Bahar Mustafa, of the University of London is facing criminal charges for sending a threatening communication. Mustafa attracted international condemnation for her use of a Twitter hashtag #killallwhitemen and asked for white men not to come to certain university events. Despite her unmitigated racism and sexism, an effort to remove her failed after only 165 people signed a petition for her removal. The retention of Mustafa at the university is a disgrace for both the university and academia as a whole.
Mustafa, 28, faces two charges. One is sending a communication conveying a threatening message between 10 November 2014 and 31 May 2015. The second is for sending a grossly offensive message via a public communication network between 10 November 2014 and 31 May 2015. However, it is not clear if that is due to the hashtag controversy or other messages. If it is due to her hashtag and her anti-white, anti-white prejudices, I have serious reservations about the charges. England has seen the rise of calls for speech prosecutions, including this month. We have previously discussed the alarming rollback on free speech rights in the West, particularly in England ( here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here).
Mustafa used the hashtag #killallwhitemen on her Twitter account, which she deleted only after triggering the controversy. She works for the independent students’ union as welfare and diversity officer. She first attracted attention after posting a message on Facebook asking white people not to attend an event for black and ethnic minority students in April. She asked for only ethnic minority women and non-binary attendees. She called upon “loads of BME Women and non-binary people!”
I admit that I had to look those terms up. The first is defined by Oxford as “Black and minority ethnic (used to refer to members of nonwhite communities in the UK).” Non-binary is defined as “Denoting or relating to a gender or sexual identity that is not defined in terms of traditional binary oppositions such as male and female or homosexual and heterosexual.”
I fail to see why such comments or the hashtag are not protected speech, if they are the basis for the charges.
None of that alters the racism and sexism of Mustafa, who insists that as a women of color she cannot by definition be racist. It is a familiar refrain heard on some campuses. Mustafa insists that “because racism and sexism describe structures of privilege based on race and gender and therefore women of colour and minority genders cannot be racist or sexist, since we do not stand to benefit from such a system.”
It is a ridiculous claim used by racists to excuse hate-filled or prejudiced comments. The most that Mustafa would say is that her use of “white trash” was “not professional.” Mustafa is pretty far afield from any notion of professionalism, so that is the least of her problems.
I have not been able to confirm that specific comments used as the basis for the criminal charges but, in my view, none of the comments would warrant Mustafa’s prosecution. What they do warrant (indeed what they demand) is that she be fired.
We have previously seen universities, including the recent controversy at the University of California and Boston University, where there have been criticism of a double standard, even in the face of criminal conduct. The question is the response if Mustafa told minorities that they were not welcomed or had an hashtag #killallblackmen. Yet, concerned students and faculty could not even muster the needed three percent to force a vote on her retention. What is lost is any sense of principle for the school body as a whole — much like the lack of any real principle found in Mustafa’s comments and post-rationalization.
Source: Independent
none of the comments would warrant Mustafa’s prosecution.
In a sane world this would be true because the laws wouldn’t exist. But once the laws in question are on the books shouldn’t they be enforced evenly? How are we ever going to get the political left to remove these laws other than by enforcing the laws against the people that support them?
Does she realize that she is a white person? (Google Images) Looks Iranian.
As calypso said, she should be fired but should not be prosecuted. Pretty easy call, really.
ninian is conspicuous by his absence. It’s probably because he’s too busy lecturing us Americans on other threads.
None of this is worth spending time and resources on. Let her keep her made-up job. Let people discriminate. Only violence should be shunned.
That “structures of privilege” is a new one to me. I have often wondered how the PC prosecutions in this country can be successful if we truly read the 14th amendment as “neutral” with regard to defining the injured party. Her defense, at least as it applies to England, seems to rely on using a thoroughly political standard for defining discriminatory action. She’s saying that the history of “privilege” can be used to support otherwise discriminatory action against members of a race or sex that are historically “privileged”, and that the protections still available to “non-privileged” citizens won’t apply to them. I wonder if our own PC zealots will try that out here.
UK’s Rachel Dolezal….
If JT doesn’t consider #killallwhitemen actionable, I wonder if #killalllawprofessors would be given the same type of pass? Given the all too often episodes of gun violence occurring at various schools, where the public has become immune to the frequent news reports detailing accounts of lunatics gunning down others on campus, her comments are a call to violence.
Ethnically she is Caucasian, so I assume she is basing her claimed “minority” status on being female….although at this point in time it is highly questionable whether white women should be considered an underrepresented class due to their notable achievements in government, law, education and so forth. Regardless, her comments certainly are divisive and an embarrassment to a once distinguished university. I do not believe in criminal prosecution for speech, regardless of how offensive, but that is an American concept. Perhaps England criminalizes hate speech. Without a doubt, she should be fired.
“She works for the independent students’ union as welfare and diversity officer.” Funny. I guess diversity is in the eyes of the beholder.
How fascinating that Mustafa is described, in various articles, as a Turkish Cypriot. While she blasts various groups with her racist and sexist remarks, many in Cyprus would consider her–or, at least, the ethnic group to which she belongs–as the aggressor and abuser in that country’s history.
After a quick google search of this university, I happened to notice that Princess Anne–as in, the sister to Prince Charles–is named as the chancellor. That couldn’t be correct, could it? Is that just some kind of honorary title or does she actually have a hand in the day-to-day operations and policies? Does Camilla run the Equestrian Department? I always thought that she would work for free hay.
She’s a racist! Racists come in all sizes, genders and races.
Reblogged this on Scoop Feed.
This starts out with some hate postings, then evolves into a cop-killer fetish.
Something like Joanne Chesimard. Joanne is somewhere in Cuba. If Mustafa flips, pick Mexico to hide. Not Syria. Russia is bombing the crap out of rebels in Syria.
We used to employ a term to describe black folks who catered to white bigots: Uncle Tom. Now we have Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court and so we have: Uncle Clarence. I hate to defame my pal on the marina named BitchinDog but I think that the proper nick name for this ring in the nose broad is Aunt Mustafa. Or: Friggin Bitch.
When a woman wears an ear ring in the left side of the nose then she is making a statement that she is a lesbian. In the right side of the nose it means that she will pork for profit. If ya know what I mean jelly bean.
It sure looks like she wants it both ways. She most certainly DOES look white, and would have had no problem getting served in the pre-Civil Rights south. Then she forgets that racism is extent in her home country where European folks do not have power or positions.
“in my view, none of the comments would warrant Mustafa’s prosecution. What they do warrant (indeed what they demand) is that she be fired.”
Spot. On.
That is, only white males deserve discrimination.
I do find her claim an interesting one, “that she could not be guilty of sexism or racism against white men “because racism and sexism describe structures of privilege based on race and gender and therefore women of colour and minority genders cannot be racist or sexist, since we do not stand to benefit from such a system.”“