Tell MAMA

Tell MAMA is a project of Faith Matters.

People

Leadership

• President and Chair: Richard Benson
• Founder: Fiyaz Mughal

Patrons

• Reverend Mark Oakley
• Canon Dr Giles Fraser
• Jonathan Bloch

Others

• Shahid Malik
• Lord Mohamed Iltaf Sheikh
• John Esposito
• Patron: Mohammed Amin Former Chair of Conservative Muslim Forum. Amin argues we should discard the term “Islamophobia” and tolerate negative beliefs and attitudes about Islam that are not motivated by hatred. In a November 2018 opinion piece published by Tell Mama, titled “Countering hatred requires precise vocabulary”, Amin argued “the word “Islamophobia” should never be used except when debating the meaning of the word.” He added: “At its most fundamental, I do not care very much what other people think about Islam.”

Allies

The Board of Deputies of British Jews

Israel lobby group the Board of Deputies have called Tell Mama “[s]ome of the best allies we have in the struggle against antisemitism”.

In April 2017, the Board tweeted that Fiyaz Mughal had “briefed our Board's Defence and Interfaith Relations Division on challenges facing Jews”.

Policy Exchange

Some establishment Islamophobes clearly consider Tell Mama an ally, and its work profoundly unthreatening.

“Organisations like Tell Mama and activists like Fiyaz Mughal have done sterling work to shine a light on the soft underbelly of [anti-Muslim] bigotry,” argued a 2019 report for Tory think tank Policy Exchange.

The same report insists politicians

“stop pretending that extremism and terrorism have nothing to do with Islam. There is a clear relationship between fundamentalism, terrorism, and the basic assumptions of Islamic orthodoxy … The West must stop ascribing any and all discussion of these issues to ‘Islamophobia’.”

In March 2020, Labour suspended one of the report’s authors, former Commission for Racial Equality Chair Trevor Phillips, for Islamophobia.

David Hirsh

“Give money to Tell Mama / @TellMamaUK / And tell people how great they are. / And love them. / And support them.”

Views and Positions

David Cameron

In an October 2013 article, Tell Mama poured scorn on the previous Labour government and lavished praise on David Cameron, urging progressives to support him.

They wrote:

“What the Prime Minister needs right now, is people who believe in pluralism, equality and fairness in our society and communities to stand with him; to support his vision of a country where hate should be challenged through existing systems and structures and where every community has a role and a part to play in that future. We say to the Prime Minister, this is a vision that draws all people towards a modern, stronger and more competitive Britain. Thank you!”

Muslims and Islamophobia

In July 2017, the group attacked “those who promote a view that Islam or #Muslims are under threat” and tweeted “Enough of the victim narrative”. (Katie Hopkins shared and praised the tweet, saying she was “sick of the Muslim mafia playing victim”.) The group seem to have echoed this sentiment in tweets posted in November 2017, which they deleted and formally apologised for.

“Recent statements and behaviour by Mughal and Tell MAMA suggest that they may become more openly hostile towards the Muslim communities and Muslim organisations they claim to defend,” CAGE concluded in 2019, “in an apparent effort to cosy up to power and establish themselves as the “legitimate authority” on Muslims.”

State and nation

Tell MAMA routinely promote a nationalist ideology that whitewashes the racism and coercive violence of British imperial history and valorises loyalty to the state. They encourage pride in the monarchy and portray Muslims and minorities as especially praiseworthy by dint of their patriotic service, particularly as soldiers or police.

In November 2019, Tell Mama tweeted: “On #ArmisticeDay we should not lose sight of the enourmous [sic] contributions of Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities who fought and laboured for the British Empire for the ideals of freedom.” They added: “More than 1 million Indian soldiers fought for the British Empire in WW1, including 400,000 Muslims. / We remember the sacrifices of so many who fought for the ideals of freedom. / #RemembranceSunday”.

In February 2020, the group shared a 1916 Daily Sketch front page on the Indian cavalrymen of the Deccan Horse who made the first charge in the Battle of the Somme. They commented: “Here they are before they were wiped out in the charge. / When we asked, they came to our defence. #Commonwealth”. The group repeat variations of this slogan when recalling the Empire’s conscription of colonial troops. In May 2017, the group tweeted: “So next time someone says – what did Muslims ever do for the UK? Tell them they stood in trenches with fellow soldiers & did their duty.”

In May 2019, Tell MAMA tweeted a picture of the Queen and other royals, commenting: “Our Royal family. We should all be so proud.”

Labour “anti-Semitism” and the Israel lobby

Tell Mama have endorsed the Israel lobby’s unsubstantiated allegations of Labour anti-Semitism, portrayed its institutions as reliable representatives of British Jews, and taken their claims uncritically. In contrast, they have sometimes dismissed Muslim fears about rampant Islamophobia in the face of stronger evidence.

In an April 2018 post, they wrote:

“We understand that members of key organisations representing Jewish communities are meeting with the leader of the opposition, the Rt Hon. Jeremy Corbyn MP. We truly hope that the concerns of these organisations that represent the majority of Jewish communities are heard and that a way is found to tackle antisemitism which is infiltrating and sitting in parts of the political left”.

It is “patently obvious to us,” they add, that “anti-racist organisations have dropped any real consideration of antisemitism as racism ... This is how toxic antisemitism has entered parts of the left in our country.”

Members of Tell Mama attended Israel lobby group the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s “Enough Is Enough” rally against Corbyn and Labour in March 2018. They explained their decision:

“The fact is this. Where many members of a community feel the need to rally and demonstrate on an issue of key concern, we should be there. This is particularly the case when it involves something of central concern such as antisemitism. This is why the Tell MAMA staff and team attended the Enough is Enough rally and why we felt the need to stand in solidarity.”

By contrast, they have a record of dismissing Muslim fears as a “victim narrative” that “Islam or #Muslims are under threat”.

Israel-Palestine

Tell MAMA have portrayed Israel-Palestine as a symmetrical conflict rather than a violent colonial occupation with the suffering largely on one side. In July 2017 they commented that there is “enormous fear within a population which feels embattled” in Israel, “just as the Palestinians feel”.

In the same post, they use inflammatory terms assigning blame to describe killings by Palestinians, and equivocal terms assigning no blame to describe killings by Israelis. Palestinian killings are “murder” and “terrorism”; Israel’s are “killings ... under circumstances that leave questions for their families which are not addressed” and their victims “young people whose lives have been cut short in violent circumstances”.

The same post blames Palestinian violence for raised tensions at the Al Haram Al Sharif, and cites questionable CST statistics to tie Middle East tensions to violence against Jews.