Mothin Ali slams politicians for escalating ‘blatant racism’ into death threats

Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali has slammed establishment politicians for their role in amplifying “blatant racism” and helping it turn into:

a torrent of Islamophobic abuse and death threats that have left me and my family fearing for our lives.

Mothin Ali: ‘escalation of blatant racism by those in power’

Writing in the National, Ali said:

In a Britain where the politics of fear and division are gaining ground – and where parties like Reform UK thrive on narratives about who does and does not belong – some politicians have discovered that scapegoating minorities is easier than solving real problems.

And after he attended a Stop The War Coalition protest amid the illegal and unprovoked US-Israeli assault on Iran, he faced that himself as:

parliament and the media have spread false claims that I was “protesting in support of the ayatollah”.

But he stressed that:

Speaking out against conflict – especially in the wake of the strike on an Iranian school that killed more than 175 schoolgirls and teachers – should never be treated as suspicious. In a healthy democracy, it is exactly what engaged citizenship demands.

That doesn’t seem to be the belief of establishment politicians, however. Because:

After Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke used parliamentary privilege to make false claims about me, those allegations were amplified by political figures, including the Prime Minister, and echoed across parts of the right-wing media and social media.

He called this:

faux outrage and blatant racism. And in this case, escalation by those in power.

He then suggested a link between politicians’ actions and the death threats he has received since then, saying:

In that kind of climate, it is hardly surprising that political disagreement spills beyond debate and into intimidation.

The “integrity of British democracy” is at stake

Just as it is wrong (and antisemitic) to suggest all Jewish people support the actions of Israel, it is equally wrong (and Islamophobic) to push the view that all Muslim people support the actions of Iran or any other Muslim state. And Ali highlighted that there is no justification for such an assertion.

As he explained:

A recent Opinium poll commissioned by the Concordia Forum found that 85% of British Muslims believe democracy is the best form of government – significantly higher than the general population (71%).

Seven in 10 say they are completely or mostly loyal to Britain, compared with only half of the wider public. And 94% believe everyone should be treated equally under the law, regardless of faith.

Although establishment voices try to push people into black and white positions, Ali insisted that opposing war does not automatically mean you “sympathise with the regime on the other side”. And he added:

we must reject the politics of loyalty tests and rediscover something more difficult but far healthier: the ability to hold two moral truths at once.

You can oppose authoritarian regimes and still grieve for innocent lives lost in war. You can criticise foreign governments without being accused of betraying your own country. And you can listen to Muslim voices in Britain not as suspects, but as fellow citizens participating in the same democratic conversation.

The “integrity of British democracy”, he stressed, depends on our ability to have robust debate and disagree peacefully. But he also emphasised that:

disagreement must not slide into dehumanisation.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot