Happy New Year to all my Readers!

Wherever you are are whatever you are doing this evening may I wish you all a Happy New Year.

See You in 2016!

Stay safe!

The end (of the year) is nigh!

As 2015 comes close to it's inevitable end I thought some musings on the past year would be appropriate tonight. Most of you will be partying hard tomorrow and recovering on New Years day so here we go.

There have been some horrific events around the world. The genocidal maniacs of ISIS have been enslaving, raping and murdering minorities in particular Yazadi's whilst the world has failed to act. Even history has not been safe from these barbarians as they destroy priceless historical monuments in Syria and Iraq in an attempt to wipe out anything that contradicts their twisted religious fervour.

A Year Zero.

Something we have seen before in our lifetimes when Pol Pot did the same thing in Cambodia that time in the name of the false prophets of Marxism. Even the possession of a pair of glasses could see you shot as the new order was built on a pile of skeletons.

Only war with Vietnam brought that particular horror to an end.

And whether the false voices of anti-imperialism like it or not, ISIS will and can only be stopped by the use of military force. Standing aside is not an option as the world dis when the Tutsi's were massacred in what can only be described as a backward act of sheer barbaric tribalism led to the murders of a million or more men, women and children.

There are some hateful people, violent and oppressive theologies, ideologies and governments on this planet we all share.

Mankind has far to go before it raises it's collective head out of the primitive mire that most of the world revels in.

Too much hate, too much oppression.

And far too many righteous people who think they have the answers whether it be religion or politics. Currently Islamism has replaced Communism as the world's bogeyman and it is no "cold war" this ones hot and the enemy is both within and without along with their appeasers which seems to be most of the declining Marxist left.

Their modern texts have replaced the word "workers" with "Muslims" and given the followers of Islam identity as a "race" rather than a theology, adapting it as a means with which to browbeat Western Democracy and freedom.

Some do stand up against this trend like Marynam Namazie, herself of communist persuasion but persecuted nonetheless for daring to be an ex-Muslim and stating her reasons. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji and Anne Marie Waters are all strong women who refuse to bow to the Islamo-fascist trends appeased by the left.

Their political ideas are from across the political spectrum but they have one thing in common. The defence of human rights, in particular women's rights and the one thing that the totalitarians fear most of all.

Free speech.

Without this basic right then all others will fall since there would be silence in the face of oppression.

And yet the spoilt brats that inhabit the student unions of our universities threaten our future by claiming their ideas cannot be criticised as it is "oppressing" them. Any slight to their hegemony is seen as a "micro-aggression" or worse that sees the perpetrator banned from campus whilst bruised egos watch puppy videos in their "safe spaces", areas where their ego's cannot be challenged.

The sight of LGBT students defending the aggressive stance of the Islamic Society in Goldsmiths simply beggars belief. Do they not realise they will be thrown off of tall buildings (as we lack mountains) if these censorious religious fanatics had their way?

Over the holidays we have discovered that in Somalia and Bahrain it was not possible for Christians to openly celebrate their festivals because it is "un-Islamic according to some dotty intolerant clerics. Of course it's "un-Islamic". It's Christian. No Muslim is forced to celebrate the festival, but in Bahrain Christians are subject to Sharia laws, religious laws imposed by the words of men acting in the name of a non-existent "god".

Now as New Year approaches Hamas who run a terrorist fiefdom in Gaza have banned Palestinians from celebrating. It's erm.."un-Islamic to live in the twenty-first century. Of course it is. Hamas is an Islamist organisation seeking not to liberate Palestine as the fools of the left seem to think, but to impose their version of a Medieval Caliphate on the Middle East that would be no different to ISIS except the victims would be Jews.

The need for a secularism, the separation of the state and religion has never been more pressing along with religion being reformed to eschew violence. Islam in particular has an embedded article of oppression and domination in their it's teachings and practises.

No doubt some potty-mouthed lefty will accuse me of so-called Islamophobia, a meaningless term
mis-used to the extreme. I was never accused of "communistophobia", not that there is such a word but I stand firm and fast against all ideologies and theologies that seek to control us with the penalty of incarceration or death if I do not respect or obey their proclamations.

Our hard won freedoms are under assault from all corners and the defence our the right to speak out and criticise those who would seek to silence us should be at the centre of political discourse.

I don't intend to be silenced, neither should any of us.

There is a future to win.

Lemmy - Remembered

The sad news of the passing of Lemmy from Motorhead has been all over the news today.  He was one of the few that lived the real, rather than pretend "rock and roll" lifestyle and will be remembered for his music in two of my favourite bands.

I first heard of Lemmy when Silver Machine reached number 3 in the charts way back in 1972. This long haired schoolboy was one of many who rushed out to buy this single and Hawkwind's subsequent albums.



Then Lemmy got arrested for drugs and was kicked out of the band.

Motorhead was born.....



R.I.P Lemmy 1945 - 2015.

From safe spaces to dictatorship?

The last year has seen a growth in attempts, many successful to ban speakers in British universities because some "students" don't like their ideas or more accurately don't like their ideas being challenged. Even long term feminist and activist Germaine Greer fell foul of today's self appointed censors because she holds a view that trans-women are not really women.

According to the fanatics of the "safe spaces" brigade allowing her to speak was a "violent" act against trans-gender people. The latest phobia to add to the list. Trans-phobia.

The irony is that Germaine Greer and her generation pioneered much of today's changes to some women's lives, a former dangerous radical upsets today's wadicals".

The poor dears were heading to their dorms to watch videos of puppies no doubt to clear their minds of such an opinion, one that obviously is to dangerous to be heard.

Even in centres of learning where young people go to learn about the world around them "warts n'all".

The latest addition to such nonsensical antics is a young man from from South Africa, Ntokozo Qwabe a law graduate and currently on a Rhodes scholarship at Oxford University.

Just one little problem. He has launched a campaign to remove a statue of his benefactor from the university grounds. Apparently he's as "bad as Hitler".

I'm not going to try and defend Rhodes but when examining history one has to look at historical figures within the context of their times. Why is Rhodes any worse than say any of the Roman Emperors or Greek philosophers who lived in a world where slavery and exploitation was the foundation of their economies?

Athens the birthplace of democracy was founded and run on slavery. Only free men or citizens had votes and yet over time their ideas have transformed the way we live.

Are we now to expect the works of the ancients and all others with a flawed way of life to be purged? Their books to be burnt, their statues and artifacts destroyed?

Has PC madness descended to ISIS level madness?

The destruction of ancient monuments beginning with the blowing up of the giant Buddhas in Afghanistan to the raising of ancient cities in Syria by so-called Islamic State is to be deplored. This is the road to the Year Zero as attempted by the equally barbaric Pol Pot in Cambodia.

Today's "safe spacers" and their ilk are tomorrows dictators.

It's Christians not Muslims who face persecution

Every time I open the paper or log on the Internet there is some perceived slight against Islam that attracts the accusation of "Islamophobia. At the same time there are 52 Muslim countries working to introduce a world-wide blasphemy law to prevent any such criticism ever taking place.

There was even a story about a Muslim family being prevented from travelling to Disneyland for "no apparent reason. Except there were one or two little things that have come to light since Stella Creasy wrote to the US Embassy protesting at their exclusion. The Business Insider reports:

Mohammad Tariq Mahmood and his family were probably prevented from boarding a plane to Disneyland at Gatwick airport last week because a Facebook page linked to his address contained positive references to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and because his brother was previously prevented from entering Israel.....

CBS also said, "A DHS source tells CBS News that one of the brothers was refused entry into Israel two years ago." The BBC reported that UK officials stopped the family from boarding after they received a call from Washington, D.C.

Mahmood's sister-in-law, Sadaf Mahmood, told London's LBC that one member of her family had previously been detained in Israel.

This morning The Times reported (no link £) that:

Muslims are boycotting the country's anti-radicalisation...after it emerged that less than a tenth of extremism tip-offs were coming from the community or faith leaders.

Apparently they think it's "racist".

Since when was Islam a race? 

Islam is just a set of (man-made ideas) just like Communism. While the threat from the latter has declined, it has risen from the growth of extremism within Islamic circles and the "Muslim community" must take ownership of the problem.

