“The belief of the oppressors” – an Independent Oxford Alliance candidate comments on Islam

Oxford East’s MP Anneliese Dodds, and leader of Oxford City Council Susan Brown, have called on Independent Oxford Alliance candidates to distance themselves from the “appalling behaviour” of others in their party.

Following the Oxford Clarion’s report on party chair Anne Gwinnett yesterday, a series of comments by IOA candidate Chaka Artwell have now come to light.

Commenting in black newspaper the Voice, Artwell – who is standing for Barton & Sandhills – said that Muslim and Asian people in England were prejudiced against those of African origin.

In England today, Chinese, Caucasian-Jewish, Asian and Muslim people display great skin-colour prejudice; segregation and racism against African-heritage men; women and youth.

He also claimed that the Black Lives Matter campaign had been hijacked by US businessman George Soros, who is of Jewish descent, and was now a front for a plan to destabilise western society.

The Black Lives Matter campaign is funded by Mr. George Soros. Mr. Soros has usurped the historical; political and judicial skin-colour injustice endured by African-heritage people to advance his plan to destabilize western Caucasian Christian-heritage society.

In another comment, Artwell equated “today’s version of Islam” with the “belief of the oppressors”:

Whilst I understand why African-skinned youth are leaving their Caucasian-centred Christian heritage; turning to today’s version of Islam is not helping African-skinned people find an authentic African character. No people can prosper and be authentic by adopting the belief of the oppressors.

Most recently, in a comment posted one week ago, he described London mayor Sadiq Khan as an “ethnic Asian Muslim Mayor of London… [who] is opposed to the native Caucasian Protestant, and Catholic ethnic people”.

Chaka Artwell is a member of the Church of England, but has also criticised his own church. In 2016, he wrote to C of E bishops accusing them of being “prepared to destroy the union in order to placate the desires and demands of Stonewall and homosexual clergy”.

Then in an address for International Men’s Day in 2019, he claimed that school desks were now “arranged in squares so that it favours female learning”, although he clarified that “I don’t want to come here and fight against females, because without females we can’t have men”.

Labour is also asking questions about the decision by IOA chair Anne Gwinnett and Littlemore candidate Anne Stares to appear on the Freeman Report, a fringe online radio show. Their appearance on the show was immediately followed by an appearance by Tommy Robinson, the far-right politician who has repeatedly addressed anti-Islam rallies and published a book titled ‘Mohammed's Koran: Why Muslims Kill For Islam’. Anne Stares told the podcast that she thought “common sense” was being unfairly categorised as “right wing”:

I think the world has gone so far left that anything that's got the commonsense approach is going to be labelled as right wing. I mean, the minute you say anything that doesn’t align with all of this type of thought, [you] are considered to be right wing conspiratalists – we’ve been labelled that already.

Then, in Quarry & Risinghurst, IOA candidate Sandra Ramcharan has been named as the creator of a conspiracy theory website, ‘Tribe528’. Posted under the name Sandi Charan, the website contains both Oxford-specific content and extreme anti-vaccination propaganda. It describes Covid vaccines as “an experiment to determine which cocktail strengths lead to the greatest number of deaths”:

Another item on the website begins “Man with insider friend claims the respiratory syncytial virus, (RSV,) bioweapon will kill all the double jabbed within 2 days”. A posting on the site about Oxford follows a familiar talking point:

Now, some may argue that this historic city is once more under siege. Only this time from a covert and hidden adversary that has worked behind the scenes with those who were elected to serve the people but who are arguably doing just the opposite

A ‘Take Action’ page urges readers to phone local police and to:

Tell them they must shut down the vaccine centres immediately because people are in life threatening danger

Contact the Local Director for Public Health for the local authority at the NHS and tell them to immediately cease all activities related to the vaccine centres in their area because they are putting poeples' lives in danger.

If they don't cease, ring the police again and ask for them to be arrested and tell them that if they don't arrest them, then we will.

In an open letter sent to Independent Oxford Alliance candidates, Anneliese Dodds and Susan Brown, both of the Labour Party, have called on those standing for the party to disown Mr Artwell and the chair Anne Gwinnett:

It appears that a number of senior Oxford Independents have expressed views that would shock the vast majority of Oxford residents. We are therefore demanding that you distance yourself from what is reported below, and explain whether you are willing to remain a member of a political party where this behaviour is tolerated.

Will you distance yourself from this appalling behaviour? And will you insist on these people being expelled from your political party?

The Independent Oxford Alliance says that “our candidates and councillors do not have to follow a party line… IOA candidates and councillors think for themselves and have their own views. They are not all the same – except that they ALL believe in real democracy, freedom of speech, truly representing their constituents and being fully accountable for their own actions.”