Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Encyclopedia
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown MBE (returned)
(born Yasmin Damji on 10 December 1949) is a Uganda
n-born British
journalist
and author
, who describes herself as a "leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim, part-Pakistani...a very responsible person". Currently a regular columnist for The Independent
and the Evening Standard
, she is a well-known commentator on issues of immigration
, diversity
and multiculturalism
. She is a founder member of British Muslims for Secular Democracy
.
in 1949, she belongs to the Nizari
branch of the Ismaili faith. After graduating in English literature
from Makerere University
in 1972, she left Uganda for Britain, along with her niece, Farah Damji
, shortly before the expulsion of Ugandan Asians
by Idi Amin
and completed a Master of Philosophy
degree in literature at Linacre College
, Oxford in 1975. After working as a teacher, particularly with immigrants and refugees, she moved into journalism in her mid-thirties. She is married to Colin Brown, Chairman of the Consumer Services Panel of the Financial Services Authority
; the couple have a daughter and Alibhai-Brown has a son from a previous marriage
A journalist on the New Statesman
magazine in the early 1980s, Alibhai-Brown now contributes a weekly column to The Independent. She has also written for The Guardian
, The Observer
, The New York Times
, Time
magazine, Newsweek
and the Daily Mail
, and has appeared on the current affairs TV shows Dateline London
and The Wright Stuff
. Alibhai-Brown has won numerous awards for her journalism, including the EMMA
Media Personality of the Year in 2000, the George Orwell Prize for Political Journalism
in 2002 and the EMMA Award for Journalism in 2004.
Alibhai-Brown was a research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research
(IPPR), a think tank
associated with New Labour, from 1996 to 2001, though she ended her connection with the Labour Party
over the war in Iraq
and other issues, and supported the Liberal Democrats
in the 2005 General Election
. She is Senior Research Associate at the Foreign Policy Centre
, an Honorary Fellow at Liverpool John Moores University
and Honorary Visiting Professor at Cardiff
and Lincoln
Universities.
Alibhai-Brown was appointed to the Order of the British Empire
(MBE) in 2001, but in 2003 Benjamin Zephaniah
's public refusal of an OBE inspired her to return
the award. She wrote that her decision had been made partly in a growing spirit of republicanism and partly in protest at the Labour government, particularly its conduct of the war in Iraq, and has since criticised the British honours system as "beyond repair".
In May 2011, Alibhai-Brown wrote in the Independent that Muslims and others should stop focusing solely on the wrongdoings of Israel, saying, "we Muslims need to accept our burdens too." She also said "It is no longer morally justifiable for activists to target only Israel and either ignore or find excuses for corrupt, murderous Arab despots. That kind of selectivity discredits pro-Palestinian campaigners and dishonours the principles of equality and human rights."
has accused her of an excessive pursuit of political correctness
: "At 3.6 degrees on the Alibhai-Brown scale, it sets off a shrill scream that will not stop until you’ve pulled yourself together with a well-chosen anti-racist slogan." Commentator Douglas Murray
accused her of disregarding the lives of British soldiers
killed in action: "The vindication of her own opinion is of more importance to her than the lives of British and American troops and Iraqi civilians." Stephen Pollard
accused her of racism while calling her opinions "utterly vile" in The Spectator
On 25 August 2008, she appeared on Five's The Wright Stuff
discussion programme. In a discussion about an employment issue relating to white men, Yasmin Alibhai Brown said "Take his advice. Don't apply. It would be great if you lot just went away; white, middle class men. We'd just walk in wouldn't we." When challenged by the host for the day, Richard Bacon, "Is that not a racist comment?" she replied "Of course".
In November 2010, Gareth Compton, a Conservative
councillor for Birmingham Erdington, allegedly posted on his Twitter
feed a suggestion that Alibhai-Brown be stoned to death. This was after Alibhai-Brown made an appearance on Radio 5 Live. The posting was quickly removed. Compton was arrested and released on bail on 11 November 2010. Alibhai-Brown had been unaware of the posting until alerted by her daughter. She later commented "If I, as a Muslim woman, had said about him what he said about me then I would be arrested in these times of the war against terror ... He does not have more of a right to say these things about me that I do about him and I think words matter when you are in public life." Compton made a response through Twitter which said: "I did not 'call' for the stoning of anybody. I made an ill-conceived attempt at humour in response to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown saying on Radio 5 Live this morning that no politician had the right to comment on human rights abuses, even the stoning of women in Iran. I apologise for any offence caused. It was wholly unintentional."
On the 5th May 2011 Yasmin was on the panel of BBC's Question Time show and was criticised for her opinion on how Osama Bin Laden should have been given a respectful burial as he would have liked.
Declining a British honour
The following is a partial list of people who have declined a British honour, such as a knighthood or an honour, usually within the Order of the British Empire...
