Labour’s Anti-Racist History Shows Why We Must Lead The Battle Against Islamophobia
The Labour Party has always been at the forefront of tackling prejudice, whether it was workers uniting against fascism on Cable Street in east London in 1936 or when the last Labour government legislated for “freedom of religion” through the human rights act in 1998.
It is those values of equality and solidarity that led the Greater London Council to sponsor the first ever black history month event 30 years.
In the last few days, Islamophobia awareness month has come to an end. It’s a time that should remind us of the continuous struggles Muslims go through on a daily basis. As a black Muslim both months are significant to me – they remind me of the barriers I face, one due to the colour of my skin, and the other due to the God that I worship. Nevertheless, this month shouldn’t be marked by simply highlighting the levels of Islamophobia in our society, but by looking at how government policies have fuelled those shocking levels and put forward objective solutions to eradicate this form of prejudice from our society.
The Labour Party has always been at the forefront of tackling prejudice, whether it was workers uniting against fascism on Cable Street in east London in 1936 or when the last Labour government legislated for “freedom of religion” through the human rights act in 1998. In the last few days, Islamophobia awareness month has come to an end. It’s a time that should remind us of the continuous struggles Muslims go through on a daily basis. As a black Muslim both months are significant to me – they remind me of the barriers I face, one due to the colour of my skin, and the other due to the God that I worship. Nevertheless, this month shouldn’t be marked by simply highlighting the levels of Islamophobia in our society, but by looking at how government policies have fuelled those shocking levels and put forward objective solutions to eradicate this form of prejudice from our society.