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Muslim activist reinstated to Plaid Cymru

Muslim activist reinstated to Plaid Cymru

Categories: Latest News

Monday February 24 2020

Sahar Al-Faifi, a Welsh human rights activist and Regional Manager for MEND, has had her membership to Plaid Cymru reinstated. She was initially suspended following a campaign of sustained online Islamophobic abuse and accusations of anti-Semitism for some of her historical comments regarding Israel and Palestine. Ms Al-Faifi has admitted that some of her previous posts crossed the line into anti-Semitism and she has undergone a programme of re-education with the Jewish community.

The flurry of online abuse followed her picture being featured in a Plaid Cymru tweet publicising their party political broadcast for the general election. Plaid is the first party in the UK to officially adopt MEND’s definition of Islamophobia and committed to 30 out of MEND’s 31 policy pledges in the 2019 General election.

Sahar’s treatment indicates a wider trend whereby Islamophobia is being used to shut down debate on Palestine and its weaponization as a tool to silence Muslim political engagement more broadly.

The experience of being the target of such tactics is particularly acute for politically active Muslims, who often find themselves to be subjected to ‘dog-whistle’ Islamophobia, often fuelled by stereotypes and generalisations. Muslims who are visibly active in the political sphere often find themselves being publicly questioned about issues surrounding their religious identities and, as a consequence, spend a lot of time having to deflect, counter, or account for these identities; subsequently reducing their ability to address wider political issues and demonstrate their political aptitudes as agents for political change.

It seems that there are frequently targeted efforts by neo-conservative organisations and movements to stifle the political engagement of Muslims. For example, in the university context, Student Rights (a project of the Henry Jackson Society) frequently directs concerted efforts to demonise students who are vocal about their support for the Palestinian cause. In fact, pro-Palestinian activists across the UK have often been the target of silencing tactics used by organisations such as Student Rights, which are deployed solely to close down opposing debate and exclude voices who may disrupt their neo-conservative narrative. A common phenomenon is for activists to be labelled either as ‘extremist’ or anti-Semitic in their opposition to the human rights abuses of the Israeli government.

While anti-Semitism must never be tolerated and should be challenged wherever it is found, the use of the term as a political tool for shutting down criticism of the Israeli government devalues the experiences of those who face anti-Semitic abuse on a daily basis. The Palestinian cause is an issue that is of great importance to large swathes of British communities, and there must be a recognition that Palestinian activism is a legitimate and necessary form of political dialogue.

Another recent case is that of Labour candidate for Chingford & Woodford, Dr. Faiza Shaheen, who was asked by her Liberal Democrat rival, Geoffrey M. Seeff, to publicly distance herself from the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) – an organisation that Dr Shaheen has never had any affiliation or contact with. The open letter by Mr Seeff notes that “there are many matters on which you and I would disagree”, however, utilises the entirety of the letter focussed on the singular issue of Dr Shaheen’s views on the IHRC, and her party’s position on the organisation.

In response to Mr Seeff’s letter, Dr Shaheen brought attention to the fact that “[Mr Seeff’s] first correspondence is to try and highlight my Muslim identity and bracket me off with the behaviour of an organisation I have nothing to do with – indeed I’ve never heard of them, why would I have?” Mr Seeff argued that the questions were in response to the Labour Party Leader, Jeremy Corbyn’s, alleged support for the IHRC. However, it is unclear why Mr Seeff does not seem to have likewise challenged his Tory rival, Iain Duncan-Smith, about issues of Islamophobia within the Tory Party; or Boris Johnson’s reputation of racist and Islamophobic comments. The incident suggests a clear deployment of dog-whistle Islamophobia, with Mr Seeff attempting to undermine Dr Shaheen by politicising her Muslim identity and associating her with individuals and organisations of which she has no connection.

The treatment of American Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar is another example illustrating the way in which Islamophobia is being tacitly endorsed and mainstreamed into a global political discourse. In July 2019, when taking part in a conference for Muslim Americans in politics, Rep. Omar was questioned about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). She resolutely rebuffed the question noting that she was “quite disgusted I think to be honest that as Muslim legislators, we are constantly being asked to waste our time speaking to issues that other people are not asked to speak to because…the assumption exists that we somehow support and are for [the issue]”.

Rep. Omar further highlighted that she had taken a very public stance against FGM previously and has had released multiple statements, yet she is constantly asked to renew her condemnation. She added: “The question is posed: Could you and Rashida do this? And it’s like how often – should I make a schedule? Does this need to be on repeat every five minutes? Should I be like, so today I forgot to condemn al-Qaeda, so here’s the al-Qaeda one. Today I forgot to condemn FGM, so here we go”. Unfortunately, the pattern of questions posed to Muslim politicians normalises stereotypes implying that all Muslims are complicit in issues and acts to which they have no relation.

We welcome Sahar al-Faifi’s vindication and reinstatement as a party member and congratulate all those with the fortitude to actively and publicly attempt to better society in the face of any identity-based prejudice they may face.

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