A Turkish-speaking student union officer who banned men and white people from an event promoting equality has made headlines for claiming not to be racist.
Bahar Mustafa, who is the welfare and diversity officer at Goldsmith University student union, said in a Facebook comment that the event she was organising was only for women from ethnic minority backgrounds.
She wrote on Facebook: “Invite loads of BME Women and non-binary people!! Also, if you’ve been invited and you’re a man and/or white PLEASE DON’T COME just cos I invited a bunch of people and hope you will be responsible enough to respect this is a BME Women and non-binary event only.”
But after her comments were covered in the national press, she said there had been a “witch hunt and shameful character assassination” against her.
In a statement read out to Goldsmiths students, she said: “There have been charges laid against me that I am racist and sexist towards white men.
“I, an ethnic minority woman, cannot be racist or sexist towards white men, because racism and sexism describe structures of privilege based on race and gender.
“Therefore, women of colour and minority genders cannot be racist or sexist, since we do not stand to benefit from such a system.”
But Goldsmiths University said it had written to its students union to express concern at Ms Mustafa’s comments: “We are proud of our diverse community and do not tolerate any form of oppression, including racism, sexism or any other form of bigotry.”