They cannot scream wolf whilst allowing such elements to thrive hidden and protected within their ranks. So many Mosques and student Islamic so cities host speakers that are anti-Semitic, misogynist and violently homophobic. Protected by their allies in the left/liberal establishment they lay claim to a false victim hood.

The reality is that Islam is the oppressor and there are Christians all over the Muslim world who are not only NOT afforded the rights Muslims have here in our democratic society but face daily persecution, rape and death.

Its not just ISIS. It happens in Egypt where the large Coptic Christan population is constantly under siege by Islamist thugs with girls being kidnapped, forcibly converted and married  to Muslim men in a growing number of cases over the years.

In Pakistan ridiculously draconian "blasphemy" laws have seen mob rule when some local Mullah decides to make his name or a a Muslim man wants to rid himself of a debt through accusations that lead to lynching and violent murder.

Actual cases reported by the Gatestone Institute include:

Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, has been on death row since 2010 because a Muslim woman, apparently with a personal vendetta against Bibi, accused her of speaking blasphemy against the prophet of Islam, Muhammad. "She could be killed by any inmate or even a prison guard," said an official. "She was vomiting blood last month and was having difficulty walking."

Saddique Azam, a Catholic teacher and headmaster at a primary school in a small village, was beaten and tortured by a group of Muslim teachers who resented being under the authority of an "infidel."
Nabila Bibi, a Christian woman who was engaged to a Christian man, was abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and forcibly married to a Muslim man.

And since it is the Christian festival of Christmas as I write, it should not be forgotten that there are places in this world where the holiday cannot be practised:

The Times reported on Christmas Eve that:

Brunei threatened to imprison for up to five years anyone who celebrated the Christian festival in public... Somalia's leading clerics issued a similar edict in 2013 which they re-iterated yesterday. Sheik Mohamed the religious affairs Minister said that "all events related to Christmas and new year celebrations are contrary to Islamic culture".

As is tolerance it would seem. Try selling Bibles in Saudi Arabia. Like atheists the purveyor of such literature would be treated as a terrorist under their draconian laws.

The growing intolerance of Islam in the modern world must be combated through reason and reform. perhaps they would like to take a lesson in tolerance from Israel, home of the other religion that attracts Islams ire.

The only place in the Middle East where it's safe to be a Christian.

Holiday Interlude #3: Classic Comedy from the 60's & 70's

Well we've reached Boxing Day and I've managed to extricate myself from the sofa after a festive feast and had a good laugh watching Mrs Brown's Boys last night before I fell into a slumber, only woken by the moans of my girlfriend demanding I stop snoring and go to bed!

So here's the final part of my Holiday Interlude for this Christmas, some choice cuts of humour starting with the great comedy duo, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore from 1964.

Oh by the way this is the 60's and 70's we're remembering so if anyone needs a safe space they'd better f**k off now.....



Then of course it was OK to take the mickey out of religion..which you can still do except with one certain humourless lot.

All Gas & Gaiters from the first episode in 1966.



Then there was Charlie Drake in The Worker.....



And of course the always politically incorrect Spike Milligan!



I hope that either brought back memories for older readers and introduced something new for those of you that missed these first time round.

And it's goodnight from me!

A Merry Christmas to all my Readers!

This may be an atheist & secularist blog but I'm no party-pooper and know that most of you will be having some festivities today so I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

And with that in mind here's one of my favourite seasonal songs.

Enjoy your day.

Holiday Interlude #2: Toys for Boys in the 60's & 70's

It's Christmas eve and back in the sixties and seventies lots of us were looking forward to seeing Santa (and our parents) had put for us under the Christmas tree! This is a selection of stuff that I enjoyed back in the day and like most adults haven't grown up entirely so still enjoy model railways at least. Which brings me to the first feature.

Tri-ang Hornby trains.

Like many of my friends a small ovular layout (usually 6' x 4') was the centre of attention in our rooms where we could run trains of both past and present. Tri-ang were the main manufacturer, having absorbed Hornby-Dublo, so the bulk of our models were from this company.

Here some adverts to remind you of what we wanted. This includes one for Minitrix cars, electric roadways designed to go with their trains.




Of course Hornby are still going strong these days and have become much more sophisticated and realistic. As for having lorries and buses moving on your layout, companies like Faller have designed vehicles that move without slots! Amazing.

Then of course there were Airfix Kits. Plastic models of Aircraft, tanks, ships and more that we used to make and re-enact the Second World War with. They even made 1:72 soldiers to with them. Great fun for kids who had to use their imagination rather than a computer.

Both sides of all conflicts were available so "dogfights could take place in your bedroom...when anyone wasn't looking of course!

Then the re was motor car racing. One of my mates was really fanatical about this and nearly always manged to beat me in a race. Never had a set myself, but they were and are still popular today.

Here's some classic action.



And last but not least every boy liked model cars, trucks and buses.

There was quite a wide choice. The large scale (1:43) Corgi and Dinky toys or the smaller varied scale (to fit in the box!) Matchbox cars. The latter were cheaper and fitted on your model railway,well mostly, they weren't exactly to the right scale.

Unlike electric cars they had to be pushed around and some inevitably got broken when you or an adult accidentally trod on them when they were left on the floor! Hurt to sometimes! Lego's worse though...

Did I say static? I never got the Matchbox Motorway System but they did make a roadway that sent your vehicles round and round..... Here's a short video of how it worked!



I hope that brought back a few treasured moments from your childhood!

The third and final part of the Holiday Interlude: Classic Comedy Cuts from the 60's & 70's will be published on Boxing day.

If you want more memories in the meantime go to Howie's World of Comics for a gallery of Christmas comic covers: Christmas Cover Cavalcade.

Have a good Christmas.

Holiday Interlude #1: Childrens TV programmes from the 60's & 70's

BBC 4 broadcast a wonderful little programme, From Andy Pandy to Zeberdee: The Golden Age of Children's TV. Full of memories for those of my generation it was indeed! You can still find this on BBC iplayer for the next three weeks or so.

Obviously it concentrated on the BBC's output reminding us of both the lunchtime fare from when we were really young and watched the likes of The Wooden Tops and my personal favourite Tales of the Riverbank. Then there were the late afternoon programmes including Blue Peter, Animal Magic (loved Johnny Morris) and John Cravens Newsround an attempt to get us kids involved in the news.

Being Christmas and a holiday I sat down and tried to remember some of the other programmes I watched, both from ITV and those that were imported. Who could after all forget Clarence the cross-eyed lion from Daktari:



Then of course there was ITV's attempt to compete with Doctor Who, The Tomorrow People which has one of the best theme tunes, like ever....



Then there was Children of the Stones, which was frankly quite scary....



Another favourite which if remember rightly was on at the weekends was Casey Jones. The Wild West and trains. What else could a young lad ask for!



Of course there were plenty of animal based programmes like Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and Black Beauty (which was aimed at the girls, no I wasn't politically correct even back then!). There was also this little show; Flipper!



These are just a few of the programmes I watched as a kid.

I haven't forgotten the classic Gerry Anderson series either. You can find articles on them over at my other blog:

Gerry Anderson Comics from the Sixties (includes Joe 90 Video)

Stingray -The Comic (includes video)

Come back tomorrow for the next Holiday Interlude. 

When anti-"Zionism" becomes outright anti-Semitism

No matter how much the anti-Zionists protest otherwise, their movement is spawning clear anti-Semitic hatred as this pro-Palestinian event in Sweden shows clearly. Chants of "death to the Jews" is not just "anti-Zionism".

The Times of Israel reports:

On a chilly fall day, passersby on a central street in Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö, were greeted with chants in Arabic urging the killing of Jews.

“Death to the Jews,’ and ‘More stabbings,’ the protesters screamed,” recalls Jehoshua Kaufman, head of communications for Malmö’s Jewish community. The protesters at the October pro-Palestinian rally were referring to the near-daily stabbings of Jews by Arab assailants over the past couple of months in Israel.

The event had been attended by leading politicians:

Swedish politicians, including two parliament members, were present at the protest. However, after Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, Isaac Bachman, condemned the event, they distanced themselves, claiming they had not understood the meaning of the Arabic slogans.

