“We don’t want the government to fob us off with some phony thing called Tell MAMA, which has got a pro-Zionist pretty much heading it, or in a very senior capacity, and is making all sorts of comments we might not agree with when it comes to homosexuality, to be recording Islamophobia.”

Not only are we independent of ‘the Government’, we have been running Tell MAMA to serve the needs of Muslims since 2012, without any form of ‘Government’ interference. Our independent service has assisted over 4,500 people and led to hundreds of arrests in order to ensure access to justice for victims of hate crimes who happen to be Muslim. Yet, our results, it seems, does not shield us from such statements or spin pieces that are thrown out into audiences.

Furthermore, when we set up Tell MAMA, it was on the basis of ensuring that anti-Muslim hatred was seen as one strand in the mainstream campaign against racism, prejudice and bigotry. Muslims are not a special case and nor should they be. British Muslims simply want equality and equality laws, policies and practices need to be applied evenly across the board. This is why we have been vocal when Muslims have been attacked because of their faith identity. This is why we have been vocal when some sections have tried to abuse Ahmaddiya Muslims. This is also why we have been vocal when some groups have tried to abuse gay or trans-Muslims. Equality needs to remain consistent and any group which picks and chooses when it wants to campaign against prejudice and when it chooses to keep quiet – (because the victims are from LGBT communities), is a group that has no moral courage, nor any ethical basis to it. Let’s be clear about that – they need to leave the campaigning space and reflect more clearly what they are about.

Coming onto the issue of ‘pro-Zionists’, this is a charge that is the most corrosive of all within Muslim audiences. We have worked with the Community Security Trust in setting up Tell MAMA and we are both independent organisations. We are proud of our ability to work with our Jewish brothers and sisters in the fight against prejudice and bigotry and that relationship remains unshakeable. When a Jew is attacked, we will stand with the community, as we will with others. With this in mind, we will stand with the CST in order to ensure that people are not targeted because they are Jews. When appropriate, we will also collectively campaign together against far right and other groups who target Jews or Muslims.

Over the last 12 months, we have had the great fortune of having Richard Benson act as a guide in advising us in Tell MAMA and in providing the moral courage and support when far right groups and others have targeted us. As the former CEO of the CST, Richard Benson built the organisation and placed antisemitism at the core of hate crime work within successive governments. His courage, as well as that of former Minister and Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik, have ensured that we have been led by the best in the field of tackling hate, prejudice and intolerance. These co-Chairs represent the best of a Muslim and Jewish working relationship and together with the Director of Tell MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal OBE, they have ensured that Tell MAMA has become the leader in the field of countering anti-Muslim hatred and which is making a direct and real difference to the lives of victims.

More recently, at a ministerial meeting, Richard Benson advocated that anti-Muslim hatred should receive the same attention that other hate crime strands do and has forcefully spoken out for Muslim women who suffer street based incidents. He has spent his time and effort standing up for what is right and has never in any meeting mentioned the Middle East. A consummate professional, he is an asset to any organisation and we are extremely lucky to have our co-Chairs at the helm of Tell MAMA. The statement from the CEO of MEND is therefore tiresome, inaccurate and an affront to those willing to do the right thing in countering prejudice, in this case, anti-Muslim hatred.

Lastly, on the issue of homosexuality, it is extremely depressing to hear the comments made by the CEO of MEND. Simply put, if any individual or organisation cannot stand up and openly challenge homophobia within some sections of Muslim communities, then what are they doing challenging other forms of prejudice, hate and bigotry? Whilst we also acknowledge that homophobia is also present in other faith groups and communities, we will never relent in challenging any bigotry and prejudice where we come across it. Only by doing so, do we know that our moral compass is still pointing in the right direction to tackle anti-Muslim prejudice.

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The appointment of Shahid completes the leadership team heading up the only project in the United Kingdom, which maps, measures and monitors anti-Muslim hate, or Islamophobia.

Shahid Malik served as both a Commissioner for Racial Equality in Great Britain and an Equality Commissioner for Northern Ireland – as part of the “Good Friday” Peace Agreement – and brings a unique insight and powerful experience in the field discrimination and bigotry. In addition, he served as the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury till the 2010 general election and held four ministerial roles across the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Department for International Development. His final government role included being Minister for Race and Faith, and Against Extremism. He also served as the Chairman of the National Faith Consultative Council and Minister for Europe’s largest development area, the Thames Gateway.

He brings significant senior level experience as a Chairman, Chief Executive and Board member of numerous national and international companies and organisations.

As well has his experience in fighting Islamophobia he has also been a keen advocate of fighting all forms of discrimination and is currently a Patron of the renowned Wiener Library.

Commenting on the appointment of Mr Malik, the current co-Chair Richard Benson stated:

“With Shahid’s appointment, this now becomes a very exciting time for TELL MAMA as it strengthens its leadership team to provide important support to its founder and driving force, Fiyaz Mughal.

As co-chairs we bring a wealth of experience in tackling hate crimes and our focus will be to ensure that this important work helps and supports all victims of Islamophobia, to work with the Police and Government and to make sure that this form of hatred is eradicated.”

Mr Malik, who has spoken many times in his ministerial roles about the need to tackle hatred in all its forms added:

“I am looking forward to working with Richard and Fiyaz to continue the development of this excellent initiative and ensure that it is universally viewed as the pre-eminent source of independent data for policy makers and practitioners alike in the fight against bigotry and hatred in our country.  The fight against Islamophobia is not a Muslim fight and as Richard demonstrates, it is a fight for all those who believe in a fair and just society – hatred towards any group in our society should be a call to action for every group in our society.”

