Attacks on atheist students are not new

The actions taken against the students running the LSE Atheist, Secularist & Humanist Society is not the first time that free speech in our seats of learning has been attacked by religious bigots and their lickspittles. It seems Reading Students Union did the same with their their atheists.

The Godlessness in thought blog reported the story thus:

Gillian Gibbons, a teacher from Liverpool who worked in Khartoum, was arrested in 2007 for naming her class teddy bear Muhammad. Authorities detained her in a police cell, and a court sentenced her to fifteen days in prison and deportation. This was a comparatively lenient decree: Gibbons, charged triply with insulting religion, incitement of hatred and public contempt for religious beliefs, might have faced forty lashes for these under Sudanese law.

A year ago as freshers’ fair took place at Reading University, its atheist society sought to raise awareness of blasphemy laws’ global effects, citing the Gibbons case specifically. To pique passing first years’ interest as a conversation-prompter, they wrote the name Muhammad on a post-it note and stuck it to a pineapple, assuming no doubt that this exhibit’s surreal whimsy couldn’t possibly be viewed as aggressive, prejudicial or intolerant. They erred in thinking so: after the best part of a day passed without signs of trouble, a representative of Reading’s student union (who ran the fair) informed them a number of complaints had been received, adding the earnest but Pythonesque instruction, ‘Either the pineapple goes, or you do.’

According to a statement the group made which hit the press:

They seized the pineapple and tried to leave. However, the pineapple was swiftly returned, and shortly was displayed again, with the name Mohammed changed to that of Jesus.

Shortly afterwards, the second RUSU staff member returned and ordered [us] to leave the Freshers’ Fayre. At this point, a group of around five students, some of whom self-identified as Muslim, approached the stall and began to criticise us, asking and telling us to remove the pineapple. Though these students mainly engaged in discussion, one removed the label from the pineapple without our permission.

As the RUSU staff member merely raised his voice and shouted at the [society] president when he attempted to explain our position, we were ultimately forced to leave the venue. However, several other societies at the Fayre offered to continue distributing our leaflets, and we continued to hand out leaflets outside the venue until we were again asked to leave by RUSU staff members, this time accompanied by RUSU security staff.

‘Our Freshers’ Fayre’, the student union commented, ‘is an inclusive event for all students. As the societies [sic] actions were causing upset and distress to a number of individual students and other societies attending we took the decision to ask them to leave.’

Defending the society’s expulsion on grounds of inclusivity seems Orwellian in the extreme.

Read the rest: here

It seems you are free to practise any religion and be offended by criticism and lampooning whilst those who choose to reject such superstitious notions are not free to express our views.

It seems that our student leaders require some basic education.

Lesson One:

Example (a) 

This video with Dave Allen is about lampooning religion (in this case the Catholic church)




Example (b)

This is hate speech, this time from Christian extremists.




Can you tell the difference?

If you can't, educate yourself. That's what you are at University for apparently 

Musical interlude - Whistling Jack Smith

Just for fun on this "fine" Saturday morning is a short little number that reached No 5 in the charts in April 1967. Whilst I don't recall this particular performance or the show it was on (I'd have been 9 at the time), I do remember the tune.

The "song" is fronted by an actor apparently and no one knows for certain who was the mystery whistler. Nevertheless a quite catchy tune that I certainly do remember from listening to the wireless set on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon whilst reading the latest editions of Smash! or Valiant two long departed but fondly remembered comics.

Those were the days.... now enjoy I was Kaiser Bills Batman by Whistling Jack Smith.

LSE student Society intimidated at Freshers' Fair over "offensive" t-shirts

This is a cross-post from the National Secular Society

A row over free expression has broken out at the London School of Economics after members of the LSESU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Student Society were told they would be physically removed from the annual Freshers' Fair unless they covered up t-shirts deemed "offensive".

Student Union officials removed materials from the LSESU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Student Society stand and demanded that the group removed t-shirts they were wearing featuring satirical Jesus and Mo cartoons. When asked for an explanation, LSESU officials stated that several students had complained about the t-shirts.

