"The way to fight racism is not to become a racist": Maajid Nawaz slates anti-semitic tweets

26 July 2020, 15:13

Maajid Nawaz pulls apart Wiley's anti-semitic tweets

After Wiley was banned from Twitter after tweeting anti-semitic hate for hours unchecked, Maajid Nawaz condemned the actions of the rapper.

Today Home Secretary Priti Patel demanded Twitter and Instagram explain why rapper Wiley was allowed a platform for anti-semitic hate for hours before being removed from the platforms. Maajid Nawaz attacked the ideology of the rapper and his conduct, which he saw as regressive.

"I'll tell you now with absolute confidence that the way to fight racism is not to become a racist," Maajid said. He was baffled that Wiley was allowed "hour after hour," to push out "the most vile anti-semitic abuse."

Maajid saw the problem as an issue of people misplacing their anger. "We're being pushed to use our grievances against other people rather than in solidarity with other people," said Maajid, and he drew on his own past when confirming it is a terrible position to take.

"I've been there before they were saying this stuff and I'll tell you now it doesn't solve anything, it turns us against each other."

He added that to "turn your voice against your friends and your cousins is not only incredibly foolish but it is blind," and suggested that prominent people "use your anger to love other people," rather than to divide.

"The solution to that anger isn't to become the beast you seek to defeat," Maajid said, poing on to say that rappers should be "reaching out in solidarity to the Jewish people" rather than wrongly attacking them.

Maajid concluded that if you are looking for racial equality and justice "you'll find allies in the Jewish community," because "they know what it means to suffer."