Political asylum from persecution in Britain?
Posted on July 21, 2008
On April 18, 2006, I wrote the following:
“I regard antisemitism as totally misguided but believe that persecuting believers in it only gives it credibility to those who are persecuted. Last Wednesday, two people, Luke O’Farrell and Simon Sheppard, who publish a British antisemitic website, were arrested by Humberside police in Britain because of what they had written. Details here and here. And what was the reaction from the guys who were arrested? It was:
“To attempt to silence a man is to pay him homage, for it is an acknowledgement that his arguments are both impossible to answer and impossible to ignore”
So a fat lot of good arresting them did. It just reinforced their views and gave those views more credibility to others.
The matter has now gone to trial and the two Brits were convicted of hate speech. While out on bail, they took a direct flight to Los Angeles and have now claimed political asylum in the USA. Some details here
The prospect of their getting any sort of sympathetic hearing in California seems slight to me. I guess they flew there because it was the only alternative they knew to what they would call “Jew York”. I think it is true, however, that what they said would not be a crime in America.
There is no doubt that the two men are stock-standard antisemites with stock-standard theories about Jewish conspiracies. When what is happening in the world seems inexplicably wrong, people have blamed that wrongness on the Jews ever since the Pharaohs.
What rather appalls me about the present case is that two “little people” are being assailed for it when the major source of such hatred in Britain undoubtedly comes from Muslims and the Left — and that is virtually ignored. Once again it seems that it is only white conservatives of Christian background who can utter “hate speech”.
In Britain recently, a TV channel did a program which showed local Muslims uttering very definite hate speech. So what did the British police do? Did they prosecute the Muslims concerned? No. They prosecuted the TV channel! Details here. The Muslims concerned have not been touched to this day as far as I can ascertain.
Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don’t forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH
» Filed Under Bigotry, Islamicfascism, Liberal Media/Bias, News, Racism
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4 Responses to “Political asylum from persecution in Britain?”
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I agree. Britain doesn’t seem to appreciate freedom of speech, even if that speech is incredibly wrongheaded.
Here’s a question. Does the UK have something like we have, “A First Amendment”? I don’t think they do, correct me if I’m wrong. The UK for most of the part is a SOCIALIST country. And yes folks, we have laws in this country that are looking very simlar to Englands Speech Codes. “Free Speech Zones” come to mind. Hell take a look at the “Homegrown Terrorist act”.
I’m a defender of all speech, even if I don’t like it, and makes me wanna take their heads off. Right or Wrong, I will defend.
You can’t make a man think the way YOU want him to.
I have been following this story. What surprises me is that (apparently) no US newspapers have reported it up yet. There surely must be a story in it when British citizens seek political asylum in the US (at Los Angeles airport). That doesn’t happen every day.
Please also note Sheppard and Whittle have made a carefully calculated decision to claim asylum in the USA after receiving written confirmation from the US Courts that their writings (which are posted on a web server in Torrance, California and have never appeared in hard copy form) are perfectly legal under American law, and protected in the highest degree by the First Amendment.
The Crown Court in Leeds has asserted an unprecedented long arm jurisdiction to take cognizance of acts done in a foreign country Sheppard and Whittle may be eccentric, but they are not cowards. The rationale of their escape was to set a precedent for revisionists and others persecuted under oppressive laws, and cause the maximum embarrassment to the British government by what will inevitably be a long drawn out and hard fought case in the USA.
We should add that the Heretical Two voluntarily surrendered on arrival, so as not to enter the USA under false pretences, and made a deliberate decision to go to the country where their writings had been published and make a political protest, rather than luxuriate on a beach in Thailand.
In addition, I have recent information that UK media people have been inundating the US Immigration Department with telephone enquiries. Only local British papers in Leeds/Yorkshire and the Jewish Chronicle in Israel have reported on this topic to date. The big players in Britain are calling and asking the questions but not following that through with any reports! Is there a news blackout?
See aso my YouTube clip
Whereas hate speech like those nutters have posted is not usually prosecuted in the US, mainly because there is no law equivalent to the Race hate Act of the UK, one thing that the US authorities probably do share with Britain is taking a dim view of people jumping bail to avoid sentencing.
Also, Sheppard has rather strong links to Combat 18 and others who could logically be called domestic terrorist types.
So I wouldn’t bet heavily on them being welcomed to the States with open arms.