Mariam Veiszadeh

Mariam Veiszadeh (born 1984) is an Australian in-house lawyer,^[1] opinion writer and Twitter personality who is noted for her anti-Islamophobia campaigns.

A prominent member of the Australian Muslim community, she been described as a "typically assertive Australian woman" by ABC News.^[2]

She is the founder and president of Islamophobia Register Australia,^[1][3] which describes itself as "a secure and reliable service that allows people from across Australia to report any form of Anti-Muslim abuse",^[4] and an official Ambassador for Welcome to Australia.

Early life

Veiszadeh was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1984. In 1988, when Mariam was just four years old, her family fled Afghanistan due to the ongoing conflict in the region. Following refusal from a number of countries beforehand, she and her family arrived in Australia in 1987 via India, the Czech Republic and Germany and were finally granted asylum there in 1991 under the Refugee and Special Humanitarian Program.^[2][5]

Social media

Veiszadeh is ranked in the top 0.5% users on social media.^[6] Veiszadeh's tweets often make it to the NSHIP digital and Which-50 Retweets list (a report which takes the pulse of the Australian Twittersphere to discover the most-retweeted tweets).

Joshua Goldberg

Veiszadeh also fell victim to Internet troll Joshua Ryne Goldberg, who was arrested by the US government for distributing information about bomb-making techniques as part of an attempt to incite acts of terrorism on the 14th anniversary of 9/11. Goldberg posted to The Daily Stormer as neo-Nazi under the pseudonym Michael Slay, and contributed to feminist blog Feministing under pseudonym Tanya Cohen. He promoted an illusory friendship between Australi Witness (his pro-ISIL Twitter account) and Veiszadeh, with the objective of smearing Veiszadeh's reputation.^[7] Under the penname "Michael Slay", Goldberg wrote the majority of articles on The Daily Stormer criticising Veiszadeh, including the initial piece criticising her stance on the flag shirt. Upon learning the true identity of the writer, website owner Andrew Anglin removed all content by Goldberg.

Accolades

Veiszadeh was selected by Elle Magazine Malaysia as one of 12 women who were helping "change the world" for International Women's Day 2015, alongside the likes of Michelle Obama and Angelina Jolie. And domestically in Australia, Get Up, an independent, community advocacy organisation featured her alongside other strong women advocates, including Rosie Batty, 2015 Australian of the Year, for ‘making it happen’. Veiszadeh was also featured in Elle Magazine Australia for their #WeAreWomen campaign and was a finalist in the Daily Life Women of the Year Awards as well as being awarded Westpac’s ‘Woman of Influence’ Award for 2015.

In December 2015, Veiszadeh was awarded the “Role Model of the Year” and “Woman of the Year” at the 9th Australian Muslim Achievement Awards.^[8]

References