'Freedom of speech': object lesson. posted by Richard Seymour

There's been some talk in the comments boxes about 'free speech' and so forth, and this looks like as good an example of how the abstract commitment to free expression often works out in practise. Nasser Amin, the student victimised by SOAS after a Zionist-led witch-hunt against him, draws this to my attention:

The reputation of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has taken another knock after one of its lecturers was accused of being the "Western cheerleader" for the Uzbek brutal dictator Islam Karimov.


Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan also accused SOAS director of "arrogance". The charge was leveled at SOAS director MR Colin Bundy by Mr Murray in a dispute over one of the school’s lecturers accused of producing a "propagandist" report on the Massacre of Andijan.

...

In a responding email, Mr Bundy appeared to dismissed points raised by the ex-diplomat as "unsubstantiated" and ignored his calls for further investigate by the School. That prompted an angry response from Mr Murray who accused the director of being "arrogant" and of failing to realise the damage Ms Akiner is causing to the reputation of SOAS.

On his website, Craig Murray notes the discrepancy between the courtesy extended to an apologist for a murderous regime, an the witch hunt against a student who didn't have the right views on Palestine.

As Nasser Amin tells The Muslim Weekly (linked above):

"Bundy is not a neutral, disinterested moderator defending all points of view at the School. He is someone who defends free speech when it comes to savagery against Muslims, in Andijan and Gaza, and silences those who oppose this savagery, particularly it seems Muslim students. Shame on him."

This reminds me of an extraordinary episode last year when there was a huge effort made by the Right to defend Kilroy after his racist outbursts, citing 'free speech' and so on. Kilroy was rewarded by the Express with exclusive interviews, and he went on to make a short-lived political career out of his bigotry, (terminated only by his insanely outsized ego). Shortly after that, Jenny Tonge expressed some mild words of understanding about why suicide bombers in Palestine might do what they do - she was swiftly ex-communicated, to the general glee of the Right.

'Freedom of speech' for liberals and the Right is actually the right to be abusive, racist, calumnious etc., but there remain genuine unutterables, such as "I support the Iraqi resistance" or "I support Palestinians' right to use force against the Israelis, and only wish they had as many big weapons". (When I suggested the latter a while back, Labour candidate Antonia Bance described it on her blog as "disgraceful"). This is the real 'political correctness'. While the Express, Sun, Telegraph and Mail regularly dish out racist vitriol, both as news and comment, it is unthinkable that mainstream media outlets will tell the truth about the Iraqi resistance, what has been done to Palestine, and what the profit system is doing to people and planet daily.