After a period of consultation a member of the LSE Legal and Compliance Team and Head of Security told the members of the Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society that the wearing of the t-shirts could be considered "harassment", as it could "offend others" by creating an "offensive environment".

After challenging the actions of LSE officials, members of the Society were told they were not behaving in an "orderly and responsible manner". The group eventually complied by covering the t-shirts, but were closely followed by security guards for the remainder of the day.

In a written statement, Abishek Phadnis and Chris Moos of the LSESU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society, said:

"We reject in the strongest possible terms that by wearing a non-violent, non-racist t-shirt we would harass other students or create an "offensive environment". We reject completely that we were not behaving in an "orderly or responsible manner". In fact, when faced with the entirely unreasonable request to change or cover up our clothing, we remained calm and asked for clarification on what rules or regulations we were alleged to be in breach of. Even though we completely disagreed with the instructions of the LSE, we still complied, making clear that we would challenge this decision through the appropriate procedures.

"As much as we respect and defend the rights of others to wear whatever they choose to wear, we claim this right for ourselves. Our right to free expression and participation in the LSE student community is being curtailed for no other reason than that we are expressing views that are not shared by others. The t-shirts worn are harmless satirical depictions of fictitious religious figures and certainly cannot be considered intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive to anyone by even the most stringent standards."

This is not the first time that the Society has been caught up in a row over causing offence at LSE.

In 2012 the LSE Students' Union effectively made blasphemy an offence following protests from Muslim students about a Jesus and Mo cartoon posted on the LSE Atheist, Secularist and Humanist student group's Facebook page.

The LSESU passed a motion proposing that 'Islamophobia is a form of anti-Islamic racism'. The Union resolved "To define Islamophobia as "a form of racism expressed through the hatred or fear of Islam, Muslims, or Islamic culture, and the stereotyping, demonisation or harassment of Muslims, including but not limited to portraying Muslims as barbarians or terrorists, or attacking the Qur'an as a manual of hatred".

It said it would take a firm stance against all Islamophobic incidents at LSE and conduct internal investigations if and when they occur.

Also in 2012, students from the University of Reading Atheist, Humanist and Secularist Society were forced to leave the Freshers' Fair after they labelled a pineapple "Mohammed" and put it on their stall.

LSESU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Student Society are being supported in their actions by the National Secular Society.

Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns manager, said: "There is something very disturbing about the curtailing of free speech on university campuses simply on the grounds of claimed offence. Being offended from time to time is the price you pay for living in an open and free society. If any religion is off-limits for open debate we are in a very dangerous situation."

Update from "Jesus & Mo"

Striking is not a crime - free jailed Chinese labour rights defenders

Workers in China who organize in defense of their interests, go on strike or even petition to the government are fired, criminalized, arbitrarily detained in “black jails” outside the legal framework or sentenced to prison labour.

Wu Guijun, a migrant worker employed for 9 years making furniture at the Diweixin Product Factory in Shenzhen (southern China), has been detained since May 23 and faces criminal prosecution for defending the rights of his co-workers. Since his arrest Wu has been denied contact with his family.

Workers at the Hong Kong-owned factory sought negotiations earlier this year in response to concerns about production cutbacks and apparent preparations for relocation to another site in the Chinese interior. Seven workers were elected to represent them, including Wu, but the employer refused to disclose any information and rejected negotiations. In response, the workers downed tools on May 7 and petitioned the local government to intervene. On May 23, 300 workers were besieged by the police while marching to the City Government; more than 20 workers were arrested and detained, including Wu Guijun. All were eventually released except for Wu. According to his lawyer, Wu now faces criminal prosecution for "assembling a crowd to disturb social order".

CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES - striking is not a crime!


Go to: http://cms.iuf.org/ for more information

Feminists take direct action against SWP as party crisis deepens

The Socialist Workers Party (or whats left of it) remains in turmoil with the Professors hard-line "lynch mob" facing at least two factions as` the comrades fight over the corpse of the party. There are many, even within the so-called opposition who are failing to face up to the fact that the SWP is a totally discredited brand.

