Power Protects Power, Freedom Dies: UK Muslim Protesters Found Guilty

On March 10, 2009 a group of Muslim men staged a protest in the English town of Luton 35 miles north of London. They had sought and been granted a permit by the police and on the appointed time and date proceeded to lawfully protest.

March 10 was the day chosen by the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment to stage a parade to honor their return from Iraq and Afghanistan. The protesters were there to voice their opinions against the British war machine. In principle I support their right to protest and I also believe that both wars are illegal and unjust.

I have joined many protests in London that campaigned against the Iraq invasion, and was part of a Manchester protest march back in September 2008 that hemmed the war criminal Tony Blair into his hotel. Many protesters chanted, shouted slogans and carried placards. I believe that we were directing our anger at the real perpetrators, Bush and Blair and their various cohorts, not at the armed services who are required to fight these illegal wars. As far as I know nobody was arrested.

So what was different in Luton and was it right to find these men guilty of “using threatening, abusive or insulting words and behavior likely to cause harassment and distress”?

The group were carrying placards and shouting accusatory statements about the soldiers; “British Army: murderers”; “British soldiers burn in hell”; “Baby killers”; and “British soldiers you will pay” amongst others.

The war in Iraq was illegal so these guys have some justification for their anger. But even if the wars had been legal all war is immoral and both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in thousands of Muslims (and I am not forgetting the thousands of soldiers from the allied forces) loosing their lives. How would we feel if the boot was on the other foot?

So were the Luton protesters wrong? Yes I think they are wrong to direct their anger at the soldiers who are victims themselves of our warmongering, oil-stealing leaders. But I believe in freedom of speech and like Voltaire famously said “I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. That quote was used by the defense lawyer but to no avail the guilty verdict was in my opinion a forgone conclusion.

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