Please find below the letter, I am Cllr Ehtasham Haque of Blackwall and Cubitt Town have send to the Trustees of Mudchute Farm. Expressing our concerns with regards to the possible breach by the organisation of the Council’s adoption of the APPG Definition on Islamophobia.
BY EMAIL: [email protected]
Mudchute Park & Farm
Pier Street
Isle of Dogs
London E14 3HP
Date:
FAO:
Dr Michael Barraclogh
Raymond John Swindells
Justin Hesman Abbott
Kathleen McTasney
Lorraine Cavanagh
Margaret Rose Phillips
Klaus Bernhard Woeste
Lindsay Bernhard Woeste
Lindsay Draffab
Mary Gray
Carolyn Kirkwood
Carl Kemp
Dear Trustees,
RE: Concerns with Regards to Big Tent, in possible breach of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Definition on Islamophobia – In Particular Nora Mulready and the Conservative Islam and Liberal Britain Talk in the Arts and Culture Tent
We councillors are writing to you to raise our concerns of a possible breach by Mudchute Farm with regards to the APPG Definition on Islamophobia: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”. This working definition was adopted by the Council on the 20th of March 2019.
We are writing to remind the trustees that Mudchute Park and Farm is a recipient of council monies through various grant awards, as well as a leaseholder of Council owned land.
We are concerned that both the invitation of Nora Mulready as a speaker and the topic of the event is in breach of the APPG Definition on Islamophobia. Nora Mulready is a divisive figure whos views and comments on Islam and Muslims was endorsed and applauded by a former UKIP leader who compared the religion of Islam as a death cult.
Second, the topic of Conservative Islam is and Libera Britain, and the explicit juxtaposition is a false narrative, which has its roots in a far-right Islamophobic trope of ‘Eurabia’, which served as an inspiration for white supremacist terrorists such as Anders Breivik and others. There is a good long article in the Guardian Newspaper, dated 16th August 2019, ‘The Myth of Eurabia: How a far-right conspiracy theory went mainstream’ (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/16/the-myth-of-eurabia-how-a-far-right-conspiracy-theory-went-mainstream), which outlines the theory, its far-right origins as well as its murderous impact in terms of White Supremacist terrorist attacks in Europe and abroad.
We also write to remind you of the long history of Islam and Muslims in Europe, from Medieval Scilly and Spain to Eastern Europe from the time of the Ottomans to the present day. In Britain, the relationship with Islam and Muslims goes back to anglo Saxon time, to the present day, including the thousands of Muslim soldiers who gave their lives for Britain in both World Wars and the contributions Muslims made to the post-war economy and multicultural culture of modern-day Britain. Therefore any othering of Muslims by giving a platform to speakers and topics is historically false and assists such fake news far-right narrative.
We would like an immediate response, addressing the concerns raised in the letter. In the meantime, we will be speaking to the Mayor and Council officers, calling for a review of any council funding given to Mudchute farm as well as review in any covenants attached to the lease granted by the Council to Mudchute.
With Regards,
Cllr Puru Miah
Cllr Ehetsham Haque
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