logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2019
28m 16s

Sri Lanka: The New Climate of Fear

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

There’s a new climate of fear in Sri Lanka. This time it’s the Muslim community who are fearful of the future. The Easter bomb attacks in Sri Lanka - targeting churches and international hotels - horrified the island. It’s suffered civil war - between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils - but never known jihadi violence. But the attacks also intensified a creeping campaign by the Sinhala Buddhist majority against the Muslim community - with Muslims murdered, their businesses burned or boycotted. Jill McGivering investigates the growing climate of fear now driving many Muslims to emigrate and casting a shadow over those left behind. Caroline Finnigan producing.

Up next
May 20
Colombia's webcam women
Colombia’s second largest city, Medellín, is booming and one of the biggest industries revolves around the city’s live webcam studios which stream women performing sex acts.  It’s estimated there are hundreds of studios in the city employing thousands of women and turning over mi ... Show More
29m 11s
May 13
Syria - Return to Ruins
Thirteen million Syrians - half the population - left their homes during their country's 13-year civil war. Seven million were internally displaced. Six million fled abroad. Bringing them home is perhaps the biggest challenge facing Syria's new rulers. But many can’t return, beca ... Show More
29m 28s
May 6
Russia's Church in Texas
Not that long ago many church-going Americans saw Russia as a godless place, an “evil empire” in the words of Ronald Reagan. But in President Trump’s second term, US-Russia relations have been turned on their head. The White House sided with the Kremlin at the United Nations, vot ... Show More
29m 24s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2021
#62 - Islamophobie : un mot, des maux
Être perçu·es comme étant de confession musulmane revient à être, aujourd’hui en France, immédiatement associé·e à une catégorie de la population, avec son lot d’assignations et de discriminations : c’est ce qu’on appelle l’islamophobie. Cette notion ainsi que les organisations m ... Show More
58m 6s
Mar 2019
Special: Islamophobia
In this special we cover the history of Islamophobia and the way it intersects with other forms  of bigotry like antisemitism and its connection with Orientalism. We try to put the tragedy of the Christchuch, New Zealand shooting into a broader context by examining the discourse ... Show More
20m 34s
Feb 2017
Islam Is Neither An Identity Movement Nor A Race: It's A Faith, A Diverse Idea - 2/4/17
Dr. Jasser revisits the hysteria behind the executive order on immigration from Terror hotspots. He confronts the exploitation of Muslims for the self-serving identity politics of the left. Join Zuhdi as he exposes the hypocrisy behind the left's cooperation with the far-right Is ... Show More
54m 27s
May 2023
Heart and Soul: The emerging Muslim 'manosphere'
In Britain, the growth of Islam is being driven by a younger population, born and brought up in the United Kingdom. This includes BBC reporter Rahil Sheikh. Having grown up against the backdrop of the ‘war on terror’ and rising Islamophobia, he has seen how young Muslims have tur ... Show More
27m 54s
Jul 2022
Sri Lanka crisis
In a week where protestors stormed the residences of its leaders, forcing the president to resign, Sri Lanka continues to face its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years. There have been months of shortages - from fuel and cooking gas to food and medicines. We hear from thre ... Show More
23m 47s
Apr 2023
Leaving Sri Lanka
Record numbers are fleeing the island in the wake of a brutal economic crisis – perhaps one in twenty five Sri Lankans left last year alone. Some 300,000 went for contracted positions, mostly in the Gulf. But hundreds of thousands of others took less official routes. Many of them ... Show More
26m 28s
Apr 2019
The Terrorist Attacks in Sri Lanka
A series of highly coordinated bombings in Sri Lanka has left more than 350 people dead. How did a small, obscure and underfinanced local group carry out one of the deadliest terrorist attacks since 9/11? Guest: Jeffrey Gettleman, the South Asia bureau chief for The New York Time ... Show More
19m 50s
Jul 2024
Neena Mahadev, "Karma and Grace: Religious Difference in Millennial Sri Lanka" (Columbia UP, 2023)
Around the turn of the millennium, Pentecostal churches began to pepper majority-Buddhist Sri Lanka, setting off a sense of alarm among Buddhists who saw Christianity as a neocolonial threat to the nation. Rumors of foul play in the death of a Buddhist monk, as well as allegation ... Show More
1h 24m
Jan 2022
Canada’s homegrown Islamophobia
It was the deadliest attack on a house of worship in Canada’s history. Six people lost their lives when a gunman opened fire on a mosque in Quebec City in 2017. In the five years since, hate incidents have not stopped. Some of them have been deadly. And it has led to questions ab ... Show More
18m 54s
Apr 2021
72/ The Inherent Toxicity of France’s ‘Islamo-Leftism’ Obsession (with Rim-Sarah Alouane)
This is a conversation with Rim-Sarah Alouane. She’s a French legal academic, commentator, and PhD candidate in law researching religious  freedom, human rights, and civil liberties in France, Europe & North America. We spoke about a recent piece she wrote entitled ‘A Spectre in ... Show More
1h 52m