Your Party can be a political home for British Muslims

It’s not always easy being a British Muslim. Racist politicians have done their best to make us feel like our identity is a contradiction in terms. 

From the “war on terror” and the aftermath of 7/7, to the Prevent programme, to the repression of the pro-Palestine movement, the British state and right-wing media like to paint us as enemies within. 

Over the past two summers, we saw the terrifying consequences, as mobs laid siege to mosques on the streets of England amid racist riots.

It’s no surprise, then, that many British Muslims recoil from Reform UK, whose leading figures openly denigrate us, and from a Conservative Party with a long history of surveilling us, demonising us and even expressing outright bigotry towards us.

For decades, Labour has been the “natural home” for British Muslims. Yet with the brief exception of Jeremy Corbyn’s principled leadership, this support has been eroding for decades. 

In this, the Iraq War was a major factor. But the erosion has also been fuelled by a longer-term sense of abandonment, the party’s support for anti-democratic and stigmatising programmes like Prevent, and its constant backing of Israel.

The genocide in Gaza and Labour’s complicity in it were, of course, the spark for a total collapse in support for the party. In its place rose an army of independents, from our own elections as local councillors in Redbridge and Bradford, all the way to some spectacular victories in parliament, such as Shockat Adam’s unseating of Jonathan Ashworth in Leicester South. 

Yet even when we exercise our democratic freedoms and organise accordingly, we are delegitimised and attacked by the media and political establishment. Our victories must be the result of rigging, intimidation or even “spiritual influence”.

Laying foundations 

Catalysed by Gaza, this independent movement was the bedrock on which Your Party was built, providing the nascent political party with a basis in parliament and deep roots in communities, as well as a possible alliance between British Muslims and the organised left. 

Without our organising, from the streets through our mosques and all the way to the ballot box, a new mass party of the left wouldn’t have been even a vague possibility. It seemed we could finally have a party that we could truly call our own.

Yet since Your Party was announced, a vocal group within it has seemed determined to drive the Muslim community, those of us who laid the foundations, out of our own project. And tragically, they have succeeded to a significant extent. 

With Corbyn's approach, and with The Many, we can repair the alliance between our communities and the left

This group has been crystal clear about where they stand: “There is no room for socially conservative views in a socialist left-wing party, period,” argued MP Zarah Sultana. Her comments came as a deep affront to the many people in our communities who identify with that label. 

Another prominent party organiser, Max Shanly, outrageously declared that Independent Alliance MPs are “good on Palestine and terrible on everything else”, calling for their exclusion from party membership. 

This is a mirror of racist, right-wing characterisations of “pro-Gaza” independent MPs, as if Muslim communities don’t disproportionately live in deprived areas; as if we are “only” concerned with foreign policy and don’t care about housing, crumbling public services and soaring inequality; and as if the likes of Adam and MP Ayoub Khan haven’t been campaigning in parliament against cuts in their communities, and for wealth taxes, public ownership and an end to grotesque inequality.

The consequence of all this? Many in our communities have been repelled from Your Party, seeing it as a hostile, even dehumanising space. 

Some of our brightest stars, like activist Leanne Mohamad and Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman, have kept their distance, while two MPs have been driven out. Some in the party even celebrated these departures, seeming to revel in shrinking the party’s tent.

Welcoming vision

We won’t accept this state of affairs. Like Corbyn, we have a completely different - far broader, more inclusive and welcoming - view of what this party should be. 

We could not disagree more vehemently with those who have cynically tried to drive a wedge between the left and our communities, deeply damaging the project. We won’t stand by and let that happen - and Your Party’s inaugural leadership elections offer a chance to right the ship. 

That’s why we are standing for the collective leadership of the party, as part of The Many. One of the core pillars of our platform is to begin repairing relations with Muslim communities. 

What I learned at the inaugural Your Party Conference

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In this, our pledge to elect Corbyn as parliamentary leader matters. In Muslim communities across Britain, Corbyn is the most popular politician by some distance - and for good reason. He is a unifying figure who has stood with us at home and abroad, without wavering, for decades. He has never declared us unwelcome. He has our deep trust. 

But we are not simply following. We are proud that one-third of The Many’s leadership candidates are Muslim. We are leading from the front - not being spoken for, nor used as a pawn in someone else’s political game. We are leading ourselves, so it’s our party, too.

Led in parliament by Corbyn, we will ensure that Your Party focuses on what unites us, not what drives us apart. We will campaign on the issues that matter most to all of our communities, from the cost-of-living crisis, to opposing genocide and war. 

This doesn’t mean compromising on our opposition to bigotry or discrimination. It means building the broadest possible alliance against a political establishment and an economic system that disadvantages us all. 

With Corbyn’s approach, and with The Many, we can repair the alliance between our communities and the left. We can then focus on another great electoral advance: winning not five seats at the next general election, but dozens, building a permanent new political home for British Muslims outside and against the genocide-abetting, Zionist Labour Party. 

Together, that’s what we can achieve. 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.