“I have only ever witnessed hostility from the Right for who I am - that I can’t even change. The colour of my skin, my cultural and religious heritage.
I’d never expected to be attacked from the Left. And when it came, it felt - and it didn’t just feel - it was - treachery of the highest order. Because these guys, these are the same guys who say, talk about appropriation. They say we want people of colour to speak, and don’t ‘splain to them, listen to their voices, their authentic experiences. Along comes somebody who is the textbook definition of the kinds of authentic experiences that they want you to listen to, but because my conclusions don’t match what they want me to say, because I’m not parroting their answers, suddenly they have a bit of a brain fry and they can’t reconcile that.
So they say okay. People of colour have been subjected to racism. Check. War on Terror victimizes Muslims. Check. Guess what guys? I served in prison in the War on Terror. Check. Witnessed torture in jail. They say we’re profiling Muslims at airports. Check. That’s happened to me I’ve had my DNA taken from me...I was interrogated and cautioned that my silence is a criminal offence. My DNA was taken from me. Check. I’ve been banned from entry into the United States and I had to fight to get that ban lifted. Check.
All of the grievances that the Left talk about, and they say “you’ve gotta listen to these victimized voices”. Okay fine. Listen to my voice then. What I am saying to you there is a serious and real problem within our communities. Theocrats have hijacked the debate that Cultural Relativism is betraying the minorities within our communities who are the Gay Muslims, the ex-Muslims, the Feminist Muslims, the liberal Muslims, the dissenting voices, the minority sects. And I say, “listen to this. it’s a real problem”, and because they only want me to talk about Colonialism and foreign policy suddenly I turn into the enemy.”
-Maajid Nawaz
24 June 2017