Anthony McIntyre's Blog, page 1190

Fake News From The Bible

Solidarity message from Writer Anthony McIntyre to the International Conference on Free Expression and Conscience: www.secularconference.com.

Tir Connaill - Free Us From Partition And Let The Land Around Us Awaken!!

Finnian O Domhnaill discusses the impact of partition with particular reference to his native Donegal. Finnian O Donnell is political writer from Donegal, currently living in Derry. He is the creator of the political page No Bones About It. Here he writes about what partition has done to his county and what Irish Unity could bring to the whole northwest region of Ireland.


As a child growing up in 90's Ireland in Donegal, I was raised on the fringes of the conflict that went on in the North, never knowing it's full effects and only seeing TV news or glancing at papers my father and mother were reading. On school trips we would rarely go into Derry and when we did, I noticed a slow down of the traffic. I soon realised we had reached the border, being checked by cameras on the road to be searched for bombs or guns. Being looked over by men in army gear and unfamiliar police uniforms.
As the years went by, adolescence beckoned with its’ insecurities, pimples and female fascinations. I found my peers and I were referred to as the “post conflict generation”. A generation of peace and reconciliation, a word that would become a favourite of the Northern Executive. A generation of change, prosperity and a new outlook in the North and South of Ireland. But surely the older generation were to know that the past would soon creep up and rear its ugly head again.
Unbeknownst to some of us was that the effect of partition was still looming over our generation, still holding Donegal back from prosperity, from equality, from national inclusion and further economic, educational, financial, and healthcare development.
In 1922, Partition came into full effect, dividing Ireland into two. The six county statelet of Northern Ireland, remaining part of the U.K and the Irish Free State, being granted dominion status of the Commonwealth of nations by the British Government. This still left the crown head of the Irish Free State. I am under no illusion, as a child of the “post conflict generation”, that partition was and remains a sectarian solution to a political problem and has only depleted the island's potential for prosperity.
In what could be viewed as the insurrection of the two parliaments, partition has left County Donegal isolated from both the North and the so called ‘‘Republic’’ of Ireland. Partition has left Donegal underdeveloped and ignored time and time again by those in power who did not, or would not, hear the voices of those who have been crying out for recognition. Railway network in 1920 and railway network today

The decimation of Donegal's 112 miles of railways is evidence of the effect of partition as even today there is no railway in the county. The only cross border train is the Dublin to Belfast line. The picture above shows the erosion of our railway in Donegal and other border counties. This cut off has left not just Donegal, but the entire Northwest of Ireland without a railway system. In the entire North there is only one other rail line going from Derry city, along the North coast, to Belfast.

Donegal was mainly bog land, particularly around the West. Other land, rocky and mountainous, only used for sheep grazing. Local famers and/or business men would have dug up the railway line for potato drills. This was not a blatant disrespect of tradition or conservationism. This was survival.





The healthcare sector of Donegal has never been given the chance to develop due to the isolation of partition and the underdevelopment of the county. There are no cancer treatment centres, the closest one a gruelling journey to Galway of up to 4 or more hours depending on where in Donegal you live. This also spills into the southern border counties, people from Monaghan and Cavan travelling to Galway or Dublin. But it doesn’t end there. To get there you can hitch a ride by bus from a charity organisation which is not government funded. In the North, people from Derry, Fermanagh and Tyrone often have to make the journey to Belfast for cancer treatments. In the past people were unable to attend hospitals or doctors from North to South and vice versa. This still applies in some cases for the unemployed and retirees. Cross border workers are allowed free NHS and medical cards in some cases but not all.

Mental health has become an epidemic, for both civilians and ex - combatants, due in part to partition's aftermath; the conflict in the North. Partition has a direct correlation to poverty which in turn directly correlates to depression, addiction and suicide. Many Donegal natives suffer mental health issues, suffer from the county's inadequate mental health services, and suffer the inter generational impact today. Combatants who went on the run (OTR's), found escape from criminal convictions from Northern Ireland's judicial system in the border counties. Unable to return home to their families and friends, these OTR's became isolated and fell into depression, addiction and even suicide. A former member of the republican movement has stated that he ''firmly believes partition has caused that''.

As previously mentioned Donegal suffered agriculturally due to poor land in the west of the county, but also through the war of independence and the civil war. During the economic war between the Free State and Britain from 1932 - 1938, Donegal had already been through a near famine epidemic less than ten years previous. The economic war nearly crippled its farming industry that consisted of over 50% of the land. Most of the arable land, dairy and cattle producing farms were owned by Protestant Unionists in the east of the county and could not find much profit from the poor West side of Donegal. As a result of partition many of these farmers took their business and money north of the border, pulling commerce out of the South and into the hands of the British financial system. This further depleted Donegal's potential for economic and agricultural growth and still goes on today. The pictures below show a clear correlation of farms and arable land in the east of Donegal, owned by Ulster Protestant Unionists, whose ancestors settled during the plantation, and the poorer, often unfertile land in the West, which Irish Catholic Nationalists owned after previous generations were displaced and resettled.






The striped black and white areas showed people of a Catholic, Irish speaking majority, The grey areas showed a Presbyterian, Scots - Irish dialect majority and the cream areas showed a Protestant Anglo - Irish dialect majority. Census 1911

The white areas on the map shows where The poor or unarable and sheep grazing land consists while the red areas shows Cattle farming, the yellow areas show tillage, the black is used for crops the blue area shows Dairy farming and the green areas are used for grazing. Census 1991


In my youth, my mother and I would travel to Meenaneary, in the Southwest of the county where my grandparents, uncle's, aunties and cousins all resided. I remember my aunty taking us to Slieve League and telling us how, when she was a child, she would go out to the cliffs of Slieve League. '' Nobody knew about this place' she said. 'There was never anyone here and it felt like our own private paradise'. To a lesser extent this is still evident today in Ireland as many in the south are still unaware of Donegal's tourist attractions. It never surprises me when I take friends from Dublin up to Donegal and see their faces in awe and hear the familiar line , '' I never knew about this place'.'

Tourism in Donegal was practically non-existent in the beginnings of partition. People from Nationalist Catholic areas would go to places such as Buncrana and Bundoran while those of a Loyalist Protestant majority would flock to Portstewart or Portrush. This sectarian division of partition limited the amount of tourism to Donegal. As the conflict in the north began to rage in the late 60's and 70's, Donegal became even more isolated from the rest of Ireland. People from the South seen ''the black North'' as the whole of Ulster and became cautious of frequenting Tir Connaill, to drive up and still be in the South involved taking the longer trip from some areas, e.g. Dublin, into Leitrim and through the county's corridor into Donegal. This idea of the whole province being under British rule still resonates today for Southerners. While working in Galway I was asked by a Roscommon man, 'What's the sterling rate nowadays up in Donegal? And from my Dublin friends, ''You black nordies are all the same'.'

And so nowadays while there is a somewhat steady flow of tourists into Donegal there is also a flow of Irish money going out. Tens of thousands of people travel to Derry for shopping trips, nights out etc. and in turn take money out of the local economy and place it in the North. This is also evident in the Strabane area where many people from Donegal go over the border to buy cheaper alcohol and food shopping furthering the depletion of Tir Connail's economic development. What's also evident is people travelling to the North with a U.K visa cannot visit Donegal, losing out on potential money, and vice versa for the Northern border counties missing out tourism opportunities for visitors with a visa for the South.

These points highlight the effect of partition on Donegal, the border counties and also the North. There is a clear and strong argument that what’s needed to improve the lives of all involved, is to have a national referendum for a 32 county sovereign republic. In this united Ireland we can propose that the actual Northwest region of the island would be able to focus on and resolve issues such as healthcare, commerce and economic underdevelopment, agriculture and fishing, tourism and infrastructure.

Taking Brexit into consideration; the very strong possibility of a hard border; EU funding being cut completely; tarriffs put in place for goods and services; Sinn Fein's new economic report detailing the potential of generating over 35 billion euro within eight years of Irish unity, an all Ireland republic is becoming an increasingly attractive idea and a possible reality. If an all Ireland sovereign republic is implemented the Northwest region of the island would benefit massively.

