Thread by @miqdaad

How to prove the Conservative Party's "inquiry" into racism is a sham & designed to fail

✅ Awful Terms of Reference
✅ Spiked columnist chosen as Chair
✅ (NEW) even more delays

Yet few even acknowledge how blatant this betrayal of Muslim communities is independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

A reminder:

At the top of the Terms of Reference for their complaints assessment into discrimination, the Conservatives put Islamophobia in inverted commas.

Yes, seriously.

conservatives.com/investigation

Can we please be honest and call out the Conservative Party's "independent investigation" for what it is: a complaints assessment.

You cannot assess the institutional racism in the Party through a complaints assessment.

But I guess that's the point.

conservatives.com/investigation

Even the much maligned Chakrabarti Review had a broader terms of reference that was not merely on complaints. But apparently, the Conservative Party want theirs to be EVEN less in its scope than this. Truly appalling.

labour.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

Reminder 2: the person chosen to chair this glorified complaints assessment, is a Spiked columnist who the former & current Director of the leading equalities think tank, the @RunnymedeTrust, have called out, for his views on racism

The person chosen, Dr Swaran Singh apparently wrote an article in 2007 denying there was any institutional racism in psychiatry

This may give an insight as to why he was picked; if true, this suggests his natural instinct is to deny institutional racism
tinyurl.com/w5t8sqm

This is the article the chosen chair wrote in Spiked Magazine (yes, that Spiked Magazine!)

Worth reading and making your own judgement on whether he is a good choice for this role.

spiked-online.com/2019/08/13/kas…

And he seems close to the Conservative Party's current head of policy unit Munira Mirza given he chose to participate in this highly controversial set of articles on race - attacked by leading race experts at the time.

So let's not pretend he's independent.

And he seems to have no real relevant experience which would make him an appropriate chair for this kind of sensitive inquiry. He is not a discrimination lawyer - and not independent.

warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/st…

And let's not forget his failure to have the confidence of even the former Conservative Party Chair.

https://twitter.com/SayeedaWarsi/status/1207012132073672705?s=19

And similarly he does not have the confidence of the @MuslimCouncil which has led the concerns on Islamophobia in the Party.

Why not even try and reach out to the largest umbrella body of Muslim organisations?

Because he's not serious...

mcb.org.uk/general/conser…

All of this together, makes it clear what the Conservative Party wants: a whitewash.

And this is what it will get.

The fact that this latest article shows that even on these terms, it is delayed, shows how the Party thinks it has no pressure to take this seriously

The Party knows what it is doing - as do those on the inside.

Yet outrage will be basically non-existent amongst the commentariat.

Because - it's only Muslims...who cares?

Just look at Bob Blackman MP

1. RTed Tommy Robinson
2. Hosted anti-Muslim extremist in Parliament
3. Shared fake news from anti-Muslim site
4. Shared an anti-Muslim Facebook post
5. Was part of anti-Muslim Facebook groups
6. Shared platform with Hopkins & Vance

No action taken

The evidence is clear. Yet no action.

It can only get away without any action on even the most blatant cases because close to nobody cares.

https://twitter.com/miqdaad/status/1282262329099538433?s=19

For a long-list demonstrating the scale of the problem in the Party, see this dossier by @MuslimCouncil
mcb.org.uk/general/mcb-su…

It is important that all Muslim activists in this space realise that expecting fair treatment is a luxury that we must fight for.

So few others in the influencer space, are willing to stand up in solidarity.

We must just realise this, even if we continue to hope for more. /END