My name is Rahima Mahmut,

This is a speech delivered by Rahima Mahmut during Maajid Nawaz’s silent protest. An edited version appeared in the Jewish Chronicle. My name is Rahima Mahmut, I was born in Ghulja, in the north of what was East Turkistan.  On February the 5th 1997, people in my Home Town of Ghulja took to the streets
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Why Do Anti-Racists Give China a Free Pass?

This is a cross post from Areo Magazine Since the appalling killing of George Floyd in late May and the nationwide protests that followed, a growing number of Americans have been calling for a national reckoning on race. In addition to calls for lawmakers to address the racial disparity in instances of police brutality, attention
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Huawei, Jesus College and Me

In recent weeks, we have witnessed intense public scrutiny of Huawei, its links to British universities, and its role in modernising British telecommunications. This attention has culminated in the government’s decision to introduce a ban on Huawei 5G equipment.  Much of the focus has been on national security. The concern is that reliance on Huawei
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Toward a New Middle East

The Middle East is facing an information problem. There are approximately 420 million Arabic speakers in the world, and yet some estimates suggest that only 0.7% to 0.9% of the internet exists in Arabic. According to the United Nations’ Arab Human Development Report (2003), the number of books translated into Arabic in the last 1,200
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“Islamist” or what?

The Times carries an article today which reports that the police are currently pondering dropping the terms “Islamist terrorism” and “jihadist” as a descriptive term for attacks by those who claim Islam as their motive. I am quoted in that article: David Toube, of the counterextremism think tank Quilliam, who attended, told The Times: “People
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Online Conspiracy Theories Are No Laughing Matter

I remember my first trip to Google’s UK headquarters well. I was with other representatives of Campaign Against Antisemitism – an organisation for which I have volunteered for several years – and we were meeting a representative of the YouTube policy team to talk about hate speech. And during the discussion, something very interesting came
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Does Prevent really reinforce negative views of Islam and Muslims?

A new study, ‘Islam and Muslims on UK University Campuses: perceptions and challenges’, has been published. The research which underpins the report is led by SOAS University of London working with Lancaster, Durham and Coventry Universities. The report has been framed by the authors as a critique of the Prevent programme. Indeed, a press release
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Reflections on my Fifth Secular Anniversary

This is a cross-post by Izzy Posen Today, on the 12th of July, I celebrate my annual anniversary of leaving the charedi community. Over the past five years I have made it my custom to write and reflect on my journey and to share how far I’ve come. My tone over these years was triumphant
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Fitting the Narrative: The Perils of Jumping to Conclusions

In the aftermath of an attack, I have argued, there is often a virtue in saying nothing until the facts emerge. Within the hours, days, and sometimes weeks following a killing, what we know about the case is often uncertain, and may well change radically. That will not always be the case. We knew a
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The Virtue of Saying Nothing

What are we to say about the murder of three friends, having a drink on a pleasant afternoon, in Reading, by a Libyan called Khairi Saadallah? It is a feature of 24 hour news culture, and the punditry that sustains it, that following any terrorist attack there is a rush to offer a “hot take”. There
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