The total value of fish landed in Northern Ireland’s three primary fishing ports in 2015 amounted to £20.8 million. Allowing our Northern neighbors to share the spoils of the whole islands waters would generate a more abundant Ireland. Dick James, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Fish Producers Organisation has said ''reduced quotas, red tape and restrictions have been disastrous'' as he was relating to the EU strangle hold over the six county's fishing industry. Ireland's fishing industry is reported to be worth 1 billion euro a year by 2020. Northern Ireland receives 23.5 million euro from The European Maritime & Fisheries Funds (EMFF) , while the European Commission reports that the E.U will give €147.6m to the South of Ireland's fishing industry in 2014-2020.

The Irish Government is providing an additional €94m in co-funding, meaning there’s a total of over €241m available. With the strong chance of this funding being lost in the North due to Brexit, a sovereign all Ireland republic with a unified fishing industry would benefit County Donegal's economy as well as the rest of the island. Under this new Ireland our sovereignty must be respected by the E.U and less bureaucracy would need to be put in place.

This same proposal must also apply to the agricultural industry in a united sovereign republic. According to the Ulster Farmers Union, the agri-food sector generates £4.5 billion a year in Northern Ireland while receiving €350 million from E.U funding. In the republic, Teagasc reported that in 2015, the agri-food sector generated €13.54 billion and receives €1.2 billion in E.U funding. A combined agricultural industry would benefit the Northwest region of a united Ireland, as stated previously about farmers taking business North of the border, no money would be lost by going to the U.K market of the six counties.

In regards to tourism, unity would reap huge benefits for the North West. As stated previously, people with a U.K visa feel they are unable to travel South into Donegal leaving potential income for the county at a loss. This is also evident for people on an Irish visa who think they cannot enter the North. Of course, in an all Ireland republic that matter would be resolved immediately.

In a United Ireland the whole Northwest region of Ireland can work as one single tourist attraction consisting of counties Donegal, Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh. Northern Ireland's tourism sector brings in £764 million according to NI business info while Failte Ireland reported in 2015 that tourism in the republic made a colossal €7.7 billion. Combining these two tourist sectors and implementing a North West tourist attraction region would generate more income to the island as a whole. . In a united Ireland, money will remain in the economy. This new Ireland will also attract today's cautious Southerners to the North, as well as attracting more Northerners to come “South”.

It should also be noted that a united Ireland will have one single currency. Instead of tens of thousands of people taking the trip into Derry, Strabane, Newry etc. and passing over their money to the U.K, it will remain in Ireland, accumulating more income for the Northwest region, border counties and the whole country. This will compel people to perhaps spend their money in their local areas, in turn, helping small businesses and smaller towns such as Lifford and Letterekenny to flourish. This increased revenue, job growth and removal of the financial border can only benefit the entire surrounding region of Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh also, no longer to the detriment of Donegal that we have seen through two currencies in the region.

The healthcare sector could benefit immensely. Donegal's place in the Irish health sector has been blended with the province of Connacht, leaving vital services spread out and inevitably resulting in people travelling extreme distances for services. Under a united Ireland, a complete overhaul of health services could see free healthcare for all. This will give everyone on the island the entitlement to attend hospital and doctor appointments regardless of residency, employment status, age or medical condition. The North West could be granted a designated healthcare sector region which could consist of Donegal, West Derry, West Tyrone, and North West Fermanagh resulting in more localised healthcare. Decentralisation of services results in greater accountability of budget allocation. Ironically, this proposed new healthcare region would somewhat resemble the old territory of the O Neill's.

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Furthermore, a cancer treatment centre for all cancers could be created to ease the burden of people in the Northwest who have to travel to Galway, Belfast or Dublin. A combined all Ireland health service could reduce costs and raise healthcare standards. Alluding to an earlier point, it can also be argued that ex combatants will be able to return to their homes and families, reducing depression, addiction and suicide for this group. Rehab centres could work under one system as Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan currently operate separately to the other six counties of Ulster which work within U.K regulation and legislation. This would also apply to hospitals, doctors surgery etc.

Finally, Infrastructure. Investment could be made into a new all Ireland Republic to link once again the railway lines of the North West region into the rest the island. A nationalised all island railway system could provide the region with a rail service from Donegal to Sligo via Leitrim, linking up with Galway and into the rest of the country. It could also be linked to Derry, in turn, linking up with Belfast and Dublin. A direct railway line from Derry to Dublin could also be created, connecting Tyrone, Monaghan and county Armagh. This rail could also be joined with Cavan and Fermanagh which would go to Galway via Sligo. This regeneration of the railway would further connect the North to the South. It would also bring employment and development to border areas and counties, making them a more attractive option for potential investment. Environmentally a modern railway system would reduce traffic and emissions.

The new motorway from Derry to Belfast, first proposed over 50 years ago, could finally get underway under the control of one government and no longer be embroilled in the historically sectarian lack of investment West of the Bann, which Donegal has suffered the consequences of also.

In conclusion, I intended to point out what the benefits of Irish unity would mean to Donegal and the North West region of the island. What has been realised is that not only will Donegal benefit, but thrive in a new sovereign 32 county Irish republic. The surrounding counties and whole island will benefit from many aspects of Irish unity. The strong arguments and clear benefits of unity are evident. From tourism and healthcare to fishing and infrastructure, from agriculture to economics, the people and communities of Ireland would see a better way of life. There are other areas unexplored that could benefit from an all island economy, such as water supply, electricity, renewable energy, education, a national grid, environmental and conservation issues, civil and social service sectors, government departments etc. Instead of two separate regulations, jurisdictions and legislation, the amalgamation of one system would save millions, generate billions and improve the standards of our shared, inclusive Ireland for all.

Structures should now be put into place by all political parties North and South to discuss a new sovereign 32 county republic. The British government should be informed on the matters discussed but have no say or influence what so ever on any proposals. Representatives in Brussels should also be involved and informed on matters discussed and/or proposed but should also have no influence on any matters that arise. Sovereignty should mean sovereignty.

A clear, concise and agreed arrangement between all political parties of a united Ireland must be reached and a national referendum should be called for the people to decide. Further planning and steps should be provided to make sure the transition of partitioned Ireland to United Ireland be carefully managed. Furthermore the E.U should provide extra funding for the process as it did for the reunification of Germany. Britain should also give further funding to the new Republic and a lowering of that funding until a complete cut off throughout the process of unity.

As a sovereign Republic that grants the people the true power of a nation, to determine its own destiny and self determination, it is up to us, the people of Donegal, the North West, Ulster and our whole island to make this a reality.

Onwards to the republic, comrades and onwards, to freedom.

Tir Connaill Abu!!

Vaxxed

Rowan Clarke has very strong feelings about the Anti-Vaccination lobby and the film Vaaxed. which recently screened in Dublin. Ronan Clarke is a Dublin political activist.
As I wasn’t a subscriber of the Times.Co.Uk and had no intention of paying to be one, I read the only visible paragraph, which explained that a controversial conspiracy theory themed movie was coming to Dublin. Titled Vaxxed, it was centred around the Anti-Vaccination movement, which I was to find later was more a cult then a movement.
The messiah revered by this cult is one Andrew Wakefield, a disgraced former Doctor, the progenitor of the anti-vaccine phenomenon, who in the late 90’s submitted a paper to the medical journal The Lancet in which he made the bold claim that there was a link between the MMR vaccine and Autism.

While this paper and Wakefield’s claims were always treated with great suspicion, it all came to a head in the late 2000’s, after much investigation by the General Medical Council in Britain.

It transpired that Wakefield’s studies and research that formed his paper were found to have been carried out unethically and frequently, with many serious charges levelled against Wakefield. This was all on the back of investigations by journalists who insisted Wakefield had taken bribes from trial lawyers involved in cases taken by parents of Autistic children, claiming MMR vaccines had harmed their children.

The GMC went on to find that Wakefield had deliberately misled his patients (all children), ignored their wishes and subjected them to unnecessary procedures. Wakefield was struck off the British medical register and is no longer allowed to practice medicine in Britain.

Despite his very public shaming and fall from grace, a cult of personality has developed around Wakefield.

