by Amaliah Team in Culture & Lifestyle on 14th August, 2019
As Muslims around the world celebrated Eid Al Adha this year, Boris Johnson put out his first Eid message as the UK’s Prime Minister which was tweeted from the official Downing Street Twitter account.
His message focused on the contribution of British Muslims.
Johnson has previously made comments of an Islamophobic nature which led to his message coming under scrutiny by some Muslims, whilst being commended by others.
People say Boris is the ‘British Trump’ (including Trump himself!) but for all his many sins and flaws, and Islamophobic excesses, this is a good statement and Trump could never deliver anything close to it. https://t.co/CHCpRgQUf5
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 11, 2019
While at first listen the message may seem neutral and celebratory of the Muslim community, Dr. Khadijah Elshayyal called out the message for it “reinforces the ‘good Muslim, bad Muslim’ frame that the state consistently pushes: we acknowledge and celebrate Muslims who contribute in ways that the neoliberal state deems to be of value – note economy always comes first”
The Tweet was also met with comments that were Islamophobic and questoned his sentiments.
I see Muslim commentators applauding the PM’s eid message but honestly the only emotion it elicits in me is exhaustion. Thread: https://t.co/3Bw7Kij2Qh
— Khadijah Elshayyal (@DrKElshayyal) August 11, 2019
2- celebrate contributions of Muslims to the nation. 3- acknowledge substantial charitable giving made by Muslims. Now none of these points are inaccurate- muslims do give huge amounts to charity and many Muslims contribute a great deal to the economy, arts, media and govt
— Khadijah Elshayyal (@DrKElshayyal) August 11, 2019
msg was recycled year on year? More crucially, it reinforces the ‘good Muslim, bad Muslim’ frame that the state consistently pushes: we acknowledge and celebrate Muslims who contribute in ways that the neoliberal state deems to be of value – note economy always comes first
— Khadijah Elshayyal (@DrKElshayyal) August 11, 2019
But away from this, the language of recognising contributions to ‘our’ nation remains somewhat otherising and quite myopic. We are urged to celebrate their contributions as a nation in this time, a time when hate crimes are v high, far right groups more emboldened than ever
— Khadijah Elshayyal (@DrKElshayyal) August 11, 2019
Considering Muslim communities score highly in deprivation indicators, & that securitisation measures are widely felt to target Muslims &minorities, from a purely utilitarian perspective, this msg does nothing more than offer a privileged pat on the back to the alrdy privileged-
— Khadijah Elshayyal (@DrKElshayyal) August 11, 2019
A final point to add, I recognise the full range of political tendencies among Muslims, but those reps and advocates applauding a message like this should stop to consider carefully how low a bar for the state’s approach towards them they are settling for.
— Khadijah Elshayyal (@DrKElshayyal) August 11, 2019
Here’s one example of what I mean about setting a low bar for ourselves: https://t.co/gf2r04Tk5S
— Khadijah Elshayyal (@DrKElshayyal) August 11, 2019
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