Rising Stars
44 PROFILES
Rising Stars
By contrast- Fiyaz Mughal – as a prospective
parliamentary candidate previously for the Liberal Democrats, is looking to contest hard fought seats like South West Herts for the Liberal Democrats. Fiyaz started his political journey within the voluntary sector, working for a number of charities including women’ s employment and training organisations. For the last three years, he has been working within conflict resolution and inter faith settings. He has been a local councillor( within Oxford and Haringey in North London) and was the Deputy President of the Liberal Democrat Party during 2006 – 2007. He was also the Chair of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats from 2002-2006 which was a national campaigning body on BAME issues within the Party. culture of political organisations. Potential BAME politicians still have to face the credibility gap – no party has adequately addressed the sidelining of good candidates.‘
Fiyaz feels that he has had a particular success in enabling the Liberal Democrats to understand that they needed to change if they wanted to attract candidates from BAME communities. He is also proud of the way he has advocated on behalf on minority communities, ensuring for example that places of worship are included in the planning process.
Fiyaz has some very clear ideas on how to address the issues which face BAME businesses;
A Labour Party member until 2000, over time he had become disillusioned with Tony Blair and the party’ s approach to issues of social justice – a subject which Fiyaz is passionate about
– particularly with regard to the impact on minority and migrant communities.
Fiyaz feels that access to justice has broken down for those who need assistance with family law and immigration matters
– as these areas are no longer funded- which leads to greater social exclusion. As community cohesion is a matter of current debate it is time to open the discussion regarding excluded communities – why for example have some moved forward and not others.
‘ The challenge for me is that unfortunately there are still barriers to the selection of BAME candidates, even at local councillor level. There is still a major under representation of those from BAME communities and this stems – in the main – from the
1) Business advice and support has tended to be haphazard in its delivery, there seems to be a desire to tick boxes rather than offer the intensive one to one support which is needed on the ground
2) The bureaucracy surrounding business start up has to go: red tape is holding people back from starting up or growing their business. The legislation around small business needs to be repealed thus allowing for greater flexibility and enterprise
3) Regeneration activity needs to be targeted more effectively and it must focus on very excluded communities
To those considering a career in politics, Fiyaz would say this:‘ it is possible, but take a long term approach and you can make a difference. Find a mentor with a wide range of skills to support and guide you, but above all, tolerance and communication will carry you a long way’.
Photo: Hannah Edy
engage | uk ISSUE FOUR 2007