Zarah Sultana MP gives emotional speech on Islamophobia - The Coventry Observer

Zarah Sultana MP gives emotional speech on Islamophobia

Coventry Editorial 12th Sep, 2021   0

ZARAH Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry South, gave an emotional speech in Parliament, recounting the racism she has faced since getting elected.

Speaking in a Westminster Hall Debate in Parliament, Sultana said she had: “Discovered that to be a Muslim woman, to be outspoken and left-wing, is to be subject this barrage of racism and hate.”

Sultana had to briefly stop as she read out some examples of the Islamophobia sent to her.

She said Islamophobia meant she is: “Treated by some as if I were an enemy of the country I was born in, as if I don’t belong.”




Sultana said: “This Islamophobia doesn’t come from a vacuum.

“It’s not natural or ingrained, it’s taught from the top.


“When a far-right online account targeted me with racist abuse, suggesting that Muslims were an invading army, a Conservative MP replied not calling them for their racism, but by insulting me.”

Concluding her speech, Sultana said: “I’ve always known what it’s like to face racism, and through my political life, I’ve come to better understand this bigotry, to see its different forms, and to recognise the need to confront and challenge it, wherever it’s found.”

She added: “Islamophobia is very real in Britain today, but it cannot be defeated in isolation.

“The people spreading this hate don’t just target Muslims, they target Black people, they target Jewish people, they target Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, they target migrants and refugees.

“There is safety in solidarity, and it is only in uniting our struggles that we will defeat racism.”

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