His adherents still refer to him as ‘Doctor’ and think of him as a modern-day martyr, discredited by Big Pharma and the Medical establishment to cover up some grand conspiracy.

‘Vaxxed, from cover up to catastrophe’, was the creation of Wakefield, directed, produced and screen written by the former Doctor.

It is seen among the anti-Vaxxer (as they are now termed) cult and assorted conspiracy obsessed eccentrics, as Wakefield’s redemption, proof of his vindication.

For everyone else it is an obvious vanity project of little merit, at best a flashy piece of impressively edited propaganda.

Watching it myself with an open mind, I found it to be a visually well put together documentary, but not convincing in its arguments, which have been widely debunked as of present by credible professionals.

Still, while watching it, I worried that there are many impressionable and gullible people out there who could be swayed by the message of this flick with its flashy graphics, dramatic music and the serious tone of the narrator, which unfortunately is enough to convince many out there unable to think critically for themselves.

The big and obvious danger of people being hoodwinked by this irresponsible propaganda, is that parents are taken in by the “Vaccines causes Autism” quackery the Wakefield movement promote.

These parents, out of irrational fear, may not go down the responsible and trusted road of having their new-borns vaccinated from a variety of deadly and debilitating diseases that are mostly in massive decline in the Western World or all but extinct due to the advent of vaccines.

These dangers have been realised in recent times, as there have been dozens of deaths attributed to unvaccinated children. In March of 2017, it was reported that in a six-month period, 17 children in Romania had died from the complications of measles, preventable had the children been vaccinated.

This just goes to show the damage the anti-Vaxxer cult is capable of. It quite literally kills children!

Unfortunately, in Ireland there is a small yet established anti-Vaccine network in place. And as can be expected its made up mostly of the parents of Autistic children.

Other than from a News source in Britain, I could find no other information on this purposed Vaxxed showing in Dublin. So, I decided to do some digging, joining some conspiracy theory forums and anti-vaxxer groups on Social Media.

The world of Autism is one I’m well accustomed to. My eldest son of 8 years of age is non-verbal autistic. While profoundly intelligent and functional, he presents many challenges in his inability to communicate and his awkwardness in understanding social cues and a noticeable lack of understanding when it comes to emotions.

Still he Is very much part of the family, treated no different from our other children, and loved by all our extended family.

In coming to understand his non-conventional ways of communicating, play and some of the eccentricities he exhibits, I’ve come to form a very close bond with him and would regard him a best friend. This despite him not being able to mutter a word to me. I feel as if I can understand his wants and needs.

But I am not going to paint all in the garden as rosy. I would be lying if I was to suggest that living with a severely autistic people is easy. It can be a very hard life - taxing in every regard.

When raising an autistic child, the commitment and effort needed is more then what would be required with a so called ordinary child.

The unpredictable nature of various forms of autism coupled with issues with communication, difficulty with social settings, sometimes sporadic anger and violence to one’s self or others and the potential for danger by the child not having the means to process everyday dangers we take for granted: you are constantly on guard and need large levels of patience (although from experience this too can take a long time to develop).

When your child has autism, you quickly learn that your life and family life will be vastly different in many challenging ways.

There will be no high-powered career, no time for a healthy social life, the potential for negative effects on mental health from the stress involved and it is extremely trying for relationships, with large divorce rates and ended partnerships common with the parents of Autistic Kids. You consign yourself to the fact that this is your life now.

Of course, none of the hardships attributed to autism is the fault of the kids themselves. As parents, we have an instinctive love for our children and learn to accept them as they are. It’s a learning curve that takes time and patience. I would like to think that at this stage that I’ve transcended all my apprehensions and negative feelings around my sons’ autism, and have adapted in mindset and application to being fully in tune with it, and viewing it as a vocation more than a hindrance. In ways, many will not understand I see the strengths in my son’s autism where many would just see the weaknesses.

Unfortunately, yet understandably, a lot of parents can never accept their child being what they see as being afflicted with autism.

They are good people and love their children deeply, but are angry at what they see as befallen their child and the fact they find life so much more difficult raising that child.

Even as parent of an autistic child, understanding the nature of autism, its origins and what causes it, is even with today’s marvels in modern medicine, still baffling.

Even the experts will tell you they are nowhere near understanding the condition in its entirety.

Any of the approved treatments and therapies are very much trial and error, and progress is slow. Even the most meagre baby steps achieved are deemed major successes.

In Ireland, the state has failed the Autistic children when it comes to offering support and intervention for these kids and adults with the condition. Widespread cuts to special needs services and a total lack of innovation or drive to provide vital services has left many parents at their wits end.

In these parent’s frustration they want answers, why is their child this way? And is there a cure?

It is in this atmosphere and sensing the desperation and the potential for it to be exploited that the shady hucksters, quacks, pseudoscientists, gurus and false prophets crawl out of the woodwork.

They promise easy answers outside all realms of reason and medical officialdom. Yet still the struggling parents in their gullibility, blindly will try anything in the hope of some sort of miracle remedy, without thinking of the consequences.

It doesn’t help either that many high-profile celebrities and other influential figures are prominent critics of vaccinations or outright Anti-Vaxxers. Legendary actor Robert DeNiro recently tried to host Vaxxed at his world-renowned film Tribeca film festival, later pulling it after much protest to him for giving an audience and platform to such highly dangerous hogwash. Even maverick US president Donald Trump is an open anti-Vaxxer who met with Andrew Wakefield during his presidential campaign.

The lobby which constitutes the driving force of the Anti-Vaxx movement here in Ireland and in Britain, are a strange heady mix of organisations and groups that exist on the fringes of Irish society: various obscure fringe political groupings, the ‘alternative health’ industry, new age religions, high profile conspiracy theorists and wealthy benefactors sympathetic to the Anti-Vaxx crusade. A brief outline of who some of this lobby are include:

The Homeopathy Society - for those unaware of what homeopathy is, it’s a largely discredited form of alternative medicine that works on the premise of like cures like. It involves a microscopic sample of a substance being dropped into a Vat of water and then the water shaken thousands of times under the substance has dissipated leaving just water, which is then dripped onto a sugar capsule, essentially presenting these capsules as medicine when they are just water(sometimes with alcohol as an added ingredient).

The Church of Scientology - the much ridiculed and maligned UFO cult which is renowned for brainwashing its members, extorting their cash and making them literal slaves of the ‘church’ with its odd theology of cosmology/self-help practices. The ‘church’ regards all forms of psychiatry and drugs to be detrimental to all mankind, and members are prohibited from using any medicines even if they are desperately needed for conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes or heart conditions. Through use of various front groups, the ‘Church’ disseminates anti-medicine/anti-drug propaganda.

Direct Democracy/The Nation Citizens Movement/Various conspiracy theory advocates: Many if not all the most ardent conspiracy theorists and conspiracy theory outfits are firm promoters of the Anti-Vaxx movement. One of the more prominent of these outfits is the registered political party Direct Democracy/The National Citizens movement. Ideologically right wing and populist, they are a party entrenched in conspiracy theory politics, who are strongly connected with the pseudo legal concept and recent US import ‘Freeman on the land’. They point to the HPV scandal in which it is alleged 350 teen girls suffered negative effects and lifelong illnesses after being vaccinated with the HPV vaccine Gardasil. Although proof that these girls acquired their illness from Gardasil is widely disputed by medical professionals and most sections of the media.

Since the advent of the water protests, conspiracy theory ideas have become very prominent in anti-establishment activism. Many sections of the public disenchanted with all things political, which they conflate with government, embraced the simplistic rhetoric DDI was sprouting although they still performed poorly at the ballot box and have since disappeared into obscurity. Although its core figures are still Anti-Vaxx promoters.

Ask yourself, with such elements bolstering the position of the Anti-Vaxxer movement, providing it funding and resources, would you gamble your child’s health on the opinions of such a disparate collection of misanthropes?

These entities have a very clear agenda in promoting the anti-vaccination position. As the parents that decide to not inoculate their kids from potentially lethal diseases, the Homeopaths will be waiting in the wings to sell their snake oil. The Scientologists can offer courses and their own perverted forms of counselling to combat any ‘spiritual’ problems that arise. And Direct Democracy can gain at the ballot box (or so they thought), putting it up the government lackeys of big pharma.