Kaufman questions how such an event had been permitted to take place, and why the politicians had not demanded a translation of the chants.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise:

These types of incidents, where anti-Israel rhetoric turns violently anti-Semitic, have created a climate of fear for Sweden’s small Jewish community, which numbers 15,000. Hate crimes against Jews are on the rise, with 2014 seeing a 38 percent increase in reported anti-Semitic incidents from the previous year, according to a report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.

This is in a country where some areas dominated by followers of the religion of hate have become "no-go" areas. A former Police Chief confirmed this in an interview with Breitbart

“Elofsson confirms the disputed ‘no-go-zones’ in Swedish cities are real, and outlines the precautions emergency services have to taken when they want to enter: “We have a number of no-go-zones in Sweden and they are expanding… police can go to these places, but you have to take precautions.

“Years ago you could go with two officers, no problem. Now you have to send four officers and two cars – if the fire brigade want to go, they have to take a police escort. They throw stones and try to stop the fireman from putting out fires.

It's no wonder that Jews are living in fear and native Swedes have growing concerns about the failure of "multiculturalism" and uncontrolled migration.

The authorities and the so-called "left" have failed very badly to prevent the growth of anti-Semitism in Sweden and frankly elsewhere in Europe. Anti-Zionism is dangerous. It is a tool of the ideologically blind and those that consider themselves theologically "superior".

Time to stand up to the hate-mongers of the left and their allies of the Islamic far-right.

Jewish lives matter.

The myth of Israeli apartheid by those who suffered in South Africa.

One of the myths perpetuated by anti-Semites Zionists is that Israel is an "apartheid" state. This video exposes that lie in the words of people who actually lived under apartheid in South Africa.

The true apartheid state in the Middle East is Saudi Arabia with most other Muslim countries following suit as they treat women and members of other religions as second class citizens. It is the the "anti-imperialist" brigade who refuse to face up to this reality.

The following video is an important contribution to the debate about the true nature of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East.

Let the Holidays commence with a Wombling Merry Christmas

The holidays have arrived. The countdown to celebrations begin and I've had a lazy day. So here's a quick song to lighten up the mood ready for the feasting.

Everybody loved the Wombles back in the day. They even made hit records so here's one of their two Christmas songs.

Jewish Chronicle withdraws support from Hope not Hate

One of the long standing anti-racist organisations was Hope not Hate founded by Nick Lowles after a sanctimonious split with Searchlight who wanted to concentrate on targeting the neo-Nazi far right. Over the years HnH has done some good work but it's recent activities including labelling secularists and Muslim reformers as a threat brings the organisation into disrepute.

The Jewish Chronicle, a long standing supporter has now withdrawn its support and issued the following statement:

For many years this newspaper was a supporter of Hope Not Hate, an organisation that had admirable aims, and welcomed its writers in our pages. But it has now lost its claim to be taken seriously. Last year it started targeting UKIP as if it was no different to the EDL or BNP. But its latest offering on supposed Islamophobes is not merely shoddy - it is dangerous. Including those who criticise aspects of Islam, or even Islamism, even when some of those critics are practicing Muslims, is libellous, ignorant and deeply counter-productive. It also effectively places them on a hit list for jihadis to target. And including the likes of Melanie Phillips on the basis that she is a vocal defender of Israel is deeply disturbing. Hope Not Hate is now, it seems, engaged itself in the politics of hatred - by smear.

Quite.

In solidarity with my community the link to HnH has been removed from the sidebar list of my recommended blogs list.

"Red Ted" Knight rises from the grave

The election of Jeremy Corbyn has seen all sorts of long forgotten Trotskyist groups return from the primordial swamp they seemingly disappeared. They are now joined by Ted Knight who I had assumed had long departed the mortal plane.

The leader of Lambeth Council back in the eighties and known collaborator of Gerry Healy and his Workers Revolutionary Party cult has risen from the political grave to join Momentum, the new Militant Tendency being created to take over the Labour Party

The Times reports:

Mr Knight has this month attended two meetings of the Lambeth branch of Momentum the group born out of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign. He said he canvassed zealously for Mr Corbyn. "I was once a parliamentary candidate in 1979 and he was my agent" he said but added they had not spoken recently.

Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor of London, is also a long standing friend of Mr Knight.

This comes at a time when Momentum are active in Lambeth Momentum are looking to deselecting agitating against local MP Chuka Umunna.

Knight built a "fiefdom" in Lambeth that led to a disastrous confrontation with the Thatcher Government and saw the Labour councillors surcharged. Peter Mandelson described him in no uncertain terms:

You couldn't find a nastier, more divisive figure than Ted Knight.

Meanwhile Jon Lansman, the founder of Momentum has suddenly had to face up to the fact there is something seriously wrong in the group he has founded and commented on their Facebook page:

I am quite disturbed by some of the the conversations in this forum. They certainly do not conform to the code of ethics...of fair, honest debate not personal attacks or harassment.

Time to wake up and smell the coffee Mr Lansman. You have helped create a monster that is seriously out of control.

The politically un-dead are on the march.

Musical Interlude: Russkaja

Little time tonight so a quick musical interlude, this time from Austria with a rather enigmatic performance from Russkaja.

Could have been in the Eurovision song contest....

I thought it was fun. What do you think?

Normal service resumed tomorrow!

We Should Stop Using the Word "Islamophobia"

An interesting video blog from The Friendly Atheist that I thought worth sharing.

The word "Islamophobia" is misleading. Islam is a theology not a race and is used by many particularly on the so-called left to describe "racism" against Muslims. Surely then it should be Muslimophobia, but even that is not quite correct as it simply denotes followers of a theology.

The term "Islamophobia" is used to suppress even legitimate liberal, secular and atheist criticism of the faith as even ex-Muslims like Marynam Namazie have found when trying to speak out against the Islamists.

Worth following this You Tube channel: The Friendly Atheist

Censorship, faux offence and cowardice threaten free speech

Every time I go on-line there seems to be yet another tale of either someone being offended by something that someone else has said, written or even filmed. In addition there's always state censorship or even worse publishers frightened of giving offence by even publishing a book.

For example some Hindus seem to have taken a lesson from the easily offended sections of the religion of backwardness and have objected to the latest X-Men film.

Well bits of it anyway. The Independent reports:

Hindu leaders are offended by comparisons between their god Lord Krishna and new X-Men villain Apocalypse, played by Oscar Isaac.

Film fans got their first glimpse of the similarly blue-coloured baddie when the official trailer dropped on Friday, showing Apocalypse saying: “I have been called many things over many lifetimes - Ra, Krishna, Yahweh.”

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed noted the reference and released a statement arguing that mentioning the god in a movie is hurtful to the many that worship him.

“Such trivialisation of Lord Krishna, who is highly revered in Hinduism, is quite inappropriate and disturbing to the devotees,” it read.

“Lord Krishna was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines, not for pushing movies for the mercantile greed of filmmakers.”

Seems to me the baddies was simply trying to big himself up by pretending to be a "god". Not that there are any but here's the offending trailer for you. 

Any followers of Ra (the Egyptian Sun God still around to be offended?.. as for Yahweh...

Meanwhile over in Russia Amnesty International reports the arrest a librarian 

Russian police raided the home of Natalya Sharina, director of the library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, after a tip-off from an ex-employee who was dismissed in 2010.

After searching her home for hours, the police went to the library to continue their hunt for ‘extremist literature’.

Investigators claimed to find works by Dmitry Korchinsky – a Ukrainian nationalist – in a pile of books that had not been indexed or made available to the public....

Dmitry Korchinsky’s books were declared ‘extremist’ by the Russian authorities in 2013.

The Investigative Committee (the main federal investigating authority in Russia) told the press that they found printed materials with ‘anti-Russian and anti-Russian state propaganda’ in the Library of Ukrainian Literature.

Natalya has been charged with ‘inciting national hatred and enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity’ – simply for holding these books on the premises.

