the islamophobic and anti-muslim ideas of today share roots with antisionism. During the middle ages, European Christian churches depicted both jews and muslims as demons. For instance, Lars Vilks was not the first artist to portray muslims as dogs.

A common argument of today is that Islam threatens a Swedish, homogenic culture – but according to Mattias this uniformity never existed. Sweden has always been populated by various languages and religions, such as Sami and Romani.

When Mattias shows images by European churches creating an image of muslims as perverted and sexually deviant, it is easy to compare to how homosexual people have been portrayed. Throughout history, for example in early movies, muslims were continuously depicted as swarthy men, often potential rapists.

Just like prejudice against LGBTQ people, islamophobia and hatred towards muslims is not based on facts. Mattias explains how "we", westerners, reads the Quran "as the devil reads the Bible", assuming that all muslims act exactly like that too. Actually, many muslims have just the same view on religion as "we" have. Gardell also points out that opinions about Islam rarely concern the religion as such, but rather a projected image of the swarthy, dangerous rapist.