From browsing through various internet forums and secret groups on Facebook, some of what I discovered about what goes on within the Anti-Vaxxer network well and truly shook me to my very core. The more hard-line parents were prepared to subject their children to highly hazardous and potentially fatal pseudoscientific experiments which there seems to be no credible scientific they work!

One method discussed was ‘Chelation therapy’, a process in which highly toxic chemicals are injected into a child (usually without the child’s consent it would seem) which allegedly expels heavy metals from a child’s body, heavy metals that apparently originate from vaccines. Again, there is no evidence supportive of this ‘cure’ and it is not practiced by any accredited medical professionals nor has it any endorsement from any scientific sources.

More disturbing was the terrifying usage of what’s known as ‘bleaching’, were a child is given a dose of diluted industrial bleach (the quacks refer to it as ‘miracle mineral solution’) in the form of an enema, the idea being this ‘cure’ purges the body of toxins that are claimed cause autism. It goes without saying this barbaric practice enjoys no support from any scientific source and could be deemed child abuse.

It is particularly disturbing to see parents post pictures of the contents of toilet bowls after children have defecated, with blood and bits of stomach lining on display and the parent being assured ‘this is all natural’, encouraged to continue the bogus treatment by idiots.

I decided I needed to protest this harmful Vaxxed nonsense being given a platform in my hometown, so I sought out others who shared my concerns.

This sort of activism was not my forte. I’m somewhat a veteran of protesting but never on the basis of pursuing an issue such as this, which I realise I should have acted on sooner as it is a matter close to my heart.

I encountered in my search for information on the proposed event, a woman named Fiona O’Leary of Cork. Fiona is a devoted mother to her children, two of whom are autistic. She herself has Asperger’s, so is deeply embedded and passionate in the campaign for the rights for Autistic people.

The Autistic Rights Movement is still in its infancy but is growing, promoting the ideal of neurodiversity that those with neurological conditions should be treated as equal and respected the same as any other human being; that Autism does need to be (or can be) cured, as the movement believe autism to be an authentic form of human diversity, self-expression, and being; that autistic people are not broken individuals or have no value. The movement takes umbrage with the Anti-Vaxx term for Autistic children, the inflammatory insensitive label ‘the vaccine injured.’

Fiona can come across at times as uncompromising and dogged in her endeavours, not afraid to be deemed unpopular or criticised for calling out charismatic con artists and charlatans, but for her it all comes down to her defending Autistic people from harm and discrimination. She is a frequent contributor to various media outlets and newspapers, exposing harming quackery and calling for legislation to protect Autistic children from harmful pseudoscientific bogus therapies.

She has even spoke in front of the EU parliament in Brussels at its Evidence Matters event, to warn of the dangers of the anti-vaccination cult and unregulated, unproven and dangerous bogus Autism 'treatments'.

It was through Fiona I discovered the event was happening, but despite our efforts to ascertain the location, the members of the Anti-Vaxx groups on Facebook - which I had sneakily joined - and even those on the Vaxxed Ireland page were remaining tight lipped, stating the venue would only be divulged two hours prior to the event itself. All we had to go on was that it was being held in the City Centre.

We decided hook or by crook, that we would protest the event, and we did!

In the run, up to the event we were worried the location would remain a secret. Even Corrs superstar and well known eccentric ultra-conspiracy theorist Jim Corr goaded Fiona online in her efforts to protest event, even threatening legal action for calling out his support of the harmful alternative medicine he openly endorses, and to warn us to stay away from him if he decided to attend the screening.

The day came and protestors from not just across Ireland but also England, made their way to Dublin City Centre to await a leak on where VAXXED was being screened. We got lucky, an hour prior to the event being held, word had come that the Tivoli Theatre on Francis Street was hosting the controversial event.

I was surprised at the Tivoli giving this film a platform, as it a highly respected establishment with a rich history, with many a historical play performed there by the arts community over the years. In my younger years, I used to attend raves held there. Recently is has fallen on tough times, so in pursuit of handy cash, it was prepared to host the Vaaxed crowd. An act I reckon the arts council would frown upon.

We made our way hurriedly to Francis Street. As I was parking my car and walking up the street to join the rest at the Tivoli’s entrance. Two men followed me crossing the road with Hi-Tech cameras pointed at my face, silently with smiles on their faces. They were dressed like surfers, with beach tans, Ray bans and baseball hats turned backwards, and had laid back American accents when they did speak.

This is reminiscent of the tactics Scientology employ in badgering critics and opponents. They realised they weren’t getting much joy from me, so they proceeded to walk up the street ahead of me to annoy the other protesters.

The protesters were made up of a collection of autistic adults representative of the autistic rights community, sceptics, science enthusiasts and anti-cult activists. Present was well known anti-Scientology spokesman Pete Griffiths, at one time himself a dedicated Scientologist, now arguably its most vocal critic in Ireland.

Also present were Alex and Emma, two women who had made their way over from England for protesting. Emma is a somewhat internet vigilante. seasoned in exposing con artists and proponents of some of the harmful ‘treatments’ mentioned above. She is a thorn in the side of the Homeopaths, cranks and quacks peddling bogus remedies as Autism cures. She is also an author about understanding autism, as someone herself with Asperger’s.

We stood across the street with our signs and placards making our presence known after we were refused access to the building. Most of the protesters wore body cams, which was explained was just in case the VAXXED crew with the cameras or private security/private investigators were to use edited footage to discredit us. This was like no protest I’d ever been at before. Word was dripping out in bits and pieces of what was going on inside, by sceptics who gained entry.

A child was presented on stage as ‘vaccine free’ to rapturous applause, which conjured up images of Hitler’s Mein Kampf and his assertions of what the perfect Aryan child looks like. Parents were interviewed with their children, before the screening, in an interview setting. Attention was paid to the more obviously disabled children. The kids and some of them grown adults were presented as oddities, broken humans who could have been ‘normal’ had they not have been vaccinated.

The whole affair was perverse, along with irresponsibly advising people not vaccinate children. The children who did have autism it seemed were fair game to be discriminated and abused for the purposes of pushing their warped worldview.

As the first screening ended, aand the crowds left in drips and drabs to avoid our stares, we witnessed mothers with infant babies emerge through the doors to leave. An older woman angrily approached me, and shouted at me that I was a ‘paid plant’. Paid by who? asked I! ‘Government, Big Business’ she replied in a fit of pure anger. Little did she know in the past I have been a member of two Anti-Good Friday Agreement Republican groups, and while I’m independent of any political groups now and have a more open mind, I still would hold anti-establishment views: a long way off from being a ‘plant’.

An elderly lady, I proceeded to ask her did she remember when TB ravaged Dublin in the 1940’s and 1950s. She responded she did. So, I proceeded to ask her, if she wanted TB to make a comeback, as it surely will if we all stop vaccinating our kids. She waved me off to dismiss me and marched off down the street.

Anybody else leaving totally refused to engage with me, which I wished to do in a calm manner for a reasonable discussion. It was eyes straight ahead with the odd mention of ‘paid plant’ or ‘troll.’

Obviously the organisers were disseminating the notion we were all paid agents of pharmaceutical companies or some such garbage.

After Vaxxed was over and the doors locked we decided to depart after a successful protest.

As I was leaving it dawned on me where I was standing and the significance the area had to vaccination - in the heart of the South Inner City, where TB and Polio spread like wildfire and annihilated an entire generation of that community.

A trailblazing politician by the name of Doctor Noel Browne, one of the few gems to ever emerge from Leinster House, who in the face of opposition from the dominant Catholic Church, performed a feat of bravery in those days considering the power the church. Single handily introduced free vaccination schemes across the country, which meant that areas like the North and South Inner City saw drastic reductions in TB and Polio. In a brief time, thereafter, these diseases were virtually made extinct through the godsend of Vaccines.

Yet here I was standing on Francis Street in 2017 and a theatre full of people were ironically proposing an idea that would harken back the bad old days of TB and Polio: all because they read some diatribe on bloated nutcase Alex Jones Info wars or a YouTube video from crank extraordinaire David Icke or as Rationalwiki deems him, the ‘human singularity of insanity’.


