Afya Siddiqui and the Arab Spring

The war on terror, a US-led strategy that saw deadly interventions in the Muslim world, has transformed a generation of Muslims. Some, like my guest today, unwittingly got caught up in this mindless campaign and 21 years after the events of 9/11, we still feel the aftereffects of programmes that placed every Muslim in categories, moderate or extreme, good and bad, loyal or disloyal.

Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo detainee upon his release, has been a tireless campaigner for the truth, exposing its lies and deceits. In the process, he and his organisation CAGE international have tactically contacted non-Muslim sympathisers and wider Human Rights organisations. But I asked him about the risks involved in this strategy. Many a time, Muslims that receive such support are forced to compromise. The left wants Islam to change and come with various social positions we find problematic. The right often possesses a chauvinism that calls upon Muslims to accept a secondary role in society. I ask Moazzam to conceptualise how he navigates these binaries.

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