Shaista Aziz (; born 1978) is an English journalist, writer, stand-up comedian, politician, councillor for

Rose Hill Rose Hill may refer to: People * Rose Hill (actress) (1914–2003), British actress * Rose Hill (athlete) (born 1956), British wheelchair athlete Film * ''Rose Hill'' (film), a 1997 movie Places Australia * Rose Hill, New South Wales * Rose ...

and

Iffley Iffley is a village in a designated Conservation area (United Kingdom), conservation area in Oxfordshire, England. It lies within the boundaries of the city of Oxford, between Cowley, Oxfordshire, Cowley and the estates of Rose Hill, Oxford, Rose ...

Oxford City Council Oxford City Council is the local authority for the city of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Oxford has had a council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974, Oxford has been a non-metropolitan district, wi ...

, and former international aid worker of

Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to: * People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir * Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley * Kashmiri language, the language of the Kashmiris ethnic group People with the nam ...

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

descent.

Early life

Aziz's father arrived in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

from

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, at the age of 16 in the early 1950s. She is her parents' only daughter with two younger brothers. Aziz was born and brought up in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, and read for a BA degree in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

and

Women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

at university.

Journalism career

Aziz has worked as a

newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editing, editors, and Television producer, producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visu ...

journalist for

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

's English news website in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, a

broadcast journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

and producer for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and has written for ''

New Internationalist ''New Internationalist'' (''NI'') is an international publisher and left-wing magazine based in Oxford, England, owned by a multi-stakeholder co-operative and run day to day as a worker-run co-operative with a non-hierarchical structure. Known ...

'' magazine. As well as media specialist for

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

and

Islamic Relief Islamic Relief Worldwide is an international NGO founded in the United Kingdom in 1984. It has international headquarters in Birmingham and a network of national offices, affiliated partners, registered branches and country offices spread over ...

. She has travelled and worked all over the world from Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen to Haiti, Tajikistan, Burma, Russia, Pakistan and Indonesia. Aziz writes for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper, and is a regular panel guest on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

. In January and February 2011, she wrote a series of scripts for

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

's '' Pause for Thought'', In March 2015, Aziz presented the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

documentary ''A Nation Divided? The Charlie Hebdo Aftermath'', in which she visited France to find out why the country has become so divided, with young Muslims feeling alienated from mainstream society since the

Charlie Hebdo shooting On 7 January 2015, at about 11:30 a.m. in Paris, Paris, France, the employees of the French satirical weekly magazine ''Charlie Hebdo'' were targeted in a terrorist shooting attack by two French-born Islam in Algeria, Algerian Muslim bro ...

Stand-up career

Aziz has performed stand up across the UK, including at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

with the Laughing Cows in August 2010, the Hong Kong International Comedy Festival and the Global Peace and Unity Event in October 2010.

Political career

Aziz was the

Constituency Labour Party A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...

Women's Officer for

Oxford East Oxford East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Anneliese Dodds of the Labour Party. Created in 1983, the constituency covers the eastern and southern parts of Oxford in Oxfordshire. It bor ...

Labour Party. In May 2018, in the Oxford City Council election, she was elected as councillor for the Rose Hill and Iffley ward. Aziz is also a member of the Stop Trump coalition, a coalition of organisations and individuals protesting against

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's planned

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

to the UK. On 13 October 2023, 6 days after the

2023 Hamas attack on Israel On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

in which over 1,000 Israelis were killed by

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

fighters, Aziz made national headlines when she resigned from the Labour Party in protest at comments made by

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

on a radio show, in which he endorsed Israel's right to cut off energy and water from Palestinians in Gaza. Starmer subsequently clarified those comments. Councillor Amar Latif resigned the party at the same time as Aziz and 6 other Labour councillors followed within a week, causing the party to lose control of Oxford City Council.

Petition to ban racists from football matches

In the aftermath of racist abuse targeted at England players at the

UEFA Euro 2020 Final The UEFA Euro 2020 final was an association football match that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 11 July 2021, to determine the winners of UEFA Euro 2020. It was the sixteenth final of the UEFA European Championship, a qua ...

, an online petition calling for racists to be banned from all football matches in England partially organised by Aziz was signed by over a million people. Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

announced that Football Banning Orders would be amended to ensure that people guilty of online racist abuse would be banned from football matches.

Awards, nominations and recognition

In 2006, Aziz was elected to the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades ...

Black Members Council. In May 2010, she reached the final of the Liverpool Comedy Festival Best Newcomer Awards and won the "King Gong" open mic competition at the Manchester

Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Com ...

. In September 2010, she reached the semi-finals of the

Funny Women Funny Women is an online and in-person workshop community dedicated to the support of female comedians. It was founded by Lynne Parker (Funny Women), Lynne Parker in 2002 as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter. Funny Women h ...

competition.

Personal life

Aziz is a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

References

External links

*
Shaista Aziz
on ''

theguardian.com ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' *Aziz, Shaista
How I became a Terror Tourist
''Media Monitors Network''. 22 July 2002 *Aziz, Shaista
Viewpoint: Why I decided to wear the veil
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

''. 12 September 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Aziz, Shaista 1978 births Living people English Muslims English people of Pakistani descent English people of Mirpuri descent English women journalists English television journalists British women television journalists English columnists English women columnists Muslim writers British Asian writers Writers of Pakistani descent 21st-century English writers 21st-century English women writers The Guardian journalists English women comedians English stand-up comedians Muslim women comedians British comedians of Pakistani descent Labour Party (UK) councillors Independent councillors in the United Kingdom Members of Oxford City Council Women councillors in England British anti-racism activists Journalists from Oxford Writers from Oxford