Labour Muslim Network Launched in UK

The Labour Muslim Network describes itself as an inclusive organisation which seeks to support British Muslims’ engagement in the political process and with the Labour Party, based on shared values of social justice and equality.

Jeremy Corbyn helped to officially launch the Labour Muslim Network in Committee Room 11 at the House of Commons but was immediately hit with allegations that the Chair of the launch Ali Milani was known to have been an anti-Israeli activist. John McDonnell, Dawn Butler, Andy Slaughter, Rupa Huq, Wes Streeting and Afzal Khan were also present at the launch of the new Muslim political network.  The LMN describes itself as an inclusive organisation which seeks to support British Muslims’ engagement in the political process and with the Labour Party, based on shared values of social justice and equality.

The Labour Party leader pledged to tackle the root causes of Islamophobia in Britain as well as promising to identify the root causes of wars and conflicts abroad many of which pitted Muslim regions against perceived British economic interests. He also congratulated the LMN members for their hard work in campaigning door to foor in the recent election and looked forward to collaborating with them to expand Labour’s support base which resulted in a record number of voters supporting Labour since 1945. The event was described as a showcase of LMN’s work and long-term vision, and included a panel looking at Labour’s future engagement with British Muslims.

The room was filled with an overwhelming majority of British born young Muslims eager to buy into the Corbynista movement which seems to be working towards strengthening its grip on the Muslim vote in Britain. Traditionally Labour has relied heavily on Muslim biradri or family block voting for its political support from Britain’s three million plus citizens, however this means of acquiring the Muslim vote is no longer guaranteed with the majority under thirty five Muslim voters; and LMN has pledged to develop a new younger volunteer support base as well as supporting the decentralization of politics through establishing local branches capable of creating more relevant grassroots focused campaigns whilst maintaining the overarching objectives of the Labour Party.

The Zionist media lobbyist’s quickly picked up on the alleged  anti-Israeli views of the LMN launch event Chair, Ali Milani, who is also a Vice President of the National Union of Students and executive member of the new Labour Muslim Network. The infamous Guido Fawkes blog criticized the Leader of the Opposition for sharing this new platform with an alleged Zionists; a trend which follows on from Daily Telegraph journalist  Andrew Gilligan’s targeting of Azad Ali of MEND, MCB, Al Takriti (Cordoba Foundation)  and other Salafi orientated  British Muslim political organizations as extremists with allegedly close affiliations to HAMAS, who are designated a terrorist organization. That Labour Muslim Network chose Ali Milani to Chair the meeting does seem a little naive especially given the neoconservative and Zionist penchant for discrediting such activists with the smear of anti-Semitism. Although the conflation of anti-Zionism, a political ideology, with anti – Semitism is of course erroneous in itself so Labour would argue their man has done no wrong.

Muslim politics in Britain has long been dominated by either careerist hyper material immigrant politicians or the Tower Hamlets beehive of what neoconservatives such as Douglas Murray like to term Islamists. It seems we may have had a curious mix of both in the same room with the likes of Khalid Mahmood MP, a known neocon Henry Jackson Society supporter, alongside Ali Milani who is on record for having made anti-Zionist remarks, but subsequently apologised, telling the Tabstudent newspaper: “I have apologised unreservedly for these comments before and I do so again. They do not reflect how I see the world today…..These tweets are from an incredibly long time ago – when I was 16 to 17 years old. It’s unacceptable, I know that now. Education taught me that.” Nothing in the Muslim religio-political sphere in Britain is what it seems with covert agendas lurking in the shadowy corridors of power who seem to fear Islam and at the same time use British Muslims as a terrorizing tool against mainstream Britain. Persuading them to relinquish their privacy rights, civil liberties and also distracting them from an imposed austerity that will likely be exacerbated by Brexit. An exodus fuelled in part by the worry of a Muslim refugee influx. How curious that the war on Muslims too is tied to the domestic upheaval in Britain. Dirty politics? Probably.

Muslim political  observers at the Think Tank – Initiative for Muslim Community Development’say “ top down Muslim socio political engineering is a reality in Britain and we have witnessed the likes of independent grassroots political activists such as  Dr Kallime Siddiqui and his Muslim Parlianent eclipsed by Government nurtured movements such Dr Iqbal Sacranie’s MCB in the 1990’s. This arguably continued  through the efforts post 9/11 efforts to establish the Sufi Muslim Council and more recently through Majed Nawaz and the Prevent so-called anti radicalization policy. Is the Labour Muslim Network just another establishment tool designed to control the British Muslim political space with energetic naive young Muslims underpinned by the establishments on psyops and political engineering agenda. Hard to tell but if LMN are not a true grassroots operation, and or have not learned the lessons of Neocon use of the political “Islamists” as the Judy for neoliberalism’s “ Punch”, then they too will become part of the  British Muslim alienation process already orchestrated for decades.”

Why should the political engineering of Muslims be necessary in a democracy? IMCD suggests one need only look at the predictions of a three fold rise in the British Muslim population to see their potential political impact. identified 16 constituencies where the impact of Muslim communities could be “high.” In those constituencies the swing towards Labour was 7,789 on average and every one of these 16 seats is now held by the Labour party. In the 23 constituencies where researchers determined the impact of Muslim communities as “medium,” the swing towards Labour (or the Liberal Democrats in the Conservative-Lib Dem marginal Kingston & Surbiton) was 6,839 on average. The Tories are of course abysmal in their track record with Muslims in Britain and stand little chance of capturing their vote and racism is still allegedly a huge problem within the Party. However with the growing neoliberalism of British Muslims perhaps they may take their vote more and more seriously too given their growing affluence in some areas and the prophesied demographic explosion

For now though the Labour Muslim Network looks like it has the approval of the Labour Party and it will be interesting to see if the naivety of honest young Muslims is about to be exploited or whether it really is a refreshing new thinking Labour Muslim intervention in British politics. What impact it actually has on the electorate over the coming years will determine what it’s masterminds intentions are, however , it certainly will not go unchallenged by other independent Muslim political movements if it turns out to be an Islamist tool or a neocon political Trojan Horse.