"The ”room” that Caddell accuses Elghawaby of having “lost” has been indifferent and discriminatory to Muslims and other racialized groups for far too long. Far from losing it, Elghawaby has been a clear voice for reform and change, and to Caddell’s horror, the room is starting to listen."
Re: “It is time for Amira Elghawaby to step down,” by Andrew Caddell (The Hill Times, October 9, 2024).
Let’s be clear, columnist Andrew Caddell is attacking Amira Elghawaby not because she has “lost the room,” but because she is effective at her job and is engaging “the room” – the Canadian public – very successfully. As Canada’s special representative on combatting Islamophobia, she has the difficult task of combatting the rise of hate targeting Muslims in Canada during a period of growing xenophobia and societal polarization.
Like others who have attacked Elghawaby, Caddell focuses on her statements decrying the attacks on the civil liberties of pro-Palestinian protestors: rights that are protected by our Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Caddell’s suggestion that Elghhawaby is defending “radical Muslims” is a reflection of his own anti-Muslim bias, and his own preference for a status quo in which Muslims are not seen or heard in Canada. Pro-Israel advocates are also upset that she has rightly criticized the the frequent and unfair conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism, a tactic used to stifle legitimate criticism of Israel while it carries out a “plausible” genocide in Gaza.
The ”room” that Caddell accuses Elghawaby of having “lost” has been indifferent and discriminatory to Muslims and other racialized groups for far too long. Far from losing it, Elghawaby has been a clear voice for reform and change, and to Caddell’s horror, the room is starting to listen.
Thomas Woodley