Malia Bouattia NUS open letter response

Malia Bouattia CREDIT: FACEBOOK

Friday the Independent writes "Student groups across the UK join growing campaign for unions to ‘disaffiliate’ from NUS."

"The move has come after the election of new NUS National President, Malia Bouattia, divided opinion following allegations of “anti-Semitism” which hit her campaign just last week.

The following is her open letter response which is published online:

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Dear undersigned members,

Thank you for bringing this letter to my attention and offering me the opportunity to respond. The letter talks of questions, so I respond first to the only direct question posed in the letter which was “why do you see a large Jewish Society as a problem?” The answer is that I do not now, nor did I five years ago when I contributed to the article cited in your letter, see a large Jewish Society on campus as a problem. I celebrate the ability of people and students of all backgrounds to get together and express their backgrounds and faith openly and positively, and will continue to do so.

I want to be clear that for me to take issue with Zionist politics, is not me taking issue with being Jewish. In fact, Zionist politics are held by people from a variety of different backgrounds and faiths as are anti-Zionist politics. It is a political argument, not one of faith. We should be allowed to disagree on politics without this being a threat to the solidarity of the student movement. Debate and disagreement are vital to any healthy democracy.

You raise two further issues of concern, one of which relates exactly to this point. At the SOAS event mentioned in your letter, I criticised the influence of organisations such as the Henry Jackson Society over policy making in the UK. I described it as promoting neo-con and pro-Zionist policies. In no way did I – or would I – link these positions to Jewish people, but to a particular (non-Jewish) organisation. I am alarmed that you have drawn a link between criticism of Zionist ideologies and anti-Semitism. I am sure many would strongly agree that they are not one and the same and making correlations between faith and politics is both unfair and unrepresentative. These correlations are dangerous and have become the excuse for many racist and fascist attacks up and down the country and in the world, which I am sure we all want to end.

The second concern you raise is about my “relationship” with MPAC and Mr Raza Nadim. I do not have a relationship, in any shape or form, with this organisation or the individual in question. I have always and will continue to respect and uphold NUS' No Platform Policy. I have a public facebook page with nearly 5,000 ‘friends’ on it, many of whom have posted supportive messages to my wall. In all honesty, I was not aware of who Mr Nadim was or his position when he posted to my wall and responded in the same way I would to any post. This certainly does not constitute a relationship or accept an endorsement; it was just a generic response. Since being made aware of his position, I have removed both comments to avoid further doubts.

In my role as the Black Students’ Officer I have a long track record of opposing racism – in all its forms - and actively campaigning against it. I am also an advocate of inter-faith work both inside of our union and beyond. I am open about my own faith, whilst also supporting students of all faiths, because I do believe in creating a cohesive and inclusive society and want to do my best to represent all students.

Therefore, I am deeply concerned that my faith and political views are being misconstrued and used as an opportunity to falsely accuse me of antisemitism, despite my work and dedication to liberation, equality and inclusion saying otherwise.

As president of NUS, I would continue to encourage students to oppose inequality, oppression – including racism – and injustice both at home and abroad. And in doing this, I am happy to be accountable for my views, offer opportunities to discuss them and used that openness and accountability to ensure that I can be representative of the student body as a whole, whilst respecting and encompassing the varied views and opinions held across our movement.

I hope what I have set out above has answered your questions.

Yours sincerely,

Malia​ Bouattia

Malia Bouattia elected NUS National President at Brighton conference

The letter to Malia is reproduced below:

Dear Malia,

As Presidents of Jewish Societies on campuses across the UK we have become extremely concerned by some of your past rhetoric. We feel that this is an issue that requires immediate answers considering your candidacy for NUS President in next week’s election.

We were recently made aware of an article you co-wrote in 2011 where you explained your experiences in Birmingham. You referred to the University of Birmingham as a "Zionist outpost" and referenced that it has the "largest [Jewish Society] in the country" when describing the challenges you were facing at the time.

There are roughly 8,500 Jewish students in the UK which is 0.12% of the seven million students that are represented by NUS. We are shocked that someone who is seeking to represent this organisation could possibly see a large Jewish student population as a challenge and not something to be welcomed.

Our question for you is clear: why do you see a large Jewish Society as a problem?

We fear that comments such as these will only hamper the amazing interfaith relations present on campuses across the country.  Describing large Jewish societies as a challenge is the politics of division and not solidarity which should be the case.

We are also aware that these comments are not isolated.  Just recently you explained at an event at SOAS that the government Prevent strategy is the result of a so called 'Zionist lobby'.  By peddling these conspiracy theories to student audiences we are concerned that you are creating an element of suspicion towards Jewish students on campus.

Lastly we are concerned by your relationship with Raza Nadim and the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK).  MPACUK have been no-platformed by NUS since 2004 after publishing material on its website promoting the idea of a worldwide Zionist conspiracy, including the reproduction of articles originally published on neo-Nazi and Holocaust Denial websites. MPACUK even posted "Take your holocaust, roll it nice and tight and shove it up your (be creative)!" on their Facebook page in 2013.

We were also worried to see that MPACUK spokesperson, Raza Nadim, used his public Facebook profile (which is almost completely devoted to MPACUK) to endorse your bid to become President of NUS.  We were hoping that this was something that you would distance yourself from but the opposite happened when you replied "Thank you :-))".

As representatives of Jewish students across the UK, we call on you to clarify your relationship with MPACUK and its spokesperson Raza Nadim. If you are elected as NUS President, will you continue to interact with an organisation NUS has no-platformed due to antisemitism?

The answers to the questions raised in this letter are vital to our understanding of your approach to Jewish students and Jewish societies, and your commitment to creating cohesive campus communities if elected NUS President.  We hope you will be able to shed some light on these issues in order to reassure our membership.