David Mitchell: Don’t ban Choudary, tell him to “fuck off” instead
Anjem Choudary
This week the BHA backed plans by British Muslims for Secular Democracy (BMSD) to organise a counter demonstration to Islam4UK’s purported Wootton Bassett march, if it should actually go ahead.
However, when this happened before, the carefully laid plans of Al Muhajiroun (under the name of Islam4UK) to demonstrate against democracy and in favour of Sharia law evaporated away when the time came, seemingly through lack of supporter momentum (though they claimed safety was the issue). Islam4UK also cancelled a planned debate in December called “Jesus4Shariah”. This time round no one seems to know when the supposed Wootton Bassett march would happen – rumours spread the the town that it was today but this seems to have been an error.
The MCB have also expressed “disdain” for the planned march, asking Islam4UK to cancel it, but again without calling for a legal ban.
David Mitchell provides some commensurate commentary in the Guardian today.
The thing about freedom of speech is that people are allowed to say offensive, indefensible things; that we needn’t fear that because we’re sure that wiser counsels are more likely to convince. “Let the idiots and bullies speak openly and they will be revealed for what they are!” is the idea. It’s a brilliant one and, in confident, educated societies, it almost always works – certainly much more often than any of the alternatives. Why has Alan Johnson lost confidence in this principle? Why have the 700,000 signatories of a Facebook petition calling for the event to be banned?
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The other great boon of that state of affairs – still nominally this state of affairs, let’s not forget – is that we can reply. We don’t have to show the slightest respect for other people’s views – just for their right to hold them. Respect, after all, must be earned. It’s only freedom of speech that’s a right. When someone says something which you find stupid or offensive, you can say something back. You can tell them to fuck off. They don’t have to, but they’ve still been told.
Maybe that’s not your idea of utopia – millions of people screaming: “Fuck off” at each other – but it beats banning it, making an opinion against the law.
Remarks from Gordon Brown have been followed today by news that Home Secretary Alan Johnson may outlaw the group entirely from as early as Monday.
Sometime political hip hop artist Dan Bull (via Wardman Wire) has composed this open letter expressing sentiments more in line with those recommended by David Mitchell.
David Mitchell: Don't ban Choudary, tell him to "fuck off" instead,
Indeed I covered this very topic from the freedom of speech angle for the Pod Delusion.
David Mitchell has a similar view but is just a lot more famous than me
It probably was all a publicity stunt, but due to the reactionary nature of the British public it has worked superbly.
I can’t see anything intrinsically offensive about a demonstration drawing attention to the countless Muslim civilians who have died in Irag and Afghanistan at the hands of Allied forces and sectarian terrorists. But not in Wootton Bassett, and certainly not organised by a loudmouth like Choudhary.
The UK must stop being soft and listening to load mouths, deport him home!!!
Free Speech is considered by many a human right, I disagree it is a privilege that in the UK, as a free and democratic society, an individual or group is allowed to speak freely on any matter or subject.
This is constantly abused and as such the powers that be need to be very strict.
I would like to see Choudary mouthing off in Saudi Arabia or Iran or Pakistan for that matter!!! He would not last very long.
Maybe a good old fashioned investigation of his and his groups finances would be interesting to see who pays the bills and how much money he is making out of this ranting!!!
Deport the whole lot and stop wasting time with idiots who have no interest in the UK except to change the UK to a Muslim state under their control!!
David is of course right.
Though when someone sets up a Facebook group saying ‘Ban this or ban that’ it is effectively a means for the public to say “fuck off” in the most unequivocal way possible.
I think only a minority of people would actually wish to see anything banned outright, but sometimes popular support hinges on saying “FUCK OFF!!!” in the severest way possible, which for a democratic society is to suggest a “ban”.
In a totalitarian society people would be saying “kill” instead, which is a degree of severity our society would – hopefully – never escalate to.
Unfortunately, Islamist extremists see all equivocation on our part as a sign of weakness, they are wrong of course; but it is nevertheless desirable for the public to exercise some cathartic yearnings when objecting to the raving lunacy of Allah’s devout servants.