Iffat Shahnaz is a lifelong campaigner committed to social justice and equality. She works with organisations committed to social change and tackling social exclusion and discrimination. She specialises in gender-based violence, community education, facilitation, service development and change management.

We talk about:

• How Iffat became so passionate about social justice
• The legacy of her parents and their story as children of partition
• Being the child of immigrants from the former commonwealth
• The family trauma that lead to Iffat wanting to make the world a better place for everyone
• Going back to her parents' village in India
• The lack of safe passage when people are facing displacement, at the time of partition and now
• Why her father was so keen that she should learn to swim
• How the family managed to get to England from Pakistan
• Racial abuse growing up in the West Midlands in school and on the street
• Feeling hopeful despite systemic discrimination
• The impact of Covid and the Black Lives Matter movement on global awareness of discrimination
• Getting more aware of what is going on and the importance of speaking up
• Confronting racism wherever we find it
• The importance of being anti-racist instead of just not racist
• Acknowledging that we are different and that being colour-blind just doesn't work
• Understanding racism in the UK and how it differs to the US
• 'Good' and 'bad' immigrants
• The more insidious nature of racism in the UK today
• How Covid has highlighted so many social justice-related and inequality issues
• The disproportionate impact of Covid on BAME (Black and minority ethnic) communities
• How Iffat feels about turning 50 this year
• Growing our own wisdom as we age and having more of an impact on society as we get older

And more!

Find out more about Iffat:

Linkedin and Twitter

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