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Watch Manchester based poet and spoken word artist, Hafsah Aneela Bashir perform a powerful spoken word piece. In this strong and heartfelt performance, she directly challenges the notion that Islamophobia is not real, whilst simultaneously highlighting negative media portrayal of Muslims.
There Is No Such Thing As Islamophobia – FULL TEXT:
You should have seen how I took her down
Pulled that towel right off her head in town
She was screaming as I spat in her face
These rag heads taking over all our space
I’ll teach her to go back to where she comes from….
There is no such thing as Islamaphobia
Settle down settle down boys, bell went ages ago!
Now in light of recent events, let’s discuss Charlie Hebdo
I think Prophet Mohammed T-shirts should be worn to challenge offended muslims everywhere
And every other school kid turns to the one muslim boy and stares
The same stare he gives back
When slapped
by older schoolboys, who tell him
he’s a paki terrorist
There is no such thing as Islamophobia
It’s hot on this damn tube
In my smart shoes and business suit
And I’m seeing this hummus-eating camel-shagging, Paki muslim slut
And I turn to Greg next to me and say I don’t give a fuck
My freedom of speech gives me the choice,
So I sing at the top of my voice
Kill them, kill them all….
There is no such thing as Islamophobia
The sun bears down on an Essex park
Lighting up crisp blades of grass
A breeze moves gently through flowers of red
Where a woman in a burkha and scarf lays dead
Sixteen stab wounds decorated her body they said…..
There is no such thing as Islamophobia
I didn’t need to run up fast
That old Muzzrat just shuffled past
Three quick stab wounds to his back
Went down instantly in the attack
Planted bombs at his nearby masjid
Tipton, Walsall, you get my drift
‘Self starter’ racist I am, not a terrorist!
There is no such thing as Islamophobia
There are two exits to Grimsby mosque
But we had each one boxed off
A petrol bomb for each one
And one for the roof, job done
For queen and country, we served well
Ex soldiers if you couldn’t tell
We’re patriotic us, not extreme
Wer just trying to keep Britain clean
There is no such thing as Islamophobia
Status – Obviously when I got on the plane I checked no one looked like a terrorist
Status – Mate I changed tube cos a bearded man sat there reading arabic scripture muttering under his breath
Status – Dunno what the hell they carrying under their veils – I ain’t getting killed for political correctness
Status- Why do your people hate our West so much that you wana destroy it? Piss off back to where you came from
Status- For every person beheaded by these sick savages we should drag 10 off the streets and behead them, film it and put it online. For every child they cut in half … we cut one of their children in half. An eye for an eye..
There is no such thing as Islamophobia
Daily Mail – Muslims tell us how to run our schools
The Independent – Fundamentalists plotting to bring jihad into the classrooms
Daily Star – Muslim sickos- Maddie kidnap shock
Daily Express – Hogwash, Now the PC brigade bans piggy banks in case they offend Muslims
The Sun – Muslim Convert beheads woman
Evening Standard – Muslim plot to behead soldier in UK
Brit kids forced to eat halal school dinners
Al Qaeda Corrie threat
Jihadist plot to take over city schools
Ramadaan a ding dong
Halal secret of pizza express
Muslim thugs are just 12 in knife attack on Brit school boy
Muslims loonies hijack elections
Muslim only loos
Muslims
Muslims
Muslims
There is no such thing as Islamophobia
Hafsah Aneela Bashir is a poet, writer and spoken word artist who has just completed an MA in Postcolonial Literary and Culture at the University of Leeds. Her work with NGO’s, providing emergency supplies and medical aid to conflict zones informs her creativity producing a form of lyrical activism. Her poetry has been published by Crocus Books in the anthology, ‘When Saira Met Sara’ bringing together Muslim and Jewish writers. She writes to raise awareness about social injustice and has a keen interest in writing as a form of resistance and liberty. She has worked with Women Asylum Seekers Together to use creative agency as a means to highlight demands for basic human rights. Also part of writing collectives called Common Word and Manchester Muslim Writers, she facilitates poetry workshops within the community working with young people to develop an understanding of identity and empowerment. She has performed for Oxfam, RAPAR, Freedom From Torture, Justice Festival 2016, at many interfaith events and at various academic conferences. She can often be found at open-mics in and around Manchester in her spare time. Her latest project involves scriptwriting short plays with Women In The Spotlight and Three Minute Theatre. She was recently invited to create and perform her poetry at Manchester Cathedral to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. Her new project ‘Platform For Palestinian Arts’ will be exploring plays and poetry from the Palestinian diaspora. She blogs at http://hafsahaneelabashir.wordpress.com/
Disclaimer: the opinions expressed in this article and video clip are solely those of the original author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the website. Copyright of the content of this video and article remains with the author, however any reproduction of either the video or article should credit She Speaks We Hear.