A CONSPIRACY TO SILENCE

A week or so ago the BBC current affairs programme Panorama presented a programme about the so called Islamic Republic of Iran, exposing not only the brutal repression and widespread use of torture but also the use of Press TV the English language propaganda arm of the Iranian government in colluding with the torturers. It was a powerful film and an indictment of the apologists of this theocratic state which saddles its people with a primitive medieval theology, locking up and engaging in the most extreme violence, including rape, against the very best of its young people.


In reaction to this film the anti-Semitic Muslim Public affairs Committee, MPAC, is launching a campaign of protest against the BBC, encouraging a phone and e-mail protest to the complaints programme Points Of View, (the Muslim Association Of Britain, MAB, are conducting a similar campaign respecting the programme My Brother the Islamacist). This represents a growing and rather sinister campaign to rule criticism of Islam off limits, though why an exposé of torture and Rape in Iran should be deemed anti Islamic begs some rather serious questions.

Now I have signed electronic petitions and my own inbox is constantly bombarded by requests for my name to be added to other lists, I am increasingly reluctant to do so. This confected democracy makes me uneasy. We live in an age when it is increasingly easy to assemble numbers, to create outrage and offence, bombard the BBC with enough protest and you can create a wholly artificial impression of widespread public outrage, a device to silence criticism. As I say I find this development sinister and well worth keeping an eye upon.

Popular posts from this blog

NESRINE MALIK AND THE UNSUNG VIRTUES OF HYPOCRISY

Image
As I write this a 27 year old woman, Mariam Ibrahim, has just had a baby in a Sudanese prison, ‘the condition of the mother and baby is not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and her husband, a US citizen, had been denied access to her. Omdurman women's prison has a basic clinic, where the child is thought to have been born. Ibrahim has been shackled since being imprisoned.’ [1]   Mariam also has an 18 month old child who is also being held in prison with her. The ‘crime’ for which she is imprisoned is apostasy, for which she has received the death sentence. She has also been sentenced to 100 lashes, for the additional crime of having sex with her Christian husband. Although she has been a lifelong Christian her father was a Muslim, Sudanese sharia law forbids women to marry outside the Muslim faith, men needless to say can do as they please in these matters. Mariam Ibrahim and her husband.  Nineteen countries punish their citizens for apostasy, and in 12 of those countries
Read more

INTERVIEW WITH TOM VAGUE

Image
Tom Vague At the top end of All Saints Road there is a refuge, an enclave in which a local Bohemian culture retains a foothold, this is the Book & kitchen , a café/bookshop with adjoining terrace. Here the bustle of the nearby market gives way to conversation, conversation in the presence of images of the recent, and not so recent, past. The past of an area that has contributed so much to the life and culture of the city. I was there to meet local historian Mr Tom Vague a man intimately familiar with so much of this history. What Tom doesn’t know about the recent history of the area probably is not worth knowing. With Tom’s energy and effort Colville Community Forum, supported by City Living Local Life, recently held a gathering at The Book and Kitchen to celebrate this rich history. February 16 6-9 Pm, with Film Screening and Readings Exhibition February 16-26 2016. Featuring 30 Classic Westway Photographs and Posters. This represents one of a number of initiatives of t
Read more

LONDON BELONGS TO ME PART ONE

Image
. I. I have lived in London now just over thirty years, having moved here on 4 th July 1983 . I don’t know how long you normally have to wait to claim squatter’s rights but thirty years seems a good enough period to me. The glory of London is its parks and open spaces, you are rarely ever far away from a London park, common or heath. I am within fifteen minutes walk of Kensington Gardens or Holland Park , much closer to several smaller areas with grass and flowers and benches on which to sit, all maintained by Kensington and Chelsea council who also still believe in the value of trees. Those who would see what they call ‘the state’ shrink rarely mention such items in their calculations. What does it cost to maintain a tree? Too much by far for the likes of those right wing think tanks whom and I fear the phrase is soon likely to break under the strain under which it is now being placed, know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Holland Park is one of t
Read more