Opposing Parliament’s Racist Witch-hunt of Malia Bouattia

Academics, Lawyers and Anti-Racist Activists in Support of NUS President

It is good to see that so many prominent academics and other people have signed a letter to The Independent opposing the attack on Malia Bouattia by racist Zionists and racist Parliamentarians, led by Chuku Ummuna and Keith Vaz.

Two weeks ago I wrote in Manufacturing of Consent - Modern Day Alchemy - Home Affairs Select Committee Transforms Anti-Zionism into Anti-Semitism :

In attacking the President of NUS, Malia Bouattia, a refugee from real oppression in Algeria, for ‘anti-Semitism’ the Committee descended into the gutter.  It relied on McCarthyite guilt by association and did not have the integrity or honesty to invite her to give evidence.  Instead it quoted the Union of Jewish Students, for whom Israel advocacy is an integral part of its constitutional requirements, that the statement the University of Birmingham is “something of a Zionist outpost” is anti-Semitic.  Why this is anti-Semitic is never explained.  Presumably the UJS and the Committee, in conjunction with the BNP and other fascist organisations, agree that to be Zionist is to be Jewish.  There is no other logic.   It is no more racist than describing the University of Sussex as a radical outpost.

On the basis of the above the Committee concludes that ‘The current President of the National Union of Students, Malia Bouattia, does not appear to take sufficiently seriously the issue of antisemitism on campus’  The Jewish students it refers to are representatives or supporters of the pro-Israel UJS.  Anti-Zionist Jewish students are, of course, invisible to the Committee as are anti-Zionist Jews generally.

Chuku Ummuna - Black on the outside but his politics are of the White racist Establishment

Earlier this year at the time when the witch hunt of Malia first began I had a letter published in The Guardian in support of Malia.  Her ‘crime’?  Describing Birmingham University as a ‘Zionist output’.  The parliamentary idiots and defamers saw that as anti-Semitic.  Presumably the World Zionist Organisation and the British Zionist Federation are also anti-Semitic by this very same argument?  ‘Zionist’ is not the same as ‘Jew’ – the only people who claim it is are either anti-Semites such as the National Front or BNP or, of course Zionists for whom anti-Zionist Jews are ‘traitors’. 

Zionist is a political term and describing Birmingham University as a Zionist outpost is no different from describing Manchester University as a Tory outpost or Kent University as a feminist outpost etc.

The Zionists, who have been allowed unfortunately by the weakness of Jeremy Corbyn to traduce anti-racists in the Labour Party as ‘anti-Semites’ have now turned their attention to others, including it would seem Baroness Jenny Tonge and Mali Bouttia.  In targeting the first Black woman as President of NUS, Chuku Ummuna demonstrates what a shallow, right-wing little Uncle Tom he is.

Tony Greenstein

In support of Malia Bouattia 

We, the undersigned, unequivocally support Malia Bouattia, the current NUS president and applaud her impeccable record fighting anti-Semitism, racism and her unwavering support for international students.

The Home Affairs Select Committee this week released its report into anti-Semitism. As well as gratuitously levelling attacks against twice elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and former director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti, judgment is also reserved for Ms Bouattia. It claims that she has “failed to take sufficiently seriously the issue of anti-Semitism”.

Ms Bouattia has fought tirelessly against all forms of racism, anti-Semitism, sexism and homophobia. To name but a few of her many achievements and commitments, she previously called for a review into institutional racism (including anti-Semitism) in the NUS, spearheaded solidarity initiatives for migrants and refugees in Calais, campaigned against the deportation of international students, worked on interfaith projects and safe spaces for faith students, co-led the largest opposition to the controversial PREVENT agenda; and all alongside her constant work with student unions across the country to dismantle racism.

The disparity between the report’s representations of Ms Bouattia compared with her actual record should be cause for real concern. The misuse and abuse of anti-Semitism belittle genuine threats against the Jewish community, primarily posed by a newly consolidated far-right in a post-Brexit landscape.

