| Founder(s) | Asghar Bukhari Zulfikar Bukhari Tassadiq Rehman Muddassar Ahmed |
|---|---|
| Key people | Catherine Heseltine[1] (CEO) |
| Website | Mpacuk.org |
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPACUK) is a not-for-profit British Muslim organization set up to address a perceived under-representation of Muslims in British politics. The group campaigns on issues affecting Britain's Muslim population primarily through electoral campaigns and media appearances.[2]
Contents |
MPACUK encourages Muslims to participate in tactical voting against MPs who support policies which it considers not to be in Muslims' interest. This can extend both to national issues such as civil liberties, Islamophobia and anti-terror legislation; and to foreign policy, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Israel-Palestine conflict and the Lebanon.
In June 2011, MPACUK launched a Stop Islamophobia Week campaign due to the rise in anti-muslim hate crimes.
In the same year, a campaign to encourage Muslims to YES in the UK was also launched Alternative Vote referendum.[3]
MPACUK was involved in campaigning to unseat 6 MPs in England. This included campaigning against Phil Woolas for alleged anti-Muslim bias. The campaign resulted in Phil Woolas winning a majority by 103 votes.[4] However, after an eventual court-case resulted in suspension as an MP and ban from holding public office for three years for "knowingly making false statements about his Liberal Democrat opponent" Elwyn Watkins, by alleging in his campaign literature that Watkins attempted to get support from Muslim extremists who advocated violence against Woolas. MPACUK was active in the Oldham campaign, and according to the BBC, "urged Muslim voters to help unseat Phil Woolas, and targeted several other Labour MPs, who MPAC judged to have pro-Israeli positions and who supported the war in Iraq." Woolas stated "There was vehement anti-semitism going on in the area, canvassing amongst the Asian population in the area saying: don't vote for the Jew. As it happens, I'm not Jewish but the fact my son's Christian name is a Jewish name was used against me." MPACUK denied responsibility for the rumours.[5]
MPACUK campaigned to remove Andrew Dismore from office, stating he was someone "who backed the Iraq war and has a long record of Islamophobia", and claimed responsibility for his defeat.[6]
Labour MP Lorna Fitzsimons became the target of an MPACUK campaign when she stood for re-election at the 2005 General Election in the constituency of Rochdale, which has a significant Muslim population. The All-Party Parliamentary Report noted with concern MPACUK's campaign against Lorna Fitzsimons and that leaflets had been printed by MPACUK, which claimed that Fitzsimons had done nothing to help the Palestinians because she was a Jewish member of the Labour Friends of Israel.[7] Fitzsimons, who was a member of the Labour Friends of Israel, is not in fact Jewish.[8] MPACUK later apologised for the inaccurate description.[7]
MPACUK was described by Jack Straw as "most egregious" after it actively campaigned for Muslims in his Blackburn constituency to vote tactically against him in the 2005 general election.
In 2004, MPACUK was the subject of a no-platform order by the National Union of Students, because of its alleged publication of antisemitic conspiracy theories and inciteful racist material, and further material on its website encouraging activists to break the law.[9]
After Lorna Fitzsimons's defeat, in 2006, CST accused MPACUK of antisemitism. An All Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-semitism observed that MPACUK was criticised by the CST for promoting the idea of a worldwide Zionist conspiracy and using material taken from neo-Nazi, white nationalist, and Holocaust denial websites. The report also noted CST's assertion that "use of ‘Zionist’ as a replacement for ‘Jewish’ is common on the MPACUK website" and that MPACUK has articulated antisemitic conspiracy theories through the language of anti-Zionism.[7]
MPACUK denies being anti-semitic and state that "it is worth noting that the labels of anti-Semitism and holocaust denial are being placed upon anyone that is critical of Israel by some Zionists".[10]