Malia Bouattia

Malia Bouattia
58th President of the National Union of Students
Taking office
1 July 2016
Succeeding Megan Dunn
Majority 44 (6.0%)[1]
Personal details
Born 1987
Alma mater University of Birmingham
Religion Islam
Website malia4president.com

Malia Bouattia (born 1987) is a student politician and the President elect of the National Union of Students, elected at the National Conference in April 2016. Bouattia's family are originally from Constantine, Algeria. She attended the University of Birmingham.

Early life

Bouattia's birth was registered in Norfolk in 1987.[2] Her father is Brahim Bouattia, an Algerian academic who now works for an international management consultancy, and her mother is Latifa Bouattia. She has two younger sisters.[2] Bouattia's family originally lived in Constantine, Algeria.[3] They fled during the Algerian Civil War, and moved to Birmingham in England, where Bouattia attended school. While at school, she began campaigning on social issues, and took part in protests opposing the Iraq War. Bouattia attended Birmingham University where she studied Culture Studies with French, followed by an MPhil in Post-Colonial Theory. While studying for her MPhil, she began getting involved with the NUS.[3]

NUS Black Students' Officer

Bouattia served two years as Black Students' Officer of the National Union of Students (NUS). While in this position, she campaigned against the UK government's Prevent strategy which she describes as “toxic and unworkable.”[4] Bouattia also pushed for greater ethnic diversity amongst NUS candidates and campaigned for the establishment of a permanent officer for transgender students.[3]

Whilst a member of the NUS Executive Committee, Bouattia opposed a motion condemning the terrorist acts of ISIS as she considered the wording of the motion Islamophobic.[4][5] She later supported a second motion condeming both the atrocities committed by ISIS and Islamophobia.[5]

Campaign for NUS presidency

At the 2016 NUS conference Bouattia ran for the position of president against incumbent Megan Dunn. She opposed Dunn's plans to end the NUS' relationship with the humans rights organisation CAGE, which Bouattia had defended in July 2015 against David Cameron's accusation that it is an "extremist" group.[6] Bouattia has referred to the stance against CAGE as consisting of "baseless Islamophobic smears", while Dunn described its leaders as having "sympathised with violent extremism and violence against women."[7]

During her campaign attention was drawn to past comments she had made, that were criticised as anti-Semitic. She described Birmingham University as a "Zionist outpost in higher education" with its "largest Jsoc [Jewish student society] in the country" in a co-written 2011 blog post.[8] For this she has been condemned by over 300 Jewish student leaders, the Union of Jewish Students and Oxford University Student Union.[9][4] In her response to this criticism in April 2016, Bouattia rejected the accusation that she had a problem with Jewish societies on-campus. Daniel Clemens, then president of Birmingham J-Soc, found her comments "completely unsatisfactory".[10] The NUS has also been accused of "not doing enough" to combat anti-semitism by the Labour member of parliament John Mann. Bouattia defended her comments claiming that they had been misrepresented and "that for me to take issue with Zionist politics is not me taking issue with being Jewish."[5][11]

A video of Bouattia speaking at a conference on "Gaza and the Palestinian Revolution" in 2014, was also drawn to attention, in which she said: "With mainstream Zionist-led media outlets - because once again we’re dealing with the population of the global south - resistance is presented as an act of terrorism."[12] Any peace talks, in her opinion, are a "strengthening of the colonial project".[13] Bouattia attracted criticism for appearing to suggest that non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation is a limited option.[12][14]

Bouattia won the 2016 election with 50.9% of the vote.[4] She has pledged to oppose government cuts to bursaries and the NHS. Bouattia has stated that she will place greater emphasis on global politics.[3]

In response to her election, students at Aberystwyth, Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, York, and King's College London, have begun campaigning to disaffiliate from the NUS.[15]

Exeter had already planned to hold a referendum regarding NUS affiliation which will take place on the 9th May, less than two weeks after Malia's nomination.

References

  1. ↑ "Malia Bouattia elected as NUS National President". NUS. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 Brown, David (23 April 2016). "NUS leader rages against white supremacy". The Times (London). p. 17. Retrieved 24 April 2016. (subscription required)
  3. 1 2 3 4 Elgot, Jessica (22 April 2016). "Malia Bouattia's election as NUS president proves deeply divisive". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Malia Bouattia elected NUS President after causing controversy over 'anti-Semitism and refusing to condemn Isil'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
  5. 1 2 3 "National Union of Students elects Malia Bouattia as president". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
  6. ↑ Gani, Aisha (22 April 2015). "Cage 'seeking legal advice' on whether it was defamed by David Cameron". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Gilligan, Andrew (20 April 2016). "Malia Bouattia elected NUS President after causing controversy over 'anti-Semitism and refusing to condemn Isil'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Bowden, George (14 April 2016). "NUS President Election Candidate, Malia Bouattia, Responds To ‘Anti-Semitism’ Claims". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Ali, Aftab. "The NUS has elected its new president for the next academic year". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
  10. ↑ Khomani, Nadia (23 April 2016). "NUS president must address concerns over antisemitism, say Jewish students". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Bouattia, Malia (24 April 2016). "I’m the new NUS president – and no, I’m not an antisemitic Isis sympathiser". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  12. 1 2 Nawaz, Maajid (20 April 2016). "Malia Bouattia is symbolic of the poison of the regressive Left". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  13. ↑ Firsht,, Naomi (20 April 2016). "Student leader made comments about ‘Zionist-led media’, video reveals". The Jewish Chronicle.
  14. ↑ "Watch future NUS president Malia Bouattia endorse violent struggle". The Tab. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  15. ↑ "Students threaten to split from NUS over new president". BBC News. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.

External links

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