Dr Tanzil Chowdhury, University of Manchester
Professor Norman Finkelstein, Sakarya University
Emeritus Professor Moshe Machover, KCL
Deborah Maccoby, Executive, Jews for Justice for Palestinians
Emeritus Professor Colin Green, UCL
Professor Haim Bresheeth, SOAS
Sir Geoffrey Bindman,QC
Michael Mansfield, QC, Mansfield Chambers
Mansfied Chambers, Barrister’s Chambers
Dr Elian Weizman, CBRL Kenyon Institute, East Jerusalem
Professor Mona Baker, University of Manchester
Professor Piers Robinson, University of Sheffield
Dr Paul Keleman, University of Manchester
Professor Richard Seaford, University of Exeter
Professor Bill Bowring, Birkbeck College
Dr Shirin Hirsch, University of Glasgow
Professor Myriam Salama-Carr, University of Manchester
Professor Hakim Adi, University of Chichester
Professor Tim Jacoby, University of Manchester
Dr Virinder Kalra, University of Manchester
Professor Paul Blackledge, Leeds Beckett University
Professor James Dickins, University of Leeds
Professor Robbie Shilliam, QMUL
Professor Salman Sayyid, University of Leeds
Professor Malcolm Povey, University of Leeds
Dr Anandi Ramamurthy, Sheffield Hallam University
Professor Ray Bush, University of Leeds
Professor Laleh Khalili, SOAS
Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya, University of East London
Dr Kasia Narkowicz, University of York
Dr Sarah Marusek, University of Johannesburg
Dr Joanna Gilmore, University of York
Dr Waqas Tufail, Leeds Beckett University
Dr Adam Elliot-Cooper, University of Warwick
Dr Nadine El-Enany, Birkbeck College
Dr Sadia Habib, Goldsmiths
Dr Mark Carrigan, University of Warwick
Dr Judit Druks, UCL
Dr Nathaniel Coleman, Birmingham City University
Dr Una Barr, Manchester Metropolitan University
Dr Les Levidow, Open University
Yael Kahn, Israeli anti-apartheid activist
Michael Kalmanovitz, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Haifa Zangana, Author & Journalist
Victoria Brittain, Author & Journalist
Liz Davies, barrister & Honorary Vice-President Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Zita Holbourne, National Co-Chair BARAC UK
Lee Jasper, National Co-Chair BARAC UK
Peter Herbert, Society of Black Lawyers
Ronnie Barkan, Boycott from Within
Max Blumenthal, Journalist
Dr Jamie Woodcock, LSE
Dr Naaz Rashid, University of Sussex
Dr Nisha Kapoor, University of York
Dr Abdul B Shaikh, University of Leeds
Dr Katy Sian, University of York
Dr Rizwaan Sabir, Liverpool John Moores University
Dr Naomi Foyle, University of Chichester
Dr Hannah Jones, University of Warwick
Dr Paul Bagguley, University of Leeds
Dr James Eastwood, QMUL
Dr Sarah Keenan, Birkbeck University
Dr Leon Sealey-Huggins, University of Warwick
Dr Kitt Price, QMUL
Dr Lorenza Monaco, University of Johannesburg
Dr Hannah Bargawi, SOAS
Dr Sadhvi Dar, QMUL
Dr Kerem Nisancioglu, SOAS
Dr Owen Miller, SOAS
Dr Paul Waley, University of Leeds
Dr Feyzi Ismail, SOAS
Dr Yasmeen Narayan, Birkbeck University
Dr. Jamil Sherif, Muslim Council of Britain
Dr William Ackah, Birkbeck University
Dr Humaira Saeed, Nottingham Trent University
Deyika Nzeribe, Green Party Manchester Mayoral Candidate
Neema Begum, PhD Candidate, University of Bristol
Mohammed Kasbar, PhD Candidate, QMUL
Ed Yates, PhD Candidate
Cecil Sagoe, PhD Candidate, UCL
Tom Cowan, PhD Candidate, KCL
David Wearing, PhD Candidate, SOAS
Noor Al-Sharif, PhD Candidate, McGill University
Sai Englert, PhD Candidate, SOAS
Altheia Jones-Lecointe, PhD Candidate
Hengameh Ziai, PhD Candidate, Columbia University
Lisa Tilley, PhD Candidate, University of Warwick
Jamie Stern-Weiner, PhD Candidate, University of Oxford
Smina Akhtar, PhD Candidate, University of Bath
Jas Nijjar, PhD Candidate, Brunel University
Nithya Natarajan, PhD Candidate, SOAS
Jack Copley, PhD Candidate, University of Warwick
Carrie Benjamin, PhD Candidate, SOAS
Sita Balani, PhD Candidate, KCL
Gwenan Richards, SOAS
Kevin Blowe, Co-ordinator, Netpol
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods
Colette Williams, Manchester lead, BARAC
Linda Clair, Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Marlene Ellis, General Secretary of Momentum Black ConneXions
