Proposed march through Wooton Bassett

[FrozenNorth]

Here

Initially saw this on the BBC but this link gives a bit more detail. I support everyone's right to free speech but ... dear goodness, this seems to be exceptionally bad taste. My DH is an army doctor and, during his time in a free Afgan clinic for civilians run by the army, saved many Afgan lives. He's going out there again in January. I can imagine I'd be incredibly distressed if he'd lost his life in the conflict and somebody wrote to me explaining what he'd 'really' died for. Ugh. Maybe it's just my personal bias, but I can't help feel that the proposed march is sited to cause maximum potential for violent conflict and to cause maximum hurt to those who are bereaved.

But it wouldn't be seen like that by the press nighby - it would be portrayed as a political 'anti war' statement, and probably seen as an insult to our troops because of how WB has been reported to date. I agree, it would be a good thing to do, but i don't think WB is the right place to do it.

scary, "no man is an island" means you are involved with mankind, not just british people.

Yes, I had worked that one out. The point was that 'the bell tolls' (to continue quoting from Donne) for all of us, and that seeing those hearses reminds us that we all die some day.

Having a close relative in Afghanistan makes the sight of those hearses all the more poignant for me.

well I hope if it does happens it happens else where, I think the respect shown to those young men is very touching and appropriate.would be a shame if that was ruined.

Any person linked to this group of extremists should have been repatriated to their home countries years ago and yet this government allows them to stay here even though they hate our way of life, our laws, our country and of course us.

I was disgusted at the protests in Luton when our service personnel were called baby killers and disgusted by the political attitude not to prosecute and deport (to the muslim country of their choice) those involved in that.

Should there be a protest through WB? Hell no, it's disgusting to even think of these extremists on the streets there and I am ( for the only time in my life) in support of the BNP when they say if there is a protest they will turn out in force to send them packing, why? because these people are extremists and if the government will not take them on then you have to fight fire with fire.

If this scum want to protest ( and lets be clear they do not give a toss about the civillians dying in afghanistan it's just a means to an end for them) let them do it at parliament and not sully the streets of WB where our hero's are repatriated.

well said

I'm against extremist anything being allowed to march at all. The BNP (or whatever that lot call themselves) would be banned from doing so and same should go for any group that promotes such hatred.

Not just in bad taste but sick beyond belief.

I read in the comments from a Muslim reader that this group did not speak for them and I am certain that would be the majority view. These groups (on all sides) exist to create division and conflict in society.

"A fair few of them are UK and British born."

And yet they hold duel passports, so deport them to whichever country their second passport is in.

Wooton Basset is not the place for any kind of protest. I would feel the same if it was a march led by CND

By all means people who are against a war should have the right to protest as they wish, but they should use that right wisely.

No good will come of this.

"I don't think you can deport anyone who holds british nationaility or take it away."

Well the government seems to create new laws for everything else they should creat one for this.

deportation of people whose political views we disagree with sets a very poor precedent indeed, and is contrary to the law of this country as it stands - and i feel decidedly unBritish.

If they are half British maybe you can half deport them. Half way across the atlantic would be fine.

Seriously there is a difference between a group of British citizens who think things should be changed via political pressure and an external group who see the UK as their enemy and want to recruit British passport holders to further their aim of bringing us down.

Personally I'd withdraw our troops from all other countries and only use them for self defense. "your neighbours want to wipe you out? it's not our place to interfere"

I don't think that would satisfy Al-Muhajiroun,Islam4UK or anyone else. I think we'd be accused of being evil for that too.

IMO the media should refuse to give print space to these organizations.

And all legitimate muslim organizations should be publically distancing themselves from them.

Surely the point is that the Afghans are being mostly killed by the Taliban, not the Brits.

The same thing is happening in Afghanistan as went on in Iraq, Muslim against Muslim, with the Brits/US trying to keep the peace.

