Yassmin Abdel-Magied says she’s back in the ring

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is tweeting and writing after being ‘traumatised’ into silence following her Anzac Day Facebook post.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied speaking at the ANU panel event earlier this month. Picture: Kym Smith

Controversial activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied says she is “re-entering the ring” after being “traumatised” into silence following her Anzac Day Facebook post, and her first attack is against the “blinkered corridors of power”.

In a series of tweets, Ms Abdel-Magied, whose ABC program was dumped last month in circumstances the broadcaster said were unrelated to her social media comments, claimed the fallout hadn’t “blown over”.

“Staying silent left a vacuum that other voices gleefully filled with hate and vitriol that was deeply racist,” she said. “If I stay silent, then ‘they’ win. Then others get to define the narrative. Then those with deep institutional power are able to silence (and) I can’t abide that.”

The writer and mechanical engineer went to ground after triggering a political firestorm for writing on Facebook: “LEST. WE. FORGET. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine…).”

A proud Muslim, she also sparked outrage earlier this year when she declared Islam was “the most feminist religion” on the ABC’s Q&A program.

After making a number of public appearances in recent weeks, she has turned her sights on Australia’s political class, penning an opinion piece for The Guardian in which she hits out at conservative Liberal MP Eric Abetz and the “narrowed” worldview of those in power.

“We are deeply disillusioned with our leadership and institutions. This is not news, and yet when I pointed out the lack of representation at an ANU panel last week, the reaction was nonsensical,” she writes.

“Senator Eric Abetz issued a statement declaring, ‘If Ms Abdel-Magied thinks our system of government is so bad perhaps she should stop being a drain on the taxpayer and move to one of these Arab dictatorships’. It seems bizarre that former cabinet ministers would demand that I leave the country for highlighting what is agreed upon by many, including former prime minister, Tony Abbott, who this week released a manifesto to ‘make Australia work again’.”

Ms Abdel-Magied said the “lack of representation” in parliament reflected the “deeper malaise” towards the political system, insisting those who were interested in “improving society” were now “forgoing politics for alternative careers”.

“They’re not running for office, they’re running their own market places, and operating in parallel realities,” she said. “Disruption requires difference. Yet all too often when someone outside the establishment contributes to the discourse, they find themselves howled down and ruthlessly delegitimised.

“This happens not based on the strength of their ideas but on their gender, race, religion, sexuality, class, or any other identity that sits outside the accepted norm. That is not good enough. It is hypocritical, and a complete waste of the talent that we have in this country.”

Ms Abdel-Magied kept her job on a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advisory board despite calls for her removal.

The ABC has said it is in discussions with Ms Abdel-Magied about “future opportunities” after “counselling” her over the Facebook post.

Re-entering the ring.

"For Australia to prosper, free speech must be extended to all of us" #FreeSpeechhttps://t.co/aXWwauGuZZ

— Yassmin Abdel-Magied (@yassmin_a) June 29, 2017