You can sign their petition demanding her release here: www.amnesty.org.uk/actions

Last but by far from being the least worrying story is the inability of author Caroline Fourest to get anyone to publish her latest work:

Cowardice of the highest degree which dates back to the Salman Rushdie affair when the so-called left started it's turn to Islam.

The promotion reads:

Threatened by fanatics, censored by cowards, freethinkers on all continents continue to fight on all fronts to ensure the survival of an enlightened world. And the right to commit blasphemy plays a central role in their struggle.”

Caroline Fourest

In the overwhelming emotional aftermath of the terrorist attack against Charlie Hebdo in Paris, Caroline Fourest reaches those who refused to “be Charlie” in the name of “responsibility”, or concerns about “offending” or being seen as “islamophobic”.

In this ruthless and pedagogical analysis, Caroline Fourest looks into debates on freedom of speech. She also warns us about the risks associated with the globalization of bullying. She puts into perspective the breaking point between French secularism and Anglo-Saxon relativism, between the right to commit blasphemy and the calls for hatred, between Charlie and Dieudonné, and between laughing about terrorism and laughing with terrorists. 

You can download a copy from: https://itunes.apple.com.

Defend the right of free speech. Without it there can be no human rights!

Call on NUS to reform free-speech suppressing 'safe space' policies

Please sign and support this petition!

via Asher A-F (GUASHsoc President)



Following the events at Goldsmiths University on Monday 30th of November, where members and friends of Goldsmiths Islamic Society (ISoc) tried and failed to intimidate, in order to silence, Iranian-born ex-Muslim and human rights activist Maryam Namazie from speaking on "Blasphemy, Apostasy and Free Expression in the age of ISIS" at our invitation, Goldsmiths University Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society (GUASHsoc) calls on the National Union of Students to respond.

For those who have not seen media reports, the ISoc president sent the GUASHsoc a thinly veiled threat demanding the talk was cancelled the night before, on the grounds that it supposedly violated the SU's 'safe space' policy. When the event went ahead, some of the ISoc members and associates aggressively disrupted the event, continuously shouting and trying to intimidate Maryam and other attendees, turning off her projector and one disruptor allegedly made a death threat towards a friend of Maryam's.

This debacle shows, ‘safe spaces’ are being used to silence dissent and stifle free expression. Whilst 'safe spaces' are legitimate options for those who have been victimised and discriminated against, universities by their very definition cannot be 'safe spaces'. Few would disagree that, if anywhere, universities should be bastions of freedom of thought and ideas, but for this to hold any meaning whatsoever, they must be bastions for the freedom of all ideas - regardless of how popular they may be or whether they are deemed 'controversial' or even offensive, by some. Offence, may act as an impetus for argument, but it is not, in and of itself, an argument, nor grounds for suppression. It is essential to be able to hear ideas that make us uncomfortable; this is the essence of tolerance. There should be no ‘safe spaces’ for ideas to go unchallenged.

The claims often made against Maryam and other speakers alike, seem to insist that, because there is a climate of hatred towards Muslims from the far-right, we should not allow what some consider offensive criticism of Islam as a religious ideology, like any other. In the incident at Goldsmiths, the Feminist and LGBTQI+ societies shared anti-free speech sentiments by making statements of solidarity with the Isoc leadership’s position and as such, seemed to tacitly condone their actions. This is a response rooted in a convoluted and solipsistic notion of regressive identity politics that wrongly conflates criticisms of Islam as an ideology or Islamism as a political movement, with inciting hatred towards Muslims. It fails to see the dissent within minority communities and also implicitly assumes that a diverse body of people who follow the Islamic faith are all offended or intolerant of Maryam's opinions. As was evident in the meeting itself, some of the women members of Isoc did not condone the intimidating behaviour of the male members; some Muslims in the audience apologised to Maryam for their behaviour making it clear that not all Muslims agree with this assumption. Also, rather than having any real concern for safe spaces, the ISoc leadership used this policy in order to make the event unsafe for all those who disagreed with them.

Such mischaracterisations have led to the abuse of 'safe space' policies in the past and a culture of suppression at the university towards views that are not in line with the SU or, as in this case, other politically oriented societies. This is a gross subversion. What is more important however, is that this incident is not isolated, nor is the response.

What must be more clearly stressed is that, whilst non-violent protest and challenging ideas should be actively encouraged at universities, what cannot be tolerated is making an attempt to stop speakers from speaking entirely, unless they are directly inciting violence. Whether this be through vague 'blasphemy laws' with little to no basis in established law, which exist in numerous SU external speaker policies or whether it be through 'safe space' policies, which often have similar rules open to abuse and are sometimes used for intimidation, as in this case. There are a plethora of cases similar to ours at other universities and with other speakers, where freedom of expression has been suppressed in all manner of forms.

SU's responses have typically suggested that the issue lies in the misuse of these policies by individuals. Clearly, because this is a recurrent theme at universities, this is a structural problem which enables this to keep occurring. It is the policies themselves that need to be amended so as to ensure this does not continue to happen. Whilst our SU has not officially responded yet in regards to consequences from the events of Monday 30 November, we fear that a similar dismissive response will occur with no policy changes.

In the same way that we cannot champion free expression for some, but not others, we cannot champion the rights of those who believe and not champion the rights of those who choose not to believe. Freedom of expression for all, including non-believers, is a basic human right and one that universities of all places must unequivocally defend.

We feel that the current policy prescriptions the NUS espouses and which many SUs have adopted as a result, have consistently been shown to be at least ineffective and in many cases, actively suppressive of freedom of expression and we strongly urge the NUS, and Goldsmiths SU, to reform their policies.

As with similar events where External speaker policies and 'safe space' policies have been used to try to silence freedom of expression, public outcry has had a strong influence on the response of SUs, therefore, we are making this statement public but will also be pursuing formal channels of complaint to the NUS and Goldsmiths SU with a detailed agenda for reform and we encourage them to respond in regards to further action.

We thank all those who have sent messages of support for our society including Muslims, ex-Muslims, believers and non-believers, students, lecturers, members of the public, secular organisations, religious organisations, people of different political persuasions, sexual orientations, genders, races and nationalities. We urge them to join us in pressuring the NUS to protect the right to free expression and reform the 'safe space' policies that are stifling free expression.

Sign here: www.change.org

Saudi Arabia defines all atheists as terrorists

Saudi Arabia, that country well known for it's human rights record and has been rewarded by fellow dictators with a seat on the United Nations Human Rights commission has decided to take another step towards suppressing dissent. This time it's "atheists" that are the target of the barbaric regimes ire.

The Independent reports:

In a string of royal decrees and an overarching new piece of legislation to deal with terrorism generally, the Saudi King Abdullah has clamped down on all forms of political dissent and protests that could "harm public order".

The new laws have largely been brought in to combat the growing number of Saudis travelling to take part in the civil war in Syria, who have previously returned with new found training and ideas about overthrowing the monarchy.

To that end, King Abdullah issued Royal Decree 44, which criminalises "participating in hostilities outside the kingdom" with prison sentences of between three and 20 years, Human Rights Watch said.

However despite appearing to cover actual "terrorism" the Saudis include in this definition:

"calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based".

In other words all dissent both religious and political, even peacefully expressed is defined as a threat to the totalitarian Wahhabi regime.

No doubt this will be extended to those calling for women's rights as Saudi Arabia is the worlds last remaining apartheid state where women are under their backward theology not just second class citizens, but mere chattles of their men.

Not allowed to drive the recent election is just smoke and mirrors in an attempt to deflect criticism of their medievalism.

The Huffington Post recalls the background to the theological basis of the Saudi regime:

One dominant strand to the Saudi identity pertains directly to Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab (the founder of Wahhabism), and the use to which his radical, exclusionist puritanism was put by Ibn Saud.

During the Saudis rise to nationhood a "cultural revolution" took place under King Abd-al Aziz

It was a revolution based on Abd al-Wahhab's Jacobin-like hatred for the putrescence and deviationism that he perceived all about him -- hence his call to purge Islam of all its heresies and idolatries.

Sounding familiar?

