Why did TellMAMA attack Cage and MEND? And why didn’t the MCB say anything?

Last week, the director and founder of TellMAMA (an organisation that records data on anti-Muslim attacks) used a Home Affairs Committee hearing to attack Cage and MEND.

Cage and MEND are two Muslim grassroots organisations that are working to address many of the issues our communities face.

In the video (below), Fiyaz Mughal accused Cage and MEND for attacking TellMAMA because apparently they dislike TellMAMA for being “Jew friendly”!

[youtube height=”315″ width=”560″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIf7FOFpi6E[/youtube]

He also says that Cage and MEND’s supposed conspiracies and anti-Semitism needs to be tackled.

He explains that when he speaks of tackling these organisations, he means that there needs to be a more robust response against them and that he has already approached the Home Office to back his projects to deal with these groups.

In his opinion, the Home Office – previously run by Theresa May (need we say more about her?) – isn’t doing enough about the likes of Cage and MEND.

This is the same Home Office that has forced the draconian Prevent strategy on to public institutions and has given the thumbs up to a surveillance strategy (aka the Snooper’s Charter) that is out of Orwell’s ‘1984’.

A few points need clarifying here – Fiyaz Mughal has wilfully misrepresented Cage and MEND because they have never had an issue with TellMAMA for being “Jew friendly”.

The issues that many Muslims organisations have always had with TellMAMA are:

1. The questionable politics of some of the senior members of TellMAMA (e.g. the President of TellMAMA, Richard Benson, is an apologist for Israel and former head of the problematic Community Security Trust that conflates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism).
2. Fiyaz’s liberal use of the term “Islamist” and “extremist” to denounce other Muslims.

To suggest that the reason why Cage, MEND and a host of other Muslim organisations have expressed concerns about TellMAMA is to do with them “Jew friendly” is a deliberate attempt to mislead MPs – and in today’s climate where being an outspoken Muslim can lead to ongoing harassment and issues (see Cage’s recent troubles of having venues pressured to cancel Cage’s national tour).

MCB’s Silence

What made the whole matter worse during this hearing was that Miqdaad Versi, the Assistant Secretary General of the MCB, who was sat right next to Fiyaz Mughal, did not once correct or challenge Fiyaz Mughal’s comments.

If the MCB aren’t going to use these platforms to stop the misrepresentation of Muslims organisation (who have more grassroots support than the MCB) then they cannot accept any real collaborating with others.

There is a reason why the MCB is dismissed by many Muslims – their behaviour during the Home Affairs Select Committee is just one indication as to why.

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We, here at MPACUK, would not be surprised if we end up being smeared by TellMAMA too as “extremists”, “Islamists” or whatever other propaganda terms out there for political Muslims, but it is a duty for us all to support each other when misrepresented – especially when misrepresented by those that are so close to this country’s increasingly right-wing establishment.