Having said that, I don't support our involvement in Iraq or Afghanistan and think we should pull out asap.

well yes mumblechum, although propaganda from their side states otherwise...

and its hard to know what is really going on.

I doubt this rabble actually give a flying toss about the civilian victims of war. They are just using it as an excuse to show off/try to garner support for their very dubious case.

If they did want to do something useful, they'd be sending aid/raising money for charity/holding a peaceful demonstration outside parliament.

Really don't think any poor bereaved Afghani would feel this made anything better for them in any shape or form.

"what about the ones who have never been to their dual national country?"

What about them? They say this country is evil, it's people (anyone not agreeing with their views) is evil, we should all conform to Sharia law, we should all follow Islam, they obviously don't want to be here, so lets toss them out.

" deportation of people whose political views we disagree with sets a very poor precedent indeed, and is contrary to the law of this country as it stands - and i feel decidedly unBritish."

And how British is it to protest against returning soldiers and call them baby killers? How British is it to suicide bomb innocent people in their own country? How British is it to want this country to follow Islam and sharia law?

Their views are not political as such but it goes far beyond that, if we elected a political party we can vote them out if this bunch had their way we would be living by pre war afghan standards.

Although I think this is a ghastly idea, so TBH is the idea of 'deporting' someone who is in fact a British citizen. They do want to be here. They want "here" to be different though. People have campaigned for change and reform throughout history. They have every right to try to convince us that their ideas are sound, through lawful and democratic means of course, and we have every right to resist that and speak out when we think they are wrong. Which I think they are.

Islam4UK makes it clear on its own website that it is not simply about representing the views of dissatisfied British citizens but is "A platform for the global front Al-Muhajiroun"

"in order to transfer the authority and power (from those with authority and power) to the Muslims in order to implement the Sharee'ah (here in Britain)"

They have a nice screensaver you can download.

thefallenmadonna

Excellent post.

And of course Riv, pointing out that it'sa tiny minority; of course it is. INdeed sucha teeny minority that like a baby having a tantrum, they have tokick off majorly in this way to receive attention.

The mroe I think about it, I think Wannabe is right with her ignore strategy, let them fadeaway to the obscurity they deserve.

Seporting British Citizens is a silly idea; where would we stop? With anyone who happens to be Muslim and turns up at demo? free speech is a central tenet of the UK, no? One of the things we specifically want. Maybe once they've gone we should get rid of allMuslims, or maybe just the children, spuouses or family of those who are members of groups we dislike?

Or we could deny them publicity, fudning and media access and allow them to fester away quietly in anonymity.

What makes you think they have dual citizenship anyway Atlantis? The Asian Muslims I know don't, many are 4th or 5th generation with no interest in their genetic root country. Assuming they are not white people who converted anyway

" its a teeny minority. Please don't tar all muslims with the same brush."

We all know it's a tiny minority so don't try using the race hate brush here, I didn't see anyone calling for all muslims to be deported or saying they all belong to this group.

They are Al-Muhajiroun, a group that was supposed to be banned for it's links to al-qaeda only the British government thought it would get more information to allow them free reign and brainwash some more children into follow them into hate.

"INdeed sucha teeny minority that like a baby having a tantrum, they have tokick off majorly in this way to receive attention."

I'm sure they said the same about the Nazi's when they started on their quest, dismiss them, ignore them, the only trouble is all though it's base is small in this country it's network across the world is vast, if you think that doesn't effect us here your wrong.

"Maybe once they've gone we should get rid of allMuslims, or maybe just the children, spuouses or family of those who are members of groups we dislike?"

again with the race card, can we not have a debate in this country anyone without someone implying racism? without someone suggesting that a person wants to deport all Muslims because they dislike, ney detest the actions of these radicals?

"Or we could deny them publicity, fudning and media access and allow them to fester away quietly in anonymity."

Yes they should be denied money, the government hands out money from the tax payers coffers which ends up being used for extremism, well that's a no brainer, why don't we all just donate to al-qaeda so they can blow up more children?