Nimco Ali: ‘Boris is a real feminist’

This is less about Boris (and Zac Goldsmith) and more about the fact that the Labour party looks the other way when the topic of FGM is raised. But dont take my word for it. If your own MP is Labour, why not write a short e mail asking to be Dire Ted to any statement they may have made which condemns FGM.

Ah yes white middle class women should of course tell a black woman who she is because her identity doesn't fit into your perceived notion. We are a monolith, right? 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

its a bizarre point of view.

didnt he once go to a mn event and he said women do all the hard work blah blah and why and a mnetter heckled him with 'because of the patriachy'??

matthew paris was funny about him yesterday - boris has between 5-7 kids - he implied the reason no one knows for sure is super-injunctions.

Oops thanks PerkingFaintly

Lots of people reduce politics down to a single issue, perking. It's not always a bad thing; it can allow some to focus on an issue that needs it (like FGM for instance). While others focus on something else, and others take a broader perspective (and perhaps miss some of the finer details in doing so). It is not possible to understand every single issue in infinite detail.

And if you are using that single-issue lens, I'm not sure Tory minister Maria Miller would thank you for describing her as leftist...

Ali stood as a Women's Equality Party candidate in 2017.

The WEP that's continually condemned on here for "not knowing what a woman is."

I don't think other people have reduced their politics to the single issue that MN FWR has contracted to.

I think she is great and again I don't see why she's such a raging Tory. But given that in some leftist circles talking about vaginas is taboo, and all the other issues, I can see she'd be tempted.

Ummm the guy who said women go to university to find husbands?

I think from her perspective he probably is - she is very concerned and involved with a particular issue, and he has behaved in a feminist way over that particular issue (ie, he gave a shit when others didn't.)
On other issues he is much less feminist. Boris is quite good at elevating a particular issue when he wants to (wether that's something I agree with him on like FGM or a stupid vanity project like the garden bridge). I wouldn't object to him much if he was a columnist/minor politician. He is capable of hearing an idea/issue out, and throwing his weight behind it which has its place.
But he is completely unsuited to a major leadership role. Not because he is un-feminist but because he is lazy, arrogant and completely incapable of weighing up difficult decisions with judgement and proper reasoning. He's a simplistic "big ideas," sweep in, spend the money, grab the glory person.

Yes, her cheerleading for 'Boris' (do we call anyone else by their first name? We certainly didn't with Theresa) made me reconsider following her on Twitter. Like Jameela Jamil's constant gender-obsequiousness. I really don't have to add to the followers numbers of people with such cognitive dissonance

Fixed that link, JustAnotherWoman.

twitter.com/nazirafzal/status/1139898208581296128

1.I have great respect for what @NimkoAli has done but I cannot let this go unchallenged
When I was Acting Chief Prosecutor, London, 2008, I met with Afruca, the charity tackling harmful practices in African communities
They raised lack of progress on FGM
I wrote to Boris Johnson

2.I explained it needed London-wide multi-agency leadership
Weeks went by before I got a response from his office saying Boris considers it a police matter & nothing else
He copied Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor
He didn’t get back either
I then went to @metpoliceuk who did get it
‏
3.The Met were great, Project Azure was reignited to tackle FGM - still going today
Simultaneously I wrote article in @TheVoiceNews calling for action
NGOs courageously raised their voices
Boris may NOW have seen the light but I can assure you he did nothing to help when we asked

She's very pro Tory, to a nauseating level I admire her work but am bewildered by her Tory cheerleading.
It's interesting to compare her view of Johnsons contribution with Nazir Afzal's twitter.com/nazirafzal/status/1139898197273452

I saw her comment and just pushed it to one side and thought there must be more to this.

But on the other hand she has no grounds to complain about lack of support as the Guardian promoted her (not of course because she was young and photogenic) as a brave new voice, when they knew (or certainly should know) that FORWARD was and still is a well established African women's organisation based in the UK that has been campaigning of the issue, and the related health problems of fistula for decades.

And far from the left not support the issue, the founder of the group was supported by leftist groups to get started. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efua_Dorkenoo

It's not for me to comment as to whether women in need of support would prefer to talk / work with women from their own culture, ie I dont know if Daughters of Eve have a different slant than Forward, but I do know that many in the voluntary sector were taken aback by the Guardian sort of presenting Nimco Ali as a pioneer.

Maybe there was some issues of competing for the same grants.

But either way, trying to say Boris Johnson is a feminist is just implausible. Given his entrenched white male uppor class British privilege it is much more likely that he was thrilled to have an issue that would let him say how shocking it is that women from BME communities are so oppressed.

Brexit? Forgotten his lies during the referendum campaign, then.

And yes, agree with PP that it's appalling the bar is set so low that anyone should feel Johnson warrants applauding.

But it's not so low that Christopher Chope MP hasn't managed to fall at it. www.independent.co.uk/voices/christopher-chope-fgm-bill-blocked-house-commons-parliament-tory-a8770206.html

Maybe Johnson could use that as a strapline: "Boris Johnson. Probably less misogyist than Christopher Chope."

Nimco is a friend of Boris' girlfriend.

Shame he didn't put as much effort in to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Like actually finding anything out about her at all before opening his gob in Parliament.

I'm no fan of Jeremy Hunt, but at least he's doing his job as Foreign Secretary and trying to get her released.

I suppose people use the word feminist in somewhat different ways. That's fair enough in my view.

Can you use it about a guy who is dodgy about sex? That's an interesting question, I suppose my first thought is, could you use it about a woman who is dodgy about sex? I wouldn't tend to, personally. But I would say that there are probably a fair number of people who are theoretically ok, and even in general ok in most interactions, but are dodgy when it comes to their own sex lives. People often seem to mess up in that area when otherwise they are quite nice.

I'd not have thought of calling Boris a feminist myself, but I am glad he was kind to this woman.

And no it isn't exactly a feminist stance to oppose FGM. It's the least one can expect from a decent human being.

I don't hate Boris as much as some people appear to on here. I even think he could do some good if he becomes PM. Namely get us moving on Brexit, as May wasn't able to.

I will happily listen to what she says. You dont have to think the left are any cop at all to be able to say Johnson is a self serving cockwomble.
Being aghast at FGM is baseline decent humanity. It shouldn't receive 'wow, what a feminist!' accolades, and the fact that the idea is entertained shows what an appallingly misogynist bunch of shits we have in the halls of power.

I thought she was being ironic but her subsequent statements suggested otherwise.

Not forgetting this
metro.co.uk/2017/08/23/mp-shares-tweet-saying-abuse-victims-should-shut-their-mouths-for-good-of-diversity-6872181/