Yassmin Abdel-Magied: ‘I feel a little bit betrayed by Australia’
‘I feel a little bit betrayed by Australia
Yassmin Abdel-Magied said she felt she wan’t afforded the same right to freedom of speech as other Australians. Picture Kym Smith
Controversial author and one-time ABC presenter Yassmin Abdel-Magied has again spoken of her distress over her treatment in Australia, saying she feels “betrayed” by her home country.
The prominent activist, who last week described herself as the “most hated Muslim” in the country before announcing she was moving to London, also told Buzzfeed UK that she felt unsafe in Australia following the widespread backlash to some of her public statements.
“I feel a little bit betrayed by Australia because it’s my country and these are my country people and it’s my home. To sort of fight for your right to exist in your home country, it’s exhausting,” she said.
“Like, where do you go that’s safe if not your home? If your home is not safe, then where does that leave us?”
Ms Abdel-Magied attracted widespread public ire
after penning a controversial message on Twitter on Anzac Day — she wrote, “Lest. We. Forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine) ...” - and said last week she had also received death threats over the social media post.
The 26-year-old said she had “toed the line” in Australian public life for a decade before her infamous on-air spat with Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie in February on the ABC’s Q & A program.
“For some reason I just decided at that point that if I didn’t say anything, well, then, who would, right?” she said of her appearance on Q & A.
“If me as a young, brown, Muslim woman, sitting next to the politician wasn’t going to say to the politician, ‘hey, check yourself’, who was gong to do it on my behalf?”
Ms Abdel-Magied also said that she felt she wan’t afforded the same right to freedom of speech as other Australians.
“It’s funny that ... freedom of speech doesn’t really apply to the truth,” she said.
“For me that was my truth, but I wasn’t really allowed to say it and people were very upset, so it’s taught me a lot.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...a/news-story/973d4c7b8a8fce1e793e4fd4a7ca3070
