North West Islamophobia Awareness Month Launch

We launched Islamophobia Awareness Month in the North West on Wednesday 4^th November with a series of conversations around Islamophobia.

For our first conversation, Raahim, who volunteers for MEND in Oldham, interviewed Cllr Rabnawaz Akbar, who represents the Rusholme ward in Manchester. During the conversation, Cllr Akbar talked about his own experiences as a Muslim growing up in the North of the UK, and instances of racism and Islamophobia. He then discussed his own journey into politics, his motivations and what he does to ensure that Islamophobia is tackled in Manchester.

We then introduced our next panel which was made up of community organisations. On the panel was Rehana Begum of Diversity Matters North West and Jude Limb of Mother Mountain Productions. Diversity Matters North West is an award winning independent local charity working to combat health inequalities and social exclusion and to promote community cohesion.  They try to empower the people they work with, individually and collectively, by encouraging them to build with confidence on the skills and knowledge that they already have. Mother Mountain Productions uses new technology like VR to produce anti-hate crime content. During this panel, Jude spoke about the anti-Islamophobia content they had produced. To see the videos referred to during the panel session, click here and here. The conversation on this panel included a discussion around the importance of community organisations in tackling community issues.

Our final panel was a conversation with faith leaders regarding the role of faith communities in overcoming Islamophobia, racism and bigotry. Jagmail Singh, a Special Inspector at GMP, Rabbi Warren Elf, a faith leader in Greater Manchester, and Reverend Cody Coyne, minister at Cross Street Chapel joined us as part of our North West Launch.

To find out how you can be part of Islamophobia Awareness Month at http://islamophobia-awareness.org/

To catch up on the launch, be sure to click here: https://www.facebook.com/mendcommunity/videos/391164248928557/