Filling the pockets of homeopaths.

I realised when I got home how serious the topic of anti-vaccination is. The number of people alone in the Tivoli that day, should they not vaccinate their children, had the potential to endanger a future generation from catching diseases thought long dormant.

Anti-Vaxxers in a nutshell Kill!

As someone normally very questioning of everything, I’m yet to see any convincing evidence that MMR vaccines in any way can cause autism in young children, in fact evidence of any harm coming to children from vaccines is scant.

Perhaps the little pinch they get after the needle goes in and the obligatory crying after can be tough as a parent to watch, but sure they normally get a lolly pop afterwards and all is well.


‘Remember TB, Polio and Smallpox?’‘No?’‘Me neither, get your kids vaccination!’
That was the humorous slogan carried by someone protesting the screening of Vaxxed in Atlantic in the United States.

It needs to be drilled into anti-Vaxxers ad Nausum.

The Paris Climate Agreement After Trump

Simon Pirani with a piece published in Labour Briefing, July 2017.


China and Europe “demonstrated solidarity with future generations”, European council president Donald Tusk said on 2 June, just after US president Donald Trump announced that Washington was quitting the deal. And on 7 June California governor Jerry Brown met with Chinese president Xi Jingping to talk about climate policy.

The chorus disapproving Trump’s damaging gesture was impressive. But it should not obscure the fact that the international climate negotiations process, started in 1992 at the Rio “earth summit”, has been a monumental failure.

In the quarter of a century since Rio, the amount of oil, gas and coal burned globally each year has risen at an accelerated rate. The total is up by more than half (see graphic). The only pause was in 2009, due to the economic crisis, after which fossil fuel consumption growth resumed.

These are the numbers that count, since fossil fuel consumption is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions that produce global warming.

The 1992 treaty recognised the need to avert the danger of global warming, in the first place by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But at Washington’s insistence, the Rio deal included no binding targets for reducing emissions.

From the start the talks initiated at Rio were a battleground between (1) most rich-world governments and the US Democratic Party (who accepted the need to act on global warming), (2) the US Republican party and oil-producing countries (who denied climate science, long before anyone had even heard of Trump), and (3) developing-country governments, who feared that, having caused the problem, rich countries would try to avoid paying for it.

In 1997, at the EU’s urging, the Kyoto protocol was signed. Participating countries committed to emissions reduction targets. The US Senate voted by 95 to 0 not to participate. It was the heyday of neoliberalism, and market mechanisms, such as the European Emissions Trading System, were to be used to achieve the targets. Forms of regulation (e.g. fuel efficiency targets for cars, building standards, and so on) were left strictly to individual governments.

Instead of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, rich countries bought the “right to pollute” from elsewhere, and/or massaged their figures. The effect of the export of energy-intensive manufacturing processes to developing countries helped. The emissions trading scheme was a dismal failure even on its own terms. Emissions kept rising.

In 2009, negotiators met at Copenhagen to agree on a successor agreement to Kyoto – and failed. The principle of binding targets was junked, while political leaders continued to talk as Tusk did about “solidarity with future generations”.

The Paris deal, signed in 2015, recognised that global warming needs to be limited to 2degC above pre-industrial levels, but also that a 1.5degC target would be preferable. But the emissions reduction commitments made by participating countries, including the US and China, will miss those targets by miles. And the commitments are entirely voluntary – which is why many Republican politicians urged Trump to stay in the agreement.

Climate scientists have calculated that if all the Paris pledges are kept, global temperatures will rise to 2.7degC above pre-industrial levels.

The UN and other international bodies, and the signatory governments to the Paris deal, continue to pretend that market mechanisms are the answer.

Twenty-five years of experience has shown that that is not the case. The Rio process has not only failed to produce results, but has limited the discourse around climate change to these neoliberal approaches. Some progress has been made e.g. in developing renewable energy for power generation, but claims that the transition away from fossil fuels is well underway are fanciful.

Social movements and labour movements need to work out strategies for confronting the global warming danger outside of the Rio process. Organisations such as Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, and unions such as PCS (which has just produced a major report on the issue), are making important contributions to the debate about how.

■ Simon Pirani’s book on the global history of fossil fuel consumption since 1950 will be published next year by Pluto Press.

Fianna Fail’s Northern Invasion Will Save Unionism

Just because the DUP is the largest Unionist party doesn’t mean the myth of Unionist unity has become a practical reality. Commentator Dr John Coulter uses his Fearless Flying Column to maintain that Fianna Fail contesting polls in Northern Ireland is precisely the shock treatment Unionism needs to bring about genuine unity. For more than a generation, unionists have indulged in the politically suicidal luxury of infighting and splitting.
But there is still the real fear that even though the DUP has now firmly established itself as the single biggest Unionist party, the Unionist family’s unpredictable liberal clique could engulf Northern Protestantism in the mother of all civil wars because Big Arlene is planning to hop back into bed with the Shinners at Stormont.
Unionism needs a massive shock short of a united Ireland to knock some sense into the parties so the war cry of ‘unionist unity’ becomes much more than empty rhetoric.
Naturally, years ago, knee-jerk unionism has poured out its verbal diarrhoea condemning then Fianna Fail boss Bertie Ahern’s desire to organise in the North. 
Even current Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael has been greeted with a polite ‘clear off’ following his recent Pride trip north. Could Emperor Leo be planning to save the election-crushed SDLP by suggesting a potential all-island merger between their two parties?
But Fianna Fail can actually help maintain the Union because many Garden Centre Protestants will be encouraged to return to the polling booths to combat the Southern republican party’s Northern onslaught.
Unionists – and especially the DUP camp – have been forced to pussy foot with Shinners because they lacked the brains to share power with constitutional nationalists at Sunningdale in the 1970s.
These same unionists need not complain because they have to ‘sup soup’ with Shinners.
For a generation, unionists snubbed chances to create a voluntary coalition at Stormont with Eddie McAteer’s Nationalist Party; Gerry Fitt and John Hume’s SDLP, and even John Turnley’s Irish Independence Party.
So who did Catholic voters flock to in their tens of thousands? The Shinners as the only party which would force unionists to sit up, take notice of nationalists, and above all, form a power-sharing Executive with republicans.
Unionism has one last iceberg to sink the all-Ireland political Titanic once and for all. It must seek a power-sharing arrangement with Fianna Fail and shaft the Shinners at the same time.

Political mergers must become the flavour of 2018 between the DUP and UUP in the unionist camp, and a new pan nationalist front of Fianna Fail and the SDLP to isolate the Shinners in republicanism. Yes, I did say between Fianna Fail and the Stoops!

While the natural merger may seem to be between Fine Gael and the SDLP, Emperor Leo is buoyant at the moment with his Northern agenda that he can outgun the Shinners and form the next Dail government without the help of Gerry Adams’ TDs.

Talk of the Shinners in government simply brings many unionist voters to the ballot box to plump for the DUP, but mention Fianna Fail, and all of a sudden, a united Ireland is just a referendum away.

For unionists, it would be better to deal with a Fianna Fail which competently represented the Northern Catholic working and middle classes and paid lip service to a united Ireland, than a vibrant, re-organised Sinn Fein which dogmatically pursed the goal of a 32-county socialist republic.

A Fianna Fail/SDLP merger is just the perfect carrot to lure the rapidly emerging Garden Centre Catholics away from the redesigned, non-Provo dominated Shinners.

The vast majority of people who voted for Sinn Fein in the Republic defected from Fianna Fail.

Smash the Shinners in the North, and even Fianna Fail could be in line to form a future Dail without the need of another coalition partner in Leinster House.

At long last, Fianna Fail colleagues have realised the only way to permanently send the Sinn Fein bandwagon off the rails is to go head to head with the Provos’ political wing in its own back yard of the six counties.

Unionism and Fianna Fail are both in win-win scenarios by forming a power-sharing deal in the North. Roll on a future Stormont poll with Fianna Fail on the ballot papers – and, hopefully, perfect peace in Ireland.
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter

The Last Post…

Alex Cavendish brings his excellent blog, Prison UK: An Insider's View, to a close.
Dear readers,

This will be my final post on this blog. In the three years since I started Prison UK: An Insider’s View it has had a global audience that I could never had anticipated when I tentatively started writing on prison issues. I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts and experiences about our prison system, as well as my views on what needs to be done to address the crisis.

