• Unelected Labour Lord suggests that for International Women’s Day, it will be empowering for young Muslim women to take off their hijab for an hour
• Islamophobia across the British political spectrum
With islamophobia up 600% after the October 7 Hamas offensive and UK politicians spouting Islamophobic hate in the same time frame, it becomes evident that the aristocratic culture ingrained in the UK’s government and Tory Party may well harbour islamophobia to a large degree. But what of the Labour Party? The party has more women than any other party in parliament. Unfortunately, there is a high level of Islamophobia within the Labour Party.
A survey done by the Labour Muslim Network between July and August 2020 of 422 members showed that 1 in 4 members of the Labour Party have suffered Islamophobia in their time within the party. The Labour Party had previously prided itself on being ‘anti-racist’, and in 2017, 85% of Muslims supported the Labour Party, with only 11% supporting the Tory Party. Ever since October 7, with Kier Starmer’s inability to call for an immediate ceasefire, it became apparent that Labour was no longer a party with high ethics and morals in the eyes of the Muslim communities. The recent by-election in Rochedale is a testimony to the sheer anger the Muslim and pro-Palestinian communities feel when looking at Labour’s recent track record.
1 in 4 Muslims in the Labour Party have experienced Islamophobia.
Labour Lord Young of Norwood Green had suggested that it may be empowering for young women in the UK to take off their hijab for one hour today on International Women’s Day as a way of showing solidarity with the women in Iran who have also taken off their hijab in protest, as well as apparently those who have fought for the right to wear it.
The fact that Lord Young has said that there are women in Iran who are laying down their lives to take off their hijab but at the same time says there are those who are laying down their lives to wear it, and then says that Muslim women in the UK should take off their hijab to show solidarity and not put it on, suggests blatant islamophobia and reveals the dark views Lord Young has on the hijab. There are so many women across the globe who are being abused and have many different rights restrained from them. In some countries, like France, women are not even allowed to wear their hijab in institutions around the country, yet Lord Young did not even choose to talk about them or suggest that young Muslim women should show solidarity with them. There have not been any repercussions as of yet from the Labour Party regarding what Lord Young has said, nor has there even been a public statement on the issue at hand. This highlights the declining seriousness of dealing with islamophobia in Kier Starmer’s Labour Party.
