- An Islamophobic Facebook page is encouraging disruptive tactics in supermarkets to pressure the removal of halal products.
- White supremacist Pat Condell uses anti-halal rhetoric to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment and promote fear-mongering.
A staunchly Islamophobic Facebook page has launched a targeted campaign to pressure UK supermarkets into removing halal products from their shelves. Framing their campaign as a plan for so-called “British patriots,” the group urges supporters to deliberately disrupt supermarkets by repeatedly removing halal items from shelves and taking them to the checkout. Once the items are scanned, they are instructed to refuse the purchase, leaving staff to return the products to the shelves.
According to the page, this tactic is designed to burden supermarkets with the time and cost of restocking, creating enough disruption to discourage them from carrying halal products altogether. The campaign is driven by ignorance and religious intolerance, seeking to marginalise Muslim consumers under the pretext of patriotism.
Not to suggest that the group’s supermarket campaign, which relies on orchestrated shelf disruptions, is genius by any stretch of the imagination. However, we do wonder what they could possibly propose regarding all the halal independent butcheries across the U.K. Additionally, they do not appear to have the same level of concern regarding kosher meat stocked in UK supermarkets.
British white supremacist Pat Condell has been outspoken in his vile prejudice and grotesque racism toward migrants, Muslims, and ethnic minorities in the UK, frequently referring to them in dehumanising terms such as “savages” and asserting their so-called inferiority to Caucasians. He has also spearheaded many anti-Halal campaigns, using halal meat as a rallying point to fuel anti-Muslim sentiment and push a broader agenda of exclusion and fear-mongering. Furthermore, Condell peddles blatant misrepresentations of what the slaughter of halal meat actually entails.
Notably, the Daily Mail refers to Condell merely as a “pensioner,” while simultaneously highlighting the success of his YouTube channel—subtly framing him as a relatable figure, rather than calling out the harmful rhetoric he promotes. Condell is a stand up comedian and a writer.
For those who maybe confused about what halal meat actually is, our brother Robert Carter of 5Pillars offers a clear and informed explanation:
