Islamophobia a ‘nasty form of racism’: Corbyn

LONDON: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said Islamophobia is a “nasty form of racism and has to be outlawed”, as he slammed the rise of hate in Britain, especially during the European Union elections.

In an exclusive interview with this correspondent, Corbyn said he is glad that his party has adopted the definition of Islamophobia as presented by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims. He was attending an Iftar-dinner at the Islamic Centre to show support for Muslim communities during the holy month of Ramadan. The Labour leader said that racism is unacceptable in any shape and form in any society. “We have adopted the definition of Islamophobia because we believe that Islamophobia is a form of racism. It’s a nasty form of racism and has to be outlawed. The government is delaying on it and I urge them to recognise what’s happening on the streets of our country when mosques are abused and attacked, when Muslim women are abused on the streets. We need definition of Islamophobia in operation so our police and all of our law enforcement agencies are fully aware that this country doesn’t accept any form of abuse against people because of their faith and their clothes.”

Corbyn said: “There is a disgraceful rise of far-right extremism in UK and various parties and some election candidates are trying to divide people and being abusive towards Muslim people. The language used is disgraceful and disgusting.”

He said that he keeps reminding people that similar language was used against Jews in 1920s and 1930s and they suffered and today similar language is being used against Muslims by the far-right.

“The abuse of any ethnic group or any community is unacceptable. Labour is campaigning in this election as we did in 2016 on economic issues. We need investment in poor parts of our country. We cannot go with under-funding of our services, our schools and hospitals.

Corbyn gave a robust defence of Labour’s decision to try to appeal to both Leavers and Remainers. “Labour supporters voted both Leave and Remain, and every other party in this European election is appealing to either one side or the other, defining everybody on 2016. We’re not. We’re defining people as hopefully supporters of us — but also, people who have common problems, however they voted. The levels of poverty in Remain and Leave areas are very similar; the levels of child poverty. I think we have to be responsible about this, and appeal to people across those views.”