tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547542464688328490.post4419550488655938388..comments2024-01-02T10:58:26.368+00:00Comments on Lancaster Unity: The apologist for terror and the BBCAntifascisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13753277570496713369noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547542464688328490.post-70641719802106746852008-07-15T09:52:00.000+01:002008-07-15T09:52:00.000+01:00As a leftwing political animal who has campaigned ...As a leftwing political animal who has campaigned against the war in Iraq, and against fascism, it was deeply disturbing how, when Islsamophobia is heightening, genuine concern about the political situation in the Middle East has allowed anti-establishment radicals to be influenced by far right anti-Semities in shaping diversionary political protests around paranoia, hate and fear rather than genuine concerns like opposing the racism still prevalent in the tabloid media throughout the whole of Western Europe. <BR/><BR/>The so-called Truth movement has thus suckerpunch a beleagured, marginsalised under-seige British Asian community, opening debate to the sort of nazi anti-Semitism that still lurks within the BNP, beneath surface level. <BR/><BR/>While campaining against the war in Leeds, some years ago, I met two representatives of the local "Truth" movement whose anti-Semitism was bizzare and sickening. Whereas most if not all anti-war campaigners were opposing all racism (including anti-Semitism), the Truth movement was trying its damnedest to pervert and twist traditional socialist protest against Bush, Blair snd neo-conservatives into an ugly, and unhelpfully distorted (prejudice-driven) conspiratorial blame game for both 9/11 and the London Bombings. <BR/><BR/>Instead of warmonger George Bush being public enemy number one, for waging an illegal war, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties, and many civilian deaths, Zionism was portrayed as the cause behind not just the war in iraq, but supposedly feigned terror attacks by religious extremists. <BR/><BR/>Raising the plight of beleagured Palistinians in the Middle East is an admirable cause, but portraying Zionism as a catch-all boygeyman, and blurring the lines between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, has twisted the goalposts from proper to imaginery targets, and has most surely pleased the (undercover) neo-Nazi anti-semites of the BNP such as Nick Griffin, Simon Darby, and Lee Barnes, no end. <BR/><BR/>It must be remembered, at this stage, that as well as hating Asian and Muslim people, Robert Cottage believed in the lies peddled by the Truth groups, obviously finding the crude anti-semitism appealing. <BR/><BR/>To appeal to religious hardliners in the Islamic community with their lies and distortions, (as a means of spreading misinformation to the local Asian community), the two leaders of the Leeds Truth conspiracy group I met after an anti-war social event, weirdly blamed the writers of the hit family audience TV Show "The Simpsons", (whom they said were of a Jewish background), for purposely polluting society with "promiscious moral decay" as part of "a Zionistic masterplan". <BR/><BR/>DOH!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547542464688328490.post-466465647531867132008-07-15T00:20:00.000+01:002008-07-15T00:20:00.000+01:00Evan Solomon: We've heard something quite extraord...Evan Solomon: We've heard something quite extraordinary - could be a coincidence or not - that your firm, on the very day that the bombs went off in London, were running an exercise simulating three bombs going off, in the very same tube stations that they went off. How did this happen? Coincidence, or were you acting on information that you knew?<BR/><BR/>Peter Power: I don't think you could say that we had some special insight into the terrorist network, otherwise I would be under arrest myself. The truth of it is -<BR/><BR/>Solomon: But it is a coincidence.<BR/><BR/>Power: It's a coincidence, and it's a spooky coincidence. Our scenario was very similar - it wasn't totally identical, but it was based on bombs going off, to the time, the locations, all this sort of stuff. But it wasn't an accident, in the sense that London has a history of bombs, and the reason why our emergency services did so well, and prepared probably better than any other city in the world, sadly they have to be. So it wasn't exactly rocket science or totally out of the pale to come up with that scenario unusual though it be to stop the exercise and go into real time, and it worked very well, although there was a few seconds when the audience didn't realise whether it was real or not.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547542464688328490.post-8697780321424310432008-07-14T23:39:00.000+01:002008-07-14T23:39:00.000+01:00Depressed Hack is wrong to underestimate.The sourc...Depressed Hack is wrong to underestimate.<BR/><BR/>The source is priceless...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547542464688328490.post-35576263951653412362008-07-14T15:38:00.000+01:002008-07-14T15:38:00.000+01:00Great blog piece, but the news stories about the B...Great blog piece, but the news stories about the BBC paying Kollerstrom were exaggerated. The BBC series is a belated attempt to challenge the most pernicious 7/7 conspiracy theories after 3 years of them being unchallenged and picking up thousands of adherents on the net, which can hardly be a good thing. <BR/><BR/>BBC link to article in my identity because I have no idea how to manage html code in blog comments. I don't work for the BBC by the way, but am an ex news journalist who followed the story up out of curiosity as an old friend of mine was killed in the 7/7/05 blasts.<BR/><BR/>Are some conspiracy theories just too controversial to discuss publicly? We've spent the past few months investigating whether there is any truth to the many theories that have grown up about the London bombings of 7 July 2005. The results of our investigation will be shown as part of the Conspiracy Files series on BBC Two in the Autumn.<BR/><BR/>But were you to believe what some publications have recently written about our documentary (eg the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Spectator and others) you would be forgiven for thinking that we shouldn't be making the programme at all.<BR/><BR/>But conspiracy theories about the London bombings are an important public issue.<BR/><BR/>The stakes are high because conspiracy theories are spreading suspicion about the official account of what happened, ultimately questioning whether the authorities can be trusted. Establishing whether what is argued is true or false, and scrutinising the way proponents conduct themselves, is clearly in the public interest and is a serious and legitimate task for the BBC.<BR/><BR/>Last year one opinion poll found that around one in four British Muslims do not believe that the four men identified as the 7/7 bombers by the authorities actually carried out the attacks. It is perhaps not surprising that the Metropolitan Police themselves have acknowledged the importance of tackling conspiracy theories about 7/7.<BR/><BR/>As programme makers we need to be sensitive to the feelings of the families of those who were killed in the bombings and to the survivors. But this should not stop us scrutinising conspiracy theories and the effect they are having on public confidence in the police and the government. Without such scrutiny, these theories are often treated as facts by those who find them seductive.<BR/><BR/>Some newspapers have alleged that we paid a conspiracy theorist, Nick Kollerstrom, to take part in the programme. This is not true. The BBC has covered the cost of some incidental expenses amounting to no more than £30. This includes the cost of a return train ticket from London to Luton because we asked him to film with us at the location where he had discovered a fact about the bombings - namely that the train that it had been said the bombers took to London did not run on 7 July 2005.<BR/><BR/>The BBC has also covered the cost of lunch and cups of tea on some of the days we have filmed with him. We did not cover the cost of his trip to Leeds during which he visited the family homes of some of the bombers. Along with his views of 7/7, Nick Kollerstrom's views about the Holocaust will be scrutinised and challenged in the programme.<BR/><BR/>When the documentary is broadcast in the Autumn you will have the chance to decide for yourself what the facts are about the 7/7 conspiracy theories and the theorists who promote them.<BR/><BR/>Mike Rudin is series producer, The Conspiracy Files'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547542464688328490.post-52716909315711400852008-07-14T13:46:00.000+01:002008-07-14T13:46:00.000+01:00Looks as if "Private Eye" have picked this up as w...Looks as if "Private Eye" have picked this up as well.<BR/><BR/>Please refr to last Fridays Edition.<BR/><BR/>Old SailorAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com