(born Yasmin Damji on 10 December 1949) is a Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
n-born British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, who describes herself as a "leftie liberal, anti-racist, feminist, Muslim, part-Pakistani...a very responsible person". Currently a regular columnist for The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
and the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
, she is a well-known commentator on issues of immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, diversity
Diversity (politics)
In the political arena, the term diversity is used to describe political entities with members who have identifiable differences in their backgrounds or lifestyles....
and multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
. She is a founder member of British Muslims for Secular Democracy
British Muslims for Secular Democracy
British Muslims for Secular Democracy is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting secularism in the United Kingdom, founded by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown...
.
Life and work
Alibhai-Brown's mother was born in East Africa and her father moved there from British India in the 1920s. Born into the Ugandan Asian community in KampalaKampala
Kampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division. The city is coterminous with Kampala District.-History: of Buganda, had chosen...
in 1949, she belongs to the Nizari
Nizari
'The Shī‘a Imami Ismā‘īlī Tariqah also referred to as the Ismā‘īlī or Nizārī , is a path of Shī‘a Islām, emphasizing social justice, pluralism, and human reason within the framework of the mystical tradition of Islam. The Nizari are the second largest branch of Shia Islam and form the majority...
branch of the Ismaili faith. After graduating in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
from Makerere University
Makerere University
Makerere University , Uganda's largest and second-oldest higher institution of learning, , was first established as a technical school in 1922. In 1963 it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees from the University of London...
in 1972, she left Uganda for Britain, along with her niece, Farah Damji
Farah Damji
Farah Damji is an author, former editor and publisher. Prior to coming into the media spotlight in 2005, for criminal acts, she wrote for mainstream and ethnic media including The Observer and The New Statesman and had a regular column in The Birmingham Post...
, shortly before the expulsion of Ugandan Asians
Expulsion of Asians in Uganda in 1972
On 4 August 1972, the then President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of his country's Indian minority, giving them 90 days to leave Uganda...
by Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
and completed a Master of Philosophy
Master of Philosophy
The Master of Philosophy is a postgraduate research degree.An M.Phil. is a lesser degree than a Doctor of Philosophy , but in many cases it is considered to be a more senior degree than a taught Master's degree, as it is often a thesis-only degree. In some instances, an M.Phil...
degree in literature at Linacre College
Linacre College, Oxford
Linacre College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the UK, currently offering graduate entry only. It is located on St Cross Road at the corner of St Cross Road and South Parks Road, next to the University Parks and opposite the Tinbergen Building, which is shared by...
, Oxford in 1975. After working as a teacher, particularly with immigrants and refugees, she moved into journalism in her mid-thirties. She is married to Colin Brown, Chairman of the Consumer Services Panel of the Financial Services Authority
Financial Services Authority
The Financial Services Authority is a quasi-judicial body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom. Its board is appointed by the Treasury and the organisation is structured as a company limited by guarantee and owned by the UK government. Its main...
; the couple have a daughter and Alibhai-Brown has a son from a previous marriage
A journalist on the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
magazine in the early 1980s, Alibhai-Brown now contributes a weekly column to The Independent. She has also written for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
and the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, and has appeared on the current affairs TV shows Dateline London
Dateline London
Dateline London is a weekly news discussion programme shown on both BBC News and BBC World News. The programme, presented by Gavin Esler, with Nik Gowing and Lyse Doucet acting as relief presenters, features a roundtable panel of foreign and British journalists who discuss the week's top news...
and The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Channel 5 each weekday morning from 9:15 to 11:10am....
. Alibhai-Brown has won numerous awards for her journalism, including the EMMA
EMMA
EMMA is an Organization which raises awareness of discrimination through media campaigns, social networking, and the EMMA Awards....
Media Personality of the Year in 2000, the George Orwell Prize for Political Journalism
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize used to be regarded as the pre-eminent British prize for political writing.Three prizes are awarded each year: one for a book, one for journalism and another for blogging...
in 2002 and the EMMA Award for Journalism in 2004.
Alibhai-Brown was a research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research
Institute for Public Policy Research
The IPPR is the leading progressive think-tank in the UK. It produces research and policy ideas committed to upholding values of social justice, democratic reform and environmental sustainability. IPPR is based in London and IPPR North has branches in Newcastle and Manchester.It was founded in...
(IPPR), a think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
associated with New Labour, from 1996 to 2001, though she ended her connection with the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
over the war in Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
and other issues, and supported the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
in the 2005 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
. She is Senior Research Associate at the Foreign Policy Centre
Foreign Policy Centre
The Foreign Policy Centre is a British think tank specialising in foreign policy. It was formed in 1998 and launched by Tony Blair with the aim of developing a "vision of a fair and rule-based world order". It is pro-European. It has its origins on the centre-left of British politics, but works...
, an Honorary Fellow at Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University is a British 'modern' university located in the city of Liverpool, England. The university is named after John Moores and was previously called Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts and later Liverpool Polytechnic before gaining university status in 1992, thus...
and Honorary Visiting Professor at Cardiff
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
and Lincoln
University of Lincoln
The University of Lincoln is an English university founded in 1992, with origins tracing back to the foundation and association with the Hull School of Art 1861....
