Annons
Bahar Mustafa: I'm really glad that they have been dropped but at the same time I do feel quite cynical about why I had to be dragged through another media shit storm [thanks to the police's involvement, after the initial backlash following the BME meeting]. I can only think or assume that this is because there was never actually any evidence produced. It makes me think why charges were even made in the first place. Despite the fact that the police failed to present any evidence against me, I was dragged through the justice system, attacked in the press, and bombarded with hate mail and death or rape threats.
Annons
I had my mum crying to me down the phone because several journalists from press had turned up at our house. I had my sister panicking because the Daily Mail had published her and my parents full name and age in the papers, opening them up to dangerous threats by Islamophobes and racists who were eager to attack us or send us "back to our own country". I also had to meet with BME students on campus who were deterred from organising politically because they were terrified that they would be targeted next.As well as the hate, did you receive much support?
Yeah – loads of unions recognised the right for oppressed groups to organise autonomously as a common practice and as integral to our movement – they came forward in solidarity. International feminist collectives, anti-racists and Black and Ethnic minority groups sent me statements of support too and a demo was organised for outside of the courts to protest that I was even summoned to the court on the 5th of November, which reached an expected attendance of over 800 – I was really overwhelmed, it was incredible.So how did the legal case come about? Did somebody just go to the police and report that you had tweeted #KillAllWhiteMen?
Yeah, I don't know who reported it but I know that it was a man because [the police] referred to them as "he". They had expressed fear or anxiety about a tweet that I had allegedly written.
Annons
It's to do with a lot of Islamophobia – that seems to be a popular narrative. And I think because my name is Bahar Mustafa, that whole rhetoric around left wing, militant or radical activists talking about race. The extreme right wing or fascist reaction to that is to say "we have to arrest these people or there will be another case like Lee Rigby".
You said that you "allegedly" wrote the tweet. So do you deny that the #KillAllWhiteMen tweet even existed?On Noisey: Who Is Pop Music's 'Good Girl' and How the Hell Do We Get Rid of Her?
Yeah that's the thing, I never actually tweeted it – but I don't condemn it either. The reality is that #KillAllMuslims was trending for a while – there are tens and thousands of Muslims being killed in the Middle East and victimised in the UK. At the moment, young Muslims, especially male Muslims, are one of the most oppressed groups because of all the racial profiling that goes around terrorism. We exist in a world where black men and women in the States are being brutally attacked by white police officers, who are given the authority to literally get away with murder. The British government and USA are ordering the deaths of hundreds of thousands of brown civilians in the Middle East, all in the name of protecting US from terrorism. Thousands of migrants and refugees are being killed by our racist borders. Two women a week are killed by their male partners in the UK, and one in four will be raped in their lifetime. That's the reality.
Annons
Like when you say #FML, you aren't literally telling people to fuck your life. It's an expression of how somebody is feeling, not what they are telling people to do. It isn't a command. The #KillAllWhiteMen hashtag is something that a lot of people in the feminist community use to express frustration.Bahar Mustafa answers her critics back in MayWhat do you think the whole situation says about free speech?
It's interesting because a lot of people have been criticising me, and the platform I represent – which is the platform of a feminist woman of colour. They made the assumption that I was against free speech and that all feminists were against free speech, like feminazis who are ready to ban everything from 4chan to nippleslip.com – and then all of the neckbeard weirdos would be really sad.But it's not true, I am absolutely for free speech and I think that these people who accuse me have a very misguided understanding of free speech. I don't condone anyone being in prison for what they said – whether it's a far-right extremist or a fascist. I do not have that power – I am not the state. People like me don't have that power and I absolutely believe in free speech.
On Broadly: Can You Actaully Go to Jail for Tweeting #KillAllWhiteMen?
Annons
Well they are not my allies – I did not ask for their support and I don't want it. They stand for everything I'm against. I was so embarrassed when Hopkins tweeted in support – I would never accept the support from an attention seeking, classist idiot who thinks immigrants are less than vermin. I did enjoy watching the twats of the gamergate scandal squibble online over whether or not to offer support to a feminist-slash-social-justice-warrior because not to would mean that their entire free speech platform would come crashing down. To them, and many other right-wing pricks, free speech means the right to be as offensive as possible. For many of us, free speech means the right to bring the injustices of the state to the fore so that we can organise against it without fear or intimidation, prison, or death.
Annons
It was very bizarre. It's online, it's social media. I have seen some horrendous things happen online. The internet can be a horrible place full of misery and perversion, but I don't think that the state should deal with things that we don't like on the internet. We should have the power to go and protest against it ourselves. Like, if people want to go out and protest about something I said – fine, bring it.More from VICE:A Rundown of All the Times British Cops Have Been Incredibly Bad at Twitter BanterRefugees Tell Us What Their Lives Are Like After They Make it to GermanyCash Slaves