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Today we commemorate the first anniversary of the murder of the Charlie Hebdoe satirists and journalists by crazed Islamists and shocked the civilised world with their violent barbarity.
Even as I returned home and turned on the news these fascists were at it again. The BBC reported:
French police have shot dead a man who was apparently trying to attack a police station on the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
The suspect was carrying a meat cleaver and wearing a dummy suicide vest.
Officials have named him as a convicted thief, Sallah Ali, who was born in Morocco.
Minutes before he was shot, President Francois Hollande had praised police in a speech on last year's killings.
Gunmen murdered 17 people in attacks, including at Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket.
An attack on civilisation itself.
And yet the reaction of large sections of the so-called "left" was shocking.
The accusations that Charlie Hebdoe was "Islamophobic" and "racist" emerged from groups like the Socialist Workers Party and the Stop the War Coalition. Politicians" like Corbyn and others think the "West is to blame for terrorism". And then there was "red" Ken.
Robbie Travers reminded us tonight on Facebook:
"Ken Livingston said that the majority of those killed in the Charlie Hebdo Paris attack were "innocent victims." Who wasn't innocent Ken? Was it the satirists for using free speech or the Jews for being Jewish."
And yet the reaction of large sections of the so-called "left" was shocking.
The accusations that Charlie Hebdoe was "Islamophobic" and "racist" emerged from groups like the Socialist Workers Party and the Stop the War Coalition. Politicians" like Corbyn and others think the "West is to blame for terrorism". And then there was "red" Ken.
Robbie Travers reminded us tonight on Facebook:
"Ken Livingston said that the majority of those killed in the Charlie Hebdo Paris attack were "innocent victims." Who wasn't innocent Ken? Was it the satirists for using free speech or the Jews for being Jewish."
Quite.
For those of us who believe in free speech and democracy there is a line to be drawn in the sand.
Those that try to deflect blame or shout "Islamophobic" or racist are on the wrong side of the divide and cannot be considered to be progressive in any shape or form.
Problem is there are too many of these types ferreted away in our society. A very personal effect on me was the banning of my post on the PCS Unions Facebook page condemning the atrocity. In the ensuing discussion one of the easily offended brigade protested she was offended by me just writing there is no god". An unelected self appointed censor from HQ removed not only the post and ensuing discussion but even my protest to her banning any further discussion when I replied that did she not think free speech was a trade union issue.
That was the catalyst for me leaving. (A move I have never regretted).
In the scheme of things this is small beer, however it is an indication that something has become very rotten in the core of what used to be the left". The turn to Islam undertaken by the majority of the left in the name of so-called "anti-imperialism" and the refusal to criticise reactionary religiosity is a threat to reason.
Islamism has replaced communism as the bogeyman but the alliance between the currents hinders dealing with the problems of growing fundamentalism.
The right of free speech is the foundation of all human rights.
And Human Rights ALWAYS come before religious rights and sensibilities.
Fight for the right to criticise, satirise and express opinions free from the threat of violence.
For those of us who believe in free speech and democracy there is a line to be drawn in the sand.
Those that try to deflect blame or shout "Islamophobic" or racist are on the wrong side of the divide and cannot be considered to be progressive in any shape or form.
Problem is there are too many of these types ferreted away in our society. A very personal effect on me was the banning of my post on the PCS Unions Facebook page condemning the atrocity. In the ensuing discussion one of the easily offended brigade protested she was offended by me just writing there is no god". An unelected self appointed censor from HQ removed not only the post and ensuing discussion but even my protest to her banning any further discussion when I replied that did she not think free speech was a trade union issue.
That was the catalyst for me leaving. (A move I have never regretted).
In the scheme of things this is small beer, however it is an indication that something has become very rotten in the core of what used to be the left". The turn to Islam undertaken by the majority of the left in the name of so-called "anti-imperialism" and the refusal to criticise reactionary religiosity is a threat to reason.
Islamism has replaced communism as the bogeyman but the alliance between the currents hinders dealing with the problems of growing fundamentalism.
The right of free speech is the foundation of all human rights.
And Human Rights ALWAYS come before religious rights and sensibilities.
Fight for the right to criticise, satirise and express opinions free from the threat of violence.
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