The Satanic Verses novelist is championed by western liberals not because he has bravely articulated difficult truths but because of who his enemies are
Ultimately, liberals must face the fact that there are more Muslims prepared to martyr themselves because they believe in the Abrahamic God that supposedly punishes evil and rewards good in this life and the next than there are liberals who really believe in free speech. The writing is already on the wall.
Millions of people have died in the conflicts sparked by Wikileaks. Assange needs to face trial. I realise he had no idea of what was being posted on his site as it was posted. I realise he had a difficult childhood, but perhaps if the Australian courts had been a little less considerate of this when they gave him a slap on the wrist for computer hacking there would be a lot more people alive in the Middle East today.
Aug 18, 2022·edited Aug 18, 2022Liked by Jonathan Cook
Thank you for your writing. I always look forward to reading your articles when they drop in my mailbox. Clarity and honesty through the constant noise, smoke and mirrors. I’m really grateful.
The other threat to free speech, as warned by its author, Kenneth Stern, is the IHRA definition of antisemism, which is being used as a kind of blasphemy law to silence criticism of Israel and Zionism. It is used to prosecute, suspend and expel from political parties or institutions, and with its sister blasphemy laws against BDS to be introduced to protect Israel from internationally UN required response to apartheid, which could actually land anyone implementing or proposing in prison or being fined.
Here are a few facts and opinions, at least from an American perspective.
"The American Library Association tracked 729 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2021." Of the 1,597 individual books that were challenged or banned in 2021, almost none of them were to do with Islam. All of them where reactions to hysteria whipped up by right-wing media that targeted books about race, gender, and LGBTQIA+ issues. Islamism was almost never a threat to freedom of thought and expressions in the west. It is however a threat to dissenters in countries with large Muslim populations. So when and where did this narrative gain prominence? It did in English speaking western nations in the last 2 decades to justify their post 9/11 wars of aggression to create a sentiment of justified war, in other words, violence for liberation.
So where exactly do the real threats to freedom of thought and expression lie in the west? They lie in a propagandized and reactionary media. They lie in the chilling effects of state support for information suppression, like in the form of the Espionage Act (US) and Official Secrets Act (UK). Threats lie in the leadership of formerly liberal institutions like the press, religious institutions, labor unions, universities and political parties, which purge those members who dare speak the truth. And they lie in the dispassion of a population that is increasingly despondent and disconnected from reality.
Huxley top threats to human freedom were said to be over-organization (hierarchy), advances in communication technology and psychology (gives powerful organizations many mediums for deploying effective techniques of mass propaganda) and drugs (those that bypass the ability to think). Where was Islam to be found in all of this?
Excellent article , we were discussing this excess coverage this morning over breakfast . Wondering where the outrage and public events were for Julien Assange ? A courageous warrior for truth , who is now being cruelly punished by those who spout about defending free speech, such hypocrisy
"It is our own governments, not “mad mullahs” in Iran, who threaten the free society that permitted Rushdie to publish his novel. If Assange is crushed, so is the basis of our fundamental democratic rights: to know what is being done in our name and to hold our leaders to account."
We need to blast this statement all over social media, put it on billboards, on highways over bridges across highways - anywhere and everywhere possible to remind people where the responsibility lays for upholding our freedom. With us, always, as citizens. Ultimately it is the complacency in the face of creeping fascism that allows censorship and propaganda to fester. But it's been going on for so long that people can scarcely discern truth from lies.
Spot on. Thanks.
Ultimately, liberals must face the fact that there are more Muslims prepared to martyr themselves because they believe in the Abrahamic God that supposedly punishes evil and rewards good in this life and the next than there are liberals who really believe in free speech. The writing is already on the wall.
Millions of people have died in the conflicts sparked by Wikileaks. Assange needs to face trial. I realise he had no idea of what was being posted on his site as it was posted. I realise he had a difficult childhood, but perhaps if the Australian courts had been a little less considerate of this when they gave him a slap on the wrist for computer hacking there would be a lot more people alive in the Middle East today.
Thank you for your writing. I always look forward to reading your articles when they drop in my mailbox. Clarity and honesty through the constant noise, smoke and mirrors. I’m really grateful.
Brilliant essay.
Thank you for putting the issues in proper perspective. Free Assange! What hypocrites US and Britain, etc.
Pretty garbage article that can be summed up in "whataboutassange".
Rushdie wrote books, not leak classified documents.
Brilliant article….as usual!
The other threat to free speech, as warned by its author, Kenneth Stern, is the IHRA definition of antisemism, which is being used as a kind of blasphemy law to silence criticism of Israel and Zionism. It is used to prosecute, suspend and expel from political parties or institutions, and with its sister blasphemy laws against BDS to be introduced to protect Israel from internationally UN required response to apartheid, which could actually land anyone implementing or proposing in prison or being fined.
Here are a few facts and opinions, at least from an American perspective.
"The American Library Association tracked 729 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2021." Of the 1,597 individual books that were challenged or banned in 2021, almost none of them were to do with Islam. All of them where reactions to hysteria whipped up by right-wing media that targeted books about race, gender, and LGBTQIA+ issues. Islamism was almost never a threat to freedom of thought and expressions in the west. It is however a threat to dissenters in countries with large Muslim populations. So when and where did this narrative gain prominence? It did in English speaking western nations in the last 2 decades to justify their post 9/11 wars of aggression to create a sentiment of justified war, in other words, violence for liberation.
So where exactly do the real threats to freedom of thought and expression lie in the west? They lie in a propagandized and reactionary media. They lie in the chilling effects of state support for information suppression, like in the form of the Espionage Act (US) and Official Secrets Act (UK). Threats lie in the leadership of formerly liberal institutions like the press, religious institutions, labor unions, universities and political parties, which purge those members who dare speak the truth. And they lie in the dispassion of a population that is increasingly despondent and disconnected from reality.
Huxley top threats to human freedom were said to be over-organization (hierarchy), advances in communication technology and psychology (gives powerful organizations many mediums for deploying effective techniques of mass propaganda) and drugs (those that bypass the ability to think). Where was Islam to be found in all of this?
Excellent article , we were discussing this excess coverage this morning over breakfast . Wondering where the outrage and public events were for Julien Assange ? A courageous warrior for truth , who is now being cruelly punished by those who spout about defending free speech, such hypocrisy
"It is our own governments, not “mad mullahs” in Iran, who threaten the free society that permitted Rushdie to publish his novel. If Assange is crushed, so is the basis of our fundamental democratic rights: to know what is being done in our name and to hold our leaders to account."
We need to blast this statement all over social media, put it on billboards, on highways over bridges across highways - anywhere and everywhere possible to remind people where the responsibility lays for upholding our freedom. With us, always, as citizens. Ultimately it is the complacency in the face of creeping fascism that allows censorship and propaganda to fester. But it's been going on for so long that people can scarcely discern truth from lies.
Right on target. Wow!!
Thank you for this, so true.
How dangerous to speak so succinctly and accurately. You have my respect and admiration.
Spot on again Jonathan Cook, great work. Thankyou