Friday, October 20, 2023
Warsi laments Muslims being seen as outcasts in British society.
They are held to higher standards than other citizens, he says.
It urges policymakers to change course to avoid catastrophic consequences.
LONDON: More than a decade after her "Islamophobia Passed the Dinner Table Test" speech in government, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, former UK minister, has made a key intervention - "Muslims Don't Matter: The Silencing, Stereotyping and Stigmatization of Muslims by the British Press and Political Parties".
Speaking at the University of Leeds on Thursday night, she carefully cited opinion polls, political decisions and the handling of major events including the current conflict in the Middle East as examples of how British Muslims are held to a higher standard than their fellow citizens. .
She claimed this was creating an atmosphere of fear in the community of nearly four million.
She urged an end to the culture wars and urged politicians to change course to avoid potentially catastrophic consequences.
In her speech, Warsi said: “This week is Hate Crime Awareness Week and recently released government hate crime figures again show an increase in religiously motivated hate crime in the year to March 2023, with Muslims once again the most targeted religious group. where the victim's perceived religion was recorded, 2 in 5 (39%) of the crimes were anti-Muslim hate crimes (3,452 crimes)).
Referring to the treatment of Britain's Muslim communities in the political sphere, she argued: "There is a particular irony to this political struggle, because on the one hand the government insists on upholding 'core British values', but when Muslims challenge actions that undermine our commitment to the rule of law, such as torture and issuing, or challenge actions that undermine democracy, while promoting freedom of expression or freedom of association, or challenge actions that undermine respect and tolerance by invoking institutional Islamophobia, or challenge actions that undermine individual freedom – when Muslims exercise these basic British values in their participation in wider society, they are demonised, marginalised, excluded from political arenas and treated as outcasts.
“We are a liberal democracy with a long and proud history, we humiliate ourselves by taking a totalitarian approach to a section of our fellow citizens, British Muslims. We undermine our declared values and look like hypocrites."
She continued to fight to rid her party of Islamophobia, calling on the Labor Party not to engage in a race to the bottom and urging mainstream politics to remain a place where British Muslims are authentically heard.
She added: “And just this week we're seeing reports of the Labor Party banning its councilors and members of parliament from pro-Palestinian marches, not others, despite spending months fighting the government to protect the right to protest before the break. in the Public Order Act".
She asked Britons who believe in equality and justice to join British Muslims.
“I am asking you to join what is really a Muslim civil rights movement, a demand to belong, to be a part, to play a part, to have the same rights and freedoms as others, to be heard, to have the right to be heard, so that our citizenship had the same value as the citizenship of all others to be treated equally under the law.”
Citing the fallout from the Dan Wootton row, the Farage debanking debacle and the ongoing battle to define Islamophobia, the former minister sounded the alarm warning that if the climate of hatred towards Muslim communities continues, it could pave the way for the nation. where dehumanisation, attacks and other Muslim communities become a normal fabric of British society.
But she ended on an optimistic note, saying that good in society and in Britain's Muslim communities has always prevailed and will continue to do so.
Baroness Warsi emphasized this when she spoke about her family's personal experiences.
"My grandfather fought Hitler's armies as part of the British Indian Army, they did not give their blood and sweat for the freedoms we have today for their descendants to be stereotyped, stigmatized and silenced," she said.
The UK leader added that her ancestors fought for Britain, helped build its industry and infrastructure, added colour, sounds and wonderful tastes to the rich tapestry of its culture and as a young and growing community, "British Muslims are once again providing the workforce, entrepreneurs and international networks, if I may rephrase the phrase for good."
