Campaigns Blog

Muslim Youth vs. Ministers

On June 09th 2008 muslimyouth.net will be premiering its long awaited ‘Reelhood’ documentary in the House of Commons with an opening speech by Sadiq Khan MP, in front of an audience which will include: MP’s, Cabinet Ministers and key stake holders.

Over the past 9 weeks, muslimyouth.net has brought together a group of young Muslims from a variety of cultural backgrounds to produce a documentary that highlights their concerns as young British Muslims and demonstrates how to tackle their identified barriers to political engagement through positive action that enhances the communities that they live in.

Each 10 minute film tackles an issue that they have identified as being local, national or international and the group of participants have attempted to deal with current contentious issues such as gang culture, anti terror legislation, the stop and search policy and the Iraq war. During the course of the campaign, all participants have developed skills in producing, directing and cinematography.

“It has taken nine weeks to complete the film so all of the people involved have put their blood, sweat and tears into the film. We hope that Ministers can understand where young British Muslims are coming from” says Afifa Hussain, 18, Producer of the national issue documentary.

“It is really important that Ministers understand the issues that are being faced at a grass roots level. Policies like the Anti Terror Legislation or Stop and Searches are being created and enforced without an understanding of the impact that they have on young British Muslims. What this documentary tries to achieve is to highlight the plight of young Muslims and how these issues are concerning them, but it’s not all about voicing what’s wrong. It also tackles how to use the political system in a positive way to make a difference.” says Rizwan Hussain, Campaigns Coordinator of muslimyouth.net.