Prison UK started its life as a more permanent record of my comments on prison issues that first appeared on The Guardian’s online pages. These attracted interest and I felt that there was a genuine curiosity among many members of the public about what goes on inside our prisons.

It also became clear that there wasn’t much first-hand information available to people who might be facing a custodial sentence. Family members and friends of prisoners also wanted to ask questions or to gain an insight into the lives that their loved ones might be experiencing behind bars. I did my best to fill in some of the gaps, as well as sharing my personal experiences.

The blog also attracted many hundreds of comments and questions, which I – and others – tried to address. I also learned a great deal from many of these contributors who wanted to share their prison experiences, either as a prisoner or as a family member or as a member of staff. We exchanged many ideas on a wide range of subjects and I would like to thank you all for your contributions.

As some of you may be aware other events have recently overshadowed me and my work, so I have decided to cease blogging on this site. I shall also be withdrawing for any further involvement in prison issues, including comments to the media. My focus in future will be on my family and on pursuing my appeal against conviction so that I can finally clear my name.

As I said recently to one well-wisher it does feel that I’m finally being released from prison myself. I’ve lived and breathed prison issues since 2012, including standing up for other prisoners when I was still inside. As I’ve made clear in earlier posts this advocacy did not make me popular with the prison authorities.

I have decided to leave the posts up as a historical record of what I hope has been a worthwhile project. However, new comments will not be posted or replied to. I am very definitely moving on.

Russia: ‘Extremism’ Case Against Environmentalist Collapses

People And Nature reports on the collapse of a case in Russia against one of the country's leading biologists.
The prosecution of the ecologist Valery Brinikh for “extremism” collapsed yesterday in the city court at Maykop in the Adygea in southern Russia.

The case was brought against Brinikh in 2014, for exposing bad waste disposal practices at a pig farm founded by Vyacheslav Derev, a member of the Federation Council (the upper house of the Russian parliament).

Brinikh is a biologist, and had worked as a director of the Daur Nature Reserve (1993-99) and the Caucasus Nature Reserve (1999-2001). In 2012 he started campaigning, with local residents, against the stench and pollution caused by the Kievo-Zhuraki agro-industrial complex in the Teuchezhsk district of Adygea.
Valery Brinikh (right) with his defence lawyer Andrei Sabinin this week. Photo from Agora/ the Russian Reader


The state prosecutor claimed that an article Brinikh wrote in 2014 in a local newspaper, “The Silence of the Lambs”, insulted the dignity of the Adygean people. (Adygea is a Republic, an enclave in the Krasnodar region in the north Caucasus.) Three years of legal persecution followed.

Brinikh was supported by the Agora International Human Rights Group: they argued that the prosecution was an assault on freedom of speech and the freedom of expression.

The case has been covered by the Russian Reader. Yesterday’s verdict reported here; more stuff here.

China’s Government Bans Religion And Insists On Atheism

Lena M & Dean Lawrence write for Atheist Republic on the  repressive policy of the Chinese Government banning Communist Party members from holding religious belief.
Photo Credits: Synglobe
 Regardless of the fact that China’s constitution allows the practice of religion, Communist Party of China, the ruling party, bans its members from having any religious beliefs. The head of China’s top religious affairs regulator said that party members should not practice religion and those who have religious beliefs should be persuaded to give them up.
Wang Zuoan, director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), wrote in an article released in the Qiushi Journal on Saturday, the flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee:

Party members should not have religious beliefs, which is a red line for all members … Party members should be firm Marxist atheists, obey Party rules and stick to the Party's faith … they are not allowed to seek value and belief in religion.

The China authorities’ move is irresistibly reminiscent of the term ‘thought crime’ which is an Orwellian neologism used to describe an illegal thought. The term was popularized in the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, wherein ‘thought crime’ is the criminal act of holding unspoken beliefs or doubts that oppose or question Ingsoc, the ruling party.

In the book, the government attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the thoughts of its subjects.

Wang added:

Some foreign forces have used religion to infiltrate China, and extremism and illegal religious activities are spreading in some places, which have threatened national security and social stability ... Religions should be sinicized … We should guide religious groups and individuals with socialist core values and excellent traditional Chinese culture and support religious groups to dig into their doctrines to find parts that are beneficial to social harmony and development.

Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the Ethnic and Religious Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said on Tuesday:

It is important that Wang constantly reminds Party members not to have religious beliefs. Some people who claim to be scholars support religions us beliefs in the Party, which has undermined the Party's values based on dialectical materialism.

According to Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing Committee, guiding religions to suit to China's development is a core policy to solve China's religious problems. The moves evolve with traditional Chinese values over years and meet the demand of socialist development.

The problem with the bans is that they have a counter-effect and further accelerate what is prohibited. Banning religion empowers religious people and makes them gather in secret. Such a ban is going to be characterized as persecution among believers outside the country. The bottom line is that imposing bans on anything (in this case religion) have never been successful in the long term.

The Enemy Within: A Tale of Muslim Britain. Sayeeda Warsi. Allen Lane. 2017.

Tahir Abbas writing in Democratic Audit UK reviews The Enemy Within: A Tale of Muslim Britain, by Sayeeda Waarsi.   Professor Tahir Abbas FRSA is currently Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Department of Government, and Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. His forthcoming book is Beyond Islamophobia, Radicalisation and the Culture of Violence, published by Hurst in 2018.




Yorkshire childhood as the daughter of Pakistani immigrants and her role as the first female Muslim cabinet member, she reflects on the rise of Islamophobia, government responses to terrorism and questions of difference and identity in contemporary Britain in this frank, insightful and perceptive read, writes Tahir Abbas.

Baroness Warsi in 2010. Photo: Foreign and Commonwealth Office via a CC BY 2.0 licence

Sayeeda Warsi is a daughter of Pakistani immigrants. Yorkshire born and raised, an accomplished lawyer and member of the Conservative Party, she unsuccessfully sought election as an MP in 2005. Defeated but not outdone, David Cameron elevated her to a life peerage as Baroness Warsi of Dewsbury. Warsi was subsequently appointed to the Cabinet between 2010-12, entering as the first ever Muslim woman to hold such a position.
In her brief but eventful political life, Warsi achieved recognition, success and notoriety, receiving her fair share of supporters and loyalty from dedicated civil servants, but also a number of detractors from within ‘British Islam’ itself to the right-wing elements of her own party. She is now getting a very different kind of attention for her first book, The Enemy Within: A Tale of Muslim Britain, which is part memoir, part social analysis and part political commentary.

Shortly after her superb takedown of the Cambridge-educated, former BNP leader Nick Griffin on BBC’s Question Time in 2009, I left for Turkey in 2010, returning in 2016 to a very different Britain from the one I left. Warsi’s now infamous speech in 2011 observing how Islamophobia has ‘passed the dinner-table test’, as well as her resignation over the bombing of Gaza in 2014 triggered by the deafening silence of her party’s leadership, were half-forgotten events by then.

Since 9/11 and the global economic meltdown in 2008, societies everywhere have transformed, and politics has changed. Islamic State-inspired or planned attacks on Western Europe have created fear and alarm, with Brexit and Donald Trump casting dark shadows over matters of diversity, difference and the reasons given for divisions. An ever-growing Islamophobia makes the task of positive change an ever-greater challenge.

The Enemy Within chronicles Warsi’s memories of life as a young Muslim woman growing up in a South Asian household. She discusses the importance of her family values: notions of hard work, respect for others and their differences and, importantly, fully supporting women as much as men, a perennial struggle facing many. The growing status of the family was achieved through self-employment and eventual financial success. It motivated her desire to become a confident and self-assured woman working in high politics in later life. Her path to political power, however, was not easy, laced as it was with many obstacles along the way.