Universities.
Alibhai-Brown was appointed to the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(MBE) in 2001, but in 2003 Benjamin Zephaniah
Benjamin Zephaniah
Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is an English writer and dub poet. He is a well-known figure in contemporary English literature, and was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008....
's public refusal of an OBE inspired her to return
Declining a British honour
The following is a partial list of people who have declined a British honour, such as a knighthood or an honour, usually within the Order of the British Empire...
the award. She wrote that her decision had been made partly in a growing spirit of republicanism and partly in protest at the Labour government, particularly its conduct of the war in Iraq, and has since criticised the British honours system as "beyond repair".
In May 2011, Alibhai-Brown wrote in the Independent that Muslims and others should stop focusing solely on the wrongdoings of Israel, saying, "we Muslims need to accept our burdens too." She also said "It is no longer morally justifiable for activists to target only Israel and either ignore or find excuses for corrupt, murderous Arab despots. That kind of selectivity discredits pro-Palestinian campaigners and dishonours the principles of equality and human rights."
Criticisms
Alibhai-Brown has attracted criticism for her views. Michael WhartonMichael Wharton
Michael Wharton was a newspaper columnist who wrote under the pseudonym Peter Simple in the British Daily Telegraph. He began work on the "Way of the World" column with illustrator Michael ffolkes three times a week in early 1957...
has accused her of an excessive pursuit of political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
: "At 3.6 degrees on the Alibhai-Brown scale, it sets off a shrill scream that will not stop until you’ve pulled yourself together with a well-chosen anti-racist slogan." Commentator Douglas Murray
Douglas Murray (author)
Douglas Murray is a British writer and commentator who was the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion from 2007 until 2011 and is currently an associate director of the Henry Jackson Society. Murray appears regularly in the British broadcast media, commentating on issues from a conservative...
accused her of disregarding the lives of British soldiers
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
killed in action: "The vindication of her own opinion is of more importance to her than the lives of British and American troops and Iraqi civilians." Stephen Pollard
Stephen Pollard
Stephen Pollard is a British author and journalist, currently editor of The Jewish Chronicle. He is a former Chairman of the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and a former president of the Centre for the New Europe, a free-market think tank based in Brussels...
accused her of racism while calling her opinions "utterly vile" in The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
On 25 August 2008, she appeared on Five's The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff
The Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Channel 5 each weekday morning from 9:15 to 11:10am....
discussion programme. In a discussion about an employment issue relating to white men, Yasmin Alibhai Brown said "Take his advice. Don't apply. It would be great if you lot just went away; white, middle class men. We'd just walk in wouldn't we." When challenged by the host for the day, Richard Bacon, "Is that not a racist comment?" she replied "Of course".
In November 2010, Gareth Compton, a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
councillor for Birmingham Erdington, allegedly posted on his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
feed a suggestion that Alibhai-Brown be stoned to death. This was after Alibhai-Brown made an appearance on Radio 5 Live. The posting was quickly removed. Compton was arrested and released on bail on 11 November 2010. Alibhai-Brown had been unaware of the posting until alerted by her daughter. She later commented "If I, as a Muslim woman, had said about him what he said about me then I would be arrested in these times of the war against terror ... He does not have more of a right to say these things about me that I do about him and I think words matter when you are in public life." Compton made a response through Twitter which said: "I did not 'call' for the stoning of anybody. I made an ill-conceived attempt at humour in response to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown saying on Radio 5 Live this morning that no politician had the right to comment on human rights abuses, even the stoning of women in Iran. I apologise for any offence caused. It was wholly unintentional."
On the 5th May 2011 Yasmin was on the panel of BBC's Question Time show and was criticised for her opinion on how Osama Bin Laden should have been given a respectful burial as he would have liked.
Select bibliography
- The Colour of Love: Mixed Race Relationships (with Anne Montague) (1992). London: Virago. ISBN 1-85381-221-8
- Racism (Points of View), (with Colin Brown), (1992). Hodder Wayland. ISBN 1-85210-651-4
- No Place Like Home (1995). London: Virago. ISBN 1-85381-642-6
- True Colours (1999). London: Institute for Public Policy Research. ISBN 1-86030-083-9
- Who Do We Think We Are? Imagining the New Britain (2000). London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-025598-2
- After Multiculturalism (2000). London: Foreign Policy Centre. ISBN 0-9535598-8-2
- Mixed Feelings: The Complex Lives of Mixed Race Britons (2001). London: Women's Press. ISBN 0-7043-4706-7
- Some of My Best Friends Are... (2004). London: Politico's. ISBN 1-84275-107-7
External links
- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown official website
- Column archive at The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
- Column archive at The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Column archive at New StatesmanNew StatesmanNew Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
- Published articles at Journalisted