The Conservative Party and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson have been named “UK Islamophobe of the Year” at the Islamophobia Awards in London.
Nominees for the award included the Islamophobes Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins, as well as London mayor Sadiq Khan who has expressed support for the banning of Hezbollah flags during the annual Al Quds Day march.
But in the end the Conservatives, which has implemented the Prevent strategy which targets the Muslim community, and Boris Johnson, who wrote a recent article comparing niqabis to post boxes, won the vote.
For the second time in a row, Donald Trump was bestowed with the “honour” of being named the overall “Islamophobe of the Year.” The distinction came as no surprise with his “Muslim ban” that placed travel restrictions on Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia. Earlier this year he shared a series of Islamophobic tweets to his 40+ million followers from Britain First that were clearly designed to stoke hatred toward Muslims.
But Trump lost out on winning the “International” category as he was beaten by ally and friend Benjamin Netanyahu. The two have enjoyed a great relationship with highlights such as the decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem and recognise it as the capital of Israel. Other shortlisted nominees in the same category included Saudi Arabia and Aung Sang Su Kyi.
The major hit on UK television, BBC’s “Bodyguard” was a clear favourite and easy winner in the “Book/Movie/TV Series” category. American series “Roseanne” was also shortlisted as well as Channel 4’s “My Week as a Muslim” which saw a white woman dress in prosthetics and make-up to appear more “Muslim.”
Though there was tough competition in the “News Media” category, the Daily Mail reigned triumphant, beating out its competitors LBC, The Sun and journalist Melanie Phillips.
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Commenting on the awards, IHRC chairman Massoud Shadjareh said: “I think we need different tools to tackle ever increasing Islamaphobia and the structural aspect of it. As much as we use academic research and we do that regularly, but I think satire and comedy go much further than that and really exposes them. And it also shows to the world that we do have a sense of humor despite being accused of not having one. And that we can laugh at their expense, and expose them, and name and shame them, and I think this has been extremely effective. And Insha’ Allah we will continue to do so.”
The event presenter Latifa Abouchakra added: “Our faith and our spirituality tells us that we should be able to take life’s challenges on – God does not burden us with more than we can bear, and from this we are able to take this very serious and hateful thing that people do around the world and make it a positive experience for us.”
SHORTLISTED nominees (winners in bold):
UK:
– Tommy Robinson
– Katie Hopkins
– Conservatives
– Sadiq Khan
Book/Movie/TV Series:
– My Week As A Muslim
– Bodyguard
– Roseanne
– ‘No Go Zones: How Sharia Law Is Coming to a Neighborhood Near You’ by Raheem Kassam
News Media:
– Daily Mail
– The Sun
– Melanie Phillips
– LBC
International:
– Benjamin Netanyahu
– Donald Trump
– Aung Sang Suu Kyi
– Saudi Arabia
Islamophobe of the Year:
– Donald Trump
