The extreme left in Britain are never shy about accusing governments of censorship, but by the same token, they are quick to self-censor their own publications.
What does the name Ashraf Rossli mean to you? If you read the mainstream press or watch mainstream media, you will realise he is the Malaysian student at the centre of a storm during the recent riots. He was punched in the face so hard his jaw was broken, his bicycle was stolen, and while he was sitting on the ground dazed, he was “helped up” by a second group of thugs who then proceeded to rifle through his bag and rob him. This latter action was caught on camera; Prime Minister David Cameron found it particularly sickening.
If though you relied on the “anti-racist” media for your information, in particular if you read the Morning Star, Socialist Worker or the website of the self-styled Institute of Race Relations, you would be unaware this incident ever happened.
By the same token, if you read only the “radical” press including on-line, you would have the impression that there was a genuine controversy over the conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal for the murder of Daniel Faulkner, that “Imperialism” sucked the wealth out of Africa, or that taxing the rich benefits the poor.
If your information comes only from the “radical” media, you will quickly learn that there are two types of people in this world – good and bad – and that some people are always good while others are always bad. This applies especially to capitalists; one of the bad guys is media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who was hated with a vengeance before his name became embroiled in the current phone hacking scandal simply because he is dirty, filthy, stinking, rotten rich.
Rupert Murdoch and that other press baron Robert Maxwell (who died in 1991), were and are hated as much for their technological innovation as for their wealth. Between them, these two men revolutionised the way newspapers are printed in Britain and the world. Like many entrepreneurs, they embraced new technology, while the trades unions opposed it and at times fought against its introduction tooth and nail. This has been true since the Luddites began frame breaking back in 1811, right up to the present day.
If the SWP (Socialist Worker), the Communist Party of Britain (Morning Star) and their ilk had their way, Robert Maxwell, Rupert Murdoch and men like them would have failed, and newspapers would still be printed by compositors, a profession that has now gone the same way as that of the blacksmith and the stevedore, and good riddance.
Although the extreme left also attack the banks, they never but never mention the real cause of our misery, what Major Douglas called the monopoly of credit, the fact that banks – and only banks – have the right to create money out of thin air and sell it as a debt to individuals, corporations and most importantly, governments.
In Britain and other Western nations, the left weap crocodile tears for the world’s poor, whom they claim are poor because “we” are rich, and if it’s not all down to capitalism then it is the fault of its ugly sister, racism. So what is their solution? To wage war against “white privilege” by supporting massive immigration into the West and every lunatic “anti-racist” cause going, which creates lucrative sinecures for “anti-racist” activists and a never-ending maze of legislation for power hungry bureaucrats, but helps the world’s poor not one whit.
If the left truly cared about the world’s poor, they would stop treating the white working class like rubbish, and instead focus on removing the monopoly of credit from the banks, because the wealth that is “sucked out” of Africa and elsewhere goes into the pockets of the same financial institutions that have plundered the West and thrown countless millions of workers and increasingly the middle classes onto dole queues and even into tent cities.
Returning to the riots, where they are reported, there is no pretence of objectivity; the most outrageous behaviour is either excused or explained away. Recently, Socialist Worker reported on the case of Hassan Halloway who received “what is believed to be the harshest riot-related sentence so far.”
He was convicted of violent disorder – a serious offence – “for throwing bricks at two police officers – although both of them missed.”
What is the significance of the word missed here? The article says “He also admitted burglary charges after taking alcohol from a bar and a Spar shop.”
According to what is undoubtedly a far more objective report, he also orchestrated a 30 strong mob that goaded the police, handed out looted alcohol to other rioters, and stole from no less than four different stores.
Harsh or not, most people would regard a sentence of 4 years 8 months to be appropriate or even inevitable for such wanton lawlessness. It goes without saying that if one of those bricks had connected with a police officer, he could have expected an even longer sentence, but to the loony left, a rioter who throws a brick at a man in uniform is rebelling against the oppressors of the workers and the paid lackeys of the ruling class.
[The above op-ed was first published September 11, 2011. The associated video has been omitted.]
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