Asha Lyons Sumroy

Sep 4, 2024 | vashtimedia.com | Hamza Yusuf |Azfar Shafi |Emily Coatman |Asha Lyons Sumroy

On 2 November 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour presented a 67-word letter to Lord Walter Rothschild, a leading advocate for the Zionist movement in Britain. It read: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” and “will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object.” This letter became known as the Balfour Declaration.

Sep 2, 2024 | vashtimedia.com | Azfar Shafi |Emily Coatman |Asha Lyons Sumroy |Francesca Newton

The race riots that engulfed the UK at the start of August capped off a tumultuous and sobering six weeks for the British Muslim community. Having organised rigorously as a bloc and succeeded in staging a political earthquake during the general election, what should have been a historic moment of reflection for the British media and political class instead became open season to smear the Muslim community.

Aug 16, 2024 | vashtimedia.com | Emily Coatman |Asha Lyons Sumroy |Francesca Newton |Aron Keller

Hey, it’s Ben,“To recognise and condemn Israel’s violence for the genocide it is should not … be difficult,” Hamza Yusuf wrote in Vashti less than two weeks into the war. “Never mind the damning list of war crimes that Israel has already committed in response to Hamas’s 7 October attack; one merely needs to take Israeli officials at their word to understand their strategic objectives in Gaza.”Vashti exists to keep the spotlight on the issues that actually matter, and to call them by their name.

Aug 15, 2024 | vashtimedia.com | Asha Lyons Sumroy |Francesca Newton |Aron Keller |Martin Saps

Over the past few weeks, the UK has witnessed a surge in far-right violence, as well as the mobilisation of anti-fascist counter-demonstrations in response. In light of these events, Vashti editor Emily Coatman sat down with writer David Rosenberg to gain perspective on what a lifetime of principled anti-racist and anti-fascist activism can teach those on the left hoping to make sense of and confront this moment head on.