Kingsley Abrams, General Secretary of Momentum Black ConneXions
Dr Ramez Ghazoul, Artizana
Diana Nelsen, Jews for Justice for Palestinians
Arzu Merali, Head of Research, Islamic Human Rights Commission
Patricia Lamour, CEO for Gender Education & Enterprise Development for Africa
Micheline Ravololonarisoa, Gender Education & Enterprise Development for Africa
Tom Hickey, University of Brighton
Dr Brian Robinson, Retired NHS psychiatrist
Mike Cushman, LSE
Terry Gallogly, Free Speech on Israel
Rosamine Hayeem, Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine
Abe Hayeem, Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine
Vivienne Hayes, CEO, Women’s Resource Centre
Tony Dickinson, Leeds Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Ian McDonald, Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Ismail Patel, Chairman, Friends of Al-Aqsa
Connor Woodman, Warwick For Free Education
Stephanie Davis, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Brighton
Sandy Nicoll, SOAS UNISON Branch Secretary
Graham Kirkwood, UCU membership secretary, QMUL
Sara Callaway, Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike
Selma James, Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike
Nina Lopez, Legal Action for Women
Sam Weinstein, Payday Men’s Network
Jenny Hardacre, Freelancer
Chris Gutkind
Margot Brown
Salma Patel, Associate Lecturer, Open University
Shreya Sinha, PhD Candidate, SOAS
Ruba Salih, Reader, SOAS
Mehroosh Tak, PhD Candidate, SOAS
Dr Vanja Hamzić, Senior Lecturer in Legal History and Legal Anthropology, SOAS
Dr Ashok Kumar, Fellow, Queen Mary University of London
Matteo Mandarini, Lecturer in Strategy, Queen Mary University of London
Rahul Rao, Senior Lecturer, SOAS
Dr Sharri Plonski, Postdoc Researcher, SOAS
Dr Alessandra Mezzadri, Lecturer, SOAS
Ahu Tatli, Professor, Queen Mary University of London
Nadje Al-Ali, Professor of Gender Studies, SOAS
Musab Younis, PhD Candidate, Oxford University
Mara Duer, PhD student, Warwick University
Victoria B-G Stadheim, PhD Student / GTA, SOAS
Te-Anne Robles, PhD student, University of Warwick
Rachel Harger, Defend the Right to Protest
Dr Milly Williamson, Brunel University
Penny Green, Professor of Law and Globalisation, Queen Mary University of London
Dr Emma Heywood, Lecturer, Coventry University
Phil Edwards, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University
Dr Anisa Mustafa, Teaching Associate in Public Policy, University of Nottingham
Yusuf Hassan, Vice President Student Affairs, Federation of Student Islamic Societies
Mehmet Kurt, Newton Fellow, Queen Mary University of London
Dr. Narzanin Massoumi, University of Liverpool
Julian Petley, Professor, Brunel University
Sayed Alkadiri, FOSIS
Andreas Bieler, Professor of Political Economy, University of Nottingham
Dr Jamie Melrose, University of Bristol
Jules Carey, Human Rights Solicitor
Nariman Massoumi, Lecturer, Film & TV, University of Bristol
Brian Richardson, Barrister, Mansfield Chambers
Javier Moreno Zacarés, Phd researcher, University of Warwick
Khalid Khedri, PhD Candidate, QMUL
Rhona Friedman, solicitor
Dr Emma L Briant, Lecturer, University of Sheffield
Muhammad Feyyaz, Assistant Professor, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
Deepa Kumar, Associate Professor, Rutgers University
Dr Thomas MacManus, Research Fellow, Queen Mary University of London School of Law
Dr Kirsten Forkert, Senior Lecturer, Birmingham City University
John L. Esposito, Professor, Georgetown University
Matt Foot, Solicitor, Birnberg Peirce
Bouteldja Houria, Activist, PIR
Rana Jawad, Senior Lecturer, University of Bath
Ramón Grosfoguel, Professor, University of California at Berkeley
Sandew Hira, coordinator, Decolonial International Network
Dr Mark Hayes, Senior Lecturer Human Sciences, Solent University
Mark Elf, Jews sans frontieres
Dr Hatem Bazian, Lecturer, NES and Asian American Studies, UC Berkeley
Dr Abida Malik, Tutor in Sociology, University of Nottingham
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Amanj Aziz, Student, Gothenburg University
Tom Mills, Lecturer in Sociology, Aston University