A few weeks ago, TRT World bemoaned “Islamophobic” attacks against Kauthar Bouchallikh, a Muslim parliamentary candidate for the Green party in the Netherlands.
Can the Netherlands accept a confident Muslim woman running for parliament?
The witch-hunt of Kauthar Bouchallikh, a young Muslim woman, has demonstrated how emboldened racist critiques have become.
Recent weeks have felt particularly difficult for Muslims across the West.
From Islamophobic policies introduced under the guise of fighting “separatism” by the Macron government in France, to the Austrian government using the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Vienna as an opportunity to attack Muslims, it has been yet another period of unrelenting onslaught.
This all comes when we are coming to the end of Islamophobia Awareness Month, four weeks that should have been spent taking on the bigotry meted out against Muslims and strengthening solidarity.
Similarly, the recent witch-hunt of Kauthar Bouchallikht, a young Parliamentary candidate for the GroenLinks party in the Netherlands, has only demonstrated how emboldened the right has become.
The 26-year old activist, journalist and soon-to-be politician is being dragged through the Dutch press over unfounded allegations that she is associated with the Muslim brotherhood, and is therefore assumed to be sympathetic to extremism.
Bouchallikht is also being condemned for her role as vice president of the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations (FEMYSO), a group that is being described as another front for the Muslim Brotherhood.
It matters little to the media, politicians and pundits that Kauthar Bouchallikht denies that she is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, that FEMYSO has done the same, or that Bouchallikht already has a long history of participation in and mobilisation of progressive social movements in the country.
What matters, in true islamophobic fashion, is to keep pedalling the false narrative that easily sticks to a hijab-wearing woman of colour.
Muslim women, as always, are the easiest target. And there is rarely, if ever, any accountability expected for those who spread the sexist, racist venom against women like Bouchallikht, so why should a complete lack of evidence impact those making the allegations? She is already guilty by virtue of her birth as a Muslim woman.
The considerable opposition to her candidacy is not made up solely of those from the far-right of the country, however. The state also capitalises on this campaign in order to legitimise its continued war against Muslim political spaces — as liberal commentators cheer on — and is given more opportunity to uncritically push policies that curtail everyone’s civil liberties.
The Netherlands is a country that isn’t even close to a consensus on the fact that Blackface is a racist practice that should be banned, which is a good indicator of how far behind this supposedly progressive state is regarding the public discourse on race.
Therefore, such backlash towards a Muslim woman on a mainstream political platform isn’t surprising. However, it would be a mistake to limit this issue to Dutch borders only.
It is no coincidence that following the calls to ban Muslim organisations like the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) by the French Interior Minister, FEMYSO is being targeted through the political assaults on Bouchallikht.
These types of coordinated attacks attempt to group every organisation, movement and even ideology associated with Muslims around the world under the umbrella of extremism. In this climate of heightened Islamophobia, there is no nuance when it comes to Muslims, the Brotherhood – which it might be worth remembering is neither banned nor accused of any legal wrongdoing – is on par with ISIS according to them.
None of this is about whether or not one supports the Muslim Brotherhood – given Bouchallikht has made clear she is not even a member! It is about rejecting a trend by Western states which allows the picking and choosing of political groups from the Global South, and delegitimising them when it suits their political needs.
At home, however, no such critique of conservative political parties is even raised. In the Netherlands, this goes even further to a growing normalisation of the far-right with several far-right parties being regularly invited to debates and talk shows, with their racist, sexist, or homophobic politics described as speaking on behalf of the ‘silent majority’.
Kauthar Bouchallikht no doubt predicted such violent opposition. In an interview with GLAMOUR, she stated that “[t]hey tend to associate my religion with terrorism and negativity. Unfortunately, many in the Netherlands still see the Muslim as the other – in the media, Muslims are often referred to in this way […] support for extreme right-wing parties that spread Islamophobia is increasing.”
While hatred of someone for the sole reason of them being Muslim is a terrible thing, it does not seem this is what is happening here. It is widely known that FEMYSO, is another front for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Besides, it seems rather rich to accuse Bouchallikh’s detractors of being Islamophobic when Bouchallikh herself has no problem associating herself with antisemitism.
That’s right. The following photos have surfaced of her participating in an anti-Israel demonstration – a demonstration in which we were compared to the Nazis (against the IHRA working definition of antisemitism)
This is reminiscent of when Ilhan Omar said the attacks on her and Rashida Tlaib are ‘Designed To silence’ Muslim voices. Like in that case, criticisms of Bouchallikh arise from her problematic affiliations and real antisemitic behavior, not her religion.
Hat tip: Wijnand
