youlikewelike.com:

Shiny, obviously fast and clearly difficult to insure cars roll up and down Ilford High Street, young men at the wheels, their friends in the back. You don't know what will happen next, in London, in Britain, around the world. As if from nowhere Asghar Bukhari appears, smiling and younger than he looks on television, his telephone pressed to his ear and running late. "I'm having to juggle a lot of things at the moment," he says, before apologising and offering coffee, and we disappear into the crowds and past groups of teenage boys in jackets and baseball caps. Who could possibly guess that the country is still under the threat of something called terrorism?

Tell me about the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC).
MPAC is a pro-democracy group. We believe that Muslims can make a contribution to Britain and protect their rights and values, as well as the shared values of Britain by using the democratic process and by being more active within society.

I saw your Channel 4 documentary, Operation Muslim Vote, which followed your attempts to mobilise the Muslim vote against Labour's Jack Straw and Lorna Fitzsimons during the last election. I thought the programme was interesting because it injected a certain excitement into what was a very dull campaign. Why did you set out to challenge the two MPs?
We felt that they were not representative of the views of large numbers of their constituents, the Muslims as well as the non-Muslims, and that their policies were way off the mark. They pushed for war in Iraq, for example, and were very pro-Israeli.

You seemed to have shaved a certain amount off of Jack Straw's majority. Were you pleased with that outcome?
We didn't get as far as we would have liked with Jack Straw because we were facing ignorance amongst the Muslim community about how the British political system works. They were angry at what was happening, but had no understanding that they could make a difference. And also we were up against the kind of Muslim leaders who had been silenced or compromised for whatever reason, and they were supporting Jack Straw, so the combination of those two factors gave us a limited amount of success in Jack Straw's Blackburn constituency.

But you had an impact in the media, which in terms of this kind of grassroots activism is the real point, isn't it?
The whole point is that we knew when we went into both campaigns that our success would be measured, not just in the defeat of an MP but also in getting Muslims to understand that they are part and parcel of Britain and they can be a part of the democratic process, so whether Jack was removed or not is secondary. The primary criteria was that for the first time Muslims were aware that they can vote against someone because they didn't agree with them, and they can realise that this is how the system works and what politics is about.We were in Blackburn for three or four months and we knew that we couldn't change the mindset of people and teach them everything they need to know about politics in that
time, or with the money we had, which was virtually nothing.What we tried to do was simply to get a debate going. As it turned out the debate focused around us trying to get rid of Jack Straw, even though everyone knew that the chances of getting rid of Jack Straw were slim.

Why don't Muslims engage in the political process in this country?
They haven't got a clue about politics.When we were in Blackburn the Muslims we met were claiming that Jack Straw was against the war, which just goes to show how ignorant they are about politics, and the primary reason for that is because our parents come from Pakistan, in the main, or from India and it's a different system in those countries.You don't get involved in politics in those countries because of the corruption and that's what we were coming across.

Did you not come across any disillusionment amongst Muslims sparked by Iraq, in the same way that a lot of lifelong Labour voters can't support the government after Iraq?
There was massive disillusionment, but for the Muslims we talked to it was a simple
case of either we get Michael Howard, which in their minds would have been worse than Tony Blair, or it was 'what can we do? We're just going to have to vote for Labour.' It was as simple as that. Of course, if the Muslims who made those arguments to us understood a bit more about politics they would have realised that the choice was not as simple as that.

Are you saying that people still continued to vote Labour and support their local MP despite the shock of Iraq?
A lot did, a lot didn't. It might be considered that MPAC are activists but we aren't, we're in a political game. However, even we had no idea how dirty that campaign was going to get. I mean, we had people beat us up, and for what, for saying something against Jack Straw?...more

words: Allen Therisa

download PDF/print

mpac.org

Robert Reich + Shack + Twisted Charm + Matix + Jose Gonzales + Canon Blue + Remi Nicole + Biker Gangs + X Factor Jungle + Kyte + Four Tet + American Apparel + Fair Trials Abroad + Kissaway Trail + Fareshare + London Gangs + Ava Leigh +
Queer Advertising + Emmy The Great + Honour Killings + Sideshow + Private Armies +
Kate, Leonardo & Sam + Gloria Cycles

Robyn Hitchcock interview...

Singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock (previously of The Soft Boys...more

South Coast interviews...

Packed full of great tunes, stories, graff', eccentric characters and dazzling live performances...more