A month ago, Elon Musk gave international exposure to Oldham, a city of 240,000 inhabitants (13.5% of whom are of Pakistani origin) north of Manchester, in the United Kingdom. Oldham is a former factory town, with its center reduced to a shopping mall and a partly empty indoor market.
Known for its cotton mills in the 19th century, Oldham has become a focal point of the British far right because of the rumors about so-called grooming gangs. These groups, accused of sexually exploiting underage girls, are said to be mainly made up of men of Pakistani origin and to have operated there with impunity.
The head of Tesla, who is close to Donald Trump, called for the UK government's under-secretary of state for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, Jess Phillips, to be put "in prison" for refusing to allow the Home Office to investigate these gangs in Oldham. Musk accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being "complicit in the rape" of the UK.
Was Musk right to highlight the alleged inaction of the British authorities and spark a useful debate? "I don't have an opinion on Elon Musk, but he has shone a spotlight on our city and that has helped us," said Abdul Wahid, an independent city councilor and one of the representatives of the Muslim and Pakistani community who dared to call for an investigation. "If these horrible crimes have been committed, they must be denounced. I am saddened that some people are denouncing the Pakistanis as all guilty, but until there is a serious investigation, these suspicions will not be eliminated," he told Le Monde, on January 27, at the Oldham Town Hall.
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