Zarah Sultana is more principled than all the weak men surrounding her

As supporters of Your Party keep a keen eye on emerging policy positions, Zarah Sultana continues to be a shining light. Over the past few weeks, a growing concern over the party’s seeming lack of a position on transphobia has dominated discussion on social media. Given a mix of transphobic legislation, a rise in transphobic hate crimes, and an ongoing moral panic over the very existence of trans people, such an omission was glaring.

However, in recent days Sultana spoke to the Canary to remove any doubt as to her position. She told us:

it’s really important that, from the outset, we are loud and proud about the values that we have. Otherwise, what’s the point? If we’re not proudly saying we’re anti-racist, we’re supportive and pro-LGBT, there is no space for transphobia…If we are going to change society for everyone, we have to centre the most marginalised people.

And, she made it clear:

there can’t be any kind of questions about our position on trans rights. And we need to make sure that everyone feels safe, everyone feels welcome in shaping this party. And that’s really important.

In doing so, Sultana also demonstrated something else: as one of the most prominent brown women in politics, she is taking more of a principled stand for marginalised people than many of her colleagues.

Zarah Sultana stands for all

With the advent of Your Party, Sultana has made a clear strategic shift to a more plain-speaking and forthright style. She had no qualms in calling out smears made against her; she proudly stated she was an anti-Zionist; she’s been inspiring people wherever she goes. Finally, here is someone with a vision for the future and principles that are actually built around the most vulnerable and marginalised people in society. But, let’s get one thing clear. It is fucking galling to see this principled brown woman make waves in politics whilst white and brown men who claim to have similar politics keep their mouths shut.

Just by being a brown woman with a considerable amount of public attention trained her way, Sultana is under more of a microscope than her male colleagues. Whether it’s Jeremy Corbyn or Adnan Hussain, anything that comes out of Sultana’s mouth is subject to more scrutiny and vitriol. As much as misogyny and racism irrevocably colour how her statements are received, it is when they come together that brown women face a particular form of vicious bad faith responses.

Identity politics

Detractors of identity politics, from both the left and right, stand ever-ready to blow such claims out of the water. But, as popular a concept as identity politics is, it’s fundamentally misused. Someone like Zarah Sultana is not in the position she has reached because she’s a brown woman. She’s in that position because her politics, time and again, support people who face racism, misogyny, transphobia and more. The parts of her identity that come from being a brown woman are undoubtedly central to both her politics and sense of self.

After all, just having identity categories that are marginalised isn’t enough. As we covered last week, Adnan Hussain has, rightfully, attracted criticism for his messy takes on trans people. In a now-deleted series of tweets, a seemingly frustrated Hussain said:

“A broad, inclusive church” doesn’t mean ‘the type of people I want but not those other ones.’ It means all marginalised and vulnerable people who are on the sharp end of a violent and uncaring state. Problems like poverty, racism, and transphobia are structural. They intersect in many ways, and it is extremely bloody commonplace for people to belong to many marginalised groups.

With such a view in mind, what’s the point of Hussain’s targeting of trans people? Either he believes structural issues that the state presides over are, indeed, structural, or he’s just picking and choosing which marginalised people he stands with.

Different standards

Identity politics or, as they’re sometimes known, representation politics are nowhere near radical enough in politics. Black or brown faces in high places do not change the material reality of Black and brown people on the other end of the poverty scale. If the only metric we’re using is identity politics, then sure – there goes Adnan Hussain, and Shabana Mahmood, and Zarah Sultana. Lovely.

But, then what? If we approach the issue of whose political visions most serve the people of this country, Zarah Sultana’s approach is surely the only one that contains any realistic sense of hope. Whether brown or white, men are much more insulated from social or media blowback. There is much more tolerance of their opinions, and notably, their missteps. As brilliant as she is, Sultana is held to a much higher standard than her colleagues. Nevertheless, she has maintained her principles.

As Your Party spends the next few months deciding its platform and politics more broadly, we need more of the likes of Zarah Sultana.

Featured image via the Canary