The Language of Fear: A Report on the Advocates, Critics and Victims of the Term “Islamophobia”

A number of critics have disputed the utility of using the term “Islamophobia” and offered a number of arguments for its abandonment. The debate over the existence of the phenomenon of Islamophobia has continued to the present moment and shows no signs of stopping, partly because of the fundamental implications involved in cases where the criminalisation of “Islamophobia” has been introduced into the legal system. As the term is now being used by public institutions even in the Visegrad area, it seems useful to review the way it has been proliferated since the 1990s and assert its utility in light of the arguments brought by its propagators and opponents alike.