The National Union of Students, the main student body in Britain, has elected a new president who once said she wanted to “oppress white people” and have “an Islamic takeover.”
The group elected Zamzam Ibrahim, 24, to lead the organization this week. Ibrahim’s social media posts include one from 2012 with the hashtag #IfIWasPresident that reads: “I’d oppress white people just to give them a taste of what they put us through!”
Responding to a question on the social networking site Ask.fm about friendships between men and women, she wrote: “I’ve had this debate with many friends! Maybe in some cases but Islamically it’s incorrect for girls to be friends with a guy anyway! So I’m gonna say NO not the kind of friendship they can have with the same gender there is always boundaries.”
Answering a question about what book everyone should read, Ibrahim responded that people should read the Quran, adding: “We would have an Islamic takeover!”
Ibrahim disowned the remarks at the annual conference where she was elected president, saying that they were taken out of context and that she was “struggling” with her worldview as a teenager when they were written.
“I was grappling with the deep injustices I could see around me and trying to figure out how I could make the world a better place. I said these things when I was young, impressionable, and still developing my personality and opinions,” she said.
The National Union of Students represents 7 million students.