The opening sections of the book explore what it means to be a British Muslim. Warsi reflects on her experience growing up in Yorkshire while facing the challenges of deindustrialisation also affecting other parts of the North and the Midlands from the 1960s to the 1980s. Warsi describes herself as the daughter of a poor father; however, she grew up not at the heart of her community but at the margins: close enough not to be seen to be apart, but far away enough not to be absorbed by the pervading culture. A strategic rational action defined her middle path, one that has navigated the often frozen-in-time heritage bubble existence of many South Asian Muslims in the North and the Midlands and the need to uphold a pro-integration Islamic outlook on life and society, inspired by Sufi leanings derived from the Barelwi School of Sunni Islam.

The book moves into a wider social and political commentary, with themes of terrorism and Islamophobia most occupying her thoughts. Warsi cogently explains why the UK government has failed to understand terrorist violence and how to adequately deal with the problem. In reality, such violence does not occur in a vacuum. It is often a response to dehumanisation, suppression and subjugation. Policymakers, however, are quick to disregard the importance of inequality, racism, discrimination, stereotyping and the demonising of Islam in normalising anti-Muslim sentiment. Crucially, this Islamophobia drives both violent Islamism and far-right extremism. Warsi also outlines the waves of populism that are sweeping Britain, and how after Brexit and the election of Trump as US President, these challenges will only intensify.

Her perspectives on the 7/7 bombings and what ultimately became known as the UK ‘Prevent’ strategy should be read widely. Warsi fundamentally disagrees that Prevent offers any real value. Rather, for her, it places communities under the watchful eye of the intelligence, policing and security services, securitising differences by treating not just would-be terrorists, however defined, but Muslims as a whole as a threat to ‘shared values’, regarded as the precursor to violent extremism. This conveyor belt theory is thoroughly discredited by leading thinkers but remains a popular theme in the minds of many policymakers and professionals.

For Warsi, the solution to the malaise facing British Muslims is political action leading to political change. This includes Muslims coming together to eliminate the differences that have been exploited by the UK government, forcing Muslims to play against each other in the ‘Muslim industry’. The process, perpetuated by New Labour until 2010, allowed these ‘approved Muslims’ to be incorporated or abandoned by the state at will. Warsi fervently notes that the lack of a Muslim political middle path allows extreme voices to get into power. These actors speak loudest and with the greatest passion as mainstream politicians dodge people’s foremost concerns, attempting to appease them with half-truths about the state of the nation or its identity on the global stage.

Warsi reflects on a conversation with her long-time mentor, Eric Pickles, who stated that ‘the state is not going to do anything for Muslims. Stop demanding things from it.’ Her response is to articulate the need for a British Muslim space that is organic, self-determined and wholly owned by Muslims, not for themselves but for society as a whole, knowing that the category of ‘Britishness’ is itself under severe scrutiny. There is a risk, however, that the search for an ‘English Islam’ as the new moniker that defines the space of British Islam is at odds with Englishness defined as a racial and ethnic category rather than a civil one, as is the case of a Scottish Islam, which is very much part of Scottish national identity. Muslims across Britain need to make strategic alliances with each other. If they refuse to think independently of government, Muslims will continue to suffer. Certainly, as Warsi confesses, for all the talk on the misguided activities of New Labour in the recent past, there is little or no will on the part of the present government when it comes to the Muslim space today, save for more of the status quo.

The alternative to this is not disengagement but greater engagement. Muslims must prove themselves as worthy citizens, she attests, separating questions of political and cultural engagement from the idea that conservatism among Muslims leads to terrorism per se. It is a clear statement on conservative Islam. While needing ongoing adaptation, it is not the reason for violent extremism. While I fully agree with this position, there is a risk that waiting for Muslims to iron out their differences ignores the opportunity to utilise the process of becoming itself as an important element in the progress needed for positive change. Moreover, British Islam does not need British Muslims to singularly espouse or uphold an advanced notion on citizenship. Often small but necessary wins are required to achieve desired outcomes.

The Enemy Within is a preeminent political account of the British Muslim experience, focusing on the most pressing concerns facing communities: namely, the twin evils of terrorism and Islamophobia. Warsi’s analysis of the problems facing British Muslims today is frank, and at times quite witty, as she pokes fun at the absurdity of the men around her. It is also a brave book, written by a woman, a northerner and a Muslim. Warsi went to the top of politics and fought for her stated aims as a Conservative, but also as a proud British Muslim. She rose to the position in spite of the wider problems of the Conservative-dominated Coalition. Her achievements are remarkable, making hers a special story. She witnessed it all, amassing a penetrating sense of the social problems, but could she have done more?

Warsi concludes that in spite of all that is good and right about diversity in Britain, British racism is resistant. Indeed, it continues to reinvent itself, with all the focus now on ‘the Muslim’, who represents a colour, culture and creed seen as problematic for the state, homogenising a vast people and a global faith community, reducing it to all that is loathed about the self but projected on to this predefined other. British racism is, ultimately, ubiquitous and omnipotent. In the end, this is the issue, is it not? Warsi contends that resistance is not futile. Neither is political action. She does concede, however, that the challenges grow faster than the opportunities.

All memoirs contain or exclude aspects that enhance the status of the writer. Warsi, like most other politicians and autobiographers, invariably suffers from this. Her perceptiveness with regards to being British and Muslim, the depth of Islamophobia and the ineffectiveness with which terrorism is dealt with by wrongly focusing on ideology as the only precursor to violent Islamist extremism, however, reveals a book containing detailed insights and critical reflections, all combined with oodles of chutzpah. That the book is a feminist tract is also clear from Warsi’s position as a working-class Muslim woman not only struggling to fight racism, but, crucially, sexism too.

The Enemy Within is a delightful, detailed deep dive into the personal and political world of the woman behind the public face and the TV slots. No matter what commentators and policymakers think of the recent Conservative Party antics, Warsi is the most successful Muslim woman in British political history. Make of that what you will.

The Enemy Within: A Tale of Muslim Britain. Sayeeda Warsi. Allen Lane. 2017.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of Democratic Audit, nor the LSE. It first appeared at the LSE Review of Books.

The Christian Forgery of ‘The Woman Taken in Adultery’

From Michael A. Sherlock (Author)  a piece on Christian biblical forgery.

Lyingly Founded  on forgery upon forgery, as has been made manifest by manifold admissions and proofs, the Church of Christ perpetuated itself and consolidated its vast usurped powers, and amassed amazing wealth, by a series of further and more secular forgeries and frauds unprecedented in human history faintly approximated only by its initial forgeries of the fundamental gospels and epistles of the New Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and of the countless other forged religious documents which we have so far reviewed. These first relate to the infancy of the Church constitute its false certificates of Heavenly birth and of Divine civil status. They are, as it were, the livery of heaven with which Holy Church clothed its moral nakedness until it attained maturer strength and became adept to commit the most stupendous forgeries for its own self-aggrandizement and for the complete domination of mind and soul of its ignorant and superstitious subjects.[1] ~Joseph Wheless


Introduction

It’s possible that very early Christians continued the barbaric Jewish practice of stoning adulterers. Most Christians believe that from the inception of the Christian religion, Jesus condemned the practice of stoning adulterers, yet based on the best evidence we possess, Jesus said and did nothing to rebuke the stoning of adulterers.[2] Aside from the historical problems which plague the very existence of Jesus – such as the complete absence of contemporary historical sources,[3] religious bias in the available texts,[4] contradictions in the official and apocryphal sources for the historical Jesus,[5] the existence of widespread interpolations (forgeries) within both the historical (Josephus, Antiquities) and canonical (New Testament) literature [6] – seemingly insolvable questions surrounding what Jesus may have said and done abound. Notwithstanding this concession of confusion, there are some things we can say with a reasonable degree of certainty. One such assertion is that Jesus probably did not save a woman from being stoned for adultery.

