STOP THE WAR
Watching reports and horrific descriptions of the situation in Homs in Syria after Assad was given the green light by the Russian and Chinese veto, a bombardment with some parallels to that inflicted on Gaza by the Israeli’s. What of the reaction of the misnamed Stop the War Coalition, are they demonstrating outside the Syrian embassy? Calling for action against the Assad regime? Are they holding candle lit vigils, signing petitions against the violence of the Assad regime, demanding a stop to this war? No, I quote:-
‘We therefore oppose any foreign attempts to create an unrepresentative “government-in-exile”, which would have no purpose beyond further legitimising the case for military intervention.
World opinion, as expressed at the United Nations, is also clearly against any interference in Syria, with China, Russia, India and Brazil among those opposed.’
So there you have it, our self styled left wing peace loving radicals stand shoulder to shoulder with the reactionary regime in Russia and the totalitarian regime in China.
Stop the War is not only an umbrella organisation it is also a front, a front for some extremely unpleasant and indeed some very sinister people, cushioned by a sea of ‘useful idiots.’ The president is Tony Benn along with a list of usual suspects Tariq Ali, Jeremy Corbyn, George Galloway and a range of ‘left’ fringe parties are including, of course, Respect, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain, though not the SWP.* Other even murkier groups lurk in the background, such as the British Muslim Initiative, headed up a by a certain Mr. Sawalha, a regular defender of Hamas. Another BMI figure is Azzam Tamimi, a Hamas supporter who has advocated suicide bombing. Not much peace loving, war stopping going on there then. Respect is well represented within the coalition, bringing with it its particular brand of Islamacist fellow traveling and anti Semitism. Thus Caroline Swords chair of Tower Hamlets Respect party:
‘[Swords] has previously written on Facebook that Zionists are "cockroaches" who "hide in the dark and try to create havoc where they lay their eggs". She wrote that the "slimy, vile, hard skin bugs need to be stomped out".**
Remarks that could have been taken directly from Der Sturmer.
Whilst the activities of George Galloway are well recorded, though it is still worth remembering him on Syrian TV informing the Syrians how lucky they were to have Assad as their leader, not a sentiment the citizens of Homs are likely to share, those of Lindsay German the convenor of Stop the War, are probably not. She has spent her life in the arcane world of far left politics, primarily in the SWP and it would take a much longer blog to dissect her career, it perhaps gives you some idea of her principles to read her statement at the SWP’s Marxism 2003 event:-
"I'm in favour of defending gay rights, [...] but I am not prepared to have it as a shibboleth, [created by] people who . . . regard the state of Israel as somehow a viable presence."***
Well leaving to one side the grotesque non sequitar, one does not have to be an experienced Kremlinologist to decipher the contained message, ‘screw the Gays if they alienate the Muslims.’
There are others, the ‘truthers’ and other conspiracy obsessed fruitcakes attracted to Stop the War like moths to a naked flame, though they are not made unwelcome and indeed Stop the War has displayed Rapper Lowkey's 'rap' about 9/11^ on its website. There are also many other well meaning, if somewhat naive individuals involved as well as those like Caroline Lucas of the Greens who should know better.
This coming Saturday [11th Feb] there is to be a Don’t Attack Iran rally in central London organized by Stop the War.
Attacking Iran strikes me as being an extremely undesirable and perilous proposition and I am not in favor, however the prospect of the Iranian theocracy being armed with nuclear weapons fills me and should fill anyone, except those wedded to the attractions of Armageddon, with horror; this consequently must be averted by whatever means it takes. Herein lays an extraordinarily difficult dilemma that only a fool pretends does not exist. Unfortunately fools are never in short supply.
You can of course, like the adherents of Stop the War accept Iran’s assurances at face value, purely peaceful intentions…..domestic nuclear energy programme#…..no intention of developing nuclear weapons; though you will forgive me if I am not so trusting respecting the outpourings of Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. You could of course shout at me, as some have done, that Israel has nuclear weapons, which it of course unfortunately it does. Though, as a former activist in CND this strikes me as a curious argument for a so called peace loving organization to be making, an organization in which many members of CND are engaged, though perhaps CND is now convinced of the efficacy of the theory of mutually assured destruction, MAD, a theory they once rightly derided.
No, well perhaps they are calling for sanctions as an alternative to war, I’m afraid that’s a non starter from Stop the War’s perspective, No Sanctions, No War, Hands of Iran, are the slogans of the day. We are told, as if we needed to be told, that ordinary Iranians are just like us, who want peace and just to get on with their lives, as if, I for one ever doubted it. It has been my privilege to get to know many Iranians over the years, they have been amongst the brightest and best, driven into exile by theocratic fascism; Persia has given so much to the world and the Iranian people are amongst the most progressive and liberal minded in the whole of the Middle East region. The young people of Iran in particular have demonstrated extraordinary courage in taking on the religious zealots who have the country by the throat, only to be slandered by the likes of George Galloway. If this regime gets hold of nuclear weapons it will feel itself securely locked in place, though do not forget there are political parties in the region allied to both Iran and Syria whose membership symbol is a mushroom cloud!
The programme of Stop the War is now indistinguishable from that of Iranian regime itself, which should at least give some pause for thought and some of those marching will be little more than 5th columnists for the Iranian theocracy. So for those intending to march tomorrow by all means march, but just be aware of the company you are keeping and the goals you are serving.
*There seems to have been something of a dispute between the SWP and its erstwhile Islamacist allies in Respect.
** Jewish Chronicle
***Wikepedia
# though if this is true I am somewhat surprised that Caroline Lucas should view with equanimity the development of Nuclear Power stations on earthquake fault lines just as severe as those in Japan
^Rapper Lowkey http://www.oyvagoy.com/2009/05/15/dont-mention-the-p-word/
this ‘poem’ is incidentally almost a direct plagerism of a[equally awful] poem written in 1964 by Adrian Mitchell, Tell me lies about Vietnam.
