Far-right activists and racists have jumped on Tory prime minister David Cameron’s speech about multiculturalism in Munich on 5 February to boost their cause.
But the kneejerk “Cameron-is-a-racist” of some supposedly left-wing responses is as false as would be taking Cameron’s speech as secularist and liberal good coin.
The English Defence League and Marine Le Pen, new leader of France’s fascist and virulently anti-Arab National Front, claimed Cameron’s speech as backing for their views.
Banning Roy Chubby Brown will only make him a free-speech martyr telegraph.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from telegraph.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Blasphemy laws old and new
Freedom of speech includes the right to criticise, explain and even mock, insists Eddie Ford
Protests are still continuing outside the Batley grammar school in West Yorkshire, three-quarters of whose pupils are from a minority ethnic background. As readers know, things went wild after a teacher showed one of the
Charlie Hebdo cartoons to his pupils, whilst doing a religious education lesson on blasphemy.
Outraged, the local mosque mobilised its supporters, forcing the school to adopt remote learning. Mohammed Hussain of the Batley-based ‘Purpose of Life’ group - a registered charity - declared that the teacher “has insulted two billion Muslims on the planet” and “we cannot stand for that”, sharing the teacher’s name on social media with a letter condemning him. Taking it upon himself to speak for the entire ‘Muslim community’, as so often happens, he went on to state: “We do feel that, if this had been something that offended the LG
Extremism in the UK: new definitions threaten human and civil rights theconversation.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theconversation.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.