The Forgery of the Woman Taken in Adultery

The Gospel of “John”, within which we find this tale, is based upon a collection of manuscripts written by an anonymous author toward the end of the first century and later dishonestly attributed to John the Apostle. Debates grounded in pure speculation and supposition exist over the true identity of this alleged author, yet most historians and credible Christian scholars now agree that the Gospel of “John” was not authored by John the Apostle.[7] One of the reasons most scholars reject the Christian tradition attributing authorship to John the Apostle can be found in the pages of the New Testament. In the Book of Acts (4:13), John the Apostle was described as having been ‘uneducated’ – a man who would have been unable to write his own name, let alone this skilfully written gospel.
The most damning piece of evidence against the tradition, however, comes from within the gospel itself. In the Gospel of “John”, the author clearly and unequivocally attributes the authorship of the gospel to the mysterious “disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20-24), and not to himself. It was Irenaeus (180 CE) who seems to have birthed the tradition of Johannine authorship, and he is also responsible for (falsely) attributing the authorship of the other canonized gospels,[8] which at the time where amongst a plethora of circulating gospels, most of which contained teachings that Irenaeus’ triumphant (proto-orthodox) sect of Christianity rejected.[9] Ehrman argues that the Proto-Orthodox Church, which eventually became the Catholic Church, falsely attributed authorship to their four official gospels to ensure their perceived legitimacy, because at the time there were many competing Christian sects.[10] Eusebius, who was Emperor Constantine’s pet priest and historian, successfully secured victory for the proto-orthodox church, which is why we only have four official gospels of the many that existed.
Anyway, I digress. So, the Apostle John did not author the Gospel of “John” and this is by no means the extent of the deception surrounding this ancient work. Within “John” can be found ‘The Story of the Woman Taken in Adultery’, in which Jesus allegedly saved an adulterous woman from being stoned to death. This story reads as follows:

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”[11]

The depraved Jewish law by which this fictitious attempted murder was justified comes from God’s omniscient instructions enunciated in Leviticus (20:10): If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. One of the first things that should strike the reader as strange about this story is the absence of the man with whom the woman committed adultery. Where was he? The law clearly states that he is also to be stoned, yet there is no mention of the fate of her forbidden lover. Another problem with the story is that Jesus is overturning his own/father’s omniscient law concerning the punishment for adultery, and according to Numbers (23:19), God doesn’t change his mind.
Further, “Jesus” expressly stated in “Matthew” that all of the Old Testament laws still apply, and that should a person encourage others to forgo following the least of these largely ridiculous, barbaric and misogynistic laws, they shall be called last in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:17-20), which would, ironically, include himself among the hell bound. Also, keep in mind that this crime was so heinous to “God” that he included it in his Decalogue (Ten Commandments).[12] Besides all of this textual, theological and historical hilarity, ‘The Story of the Woman Taken in Adultery’ was a forgery (Interpolation) added to the original Gospel of “John” by another anonymous Christian scribe centuries after its composition. In his Critical Introduction to the New Testament, New Testament scholar Holladay remarks:

Probably the most well-known case suggesting a fluid tradition is the story of the woman caught in adultery (7:53–8:11), which is absent in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts. For this reason, it is printed in double brackets in many translations to indicate that it was a later addition to the Gospel.[13]

Further, New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman states:

The story of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery is arguably the best-known story about Jesus in the Bible; it certainly has always been a favorite in Hollywood versions of his life. It even makes it into Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, although that movie focuses only on Jesus’s last hours (the story is treated in one of the rare flashbacks). Despite its popularity, the account is found in only one passage of the New Testament, in John 7:538: 12, and it appears not to have been original even there… Despite the brilliance of the story, its captivating quality, and its inherent intrigue, there is one other enormous problem that it poses. As it turns out, it was not originally in the Gospel of John. In fact, it was not originally part of any of the Gospels. It was added by later scribes… That naturally leaves readers with a dilemma: if this story was not originally part of John, should it be considered part of the Bible? Not everyone will respond to this question in the same way, but for most textual critics, the answer is no.[14]

Let us take a moment to consider the immense gravity of what Ehrman has highlighted here. Most trained (Christian) textual scholars do not believe that this famous story should be included in the Bible. Just in case the grave nature of this dilemma hasn’t sunk in for you – most of the most learned scholars of the New Testament say that this story does not belong in the Bible! I sincerely hope that you, the faithful Christian, fully fathom the severity of the implications associated with this problem. Just to put you on the right path, there is a story in the Bible which most of your most learned brethren believe should not be in there. Now, as a Christian you may simply shrug your shoulders and say, “oh well, they could all be wrong” – but what’s more likely? Is it more likely that the majority of Christian scholars who have studied these manuscripts, in their original language, for years and years, are wrong, or is it more likely that you, the poorly-read Christian who hasn’t even read the entire New Testament in English, let alone the scholarship and original manuscripts and textual traditions of the New Testament, are wrong? If you’re actually honest with yourself, I think you’ll have to concede that your holy book has some serious credibility problems.

Conclusion

That such forgeries made their way into a collection of works alleged to be the omniscient “Word of God” should give every believer cause to pause and seriously question the validity of the claim that the Bible is of divine contrivance. But more pressingly and disturbingly, we must ask, does this mean that Jesus didn’t reverse Yahweh’s brutal punishment for adultery? If so, is it still okay for Christians to stone adulterers? Thankfully this forgery and far more enlightened secular laws have intervened to forbid such patriarchal barbarism, but strictly speaking, if Christians are to scrupulously adhere to their texts as the source and foundation of their religion, then yes, it is still acceptable, theologically speaking, for Christians to stone adulterers.
Finally, if we ask ourselves why the forger of this story felt the need to concoct and insert this tale centuries after the composition of “John”, we may be given some justification through reasoned speculation to consider the possibility that some early Christians, still heavily influenced by Judaism, were still punishing adultery by stoning people to death – although it must be conceded that the evidence for this cautious claim is based purely upon speculation and supposition. It could also have been inserted as a direct polemic against the Jewish religion. However, it must also be admitted that it is not beyond the realm of possibility that very early Christians stoned adulterers prior to the invention of this tale, particularly given the gradual growth of Christianity out of the Synagogues that were preaching such punishments.
End Notes
Joseph Wheless, Forgery in Christianity: A Documented Record of the Foundations of the Christian Religion, Moscow, Idaho: Psychiana Press, 1930, p. 224.J. Achtemeier. Harper-Collins Bible Dictionary Revised Edition, San Fransisco: Harper-Collins, 1989, p. 535; Carl R. Holladay. A Critical Introduction to the New Testament: Interpreting the Message and Meaning of Jesus Christ, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005, p. 281; Bart D Ehrman. Misquoting Jesus, San Fransisco: Harper-SanFrancisco, 2005, pp. 63-65.Marsha E. Ackermann (ed), Michael J. Schroeder (ed), Janice J. Terry (ed), Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur (ed) and Mark F. Whitters (ed), Encyclopedia of World History. Vol. 1: The Ancient World Prehistoric Eras to 600 c.e, New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008, p. 220; Joe Nickell. Relics of the Christ. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. (2007). pp. 5-6; Earl Doherty, The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Christ, Age of Reason Publications, 2005, pp. 24-25; Bart D Ehrman, Jesus Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And What We Know About Them), New York: Harper-Collins, 2009, p. 149.Approaching History: Bias, cited at: https://www.umass.edu/wsp/history/outline/bias.html, accessed on 29 July, 2017.Michael Sherlock, I Am Christ, Vol. 1: The Crucifixion – Painful Truths, Boston: Charles River Press, 2012, pp. 113-249.Bart D. Ehrman, Forged: Writing in the Name of God – Why the Bible’s Authors are Not Who We Think They Are, New York: Harper-Collins, 2011; Bart D. Ehrman, Forgery and Counterforgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 149-150.Bart D Ehrman, Jesus Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And What We Know About Them), New York: Harper-Collins, 2009, p. 111; James M. Robinson, The Gospel of Jesus: A Historical Search for the Original Good News, New York: Harper-Collins, 2005, p. 4.Bart D Ehrman, Jesus Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And What We Know About Them), New York: Harper-Collins, 2009, p. 111.Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battle for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 13.Ibid. pp. 2-7.The New Testament, John 8:2-11, NRSV.The Hebrew Bible, Exodus 20:14, NRSV.Carl R. Holladay, A Critical Introduction to the New Testament: Interpreting the Message and Meaning of Jesus Christ, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005, p. 281.Bart D Ehrman. Misquoting Jesus, San Fransisco: Harper-SanFrancisco, 2005, 63-65.