Anti Fascism,  Islamism,  Trots

Fascists and Trots Debate at Hizb Conference

Over at Socialist Unity, Derek Wall has uncovered a conference, run by an outfit called Global Vision 2000. The speaker who worries him most is this chap:

In particular I noticed Alistair McConnachie. McConnachie has two faces, one is as an alternative economist, he heads the Bromsgrove group that promotes monetary reform and is highly active as a monetary reformer. These people argue that money is created essentially out of thin air by bankers, instead it could be created by the community.

Money could be printed to boost the economy and fund ecological reforms.

He has another face as a member of the far right. He is critical of a multi-cultural society, he opposes increased immigration, he believes in reducing the number of asylum seekers in Britain using the subtle term ‘crimmigrants’ to describe ‘illegal immigrants’. You can read his build the fences higher and throw them out approach here.

He was too right wing for many members of UKIP and after writing a letter on the holocaust, his membership was suspended. The Guardian claim he stated to one member of UKIP: ” I don’t accept that gas chambers were used to execute Jews for the simple fact there is no direct physical evidence to show that such gas chambers ever existed… there are no photographs or film of execution gas chambers… Alleged eyewitness accounts are revealed as false or highly exaggerated.”

But who is Global Vision 2000?

I have to say, this has a most definite ‘look and feel’ of a Hizb ut Tahrir production.

Hizb ut Tahrir – a bit like the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Moonies – has had a number of other ventures, over the past few years, with innocuous sounding names, to which ‘big names’ were invited to speak. Dialogue with Islam is one of theirs – although they deny it. New Civilisation  – “Capitalism! Democracy! Islam!” – is another Hizb front.

They’re also big ones for punning. New Civilisation – get it? Likewise, “Global Vision”: the vision in question being

“Moving towards the universal paradigm shift”

They’re not talking about a move towards democratic socialism, comrades.

The giveaway is that they have a Hizb speaker on all their platforms. This conference is no exception. You might think that unremarkable, and perhaps it is. But ask yourself this question. Can you think of any mainstream organisation that would consistently put a member of this marginal fascist party on its platform? Who else, but Hizb, would say, “you know what this conference really lacks – somebody who can talk with authority about the Caliphate”?

The purpose of these events is precisely to defeat Hizb’s marginalisation. By putting Hizb on a platform with mainstream figures, they hope to establish themselves as a mainstream organisation. This is what they do with endorsements like these:

In particular, over the past five years Hizb ut-Tahrir has engaged in active dialogue and debate with people from all faiths and none. We have had several lively debates with leading intellectuals, politicians and journalists in the UK such as Tim Sebastian, Peter Oborne, Adam Boulton, David Goodhart, AC Grayling, Roger Mosey, Clive Crook, Edwina Currie, Peter Hitchens, Norman Lamont and many others. Most recently, Jamal Harwood, the Chairman of our Executive Committee, debated at the Oxford Union.

It is also notable that the speakers include Daud Pidcock. Daud Pidcock has spoken at previous “Global Vision 2000” events. He is the former leader of the Islamic Party of Britain, which seeks to establish an Islamic Republic in this country. His party favours the execution of homosexuals. His co-founder of the Islamic Party of Britain is Dr Mohammed “Dancing Cows” Naseem, who is both the major declared funder of RESPECT and a member of its National Council.

I’ll leave you to have fun with the other speakers at Global Vision 2000 events, although let’s pause for Bandung2 research activist, Dr Syed Mustafa Ali. Who or what is Bandung2? Apparently it is:

a global movement of individuals to replace all oppressive forms of man-made supremacy with Justice as defined in Al-Qu’ran.

Good to know that.

Fascists aside, who else do you think has been duped into participating in this Hizb forum? Well, lookee here:

Lindsey German, Left list Respect Coalition Mayoral candidate, went on to state how a third of all housing deals in the UK fall through and that while Britain is the fourth richest country in the world, many of its citizens are living in poverty. She also drew attention to the fact that 3 billion Pounds had been spent on the “War on Terror” while pensioners and schools were suffering neglect. Most importantly, attention was drawn to the possibility of social unrest as a consequence of an increase in the cost of rice and other foodstuffs. Finally, John Rees, Convenor of the Stop The War coalition, arguing that the existing neo-liberal paradigm was in disarray, picked up on the need for a paradigm shift involving communities of collaboration and the development of an economic system under democratic control of the majority as the world heads towards a global recession.

So, there you have it. Trots, Fascists, Islamists, all making nice.

Derek continues:

I wrote back to the person who had emailed me the link to the economics conference suggesting that I did not wish to go to a conference with such a figure speaking and had a pretty shocking reply:

I myself have some doubts concerning at least some aspects of the holocaust myth. I think all free inquiry research should be encouraged on this and other matters, so long as no intention to lay new foundations of hatred, nor bait up Jews, nor find all and only Jews guilty for the sins of Zionism and debt-created money system, etc ….

I don’t find that reply shocking at all: in the sense of being surprising, at least. In these times, fascists – particularly if they organise under the banner of an ‘Islamic think tank’ – quite often get a pass. Liberty co-organised a conference with the Muslim Brotherhood front group, the British Muslim Initiative. The Socialist Workers Party entered into an electoral alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, cheerlead for Hamas and Hezbollah, and toured a Jewish anti-semite, Gilad Atzmon, around the country. Therefore, of course, they were speakers at a previous Global Vision 2000 event.

I hope very much that this is an epiphany for Derek Wall, and others on the Left who consider themselves anti-racists.

Nelsonian blindness won’t do any more.