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On an evening full of celebration and reflection, let us first focus on upon the former. In the last year alone, TELL MAMA took significant strides and was successful in a number of areas and these are included below. We were involved in:

•  Assisting over 1,000 victims of anti-Muslim prejudice (both online and offline). Many victims are visible and non-visible Muslim women.

• Ensuring the arrest of over 120 individuals who promoted or disseminated anti-Muslim hate material. Over about 90 individuals were successfully charged and prosecuted.

• Providing training to police forces on understanding the language of anti-Muslim hate.

• Ensuring a multi-agency approach which ensured that over 300 victims of anti-Muslim abuse received the necessary support.

• Undertaking outreach work across the UK to help the victims of anti-Muslim prejudice report crimes and receive the necessary victim support.

• Helping Twitter reconsider how it works with hate crime third-party reporting centres in England and Wales.

The importance of the TELL MAMA project is best reflected in the victims it supported. A short video featured a female victim who described the organisation as her ‘lifeline.’ Another victim of online abuse recounted her harassment by the Far-Right on Twitter; an abuse that spiralled into threats and a greater sense of fear. But TELL MAMA’s  intervention helped spur the police into stopping the abuse.

Other notable speakers included Liberal Democrat MPs Vince Cable and Simon Hughes. Both spoke of the necessity of access to victim support and in tackling anti-Muslim bigotry.Yet, many do not report abuse to the police, and that must change.

Moving forward, TELL MAMA found inspiration from the Community Security Trust (CST).The CST provides security to hundreds of synagogues, Jewish schools and communal buildings. It also collates data on antisemitism and works alongside the police and governmental bodies.

Compared to the CST (who achieved charity status in 1994), TELL MAMA are in their infancy. But the ambition of the team is to develop a similar service within three years and with only 4 staff members, Richard Benson commended the dedication, tenacity and capability of the team who have built the foundations of the work, yet there is much more to be done.

To meet this ambition, it became important to frame anti-Muslim prejudice within a wider context.

Richard Benson (ex-Chief Executive of the CST), is now co-chair of TELL MAMA. At the dinner, he made a call for others to donate so the “pivotal” work of TELL MAMA continues to grow. Peter Tatchell’s patronage also serves a similar function.

The speech of Shazia Khan, daughter of the murdered Mohammed Saleem, brought a moment of reflection. Ms Khan spoke lovingly of a father who did his best not just for his family but the wider Muslim community. Mr Saleem’s murderer, Pavlo Lapshyn, was a committed neo-Nazi terrorist. A man who wanted to ‘purify’ Birmingham of Muslims. Their dignity and pursuit for justice remains a source of inspiration. The same is true of the family of Lee Rigby.

So what principle drives TELL MAMA forward? For Fiyaz Mughal, the answer is straightforward:

“The greatest asset to our work has been the British public, a public who inherently dislike hate, intolerance and injustice.”

It is on that principle that we aim to move forward when tackling the miasma of anti-Muslim bigotry.”

The post Mainstreaming Work on Countering Anti-Muslim Prejudice – the TELL MAMA Dinner appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Let me start off by saying that we are truly humbled and honoured to work with the ex-CEO of the Community Security Trust (CST), Richard Benson, who spent 12 years of his life working and leading CST to become the leading agency in tackling hate crime in the UK. The primary role of CST is to tackle antisemitism and to ensure the safety and security of synagogues in the UK, yet they have excelled into becoming the leading agency on hate crime as I have suggested. Furthermore, Richard brings with him experience and a business like approach to this work which will add to the skills and abilities that my team and I have. I warmly welcome that and believe that it will add to our work and ensure that a sustainable base for this work is built.

It is also interesting to note that a small number within Muslim communities link CST to Israel and then use that as a means to caricature the leadership base of TELL MAMA. We are clear. CST’s work on hate crime has been groundbreaking and if organisations in Muslim communities had developed such groundbreaking work, we would have invited them to be part of us. Sadly, there has been a gaping vacuum in this work in Muslim communities which we stepped into and where we have created what we hope is a national project that includes rather than excludes. This is our underlying ethos in TELL MAMA – that any form of intolerance and bigotry goes against our core collective values. With Richard at the helm with me, with a co-Chair from Muslim communities, we will make significant headway in mainstreaming this work and I personally am honoured that Richard has made this decision. He did not have to, but he has again, stepped forward to assist other communities and this reflects his strong desire to ensure that communities live free form fear.

This brings us onto our invitation for Peter to be a part of us as a patron. I have made my position clear in this article. Peter has been an ardent campaigner of human rights focusing on LGBTQ rights and it is important to provide some context. He is a human rights campaigner and we have noticed how a handful of individuals, some purporting to be Muslims, have been suggesting that Peter linked Islam to Nazism in a 1994 campaign. He did not and individuals who do link Islam with Nazism, more than likely have an agenda to alienate and isolate out Muslims in Europe and are more fascistic in their nature by alienating others. In 1994, Peter campaigned with a placard that was targeted at a Hizb-ut-Tahrir conference which targeted a range of communities, including LGBTQ communities as being obscene etc and the placard also made that clear though his detractors want to miss that out. Peter was therefore campaigning outside that HT conference and we are proud of working with a man who sees alliances between Muslims and LGBTQ communities as the way ahead. We are also proud of working with a group that we have immense respect for, Imaan.

The way forward is one where our partners and us develop a stronger, robust and more mainstream Islamophobic hate crime monitoring platform which we will continue to push forward with. If people do not like our mainstreaming approach, I have only one think to say. Muslim communities do not live in isolation – we depend on, interact with, value, discuss and learn from other communities. That is at the core of Islam  – education.”

Statement by the Director of TELL MAMA – Fiyaz Mughal OBE

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