Maajid Nawaz's Brilliant Take On The Real-Life Spider-man Immigrant
29 May 2018, 12:25
Maajid Nawaz insisted the real-life Spider-man wouldn't be scared of climbing a tall building after some of the terrifying experiences he's been through just to get to France.
Mamoudou Gassama, a 22-year-old immigrant from Mali, scaled the block of flats to rescue a four-year-old boy who was hanging off a balcony.
He's been hailed as a hero, given French citizenship by Emmanuel Macron and offered a job as a firefighter.
Maajid Nawaz revealed that after travelling from Mali, through Libya and across the Mediterranean with people smugglers, climbing up four floors wouldn't be frightening.
Standing in for James O'Brien on LBC, Maajid said: "He fulfils all those nightmare, boogieman stereotypes. He's black, African, Muslim.
"He sees this baby dangling from a building and scales the building like a real-life Spider-man. It's unbelievable.
"Are you really that surprised that this man showed this level of courage, this level of bravery? This guy's already braved far worse than scaling a building.
"He's had to cross war zones to get to Italy. In crossing those war zones, he had to go through Libya, which has parts which are overrun by Jihadists. He's had to overcome the fact that in Libya, Jihadists are running slavery operations where they enslave black African migrants for their own nefarious purposes.
"Then he's had to pay some people smugglers probably his life's entire earnings crossing on a boat across the Mediterranean where thousands of those who attempted those kind of things die in the process because of how dangerous it is.
"Then he ends up in Italy, a foreign country, and manages to somehow navigate himself to France.
"If that story alone - a typical story of a migrant coming across that route - doesn't tell you something of the bravery, courage and entrepreneurial spirit it takes to make that journey, then nothing will."