Under the takfiri doctrine, Abd al-Wahhab and his followers could deem fellow Muslims infidels should they engage in activities that in any way could be said to encroach on the sovereignty of the absolute Authority (that is, the King). Abd al-Wahhab denounced all Muslims who honored the dead, saints, or angels. He held that such sentiments detracted from the complete subservience one must feel towards God, and only God. Wahhabi Islam thus bans any prayer to saints and dead loved ones, pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques, religious festivals celebrating saints, the honoring of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad's birthday, and even prohibits the use of gravestones when burying the dead.

Just like ISIS:

Those who would not conform to this view should be killed, their wives and daughters violated, and their possessions confiscated, he wrote. The list of apostates meriting death included the Shiite, Sufis and other Muslim denominations, whom Abd al-Wahhab did not consider to be Muslim at all.

And to think the Saudis threaten to sue anyone on Twitter who compares their country to ISIS.

Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. The Independent reported back in April last year that:

Saudi Arabia has criticised Norway's human rights record, accusing the country of failing to protect its Muslim citizens and not doing enough to counter criticism of the prophet Mohammed.

The gulf state called for all criticism of religion and of prophet Mohammed to be made illegal in Norway.

Actually there are around 52 Islamic nations seeking to make blasphemy a world wide crime.

Saudi Arabia brooks no other religion to be practised in it's country and the lives of religious minorities in most, if not all Islamic countries are constantly oppressed or worse.

So much for "no compulsion" in religion as their prophet is supposed to have written in the Koran. Along with many contradictory passages it has to be said, just like the Bible and probably every other "holy" book foisted on the masses by the clerics of multiple faiths.

Atheism is a threat to these bigots because it allows for the one thing they are really afraid of. 

Free thinking.

And that leads to free speech, expression and democracy.

One day all mankind will see through these various false "gods" and the power of the clerics and Kings will fall. 

Son of Hamas founder speaks for Israel

The following speech was made by Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef at a gala organised by UN Watch.

His bravery in this age of barbarism has to be admired.

Mosab exposes the lies and double standards behind the the followers of "Palestinianism" a  neo-religion practised by the mis-named anti-imperialists of the left.

Stop the War Coalition purge their website

Over the past few weeks the thoroughly mis-named Stop the War Coalition has come under intense scrutiny as their real views a re exposed to the world.

Not anti war, but anti-West, violently anti-Israel and pro-Putin, pro-Islamist.

The warning signs have been obvious for a long time, but even the left should have been concerned by John Rees agreeing to chair a press conference for CAGE who described mass murderer "Jihadi John" as a nice man.

Appalling.

The face of modern so-called "anti-imperialism".

Suddenly a number of their posts have been taken down from their hate website.



This began with the infamous article by Matt Carr who likened Jihadi's to the International Brigades who fought against the rise fascism in Spain in the thirties
.
Now the comrades have started purging other material that might will discredit them. These include:

Time to go to war with Israel as the only path to peace in the Middle East

Paris reaps whirlwind of western support for extremism in the Middle East

Missing Facts of the 1972 Munich Massacre: Israeli's weren't the only victims

Charming people.

And yet Jeremy Corbyn still insists on siding with these disreputable activists.

It should be remembered that the Stop the War Coalition was set up by an alliance of the far-left (in particular the SWP) and the Islamists of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB). Today the main leaders  of the StWC, John Rees, Lyndsey German and Chris Nineham are in a breakaway organisation from the SWP called Counterfire.

Counterfire is an avowedly revolutionary Marxist organisation that seeks the revolutionary (read violent) overthrow of capitalism (read democracy).

The StWC can take down as many of it's hateful pieces as it wishes. It doesn't mean that this organisation has changed it's mind. Far from it. 

They simply hide their real views from view.

Stop the War isn't fooling anyone any more. They are not pro-peace and they are not anti-war.

Just anti-democratic.

Maomentum*

 Mao Zedong portrait" by Zhang Zhenshi (1914–1992)

Hats off to The Times writer who penned the title Maomentum to the Editorial pages this morning. It certainly brought a smile to this grumpy blogger! Addressing the drift of Labour away from mainstream politics our anonymous writer laments:

Free peoples need safeguards against the destructive powers of factions. From two and a half centuries this has been a basic justification for representative democracy as opposed to giving a say to those with the loudest voices.

Sadly this observation is an accurate reflection of the crisis now enveloping the Labour Party in the age of social media. Balance and reflection is replaced by shrill series of "traitor" and "Tory lite" to anyone who dares to disagree with Momentum's little red book-like followers.



Strictly speaking of course there aren't any Maoists involved in the Momentum Tendency (as far as I know) despite John McDonell's foolish quotations or Corbyn's references to Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha (pronounced to rhyme with "todger").

Most of these people are either Trotskyists, Stalinists or at least influenced by these ideological traditions and their mode of operations.

Dissent will not be tolerated.



No safe spaces for those that dare to disagree.

Having operated in a left wing dominated union the antics of the far-left are both obvious and subliminal at the same time. Hegemony once established cannot be challenged.

It's in the nature of the Marxist totalitarian beast.

Despite their noise the half-a-per-cent that make up the far-left in this country, the majority of ordinary and especially working class voters are not ideologically minded. Not part of the British culture really. What people want is fair treatment, help for those who cannot look after themselves and for those that have the ability to pay their fair share of taxes both individually and corporately to maintain a civilised society.

Communism especially now long exposed for the tyranny that it is does not appeal. Call it what you will "socialism" "Trotskyism" or try and pretend it is a "progressive" movement does not wash.

There is a strong tradition of both individual and economic liberalism is this country that both the left and the current Tory ideologues have long forgotten, deliberate or otherwise.

The need to return to rational, non-ideologically driven politics is urgent.

Political (and religious) extremism is tearing not just this country but Europe apart as we see the rise of the National Front in France, Jobbik in Hungary and Corbynism in the UK amongst others.

The line between the extremists has always been thin and at times as the lunatics of the Stop the War Coalition have shown us is easily crossed.

Far too easily.

Musical Interlude: Siouxsie And The Banshees - Israel

Time for a Musical Interlude tonight.

And what better way to take a break as Siouxsie And The Banshees sing Israel, a fabulous little number released back in 1980 when there was far more variety and creativity in the charts than now.

Love this lady and her music.

Enjoy......

End parallel legal systems that discriminate against women

A number of organisations including Southall Black Sisters (SBS), One Law for All, Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), Centre for Secular Space and British Muslims for Secular Democracy are to deliver a petition to 10 Downing Street tomorrow urging the Prime Minister to hold an urgent enquiry "into the discriminatory nature of Sharia ‘courts’ and other religious arbitration forums".

This alliance of groups has previously been successful in persuading the governing body of UK Universities (UUK) and the Law Society from incorporating aspects of Sharia laws into their public policies.

A joint press release argues:

With regards the question of parallel legal systems, they argue that in these times of draconian austerity measures and cuts to legal aid, these unaccountable, arbitrary and religious ‘courts’ presided over by fundamentalist religious forces are increasingly filling the vacuum that is created. They dispense a second rate system of justice that denies vulnerable women and children access to equality and human rights.

Campaigners are calling on the government to exclude Sharia and all other religious forums, including the Jewish Beth Din from presiding over divorce and family matters; to reinstate legal aid; to stop the repeal of the Human Rights Act and to re-affirm the principle of the separation of religion and the law. The law is a key component of securing justice for citizens and one law for all.

Marynam Namazie of One Law for all stated:

Dismantling religious courts isn’t a denial of people’s right to religion, it’s a defence of human rights, and particularly women’s rights vis-a-vis the religious-right wing and their attempts at restricting women’s rights in the family. By allowing religious courts to operate, we are saying that Muslim or Jewish women do not have the same rights as others in this country. This is unacceptable.

Gita Sahgal of the Centre for Secular Space added:

Sharia Councils drag women into living out a fundamentalist vision of Islam. They do this by promoting ‘Islamic law’ as higher than the law of the land and by marketing divorce as a solution for a problem they have created. It is a disgrace that they are tolerated by the authorities and allowed to become charities. All parallel legal systems are discriminatory and undermine women’s rights under the law. It is time that they are dealt with.

Sadly so many western "feminists" and student union activists lack the courage and moral authority to stand up for the rights of women from minority groups citing "Islamophobia" as an excuse for their cowardice.

