Imran Ahmed (strategist)
Imran Ahmed | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 1978 (age 46) Manchester, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Residence | Washington, DC (in 2021)[1] |
Imran Ahmed (born September 1978) is a British political strategist, author, and activist who has worked for Labour candidates and currently serves as the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.[2][3] A Labour member, he is a pundit in UK elections who appears frequently, writes and is quoted in opinion and news articles about politics, media, censorship, and the internet.[4][5]
Career
[edit]Ahmed was born in Manchester, England[1] and attended Manchester Grammar School, serving as the editor of the student newspaper.[6] He is ethnically Pashtun.[7] His parents are Muslims, and he was brought up as a Muslim, but now self-identifies as an atheist.[8] He later studied political science at Cambridge and began a career as a political strategist for the Labour Party.
He served candidates Andy Slaughter and then-shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.[9][10]
Ahmed was head of communications for Angela Eagle's brief campaign to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.[11] A few hours after Eagle formally declared that she was challenging Corbyn for leadership of the Labour Party, someone broke a window in the building holding Eagle's constituency party headquarters in Wallasey. Ahmed issued a press release under the headline "Violence and threats in past 24 hours", saying that "A brick was thrown through the window of Angela Eagle’s constituency office in Wallasey either overnight or this morning."[11] When a journalist from The Guardian questioned this version of the incident, Ahmed banned party staff at the constituency office from talking to the journalist.[11] An internal investigation by the Labour Party found that "Eagle's office had endured a 'significant amount of abuse', including intimidating phone calls that led staff to unplug the phone, a death threat towards her and what appeared to be coordinated denial of service attacks on her internet."[12]
Ahmed was working as a Labour-advisor in Portcullis House when the 22 March 2017 Westminster terrorist attack occurred, and later gave an interview to The Independent about what happened, and how he felt.[8]
In 2018, he founded the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a not-for-profit with the stated aim challenging hate and misinformation online.[9] In April 2020, he was appointed to the United Kingdom's Steering Committee of the Pilot Task Force of the Commission for Countering Extremism.[13]
Books
[edit]- Eagle, Angela; Ahmed, Imran (2018). The New Serfdom The Triumph of Conservative Ideas and How to Defeat Them. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 9781785903137.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Witness Bio: Imran Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, Center for Countering Digital Hate" (PDF), Congress.gov, 12 September 2021
"House Event 114299: "Holding Big Tech Accountable: Legislation to Build a Safer Internet", 117th Congress (2021-2022)", Congress.gov, 12 September 2021 - ^ https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/censorship-center-guise-combating-hate-covid-elon-musk
- ^ https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/authors/imran-ahmed
- ^ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/london-attack-labour-adviser-imran-ahmed-parliament-westminster-bridge-terror-describe-witness-a7645451.html
- ^ https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/elon-musk-lawsuit-free-speech-judge-smack-down-rcna145017
- ^ Thacker, Paul D (2 October 2023). "The New Push for Censorship Under the Guise of Combating Hate". Tablet Magazine.
- ^ Parham, Jason. "Elon Musk Couldn't Beat Him. AI Just Might". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
- ^ a b Pasha-Robinson, Lucy (23 March 2017). "London attack: Muslim Labour adviser working in Parliament describes how terror unfolded in Westminster". The Independent.
- ^ a b "The activist sued by Elon Musk: 'We have to show we will not be cowed'". Financial Times. 24 September 2023.
- ^ "Labour get attacks in early on Toby Young". The Spectator. 12 September 2013.
- ^ a b c MacAskill, Ewen (22 September 2016). "Labour & Liverpool: the city that reveals the cracks in the party". The Guardian.
- ^ Mason, Rowena (19 October 2016). "Angela Eagle received hundreds of homophobic messages from Labour members". the Guardian.
- ^ "Imran Ahmed". Alan Turing Institute.