As the US and UK bomb Yemen on the 22nd anniversary of the opening of the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, Arzu reviews her thoughts from 2012 about the narratives of Islamophobia that facilitate this violence Yesterday was the anniversary of the opening of Camp X-Ray, the notorious US prison camp and
Arzu argues that the normalisation of the TalkTV journalist’s behaviour in a recent interview should be too much even for institutionally racist media companies to stomach. The video of Julia Hartley-Brewer ‘interviewing’ Palestinian MP Mustafa Barghouti last week is doing the rounds. Rightly so. It is a shocking piece of invective,
As talk of the UK government’s desire to ‘define’ extremism resurfaces, Arzu looks at how this may or may not impact the coming year. I have decided to review certain of my older articles and comments for the coming year. How much of what I thought or found still holds? Have there
Tim Brighouse has passed away. A principled senior educator, and advocate for equality. A few words. I was sad to hear of Sir Tim Brighouse’s passing. He was the former London Schools Commissioner and chief education officer for Oxfordshire and Birmingham. My brief acquaintance with him came from his advice and support
I first came across this poem, when it was put up on the wall of an office I worked at by (I am guessing) Demir Mahmutćehajić , and which followed us and Massoud Shadjareh and our other friends to Islamic Human Rights Commission in 1997. It is a powerful reminder of the resilience of
Arzu Merali reflects on the sectarian misrepresentation and instrumentalisation of Sheikh El-Zakzaky’s case by both Sunnis and Shias*. No-one is going to like what I am about to say. No-one. So let me be clear, I speak on no-one’s behalf except my own, and reflect no-one’s opinion except my own. To Sheikh
Arzu Merali outlines the urgent need for the Palestine solidarity movement to learn lessons from its fractured past It has been a traumatic and for some surprising week. The UK Home Secretary has labelled the peaceful and almost wholly – thus far – arrest free pro-Palestinian marches in (particularly, but not
Feel free to share, but please credit the author (Arzu Merali) and the photographer Sara Russell. Written during Operation Cast Lead, 2009 Updated July 2023 The oppression continues, but the situation is markedly changed. نَصْرٌ من اللَّهِ وَفَتْحٌ قَرِيبٌ Copyright words (c) Arzu Merali Copyright image (c) Sara Russell. Buy an original
I spoke about the rise of Islamophobia in India on Islam Channel’s NewsTalk. 26th January 2023 – In this episode, Mas Patel discusses the BBC’s new documentary “The Modi Question” and asks why it has caused a lot of controversy with Dr Manisha Maganji President (International Network of Democratic Indians Abroad), Arzu
I stood in for a speaker at the IHRC, SACC & DIN Islamophobia Conference in 2022: Is the Sun Setting on the Western Empire? Exploring Shifts in Global Power and Islamophobic Thinking, and talked about the term ‘global Islamic movement’. I addressed the loss of Muslim confidence during the period of the
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