Pervez AkhtarThere is no doubt that the Asian Muslim community is under intense scrutiny as we enter the election season in the UK. The current genocidal attacks by the Zionist state occupation forces of Israel against the people of Gaza, and the UK government and opposition’s unequivocal support for this action, will weigh heavy in the hearts and minds of those voters. Thousands and thousands of innocent Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children are being slaughtered with impunity by the Zionists. The evidence is indisputable as this is played out daily as we watch the genocide unfolding before our eyes in real time and on our screens. The anger and frustration of knowing that both the Government and the Opposition condone the horrific violence and very deliberate extermination and elimination of the Palestinian people from their homeland will be rightfully expressed on polling day. You don’t have to be a Muslim to condemn the unwarranted wholesale murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children, you just have to be human.
So when the politicians and their lackeys come knocking on your doors canvassing support for their respective parties, some very serious questions need to be asked.
Do they condemn the genocide of the Palestinian people?
If not, why not? What possible justification could there ever be for this sadistic slaughter? It is inhuman not to be moved by the reports and images coming out of Gaza, and yet the Western powers not only persist in allowing such carnage, they aid and abet it whilst profiteering from supplying the weapons, making them complicit in the war crimes.
There can only be two real reasons for not condemning Israel for the blatant war crimes and the continuing onslaught it is committing; either the politicians are bought, or they harbour extreme prejudice. Or both.
If for any reason, those politicians and their supporters on your doorstep insist that they have the absolute freedom and right to do whatever they please, ‘ to do as they will’, then feel free to question their humanity.
For, of all the things they can do, they choose to do this?
The ongoing slaughter, starvation and systematic elimination of the Palestinian people as the world watches in horror and disgust will not easily be erased from the global psyche of this and later generations, and nor should it!
We should ask hard core feminists such as the Labour candidate up for re-election, Al Garthwaite, when she comes waving her credentials championing women’s rights; ‘Where are the rights of the mothers, daughters and sisters of Gaza?’
The silence is deafening. Do they not constitute a cause? Or are they females of a different species?
Local, Mayoral and National Elections UK
The local and mayoral elections will be a useful barometer to test the sensitivity of the electorate ahead of the General Election that is likely to be called soon. The inner cities of the UK have the usual mix of diverse communities and the challenges will be similar in all inner city areas up and down the country.
Under normal circumstances, issues around education, employment, housing, health and other services are the usual staple up for debate. However, the ongoing genocide in Palestine is a watershed moment and the Muslim vote will be a factor that will directly impact the outcome. Of this there is no doubt.
In Hyde Park, Leeds where PK Plus is based, the track record of successive Labour councillors has been abysmal. There is a common understanding that they pander to the local racists and Islamphobes, and there is a very definite culture of denying inclusivity and playing favourites with selected community groups. This is clearly evident from the absence of minorities in the composition of any panels where community involvement is needed, and serves to exclude them from funding initiatives and the opportunity for any real or meaningful dialogue with under-represented groups. The same familiar faces frequent meetings and forums. Parochial-minded cliques that stifle creativity and choke any innovative community initiatives, even those that would provide much needed valuable services and create multiple layers of jobs and opportunities are flatly ignored and rejected.
Those minority groups that do engage are subsequently dropped from mailing lists and gradually side-lined. This has to change.
The response of the mainstream political parties has demonstrated the utter contempt for the suffering and massive loss of lives of innocent men, women and children in Gaza, Palestine. The glaring hypocrisy and shameless double standards of the Western global political elite has reminded Muslims the world over that the institutions of the West will never be their friends. They know they can expect no relief from the United Nations in spite of its great ambitions. That the very structure of the UN is weighted heavily against any serious equitable global development, in favour of those who show fealty to Zionism.
The UK’s active participation in all manners and matters where the USA and Israel is involved worldwide makes it complicit in creating the global hegemony that asserts that might is right. Lessons should have been learned when the erstwhile Labour leader Tony Blair jumped gung-ho into the Iraq war eager for slaughter with Bush. War criminals all of them.
Like schoolyard bullies, the West has no respect for any International rules based order, and in the case of Gaza, the Zionists have very seriously overplayed their hand. The sadistic killing frenzy of the occupation forces, led by a bloodthirsty war cabinet have demonstrated to the entire globe how perverted they really are. The whole world now knows the true nature of the beast.
Bad Representation
The writing is on the wall as regards which community is likely to be the piñata or whipping boy to stir hatred and division in this pre-election climate. The egregious diatribe coming out Westminster and the not so impartial media is designed to escalate tension in an increasingly hostile environment. No doubt this is a diversionary ruse to shift attention from the abysmal record of failures of the political elite over past decades on all sides of the House, at home and abroad.
What the Asian community, and in particular the British Pakistani Muslim community have suffered from over many decades has been poor or misrepresentation. So called community leaders, usually backed by the clan or the baradari family system that they come from offer very little by way of challenging the existing power structures concerning their rights and needs in a fast changing, ever more divisive Britain. Propped up by nepotism and the fear of losing control and social status, these die hard, old guard dinosaurs have stunted the growth of their communities by inhibiting meritocracy and not allowing brighter more able representatives to come forward to plead the rights of the community.
