SWP join Islamists in protest against Jesus & Mo

Just when you thought the antics of the Socialist Workers Party can't shock you anymore, along comes a demonstration at Plymouth University organised by a bunch of Islamists. The Plymouth Herald takes up the story:

A PROTEST against a speaker specialising in Islamism and counter-extremism has taken place at Plymouth University tonight.

Around 30 people gathered to show their anger at Sheikh Dr Usama Husan giving a lecture at the uni.

It comes after he failed to condemn an image from the online cartoon 'Jesus and Mo' showing Jesus and Mohammed saying 'hey' and 'how ya doin' to each other.

Dr Hasan is a senior researcher in Islamic Studies at Quilliam was speaking at the Jill Craigie cinema tonight on the topic of Islam and democracy in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Members of the Socialist Workers Party selling their dreadful rag can clearly be seen amongst the tiny group of protesters. One thing is noticeable, the SWP members are rather middle-aged and are highly unlikely to be students at the University.

The SWP are backing the Islamists demands which the Herald tells us:

Around 30 people from the university's Plymouth Islamic Society protested at the event as he had not condemned the actions of Quilliam co-founder Maajid Nawaz, a Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn who retweeted the controversial image.

The university’s Plymouth Islamic Society protested to Vice Chancellor, Wendy Purcell, saying Quilliam instigated “Islamophobia” and demanded the event be cancelled.

Taking part in a clear assault not only on freedom of speech and expression and backing a general campaign that has led to death threats against Maajid Nawaz shows how demented the politics of the SWP have become.

You would have thought the comrades would have learned a lesson when they got their fingers burnt in the Respect fallout.

Then again since the delta affair the Professor and his crew have become pariahs in the labour and trade union movement so the old phrase "any port in a storm" comes to mind.

What is surprising is the presence of two Socialist Student members at the front of the photo. This is the student front of the Socialist Party. Normally this group is far too "workerist" for this kind of thing. 

Previously, when the Danish cartoon row exploded, The Socialist  (9th Feb 2006) published the following statement:

.... seeing faith as a personal issue means that socialists support the complete separation of church from state, the right to polemicise against religion and oppose the attempts of any religion to dictate to other religions or non-believers.

We defend the democratic rights of all, non-believers and believers, to express their views. This includes the right to produce anti-religious material, whether it is philosophical or satirical.

A perfectly reasonable position, so one has to ask why they were on this reactionary demo?

Human rights always come before religious rights!

Defend freedom of speech and expression!