Shaista Aziz (Urdu: شائستہ قوال; born 1978) is an English journalist, writer, stand-up comedian, politician, councillor for Rose Hill and Iffley in Oxford City Council, and former international aid worker of Kashmiri-Pakistani descent.
[2] Aziz was born and brought up in Oxford,[3] and read for a BA degree in English literature and Women's studies at university.
[4] She has travelled and worked all over the world from Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen to Haiti, Tajikistan, Burma, Russia, Pakistan and Indonesia.
[20][21] On 13 October 2023, 6 days after the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel in which over 1,000 Israelis were killed by Hamas fighters, Aziz made national headlines when she resigned from the Labour Party in protest at comments made by Keir Starmer on a radio show, in which he endorsed Israel's right to cut off energy and water from Palestinians in Gaza.
[24] In the aftermath of racist abuse targeted at England players at the UEFA Euro 2020 Final, 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.