Muslims in rural England consider Gaza as candidate for UK general election

For British Muslims living in rural England and moved by events in Gaza, voting in the upcoming UK general election is like throwing a pebble into a blue ocean of conservatism.

The ruling Conservative Party has been known for centuries as the “party of the countryside” due to its advocacy of rural issues, such as agricultural subsidies, wildlife conservation and support for local high streets.

Apathy towards the two main political parties – the right-wing Conservatives and the centre-left Labor Party – ahead of the July 4 vote has spread across all parts of the country, and one of them is Wiltshire, in the southwest of England, best known for its UNESCO World Heritage Site. Stonehenge heritage site and ‘Wiltshire roast ham’ found in many supermarket sandwiches across the UK.

What is less known is that Wiltshire is home to the second largest Moroccan community in the UK after London.

The new Arabic visited Trowbridge to meet some members of the UK’s Muslim community who have forged a small but significant presence in the rural town, and found that voters were grappling with a range of national, social and international.

A small but growing Muslim community

Trowbridge has a population of 37,000 and is the county town of Wiltshire. In 1997, the Moroccan migrant community established the town’s first mosque, which was later twinned with the north-east Moroccan town of Oujda in 2006 – the first town in England to do so.

Today, the Muslim population in this predominantly white and Christian area has slowly increased. According to the latest 2021 UK census, 0.7% of Wiltshire’s population identify as Muslim, up from 0.4% in 2011.

It has grown since the 1990s, when Mohammed Miri left Oujda to follow in the footsteps of other young Moroccans who had moved to Trowbridge for work, finding employment in an education providers’ warehouse in the rural town .

“To be honest, we are still a very small minority,” Mohammed said. The new Arabicalongside his wife Imane at a gathering to celebrate the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha, organized by the Wiltshire Islamic Community Centre.

Gaza, priority number one in the face of local concerns

For the first time, the 52-year-old will not vote for Labor on July 4 and will instead cast a “protest vote”.

Mohammed knows the south-west Wiltshire constituency has been a Conservative seat for years, but he believes the UK’s two main political parties have taken the wrong position on the war in Gaza.

The eruption of conflict in Gaza and Sir Keir Starmer’s apparent support for Israel “with a blank check” prompted Mohammed to turn away from the Labor Party, a party traditionally supported by British Muslims.

The Moroccan-British family says it encourages people to “vote at least green”, in reference to the climate-focused progressive party. Mohammed and Imane noticed similar grievances shared about the Labor Party on their social media.

Since October, the conservative government of Rishi Sunak has not deviated from its American allies and stood by Israel, even as calls to stop arms sales increased in the country after three British citizens were among seven aid workers killed by Israeli drones in April.

“I loved the Labor Party, especially when Jeremy Corbyn was leader,” Mohammed recalls. “He was a man of his word, I found him honest. »

Imane raised other concerns for the family ahead of the election. She is worried about the housing crisis in Wiltshire, now that their four children are growing up out of the two-bed council housing they were allocated after a long wait years ago.

Mohammed was recently made redundant and he acknowledged that the cost of living and housing were two major concerns, but, he added, the conflict in Gaza remains their “number one” priority.

“I have always voted conservative”

Finance director Shazuli Iqbal and his wife Souhaina moved to Trowbridge from London almost 20 years ago, when there was “not even a single store” in the town.

Originally from Sri Lanka, Shazuli, 55, is chairman of the Wiltshire Islamic Cultural Center which organized the Eid Al-Adha event in Trowbridge last weekend.

About 100 people enjoyed the festivities, which included a barbecue, homemade South Asian food, Turkish music and a bouncy castle.

Talk to The new Arabic while manning the dessert stand, Souhaina, a science teacher at a local secondary school, said she had “always voted Conservative”.

Working in schools, she said, gave her a passion for investing in education.

“We don’t even have enough glue sticks,” she remarked, before adding that teachers are “not paid enough.”

When it comes to schools for special educational needs and disabilities, Suhaina is particularly concerned about the funding and resource gaps that have plagued this area for years.

The family’s 16-year-old son has special needs and Suhaina says Wiltshire is a “black hole” in support for special schools.

But this year, Suhaina says she will vote differently. She cited issues like getting doctor or dentist appointments, a regularly cited topic among the British public, and Sunak’s “Stop the Boats” campaign, as well as the situation in the Middle East, l pushed us to rethink.

“Even if it doesn’t affect us directly, it surrounds us,” she said of the war in Gaza. “We boycotted a lot of things; for example, we didn’t shop at Next, we stopped KFC and Coca Cola,” said the mother of three.

Protest vote

Suhaina’s husband, Shazuli, will likely vote in a “protest vote” in response to the major parties’ positions on Gaza, which he says need to be more balanced, citing the disparity in response to Ukraine’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia in 2022 – when Western governments have widely condemned Moscow – for their support of Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

Since Sunak announced the election last month, no parliamentary candidate has contacted the Islamic center, Shazuli said, while adding that former MP Andrew Murrison had attended events in the past.

Shazuli will join Mohammed in his drift towards a protest vote.

“In Trowbridge you always meet conservative voters, but we are just making a point,” Mohammed said.

“Leaders should know one thing about Muslims,” he continued. “Our participation in the Gaza conflict hurt us a lot and affected us a lot. »