Opinion
Don't be taken in by so-called 'Islamophobia Awareness Month'
In reality it's a campaign by MEND, which no serious organisation should associate with
November 5, 2021 16:15
3 min read
In reality it's a campaign by MEND, which no serious organisation should associate with
November 5, 2021 16:15The JC has regularly highlighted MEND, reporting on the speakers, its divisivesness and the controversial nature of its stances on various issues.
In 2019 they were invited to be part of the Prevent Steering Group in Redbridge. As a consequence, I removed Faith Matters, the organisation I founded, from the steering group. As I put it at the time: “Having divisive groups who have actively attempted to undermine the work of other organisations and who have even called projects tackling anti-Muslim hate ‘Islamophobic’ is perverse”.
MEND has actively sought to reduce trust and confidence in the Prevent programme by suggesting that it actively targets Muslims - a falsehood that has dangerous consequences for us all. The fact is that this group has done all it can to undermine the only community based strand of a counter-extremism programme which tries to ensure our safety. Prevent has its problems, but any group that undermines this core strategy without providing an alternative is actively leaving us to the mercy of Islamist and far right extremists. It is as simple as that.
Rightly, none of the major Jewish communal organisations work with MEND. The comments from the Chair of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Marie van der Zyl, are spot on: “The Board of Deputies would not work with MEND……..MEND is bad news.” The Board has gone on record to say that, “The Board of Deputies is unequivocal that no parliamentarian should ever give MEND the appearance of legitimacy, by appearing at MEND events or participating in their projects”.
This month is ‘Islamophobia Awareness Month’, which is in reality a MEND campaign. They list themselves as one of the co-founders. There is also a significant overlap of MEND staff co-ordinating and speaking at events organised on behalf of Islamophobia Awareness Month. Many associated social media include MEND placed in the background.
It is essential that anti-Muslim hate is tackled in our society and I have spent years challenging all forms of hate, including anti-Muslim hate, leading to my targeted harassment and online mobbing. I have seen close up how anti-Muslim hate has affected people, their families and also led to targeted terrorist attacks against mosques and Islamic institutions. We must resist this hate with every sinew of our fibre and being - but not at the expense of legitimising groups who have a problematic and divisive history.
Laziness, pandering to divisive and vocal groups and keeping such groups ‘onside’ does nothing to support stronger social cohesion in our society and further enhances mistrust between Muslims and Jews, at a time when we must be standing together.
In fact, this paper highlighted such an example in 2017: “One expert said Mend was regarded as a “problematic organisation” because it appeared to encourage Jews and Muslims to oppose each other rather than to work together to tackle racism and extremism. There are other partners in the Muslim community who we think are more genuine and reliable in their opposition to antisemitism and extremism,” said one source.”
But too many organisations fall into the trap and work with MEND, even if unwittingly. For example, Faiths Forum for London, a government funded group, recently retweeted and amplified the MEND founded campaign through this tweet, which included a video for the Islamophobia Awareness Month campaign. Among those appearing in it are former LibDem leader Vince Cable. It appears to be the same clip that first appeared in a video produced by MEND in 2017, this rejigged and with the MEND logo dropped.
After the original video appeared in 2017, the JC spoke to Mr Cable’s office: “After the JC asked about Sir Vince’s decision to appear in the video, a Lib Dem spokesman said that, when the filming took place, he wanted “to raise awareness of the important issue of anti-Islamophobia and was not aware of the serious allegations of antisemitism surrounding a number of their staff and volunteers”.
We need to keep our wits about us when supporting supposedly mainstream campaigns, being careful only to embrace groups that work with all sections of society and with a desire to listen and bring people together.
Be wary of groups who play to our base fears. Do they work across communities and support the rights of others, or do they promote a sense of ‘them and us’? If the former, then there is a strong chance it is coming from a good place. If the latter, stay well away.
Fiyaz Mughal is the Founder and Trustee of Muslims Against Antisemitism