To comment on this article please click the comments button below.
‘We therefore oppose any foreign attempts to create an unrepresentative “government-in-exile”, which would have no purpose beyond further legitimising the case for military intervention.
World opinion, as expressed at the United Nations, is also clearly against any interference in Syria, with China, Russia, India and Brazil among those opposed.’
So there you have it, our self styled left wing peace loving radicals stand shoulder to shoulder with the reactionary regime in Russia and the totalitarian regime in China.
Stop the War is not only an umbrella organisation it is also a front, a front for some extremely unpleasant and indeed some very sinister people, cushioned by a sea of ‘useful idiots.’ The president is Tony Benn along with a list of usual suspects Tariq Ali, Jeremy Corbyn, George Galloway and a range of ‘left’ fringe parties are including, of course, Respect, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain, though not the SWP.* Other even murkier groups lurk in the background, such as the British Muslim Initiative, headed up a by a certain Mr. Sawalha, a regular defender of Hamas. Another BMI figure is Azzam Tamimi, a Hamas supporter who has advocated suicide bombing. Not much peace loving, war stopping going on there then. Respect is well represented within the coalition, bringing with it its particular brand of Islamacist fellow traveling and anti Semitism. Thus Caroline Swords chair of Tower Hamlets Respect party:
‘[Swords] has previously written on Facebook that Zionists are "cockroaches" who "hide in the dark and try to create havoc where they lay their eggs". She wrote that the "slimy, vile, hard skin bugs need to be stomped out".**
Remarks that could have been taken directly from Der Sturmer.
Whilst the activities of George Galloway are well recorded, though it is still worth remembering him on Syrian TV informing the Syrians how lucky they were to have Assad as their leader, not a sentiment the citizens of Homs are likely to share, those of Lindsay German the convenor of Stop the War, are probably not. She has spent her life in the arcane world of far left politics, primarily in the SWP and it would take a much longer blog to dissect her career, it perhaps gives you some idea of her principles to read her statement at the SWP’s Marxism 2003 event:-
"I'm in favour of defending gay rights, [...] but I am not prepared to have it as a shibboleth, [created by] people who . . . regard the state of Israel as somehow a viable presence."***
Well leaving to one side the grotesque non sequitar, one does not have to be an experienced Kremlinologist to decipher the contained message, ‘screw the Gays if they alienate the Muslims.’
There are others, the ‘truthers’ and other conspiracy obsessed fruitcakes attracted to Stop the War like moths to a naked flame, though they are not made unwelcome and indeed Stop the War has displayed Rapper Lowkey's 'rap' about 9/11^ on its website. There are also many other well meaning, if somewhat naive individuals involved as well as those like Caroline Lucas of the Greens who should know better.
This coming Saturday [11th Feb] there is to be a Don’t Attack Iran rally in central London organized by Stop the War.
Attacking Iran strikes me as being an extremely undesirable and perilous proposition and I am not in favor, however the prospect of the Iranian theocracy being armed with nuclear weapons fills me and should fill anyone, except those wedded to the attractions of Armageddon, with horror; this consequently must be averted by whatever means it takes. Herein lays an extraordinarily difficult dilemma that only a fool pretends does not exist. Unfortunately fools are never in short supply.
You can of course, like the adherents of Stop the War accept Iran’s assurances at face value, purely peaceful intentions…..domestic nuclear energy programme#…..no intention of developing nuclear weapons; though you will forgive me if I am not so trusting respecting the outpourings of Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. You could of course shout at me, as some have done, that Israel has nuclear weapons, which it of course unfortunately it does. Though, as a former activist in CND this strikes me as a curious argument for a so called peace loving organization to be making, an organization in which many members of CND are engaged, though perhaps CND is now convinced of the efficacy of the theory of mutually assured destruction, MAD, a theory they once rightly derided.
No, well perhaps they are calling for sanctions as an alternative to war, I’m afraid that’s a non starter from Stop the War’s perspective, No Sanctions, No War, Hands of Iran, are the slogans of the day. We are told, as if we needed to be told, that ordinary Iranians are just like us, who want peace and just to get on with their lives, as if, I for one ever doubted it. It has been my privilege to get to know many Iranians over the years, they have been amongst the brightest and best, driven into exile by theocratic fascism; Persia has given so much to the world and the Iranian people are amongst the most progressive and liberal minded in the whole of the Middle East region. The young people of Iran in particular have demonstrated extraordinary courage in taking on the religious zealots who have the country by the throat, only to be slandered by the likes of George Galloway. If this regime gets hold of nuclear weapons it will feel itself securely locked in place, though do not forget there are political parties in the region allied to both Iran and Syria whose membership symbol is a mushroom cloud!
The programme of Stop the War is now indistinguishable from that of Iranian regime itself, which should at least give some pause for thought and some of those marching will be little more than 5th columnists for the Iranian theocracy. So for those intending to march tomorrow by all means march, but just be aware of the company you are keeping and the goals you are serving.
*There seems to have been something of a dispute between the SWP and its erstwhile Islamacist allies in Respect.
** Jewish Chronicle
***Wikepedia
# though if this is true I am somewhat surprised that Caroline Lucas should view with equanimity the development of Nuclear Power stations on earthquake fault lines just as severe as those in Japan
^Rapper Lowkey http://www.oyvagoy.com/2009/05/15/dont-mention-the-p-word/
this ‘poem’ is incidentally almost a direct plagerism of a[equally awful] poem written in 1964 by Adrian Mitchell, Tell me lies about Vietnam.
To comment on this article please click the comments button below.
