LONDON: The UK government has come under fire for appointing Trevor Phillips to an inquiry examining why ethnic minorities in the country are being disproportionately harmed by COVID-19.
Phillips, former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, has been criticized for past remarks about British Muslims, whom he described as a “nation within a nation.”
On another occasion, he suggested that a Christian child being placed into Muslim foster care was “like child abuse.”
Sixteen black and minority ethnic (BAME) medical organizations wrote to Public Health England (PHE) and Health Secretary Matt Hancock urging them to “withdraw the participation of Mr.Phillips” in the inquiry.
Phillips’ appointment comes amid reports that 25 out of 26 UK doctors and two-thirds of overall National Health Service staff who have died from COVID-19 have been from BAME backgrounds.
Harun Khan, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said the appointment of Phillips “sends a clear signal to British Muslims that Public Health England is not taking this matter seriously.” The MCB said the appointment is “insensitive” and “wholly inappropriate.”
But Prof. Kevin Fenton, PHE’s regional director in London, said Phillips and Prof. Richard Webber “have been asked to support this critical work as their specialist consultancy has the right skills and experience.”
UK government slammed over coronavirus inquiry
https://arab.news/m6tu2
UK government slammed over coronavirus inquiry
- Phillips, former head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, has been criticized for past remarks about British Muslims
Top Australian writers’ festival canceled after Palestinian author barred
SYDNEY: One of Australia’s top writers’ festivals was canceled on Tuesday, after 180 authors boycotted the event and its director resigned saying she could not be party to silencing a Palestinian author and warned moves to ban protests and slogans after the Bondi Beach mass shooting threatened free speech.
Louise Adler, the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, said on Tuesday she was quitting her role at the Adelaide Writers’ Week in February, following a decision by the festival’s board to disinvite a Palestinian-Australian author.
The novelist and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah said the move to bar her was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday announced a national day of mourning would be held on January 22 to remember the 15 people killed in last month’s shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.
Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by the Islamic State militant group, and the incident sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism, and prompted state and federal government moves to tighten hate speech laws.
The Adelaide Festival board said on Tuesday its decision last week to disinvite Abdel-Fattah, on the grounds it would not be culturally sensitive for her to appear at the literary event “so soon after Bondi,” was made “out of respect for a community experiencing the pain from a devastating event.”
“Instead, this decision has created more division and for that we express our sincere apologies,” the board said in a statement.
The event would not go ahead and remaining board members will step down, it added.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, British author Zadie Smith, Australian author Kathy Lette, Pulitzer Prize-winning American Percival Everett and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis are among the authors who said they would no longer appear at the festival in South Australia state, Australian media reported.
The festival board on Tuesday apologized to Abdel-Fattah for “how the decision was represented.”
“This is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history,” it added.
Abdel-Fattah wrote on social media that she did not accept the apology, saying she had nothing to do with the Bondi attack, “nor did any Palestinian.”
Adler earlier wrote in The Guardian that the board’s decision to disinvite Abdel-Fattah “weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation, where lobbying and political pressure determine who gets to speak and who doesn’t.”
The South Australian state government has appointed a new festival board.
