Owen Jones Meets Sayeeda Warsi | 'Islamophobia Is Britain’s Bigotry Blind Spot'

Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi is one the most outspoken critics of Islamophobia in her own party. I met her to talk about what she calls ‘Britain's bigotry blind spot’ and the consequences it has for Muslim communities around the country. She has some damning criticism for the way her party has dealt with the racism in its ranks and fears what will happen if Michael Gove, one of the current favourites to replace Theresa May, becomes prime minister.

Viewpoint: This Ramadan We've Shown Islam and Britishness Are Not Incompatible

THE GUARDIAN: Despite the attacks post-Woolwich, with events like the Big Iftar British Muslims have reached out to the wider community

This week British Muslims and Muslims across the world celebrated Eid al-Fitr. After a month of fasting, prayer and reflection there was a time to celebrate and enjoy family meals. Ramadan has been tough this year – not just because of the long, hot summer days, but because of the recent string of attacks on Muslim communities and the shadow of the terrible events of Woolwich in May.

Since the horrific murder of soldier Lee Rigby on the streets of London, we have seen bombs set off at mosques, a school targeted by arsonists, and a Somali community centre razed to the ground. A month earlier we saw the terrible murder of 82-year-old Mohammed Saleem in Birmingham, a horrific crime for which a man has been charged and which police are treating as an act of terrorism.

The reaction to these attacks among the British Muslim community was striking. Their response wasn't to retreat; it was to reach out. This Ramadan, hundreds of community iftars (evening meals, when the fast is broken) have been held across the country. They have united people of all faiths and none, many of whom have never been in a mosque before, breaking bread in order to break down barriers. Many of these were part of the Big Iftar, which culminated with the prime minister's visit to the Jamia Masjid in Manchester on Wednesday. » | Sayeeda Warsi | Sarurday, August 10, 2013

Sayeeda Warsi Takes on Critics in the Rightwing Press

THE GUARDIAN: Yorkshirewoman and the first Muslim to be first full member of British cabinet pulls no punches against Daily Mail columnist

Sayeeda Warsi rolls back in her chair and bursts out laughing. "I don't read her, actually. I call her Mad Mel," Lady Warsi says of Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips, who has denounced her as "stupid".

Warsi, a proud Yorkshirewoman, rarely pulls her punches. As the first Muslim to sit as a full member of the British cabinet, she fell foul of Phillips in January after she declared in the Sternberg lecture that Islamophobia had "crossed the threshold of middle-class respectability".

Phillips' barbed response was to describe Warsi, the Tory co-chair, on her Spectator blog as "at best a stupid mouthpiece of those who are bamboozling Britain into Islamisation, and at worst a supporter of that process".

Warsi had a mini falling-out with Downing Street after No 10 became alarmed that her lecture appeared to place her at odds with David Cameron on the highly sensitive subject of British Muslims and extremism.

A few weeks after Warsi's speech, Cameron laid the ground for a review of funding for Muslim groups when he asked whether it was right to support groups which "present themselves as a gateway to the Muslim community" while doing little to combat extremism.

Cameron's speech to the Munich security conference in February was interpreted as an endorsement of Michael Gove, the education secretary, who called on the west to wake up to the threat posed by Islamist extremists in his book Celsius 7/7. » | Nicholas Watt | Thursday, June 23, 2011

Muslim Tory Minister Says Pakistan's Treatment of Women Fails Islam

THE GUARDIAN: Lady Warsi says women are being denied rights granted 1,400 years ago in Qur'an

Pakistan is failing to live up to one of the tenets of Islam which guarantees rights to all women, according to Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative party co-chairman and minister without portfolio, who is the first Muslim to sit as a full member of the cabinet.

In a sign of Britain's impatience with Pakistan, Lady Warsi said the world's first Islamic republic is denying rights granted 1,400 years ago in the Qur'an.

As she prepares to become the first British minister to address the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) next week, Warsi said in a Guardian interview that, in a "nutshell", Pakistan is not living up to the ideals of its founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Warsi says she is able to deliver a tough message to Pakistan because she is unencumbered by "colonial baggage". She said she had raised the issue of women's rights last July in Rawalpindi, in a speech in Urdu at the Fatima Jinnah University, named after the younger sister of the founder of Pakistan. "Why is it that today you're being denied the rights that your faith gave to you 1,400 years ago?" Warsi asked, recalling her central message to her female audience. » | Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent | Thursday, July 23, 2011

A Load of Balls from Ed Balls! Now Young Muslims Will Get Direct Access to Cabinet Ministers!
Photo of Ed Balls courtesy of the Daily Express. He believes that Muslims are often “greatly misrepresented”.
It’s high time for this ridiculous, dangerous government to be put out to graze! The bloody lot of them! This government clearly believes in rewarding the trouble-makers, while it assiduously ignores the good people in the community who just go about their daily lives without causing trouble. In the new Britain, it seems that the more noise a community makes, the more attention it gets, the more money is thrown at them, the more concessions they get. As the old saying goes: It’s the sqeaking gate that gets the oil.

The fact that Islam is trying to destroy Western civilization, only to replace it with a dark-age mentality and barbarism seems totally to have passed these tossers by.

Gordon, your colour is YELLOW! And it's the colour of all those who serve you. - ©Mark

DAILY EXPRESS: YOUNG Muslims will get direct access to Cabinet Ministers in a £1.3million “community cohesion” initiative, it emerged yesterday.

The new Young Muslim Advisory group is the brainchild of Children’s Secretary Ed Balls and Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.

But a row erupted last night over the appointment to it of a member of the Socialist Worker Party.

Also, the Government was forced to admit that there were no similar groups for Christians, Jews or Hindus.

Tory cohesion spokeswoman Baroness Sayeeda Warsi blasted the group as yet another example of Labour’s “state multiculturalism” which she said fostered a “divided Britain”.

Outrage centred on the appointment of Sabiha Iqbal, 17, to the group.

She is a member of the tiny Trotskyite sect that has “expressed solidarity” with Hezbollah terrorists, while trying to forge links with hardline British Muslims.

Ms Iqbal, from Bradford, is studying at Leeds university.

Last night Ms Blears defended inviting her appointment. She said: “If you don’t want to change the world at 17, that’s a shame. This group is made up of people with a wide range of beliefs. Getting them around a table to talk is all about democracy in action.”

Mr Balls said he had hope for Ms Iqbal as a “role model”. Ms Iqbal believes Muslims are often “greatly misrepresented” and says she wants to support a diverse community through “understanding, acceptance and empathy”. Muslims Get £1.3m Hotline to Cabinet >>> By Gabriel Milland, Political Correspondent | October 8, 2008

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