News

Make no mistake this is a very, very big deal.

Amol Rajan becomes the first person of colour to head up a national newspaper. To acutely understand  what the media generally looks like just walk into a national media newspaper, TV, or radio station and you’ll usually find more BME individuals in the kitchens, as cooks, cleaners or as security staff, than you’ll ever find as journalist, technicians or presenters.

Yasmin Alibhai  Brown, writing in the Independent last week wrote a compelling argument about who writes our history, and even after the tragic  facts are clear, how the deniers will keep denying. Above Alibhai Brown tells us that unless we are brave enough to tell the whole truth , then history and worse still tragic history has a way of repeating itself.

This will be my last article for Operation Black vote, and I would like to thank everyone at OBV for nurturing me and giving me a home to work from. I would also like to thank the readers and supporters of OBV for reading my articles and supporting me through this process.

What a pleasure it was on Friday afternoon when I received a call from Jasvinder Sanghera the founder of Karma Nirvana, and long time activist against forced marriages and honour based violence. She telephoned to inform me that:

“Simon, I have some good news for you”, she said, “although the news is embargoed until Saturday I can tell you that as part of the Queens Birthday Honors list, I’ll be awarded a CBE."

The recent killing of drummer Lee Rigby horrified the country. Furthermore,  his murderers shameful justification of their actions based on their Islamic faith sickened people of all faiths.

Operation Black Vote graduate Zena Agha, a British Muslim, powerfully articulates her response to the shocking incident and clearly explains why his actions are not in my name.

Francine Fernandes

For many people, entering the world of journalism may be quite a daunting task, for others a career in the civil service would be just as hard to achieve, but for one woman, working in both has been the result of hard work and perseverance.

Deepa Shah has worked in some of the busiest newsrooms in the country, and has gone on to use her experience to work in government press offices, and is currently a speechwriter in the Department of Education.

Since May 20, the media, both in and out of Sweden, has been dominated by the riots in certain suburbs of Stockholm. Reports have focused on outbursts of violence which include large-scale vandalism and damage to cars and shops in the poorer areas of Greater Stockholm with large concentrations of ethnic minorities. Following the fatal shooting on May 12 of an elderly man by the police in the northwest neighborhood of Husby, Greater Stockholm, violence erupted with the burning of cars, arson, and attacks on police on May 19.

It’s Usman’s last day today. Every Tuesday and Thursday for the past six months Usman Butt has travelled an hour each way to come and volunteer for OBV. He started by just tidying the office after our office down-size, and answering the phone to take messages. During his interview he’d indicated that he would like to try his hand at writing. Six months later Usman is a confident political writer. His articles regularly reach the 10,000 readership mark and the numerous Facebook likes are an indication that his readers like what they read.