Month: April 2016

No I am not a racist, pervert or bully – I have legitimate unanswered concerns about Malia Bouattia on anti-Semitism

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No I am not a racist, pervert or bully – I have legitimate unanswered concerns about Malia Bouattia on anti-Semitism

By Haydar Zaki   I am starting to see articles and TV interviews with the newly appointed NUS president, Malia Bouattia, discussing the accusations that have been put to her with the headlines that she “is clearing her name.” However, from the pieces and interviews I’ve seen, it seems that nothing has actually been cleared up. In fact if anything, the accusations of anti-Semitism and extremism apologia are even more muddied. One exchange with an interviewer in particular had summed up the whole situation. The interviewer asked her: “Do you…

Naz Shah proves that anti-Semitism is still a problem

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Naz Shah proves that anti-Semitism is still a problem

By Rasool Bibi     Karma is a bitch, isn’t it Naz Shah? This week, anti-Semitic posts made by Naz Shah nine months before she won her seat in Bradford West have been exposed. As an activist against extremism, if I hadn’t already lost all my faith in her, this would have come as a surprise. We were inspired by her story of overcoming a forced marriage and domestic abuse to become a rising politician and cheered her on. We loudly expressed disgust when George Galloway and many in Naz’s Muslim community led a poisonous…

Demands of persecuting community leaders must be taken seriously

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Demands of persecuting community leaders must be taken seriously

By Mo Dawah     I would like to thank the editors of Sedaa for giving in to my mostly peaceful demands that they allow me the opportunity to write for their racist and Islamophobic website. I write in order to correct the false impressions they propagate, which happen to coincide with the truth on certain tender issues. The message I bring is that the truth may obscure what is convenient for us to think and so must be treated with caution. The golden rule of a peaceful society in which community…

The problem with Turkish nationalism and the Armenian genocide

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The problem with Turkish nationalism and the Armenian genocide

  By Sofia Demirturk   Being born in an ultra nationalist Turkish family, the Armenian genocide was once a story about an imperialist conspiracy against our sovereignty, how Armenia had their eyes on our country, and how ungrateful they were for all the years we spent together in the lands of Anatolia. My father used to tell me about the lies that Armenians told to the world, and how we Turks should never trust anyone, as every other nation is busy conspiring against us. The history classes we had back in…

The ‘M-word’ that you’re not supposed to say out loud

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The ‘M-word’ that you’re not supposed to say out loud

By Shamila Ghyas (This is a cross-post from The Nation )     Recently, students at Beaconhouse National University in Lahore protested against the stigmatisation of the ‘M word that should not be mentioned’ because it is supposedly every female’s dirty little secret. They used shock value to get their message across by sticking sanitary pads on a wall – each with a different message: “I am not flawed or poorly made” “Don’t hide me” Some girls even walked around with stains on their shirts.  One thing that everyone needs to understand is…

Muslims Must Accept LGBTQ People

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Muslims Must Accept LGBTQ People

By E.A. Sofia   Every so often, there is a news story about persecution against LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer) people in Muslim-majority countries or a poll on Muslim views on social issues. The resulting conversations are all too often derailed and the topic of the conversation changed to non-Muslims’ views on Islam. This derailment is convenient for those who wish to avoid the long-overdue conversation that’s needed about how Islamic views affect the lives of LGBTQ people. As Muslims are a minority in the West, there’s a desire to be seen…

Pakistan’s Women: Honour and Shame

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Pakistan’s Women: Honour and Shame

By Muna Adil   In February 2016, Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy won her second Oscar award for ‘A Girl in the River’, her ground-breaking documentary on the practice of honour killings in Pakistan. A spectacular personal achievement for Chinoy, a proud moment for Pakistan, and an excellent opportunity for much-needed awareness and dialogue. But not everyone was delighted at the win. The morning after the Oscars, ‘#WeDisownSharmeen’ was trending in the number one spot on Pakistani Twitter. The crux of the argument against Chinoy was that she was ‘unpatriotic’ for…

What do British Muslims really think?

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What do British Muslims really think?

By Iram Ramzan   This was the week when British Muslims became experts in research methodology. Trevor Phillips, who led the Equality and Human Rights Commission, presented the Channel 4 show What British Muslims Really Think on Wednesday night, which was based on an ICM survey — and it has created quite a debate. The ICM surveyed 1,000 Muslims face-to-face and found that: One in 25 Muslims (four per cent) said they felt at least some sympathy with people who took part in suicide bombings, while a similar proportion said…

The likes of Nazimuddin Samad cannot die in vain

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The likes of Nazimuddin Samad cannot die in vain

By Malia B   Nazimuddin Samad, a 28 year old law student, was brutally murdered on 7th April, 2016 by Islamists in Bangladesh. His ‘crime’ – being critical of Islamism. He is the sixth Bangladeshi atheist/secular blogger to be killed in the last 15 months. The horror of what happened to Nazimuddin has sadly become the norm these days. It is almost an accepted form of hatred and resultant crime because he was provoking the delicate Islamists in his nation. Some asked, what did he expect in return? He was being…

Is Charlie Hebdo ‘Islamophobic’ for echoing liberal Muslim voices?

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Is Charlie Hebdo ‘Islamophobic’ for echoing liberal Muslim voices?

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid   For a publication that has published barely 10 editions satirising Islam in the past decade, Charlie Hebdo has earned its ‘Islamophobic’ label rather effortlessly. ‘Islamophobia’ even in its most liberal definition would at least imply prejudice against Islam, Muslims or any variation thereof. Accusing a magazine that has mocked Christianity thrice as many times in the same duration, and religion in general twice as much, of bias against Islam betrays – at the very least – bias against the publication. Maybe it’s because there weren’t…