A letter in the latest edition of the Weekly Worker tells us about the recent demonstration at the Tory party conference:

In terms of the left, the Socialist Workers Party, despite the loss of members following the Delta debacle, still had the largest presence, with countless stalls along the route and numerous paper-sellers. However, it did not dominate the demonstration, as it might have done in the past - this can partly be explained by the mass desertions from the Socialist Worker Student Societies. I heard one or two demonstrators sneering at the SWP posters taped to lampposts - one woman meticulously ripped down every single one she could get her hands on. There were a significant number of defaced SWP placards, which had phrases like “Rape apologists” scrawled across them.

One of the women involved in the backlash against the SWP writes the following over at her blog:

The nature of the problems that arose in the Socialist Workers Party, and the Socialist Party have been discussed widely - both by disgusted ex-members, and by feminist and feminism-friendly activists in the wider movement. On Sunday, myself and some feminist comrades took direct action against the attempts of these two parties to at least visually dominate the protest.

The moment I stepped off the coach from Liverpool, I was greeted by people offering placards with SWP and SP logos on. There were others, but it is these two which caused offence. There were more placards on offer on nearly every corner, and the entire length of the march had both party's posters on display on either side of the road. 

We became quite concerned that people were carrying placards displaying the logo of parties that have such appalling gender politics, and that it was highly possible that they are not even aware of the problems......

The first stall to be given back their posters was the Socialist Workers. They did not react at first, however several women responded that it was a great idea and joined us. When the same was done to the Socialist Party, their members seemed baffled stating that they were "not the SWP". A male comrade replied with "no, but you supported Steve Hedley, despite the domestic abuse". They just shook their heads, mumbling about "evidence".

By now we had a decent sized group, tearing down posters on either side of the road. Some were left, albeit upside down and 'improved' with new slogans. The next SWP stall was attacked by a group of women, whom tore town their posters and replaced them with ones saying "no class war without women" - a retaliation to the notion that feminism is 'dividing the class'. By the end of the march there were no posters from either party visible, apart from those held by marchers.

Many will see this a side issue - and possibly a distraction from what should have been the main focus of the day - opposing the Tories. For myself and others it was the most positive outcome. 

Currently all the SWP leadership have to say about matters arising from their immediate past is summed up thus:

“The SWP has faced the biggest internal crisis in the party since at least 1979-81”

Bit of an understatement if you ask me.

There remain two more pre-conference bulletins to come before the comrades meet for their latest showdown, but surely some, if not most SWP members must now realise that the damage is done and the party is now the pariah of the left.

The SWP were never the most popular outfit and their recent antics in giving support to reactionary Islamist clerics and their respective outfits should have warned everyone that this group were already going off the rails.

Threatened Honduran union leader moved to safe country

LabourStart recently circulated an on-line petition demanding that the Honduran Government ensured the safety of Victor Crespo. The following update is from the website of the International Transport Workers federation

1 October 2013

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) today confirmed that Honduran Victor Crespo has been moved out of Honduras to assure his safety, and that it has secured promises of action from the country’s Minister of Labour.

On 14 September three armed attackers tried to force entry to the home in Puerto Cortés of Victor Crespo, general secretary of the Sindicato Gremial de Trabajadores del Muelle (SGTM). They left, shouting death threats, when they became aware of how many potential witnesses they’d woken up nearby. The attack followed two months of anonymous death threats telling Crespo to stop seeking a collective agreement at the town’s port. The armed attackers yelled that he should “stop making noise organising stevedores”.

The ITF moved quickly to ensure Crespo’s safety, and alerted the Honduran police, president, the ILO (International Labour Organization) and the port’s incoming concessionary operator. Last week ITF Americas regional secretary Antonio Fritz personally updated the union on the international work that has been done to defend Crespo.

Fritz has also met with Honduras’ Minister of Labour and Social Security Jorge Bográn Perdomo, who agreed completely with the need for police protection for Crespo to allow him to carry on his trade union duties, and agreed to personally recommend this to the Honduran Attorney General.