Please go to: www.onelawforall.org.uk for further information.

Fight back against the pro-fascist Stop the War Coaliton

The recent activities of the Stop the War Coalition have cause consternation not just amongst it's normal critics but amongst it's current supporters. Caroline Lucas, the Green Party's only MP has decided to quit the StWC:

A spokesman for Ms Lucas said:

“Caroline was specifically troubled by some Stop the War Coalition statements after the Paris atrocities. Though the pieces were subsequently taken down she felt unable to associate herself with them.

“She was also concerned that some Syrian voices were not given an opportunity to speak at a recent meeting organised by the StWC in Parliament.

One of the pieces taken down from the StWC was by Matt Carr who had prised the "internationalism and solidarity" of ISIS comparing these evil bastards to the International Brigades who fought against Franco and the rise of fascism in Spain. Carr has now given an apology of sorts and says:

"..I gave genuine offense to people who have no such agenda, who were outraged by the comparisons"

However Carr's apology seems to be more motivated by the realisation of the damage his analogy gave to both Jeremy Corbyn and the StWC who he is in political alliance with.

Meanwhile there are those in the Labour Party who are now fighting back. 

Labour Internationalists have issued the following letter which you can sign using the link at the end of the piece:

Dear Jeremy,

We write, as supporters of a progressive foreign policy, to urge you to reconsider your decision to attend the Stop The War Coalition (StWC) fundraiser on Friday 11th December.

We believe that StWC stands apart from the Labour movement’s values of Internationalism, anti-fascism and solidarity. The vast majority of Labour MPs who heard Hilary Benn’s powerful speech in parliament last week (regardless of how they voted), supported his broad argument that fascism must be defeated, and that the UK must be prepared to join coalitions to do this.

This message of Internationalism is not one that the StWC can credibly claim to agree with. It continues to give a platform to Syrian regime loyalists while blocking and silencing the Syrian Solidarity Movement UK. It has consistently acted as an apologist for President Putin’s worst excesses in Ukraine and Crimea.

In recent weeks alone, the initial response from StWC was to blame the terror attacks in Paris on the French, and it has published an article claiming that Daesh is similar to the anti-fascist International Brigades in its “spirit of internationalism and solidarity.”

The rush to blame Western liberal democracies has resulted in StWC all-but absolving dictators and terrorists of their butchery. This is not an anti-war movement. It is an embarrassing sect belonging to the extreme-left. Indeed, StWC provides a vehicle for parties and sects that are hostile to the Labour Party.

We urge you to distance yourself from this organisation. We believe that Labour Party unity, and electoral credibility in the face of a Conservative government that is pursuing a right wing domestic agenda, would be advanced if you pulled out of this event.

Add your signature: http://labourinternationalist.org.uk/

When comrades fall out

 

With the far left currently in ascendancy within the Labour Party it's hardly surprising to see many outside formations try and get in on the act. Workers Liberty (all 100 or so of them) have "disbanded" their electoral front (such as it was) and entered "en-mass" as have the even tinier Workers Power group now re-branded as Red Flag.

Ken Loache's Left Unity Party is on the verge of disintegrating as LU members realise there is more to be gained in either joining or re-entering the Labour Party as have most of their "leaders" leaving just a few die-hards including the Weekly Worker crowd to fight over the leftovers.

However event the CPGB (Weekly Worker) mob have their adherents at work "inside" the Labour Party as a local blog the Hammersmith & Fulham Forum has noticed:

Mr Keable, a UNISON convenor, re-joined the Labour Party from the Communist Party of Great Britain. But he makes no pretence of any philosophical change of heart. This Labour Party Marxists bulletin gives a bit of flavour. His is critical of Len McCluskey, the Unite leader for not being left wing enough. He supported his rival Jerry Hicks. But he does urge Mr Hicks to pitch in with shifting the Labour Party towards Marxism.

No pretence at all. The CPGB promotes and publishes the unreadable bulletin published by it's "front" organisation Labour Party Marxists. Since the CPGB (Weekly Worker) is said to have at most 50 members it's unlikely that many people will take notice of this outfit.

However despite the small numbers of actual organised Trotskyites, the "leader" of Momentum has got into a row with what is probably the largest of the Trot groups in the UK, the Socialist Party who have been turning up to his organisations events..making their demands.



On Left Futures Jon Lansman a long time hard left activist in the Labour Party bemoans the attacks on Momentum and includes one of the reasons as:

..hostile or opportunistic members of other parties like Nancy Taafe of the Socialist Party who stood against Stella Creasy in May (winning 394 votes for TUSC, good for them but, at less than 1%, an utterly pathetic vote for anyone who lives in the real world) but goes on BBC Daily Politics to demand her deselection

This prompted a shrill cry of foul from the Socialist Party (formerly known as the Militant Tendency) on their website:

The Socialist Party responded to a community event called by Walthamstow Labour Party members who support Corbyn, as we do. We are outraged and appalled that Jon Lansman, a director of Momentum, would write such an article, in effect pandering to the right wing press and the right wing in the Labour Party.

Nancy Taaffe is a long-standing campaigner against cuts and privatisation. She participated in this demo and went on national television to step forward to defend that demo, the local community and the organisers.

It is a serious mistake and an outrage for Jon Lansman to echo the sort of accusations that have been leveled at Corbyn's Labour Party. The Tories say Corbyn and his supporters in opposition to the bombing of Syria are terrorist sympathisers. The Labour right wing call Momentum a rabble and bullies and now a director of Momentum echoes that and calls Nancy Taaffe hostile.

But Lansman does have a point. 

The Socialist Party have been promoting their alternative to the Labour Party, the Trade unionist and Socialist Coalition for some years now. A couple of local and Parish councillors does not a success make.

One of it's constituent groups the Independent Socialist Network has already bunked off to join Labour and the main backer of the TUSC, the RMT union is now led by a General Secretary who is a member of the Labour Party so it's backing cannot be relied on for much longer as the battle for hegemony continues in Labour.

Of all the groups outside and to the left of Labour, the former Militant group will struggle to survive and jumping on the Corbynista bandwagon would seem to be the only way they might survive.

Certainly the infighting inside the Labour left as well as the main struggle in the Party itself will be fascinating to watch.

The downside, regardless of the Oldham by-election, is that on-going internal Labour's power struggle will only benefit the Tories in the long term. The comrades will get a one party state as their ideology demands, but it wont be them.

It'll be a Tory one.

A Happy Hanukkah to all my readers

The festive season is upon us.

The first night of Hannukkah, the Jewish which runs from Sunday, December 6th to Monday, December 14th this year.

Yes I know I'm not religious but here's a cheerful little ditty to kick off the celebrations!

Stop the War Coalition moves to the far-right

Not so long ago John Rees one of the leaders of the so-called Stop the War Coalition disgraced himself by chairing the press conference of CAGE, a pro-Islamist organisation which called the mass murderer "Jihadi John" (now thankfully deceased) a "nice man".

The StWC is a collection of political charlatans and misfits who have variously backed Assad, Putin and Hamas so long as they suit their anti-Western democracy agenda.

Now they have turned their attention to the intervention of the UK against ISIS, the genocidal Islamo-fascists who are murdering, raping and enslaving across swathes of the Middle East.

The StWC have posted an article on their website written by Mat Carr which states:

To evoke the international brigades in support of Cameron’s bombing campaign requires real audacity, bad faith, and an indifference to history or the political realities of the 21st century. Benn does not even seem to realize that the jihadist movement that ultimately spawned Daesh is far closer to the spirit of internationalism and solidarity that drove the International Brigades than Cameron’s bombing campaign – except that the international jihad takes the form of solidarity with oppressed Muslims, rather than the working class or the socialist revolution.

A WTF moment if there ever was one.

The International Brigades fought against fascism.

Stop the War doesn't.

Now Goldsmiths students demand video of Islamist thuggery is taken down

The controversy over the actions of student activists at Goldsmiths Students Union continues as they demand the video of the meeting which exposes the bully-boys of the Universities Islamist contingent is taken down.

