Salma Yaqoob (b. 1971) Slama Yaqoob is the head of the
Birmingham Stop the War coalition and one of the founders of RESPECT - The
unity coalition. She is a trauma psychotherapist. She has played a crucial
role in inviting Muslims into an anti-war movement previously dominated by
Marxists. She has argued against the idea, put forward by religious
fundamentalists and sectarian lefties, that Muslims and non-Muslims cannot
work together as well as with those within the Muslim community that have
argued that Muslims should keep their heads down.
In 2005 general election, she stood as the respect candidate for the
Birmingham Sparkbrook and small heath constituency against
Labour's Roger Godsiff MP. She finished in second place, ahead of the
Liberal Democrat and Conservative candidates, and with 27.5 per cent of the
total vote. She has published articles in International Socialism and
is a regular comments contributor to The Guardian.
She was born in Bradford, England to Pakistani parents and grew up in
Birmingham. She is married to a general practitioner and has three children.
