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Above: hundreds of people line the streets of Wootton Bassett as coffins carrying the repatriated dead service men and women from Afghanistan pass through.
Islam4UK, an Islamic group linked to the extremist organisation Al-Muhajiroun is planning a march through Wootton Bassett in the coming weeks in memory of Muslims, "‘murdered in the name of democracy and freedom’. There's something quite ironic there.
Islam4UK's leader, Anjem Choudary, said the protest, involving 500 people, would be ‘peaceful’ and that ‘symbolic coffins’ would be carried to honour Muslim victims of the conflict.
"But Chris Wannell, the Wiltshire town’s former mayor, said: ‘We don’t do what we do for any political reason but to pay our respects to those who have given their lives for our freedom.‘We are a Christian country and a traditional old English market town who honour very much our Queen and country. We obey the law and pay respects to our servicemen who protect our freedom."(Daily Mail)
Now, I'll come out here and say that I am a pacifist and that I particularly see no sense in the original reasons for invading Afghanistan or for the continuing conflict there. However, I have known men and women who have served in the armed forces, most of whom have joined with very good intentions and a belief that they were defending the freedoms we in the west enjoy and possibly helping people in countries who did not enjoy those freedoms. I have also, as a teacher, known young people who intended to join the armed forces, some because they saw it as a way to gain training for future employment and as a way to travel and see some of the world, some because they couldn't think of any other way to leave home, most with a sense of doing something honourable and decent.
The people who turn out time after time in Wootton Bassett to pay their respects to the British service men and women who have been killed in Afghanistan could be honouring one of my ex-students, young people who went where they were sent and died for a cause that I don't believe is worth dying for, but I think they and their families and the people of Wootton Bassett should not be insulted by this planned march.
On October 4th, 1936, an event took place in London, that came to be known as, "The Battle Of Cable Street." Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists planned to march through Stepney, the area with the largest Jewish population in England.
"Their way was blocked by thousands of demonstrators, made up of communists, Jews, dockers and labourers from the local community.
They flooded the narrow streets, making them impassable. They carried banners and chanted "They Shall Not Pass" a slogan adopted from the Spanish Republicans." (BBC)
This planned demonstration by around 500 people from Islam4UK must not be allowed to happen. Those of us who feel that the dead from a futile war should be allowed to travel in peace to their final resting place and that the route of their final journey should not be tainted by hate must come together now and echo the words of those ordinary folks of East End London.
"They shall not pass."
5 comments:
it's a very emotive area... I'm a pacifist too - every day another soldier dies and I feel sad for their families but how many hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi women & children have died at our hands... many of them muslim?
of course, the MOD's figures are substantially less... my favourite site www.medialens.com which cuts through the bull is well worth a look
meanwhile, we are still incensed by the death of one little girl in PdL. Maybe it's easier to focus on the singular. I hope her parents are tormented for the rest of their days for what they've done to her and in her name... shame on them.
True, Anonymous, there are thousands of civilians killed, but Islam4UK does not have any need to choose Wootton Bassett for their march. There are many other places they could choose, especially places in the UK that have a high Muslim population, where they are more likely to be supported and welcomed. They could always take themselves off to the scene of the events and march through the streets of Afghan cities.
Still thinking about this Anonymous, wouldn't it make more sense for Islam4UK to do their march in support of Muslims killed in the conflict if they marched through a Muslim area? The people of Wootton Bassett turn out simply because that is on the route taken by the coffins of dead UK service personnel. Islam4UK's choosing that location is about confrontation. If it were just about honouring the dead, they'd choose a more appropriate place.
it's not just about honouring their dead - it's highlighting the hundred thousand that have been murdered by our bombs...
the things is, I'm not sure I approve of the march either... all marches seem to do is encourage extremism and antagonize the opposition - which I suppose is part of the aim
I'm so despondent at our involvement in 2 wars that have done nothing more than murder innocents and perpetuate terrorism... the whitewash enquiry that is currently taking place beggars belief. I love the fact that our MP's hopeless argument is that "no one knew what would happen after (illegally) invading" - I was on one of the marches at Trafalgar Square and a million plus people knew then we'd be entering another Viet Nam style war so why didn't our politicians?
I want to thank you again, Anna for you fabulous Truth Of The Lie translations... I pray that Amaral's case re-opens the enquiry and lifts the ban on his important book
Anonymous, I feel as you do about those wars, but I also feel strongly that Anjem Choudary just stirs up hatred and he should be stopped.
As for those wars again, it looks as though Obama is hell-bent on invading the Yemen now. God help the ordinary folks of that country too. Several embassies in Yemen have closed and this may signal preparations for invasion.
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