They rarely have the ability to speak up, let alone speak for the current modern, relevant and well informed youth who are the future of these communities. They are more concerned with manipulating the Management Committees of places of worship, community centres and other valuable resources which could be vastly improved to enhance the quality of life of their members. So it is that you find many community elders hold disproportionate sway in matters where the legitimate voice of the community and its concerns, has become drastically misrepresented.
This is exactly how the mainstream politicians of all the main political parties prefer it.
Clearly, it is very convenient to have the block vote of a sizeable community, and in this regard the Labour Party have been especially adept at garnering support in this way. At election times, a roster of sycophants, named individuals well known in their communities, are rolled out for those sticky photo shoot moments when the politicians need to publicly pretend that they are all about inclusion. The reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. The community dynamic has quite perceptibly changed.
The traditional support that Labour enjoyed amongst the largely working class Asian masses has evaporated on the realisation that actually, you cannot trust a Tory, even if he is called Kier Starmer. That both the Conservatives and Labour are on the same page when it comes to violence against Muslims. Both will blithely profiteer from Muslim kills, regardless of gender or age.
Life Under Starmer
Ultra-Zionists are a vindictive breed, and you can almost write the script for life under Starmer for Britain’s Muslims. The stick that is fast becoming the ‘Muslim Vote’ will certainly have an effect in the inevitable upcoming General Election, especially in key marginal seats.
Although many voters are swinging towards Green in the local elections, in the General Election many Independent candidates are likely to be fielded in the inner city constituencies that are traditionally considered Labour strongholds. Leeds West is one such constituency where the current Shadow Chancellor and effectively number 2 in the Labour hierarchy, Rachel Reeves is the MP. The effects of this sea change will only truly be evident in the aftermath of the vote.
Clearly Kier Starmer, also known as Kid Starver because of his unconditional support of Israel’s policy of besieging the people of Gaza, denying food, water and fuel, sees himself as a Prime Minister in waiting. This rings true on account of the dismal performance by the Conservatives and their track record of mismanaging the economy and corrupt practices in awarding lucrative contracts to their supporters during Covid and beyond. Gaza will be a thorn in his side going forward, and time will tell what effect this will have on his mandate. Muslim organisations throughout the UK need to brace themselves for what will be a targeted campaign to shut down any protestation of the situation in Gaza at the expense of freedom of speech. Any legislation that will be required will receive bi-partisan support of the main parties in an attempt to gag the Muslim voice. Such legislation that will ostensibly be applicable to many organisations, but in reality will be enacted against only specific groups. These parties sing from the same hymn sheet when it concerns Muslims.
The most sincere advice that can be given to these organisations is that they get their own houses in order. If they are registered charities, they will need to demonstrate meticulous adherence to their Charity Commission approved constitutions. Accounts, elections and Gift Aid receipts will be inspected. If there are shown to be irregularities in any formal paperwork of any sort, it will initiate a scrutiny that will seek to de-legitimise institutions that have decades of history and achievement.
Going Forward
In preparation for the next General Election the British Pakistani Muslim community needs to be prepared to field independent candidates, or where appropriate strategically support
the existing candidates from other non-mainstream parties be they Left or Right or Centre.
To be sure, the Left and the Right are wings of the same bird.
The existing batch of Asian Councillors and MP’s how ever well meaning their intentions, have proven to be either too docile to make any significant impact on the culture of local politics, or impotent in the face of branch pressure. In either case the motivation for them entering politics is questionable. No doubt some will have very noble aspirations and may well have demonstrated principled stances from time to time on certain issues, but the chances are that many will have availed themselves of opportunities yielding financial and social returns. Many members have left the Labour party to protest Starmer’s cruel and Islamophobic stance on Gaza. Many will say that rather than leave the party, we should for change from within. The question is, in all the years of active involvement, how effective have they been? What perceptible change is evident by their engagement?
The West is collapsing under the weight of its own hypocrisy, unable to maintain the false narrative of much vaunted values of fairness and tolerance that it has wrongly laid claim to for centuries.
An objective look at world history would undoubtedly show that any involvement of the West, has inevitably resulted in the pillaging, plundering and rape of countries, people, resources and even whole civilisations. The Neo-Colonial mindset still feel they have the right to assert themselves wherever and whenever they choose. A blend of pseudo-religious imperatives based on historical claims to Jerusalem by all the Abrahamic faith based systems bodes more death, misery and destruction to come, unless cool heads prevail.
It would be nice if there was a magic wand to fix minds and heal hearts. More likely, the Staff of Moses (AS) is probably a more apt analogy as there are so many snakes to swallow. In the run up to the polls, PK Plus will continue to update, comment and highlight any concerns that directly or indirectly affect British communal life. A sincere and genuine dialogue is what is required with a view to developing a Citizens Charter, safe guarding civil and human rights applicable to all.