In a recent visit to London, England, James O’Keefe and journalist Andy Ngo explored areas with high concentrations of Muslim communities, uncovering government-funded asylum housing and discussing the growing radicalization among some immigrant populations.
Outside a mosque, O’Keefe and Ngo encountered a group of Sudanese asylum seekers living in state-funded housing. Upon questioning, the men confirmed their residence was provided by the government. “This is the public housing for asylum seekers?” O’Keefe asked. One of the men responded, “Yeah, state-funded accommodation for migrants.”
However, when O’Keefe attempted to further document the scene, a government worker intervened, barring him from speaking with the refugees, and saying, ‘You’re not allowed to talk to them,’ despite being on public property.
Ngo and O’Keefe continued to Whitechapel, a neighborhood in Tower Hamlets with the UK’s highest concentration of Muslims. Ngo explained the demographic shift: “Tower Hamlets has the highest concentration of Muslims anywhere in the UK. About 40% of this population is Muslim, primarily from Bangladesh.”
Discussing cultural differences, Ngo observed, “The lifestyle is completely different. The dress styles are different. Women, lots of them, are in black robes. They have their faces covered. It looks like scenes from a Gulf Arab country.”
He noted that while Islam in Bangladesh is generally moderate, many Muslims who migrate to Western countries tend to become more radical: “There’s been a certain phenomenon that’s happened, with Muslims who have migrated to Western countries, particularly in Western Europe, where as they come over, they become more fundamentalist, more extreme, more segregated from the rest of society.”
When discussing the presence of Islamic organizations in the area, Ngo pointed to an Islamic charity shop, revealing, “It’s like a Goodwill, but the organization that runs it is a religious one. It’s more so that communities set up their own institutions to be as separate as they can be.”
Exposing the complexities of immigration, integration, and radicalization in the UK, Ngo highlighted, “From international press, sometimes they go to these areas… The liberal media will interpret what you and I see probably quite differently. They’ll view that this is multiculturalism in action… whilst ignoring the history of extremism also within this area.”