Maryam Namazie has received a message from the students union which states:

I’m disappointed and concerned to see that the video you have posted of you speaking at the event at Goldsmiths hosted by Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society and entitled: Apostasy, blasphemy and free expression in the age of ISIS’ has still not been removed.

A number of students have complained about the video as their consent to be filmed was not asked at the start of the meeting by your camera-operator and this is now viewable on a public website. This is very distressing for these students and we therefore ask that this video is removed from your site as a matter of urgency.

Again, I would appreciate a response asap so I can reassure students that action is being taken. Thank you.

As expected Maryam has basically told these stupid children to sod off.

Good for her!

Censorship in the age of social media is something these self indulgent and wrong minded individuals should note is just not going to happen. Their actions are a matter of public interest and these bullies and their allies need exposing.

I have previously published material from Goldsmiths misnamed "Feminist" Society who are "in solidarity with these fascists. You will be appalled to learn that the LGBTQ+ society has joined them and says:

Can we remind these people that their freedoms would be seriously and violently suppressed under the kind of theology they are showing misplaced "solidarity" with.

Free speech must be defended. The "offending" video is shown below. It's quite long but you can fast forward to the scenes of childish and misogynist behaviour of the Islamists.

Unacceptable.

Universities are for learning which requires an open mind.

These "wadicals" and reactionaries have found common cause to try and suppress those with whom they disagree.

Free speech is the foundation of all democracy. Defend it, don't lose it! 

Can Hilary Benn save the Labour Party?

Photo: "Hilary Benn" by Her Britannic Majesty's Government 

The current crisis in the Labour Party can be traced back to Ed Milibands rushed and somewhat rash decision to resign immediately after his defeat in the general election. The party needed time to sit down and calmly reflect and debate why it failed to make the necessary breakthrough to defeat the unpopular Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government.

Instead Labour launched itself into an internal election bringing in the "three pounders", many of whom had supported opposing parties and/or belonged to minor competing organisations or single issue campaigns who operated around the "anti-imperialist" current on the left.

Well meaning but short-sighted MP's such as Margaret Beckett and Sadiq Khan nominated Jeremy Corbyn who otherwise would not have been able to stand through lack of support from fellow MP's. Labour's troubles had begun.

The left is in ascendancy amongst the activists though there remain substantial numbers of more mainstream Labour voices whose voices are stifled by the shrill cries of those now known as Corbynistas.

The key issue that faced the party came last night as Parliament debated extending the RAF's intervention against ISIS into Syria. Corbyn allowed a free vote for his MP's (but only under pressure it has to be pointed out).

Amongst all the bitter accusations and counter-accusations one speech stood out above all others yesterday. That from Hilary Benn. I have reproduced the key part below:

The question which confronts us in a very, very complex conflict is at its heart very simple. What should we do with others to confront this threat to our citizens, our nation, other nations and the people who suffer under the yoke, the cruel yoke, of Daesh? The carnage in Paris brought home to us the clear and present danger we face from them. It could have just as easily been London, or Glasgow, or Leeds or Birmingham and it could still be. And I believe that we have a moral and a practical duty to extend the action we are already taking in Iraq to Syria. And I am also clear, and I say this to my colleagues, that the conditions set out in the emergency resolution passed at the Labour party conference in September have been met.

We now have a clear and unambiguous UN Security Council Resolution 2249, paragraph 5 of which specifically calls on member states to take all necessary measures to redouble and co-ordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by Isil, and to eradicate the safe haven they have established over significant parts of Iraq and Syria.

So the United Nations is asking us to do something. It is asking us to do something now. It is asking us to act in Syria as well as in Iraq. And it was a Labour government that helped to found the United Nations at the end of the Second World War. And why did we do so? Because we wanted the nations of the world, working together, to deal with threats to international peace and security – and Daesh is unquestionably that.

So given that the United Nations has passed this resolution, given that such action would be lawful under Article 51 of the UN Charter – because every state has the right to defend itself – why would we not uphold the settled will of the United Nations, particularly when there is such support from within the region including from Iraq. We are part of a coalition of over 60 countries, standing together shoulder-to-shoulder to oppose their ideology and their brutality.

Now Mr Speaker, all of us understand the importance of bringing an end to the Syrian civil war and there is now some progress on a peace plan because of the Vienna talks. They are the best hope we have of achieving a cease-fire. That would bring an end to Assad’s bombing, leading to a transitional government and elections. And why is that vital? Both because it will help in the defeat of Daesh, and because it would enable millions of Syrians, who have been forced to flee, to do what every refugee dreams of: they just want to be able to go home.

Now Mr Speaker, no-one in this debate doubts the deadly serious threat we face from Daesh and what they do, although sometimes we find it hard to live with the reality. We know that in June four gay men were thrown off the fifth storey of a building in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor. We know that in August the 82-year-old guardian of the antiquities of Palmyra, Professor Khaled al-Assad, was beheaded, and his headless body was hung from a traffic light. And we know that in recent weeks there has been the discovery of mass graves in Sinjar, one said to contain the bodies of older Yazidi women murdered by Daesh because they were judged too old to be sold for sex.

We know they have killed 30 British tourists in Tunisia, 224 Russian holidaymakers on a plane, 178 people in suicide bombings in Beirut, Ankara and Suruc. 130 people in Paris including those young people in the Bataclan whom Daesh – in trying to justify their bloody slaughter – called ‘apostates engaged in prostitution and vice’. If it had happened here, they could have been our children. And we know that they are plotting more attacks.

So the question for each of us – and for our national security – is this: given that we know what they are doing, can we really stand aside and refuse to act fully in our self-defence against those who are planning these attacks? Can we really leave to others the responsibility for defending our national security when it is our responsibility? And if we do not act, what message would that send about our solidarity with those countries that have suffered so much – including Iraq and our ally, France.

Now, France wants us to stand with them and President Hollande – the leader of our sister socialist party – has asked for our assistance and help. And as we are undertaking airstrikes in Iraq where Daesh’s hold has been reduced and we are already doing everything but engage in airstrikes in Syria – should we not play our full part?

It has been argued in the debate that airstrikes achieve nothing. Not so. Look at how Daesh’s forward march has been halted in Iraq. The House will remember that, 14 months ago, people were saying: ‘they are almost at the gates of Baghdad’. And that is why we voted to respond to the Iraqi government’s request for help to defeat them. Look at how their military capacity and their freedom of movement has been put under pressure. Ask the Kurds about Sinjar and Kobani. Now of course, air strikes alone will not defeat Daesh – but they make a difference. Because they are giving them a hard time – and it is making it more difficult for them to expand their territory.

Now, I share the concerns that have been expressed this evening about potential civilian casualties. However, unlike Daesh, none of us today act with the intent to harm civilians. Rather, we act to protect civilians from Daesh – who target innocent people.

Now on the subject of ground troops to defeat Daesh, there’s been much debate about the figure of 70,000 and the government must, I think, better explain that. But we know that most of them are currently engaged in fighting President Assad. But I’ll tell you what else we know, is whatever the number – 70,000, 40,000, 80,000 – the current size of the opposition forces mean the longer we leave taking action, the longer Daesh will have to decrease that number. And so to suggest, Mr Speaker, that airstrikes should not take place until the Syrian civil war has come to an end is, I think, to miss the urgency of the terrorist threat that Daesh poses to us and others, and I think misunderstands the nature and objectives of the extension to airstrikes that is being proposed. And of course we should take action. It is not a contradiction between the two to cut off Daesh’s support in the form of money and fighters and weapons, and of course we should give humanitarian aid, and of course we should offer shelter to more refugees including in this country and yes we should commit to play our full part in helping to rebuild Syria when the war is over.