Antonio Fritz also raised the matter of the Labour Ministry’s lack of response since January to the SGTM’s lawful requests for a collective bargaining agreement at the port, as well as labour relations there and the job security of stevedores once ICTSI – which won the concession to operate the port in February – begins operations at Puerto Cortés. The Minister asked for, and is now studying, a paper from the ITF and STGM detailing these important matters.

Antonio Fritz commented: “The minister’s assurances are deeply valuable and represent the first real ray of light into this dark and dangerous affair. We commend his willingness to meet and to effect real change.”

Sign the petition!

In cooperation with the ITF, LabourStart has launched an online campaign to assist Victor Crespo and his union:www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=1948

A Tuesday miscellany

Daily Mail forgets it's own history......

Since the Daily Mail have chosen to have a go about Ed Milibands father, Ralph (whose book The state in capitalist society was required reading when I was a student), I thought it timely to remind them of their rather murky past.



You can find good articles on this issue at the Tendance Coatsey and Poumista blogs.

PCS union to launch new strikes

Readers will recall that the main civil service union PCS has undertaken a "consultation" exercise with it's branches over the last couple of months. The NEC is not due to meet until October 22nd but the news from the top is that the members are up for "some form of action and the type of action that will take place will be decided at their meeting.

This news came as a bit of a surprise at my own Branch Executive Committee meeting today as the dispute has been on hiatus for some months now and there was little support for reviving it amongst our members at least. Mind you with the PCS President gallivanting all over the place calling for a General Strike it should have come as no surprise.

Meanwhile a fresh strike is being proposed by the DWP Group as one of the Professors supporters Dave Owens reports in the latest issue of the Socialist Worker rag:

The PCS union’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) executive is recommending strikes to stop privatisation plans. 

The government wants to transfer personnel work into a joint venture called “Shared Services Connected” and retain just a 25 percent share. 

It plans to complete the privatisation by 1 November.

This will put 1,200 jobs at risk, 845 of which are in DWP. It would also see the personal records of up to 180,000 civil servants moved offshore.

Steria UK, the government’s preferred bidder, says it intends to make redundancies and to take work offshore. 

These would affect four departments—the DWP, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (Bis) and the Environment Agency. 

The meeting agreed to ask the union’s disputes committee to support a strike ballot of affected members. 

Since the privatisation is to be complete by 1st November, one suspects the comrades have left it a little late on this one. If they were really serious then shouldn't they have called an emergency Group Executive meeting when the announcement was made? By the time the ballot is held it will be already to late.

Greek Fascists fight for Assad

The news about Greece has been dominated by their Governments crackdown of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party following the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, a rapper who specialised in anti-fascist lyrics. Regular readers may recall a post from Howie's Corner back in June which detailed the visit by BNP leader Nick Griffin (and some of his fascist mates from the European Parliament) to Syria as guests of President Assad.

News has now emerged that another bunch of Greek Fascists are actually fighting for Assad as Vice.com reports:

The newspaper clipping I was sent claimed that Black Lily have been in touch with their "Syrian brothers in arms" for years, before describing how they have now joined the fight alongside the regime: “Fighters from all over Europe joined the ranks of the Syrian Army and civil defence in mass," it read, "among them many Greeks. Greek fighters have participated in all major battles that commenced in [the] south and west of the country [over] the last two years, and so far no casualties have been reported. It's not a coincidence that, in the fierce battle that took place in al-Qusayr, beside the praise for the heroic Hezbollah, the Greek fighters received credit for their bravery as well."

The chest-beating rhetoric doesn't end there – Black Lily are keen to prove their kinship with Syria, pointing to the fact that the largest Christian group in the country is the Greek Orthodox Church. When pushed on the number of fighters they have there, they told me that they have a platoon fighting in Syria and that thousands of Russians, Ukrainians and Polish nationalists have declared themselves ready to defend Assad. These might seem like the words of a fantasist, but could have some basis in truth; a rebel blogger recently wrote that he'd encountered mercenary military advisers from Russia and Eastern Europe. "They are not sent by the armies of these countries," he said, "but they have a military background. This is what is making things in Ghouta so hard – they can attack from so many areas because of their large numbers, and when we kill some of them, more want to come to Syria and fight."

I wonder what the Daily Mail will make of this?