Now I accept that there are legitimate arguments, and we have heard them in the debate, for not taking this form of action now. And it is also clear that many members have wrestled, and who knows, in the time that is left, may still be wrestling, with what the right thing to do is. But I say the threat is now, and there are rarely, if ever, perfect circumstances in which to deploy military forces. Now we heard very powerful testimony from the honorable member for Eddisbury earlier when she quoted that passage, and I just want to read what Karwan Jamal Tahir, the Kurdistan regional government high representative in London, said last week and I quote: ‘Last June, Daesh captured one third of Iraq over night and a few months later attacked the Kurdistan region. Swift airstrikes by Britain, America and France, and the actions of our own Peshmerga, saved us. We now have a border of 650 miles with Daesh. We’ve pushed them back, and recently captured Sinjar. Again, Western airstrikes were vital. But the old border between Iraq and Syria does not exist. Daesh fighters come and go across this fictional boundary.’ And that is the argument Mr Speaker, for treating the two countries as one, if we are serious about defeating Daesh.

Now Mr Speaker, I hope the house will bear with me if I direct my closing remarks to my Labour friends and colleagues on this side of the House. As a party we have always been defined by our internationalism. We believe we have a responsibility one to another. We never have – and we never should – walk by on the other side of the road.

And we are here faced by fascists. Not just their calculated brutality, but their belief that they are superior to every single one of us in this chamber tonight, and all of the people that we represent. They hold us in contempt. They hold our values in contempt. They hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt. They hold our democracy, the means by which we will make our decision tonight, in contempt. And what we know about fascists is that they need to be defeated. And it is why, as we have heard tonight, socialists and trade unionists and others joined the International Brigade in the 1930s to fight against Franco. It’s why this entire House stood up against Hitler and Mussolini. It is why our party has always stood up against the denial of human rights and for justice. And my view, Mr Speaker, is that we must now confront this evil. It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria. And that is why I ask my colleagues to vote for the motion tonight.

An outstanding contribution that shows a future leader in the making.

Please also see this article on Israel:

Hilary Benn calls for cooperation and engagement with Israel

When feminists back fascists

The attacks of free speech continue in our universities as Islamist shout "Islamophobia" against any critic of their "religion" as an attack on their "safe spaces". Hence the appalling behaviour of (mostly) male Islamists at Goldsmiths when ex-Muslim and Iranian human rights activist attempted to speak at a meeting of the Humanist Society.

The Telegraph reports:

Ms Namazie, who was banned from speaking at Warwick University for being considered “too inflammatory”, was giving a talk on Monday following an invitation from the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society (ASH).

Members of the Islamic Society had expressed their opposition to her talk entitled “Apostasy, blasphemy and free expression in the age of ISIS” - arguing Ms Namazie should not be allowed to speak given her “bigoted views”.

The Islamists heckled, played their phones and took other measures to try and disrupt the meeting.

Goldsmith Islamist Society claimed:

As an Islamic society, we feel extremely uncomfortable by the fact that you have invited Maryam Namazie. As you very well probably know, she is renowned for being Islamophobic, and very controversial."

Marynam Namazie is an Atheist. What the Islamists are afraid of is that someone who was brought under the thumb of Islam has rejected the faith and dares to explain to others the reasons why she has done so.

The Islamists are the ones who have a phobia. They have a fear of being their religion being placed under critical scrutiny precisely because their superstitious nonsense does not stand up to forensic examination.

Just like ALL other religions lest someone dare accuse this writer of being an "Islamophobe".

Marynam Namazie also has the audacity to stand up not just for human rights but is very much a campaigner for women's rights in a male dominated, very misogynist theology. 

Take the Islamist President of Turkey. The BBC reports his comments:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said women cannot be treated as equal to men, and has accused feminists of rejecting motherhood.

"You cannot put women and men on an equal footing," he told a meeting in Istanbul. "It is against nature."

He also said feminists did not grasp the importance of motherhood in Islam.

Quite a clear attack on women's rights from the Islamist corner. And yet the Goldsmiths Feminist Society declare:

Goldsmiths Feminist Society stands in solidarity with Goldsmiths Islamic Society. We support them in condemning the actions of the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society and agree that hosting known islamophobes at our university creates a climate of hatred.

There's that "Islamophobe" word again.

Any excuse to suppress free speech in the name of "safe spaces".

There's none for women in Islamic countries. They are second class citizens. There are religious police enforcing an oppressive dress code not just in Saudi Arabia but in Marynams home country of Iran.

Women are raped and tortured in Iran. Stoned to death or hung for "adultery" when they are raped.

I wonder how the feminists of Goldsmiths will explain their views to these victims of Islamofascism?

This absurd position places these activists, these so called "feminists" firmly in the clerical fascist camp.

Shame on them.

Stop the War Coalition help UKIP by marching on Labour HQ

As the crucial by-election on Oldham approaches on Thursday the Labour Party have cancelled tonights phone canvessing. Guido Fawkes reports:

Labour have been forced to cancel a phone canvassing event in support of Oldham by-election candidate Jim McMahon at their Brewers Green HQ tonight. The safety of those attending the phonebank could not be guaranteed because Stop the War are marching on it in protest at Corbyn’s decision to allow a free vote. Labour sources are understandably furious.

Labour are having a hard time of it in Oldham and despite a massive majority when the seat was last contested by the late Michael Meacher of some 14,000 votes, UKIP are apparentley closing the gap. 

The Guardian reports:

Turnout is the first factor to watch. Big turnout drops are the norm in by-elections, particularly those held in safe seats, in Labour seats or in winter. This byelection is all three, so a drop of up to 20% is likely. Labour will bear the brunt of this, both because it is locally dominant and because its voters tend to be harder to motivate. Ukip support is concentrated among the old and the angry – the former vote reliably, the latter have a strong incentive to do so.

Oldham West also has a sizeable Tory vote; 19% backed David Cameron’s party in May. Ukip needs a big chunk of this if it is to close the gap with Labour. It helps that it begins in second place and is widely acknowledged to be the only viable local challenger.

Labour needs to hold this seat with a firm majority and both wings of the party know it. The candidate is a moderate and Momentum, the tendency around Corbyn have sent in supporters to canvass because a loss will seriously damage the dear leaders standing.

Meanwhile there's still no sign that the StWC will ever demonstrate outside the Russian Embassy......

Do Russian bombs not count then comrades?

Musical Interlude Double: Chu's Day plus Alizee!

Time for a quick breather from politics tonight. I couldn't make up my mind which of these songs to post so ended putting them both on-line!

The first is from a new band in Japan, Chu's Day who I came across recently . This little number is just a bit of fun. Sure they'll go far!



The second song for tonight is from the fabulous French singer Alizee. This number came out about 6 years ago but for those of you who haven't heard it before, simply enjoy.



Normal service will resume tomorrow......

A response to Jeremy Corbyn on ISIS

Guest Post by Michael Duggan

In the end, I decided to respond to the request from our Glorious Leader to let him have our views on the likely vote on action against Islamic State to take place in the House of Commons later this week - here's what I said;

"1. As you have already set out your stall publicly on the actions proposed by the Prime Minister to stop the heinous activities of Islamic State (IS) and, as far as I can see, have no intention of considering any change to your stance, why are you putting Labour Party members through this sham of a consultation? I suspect that this is simply a manoeuvre to pressurise those who fundamentally disagree with you in the PLP to toe your line!

2. I've actually read the full Statement compiled by the Prime Minister in response to the concerns of the Foreign Affairs Committee and find that he has set out a compelling and comprehensive case for his strategy of military, diplomatic, and humanitarian measures, working with our close allies and, potentially, Russia and other influential international players, to combat IS; it's not perfect, but neither is the world within which we live, and, in my view, it's as close to meeting the four conditions set out in the Labour Party Conference Policy Statement on Syria as is humanly possible now and in the foreseeable future.

3. As far as I can ascertain, you have not put forward an alternative strategy to deal with IS; it's all very well opposing the proposals from the Prime Minister, but, if you have no other strategy, you are simply saying "do nothing" - completely unacceptable!

4. My penultimate question to you is this - under what circumstances would you be prepared, as Leader of the Labour Party, not as an individual, to support military action in Syria against IS and to help in bringing about an end to the terrible Syrian Civil War?

5. Why do you persist in using the emotionally misleading and pejorative accusation that the Prime Minister is proposing to bomb Syria, when he is actually proposing to bomb strategic IS targets in Syria? This is simply a re-iteration of the deceitful propaganda used by 'Stop The War' and is disgraceful!"

Eternal optimist I may be, but I'm not banking on a positive response this time!