More on 1984 and all that

“The Home Secretary [Jacqui Smith] is guilty of gross hypocrisy. She gives visas to demagogues who incite violence and murder, while banning from the UK a Dutch MP who has never incited violence against anyone,” says the gay- and human-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell today.

Quite right, too.

A news release from Tatchell today concerns the subject of our last two posts, here and here, about Geert Wilders and pusillanimous British politicians who bow before the tyrannical knee of spreading Islam by preventing him from showing his film Fitna to members of the House of Lords (it will be shown, apparently, but he will not be allowed to present it and, therefore, answer questions). Tatchell goes on:

Jacqui Smith has refused Dutch MP Geert Wilders permission to enter Britain on the grounds that his presence would damage community relations and threaten public order. I do not agree with Mr Wilders, but he has never threatened violence against Muslims.

The Home Secretary regularly grants visas and work permits to Jamaican reggae singers who openly incite the murder of lesbian and gay people. Incitement to murder is a very serious criminal offence. The Home Office and Metropolitan Police also allow radio stations and record stores to promote their murder-inciting CDs.

Last November, Jacqui Smith gave Jamaican reggae singer Bounty Killer (Rodney Price) permission to perform at a concert in east London. He had been banned from Guyana earlier in 2008 over his murderous lyrics, but the British government said he was welcome to sing in the UK.

It is double standards to ban Geert Wilders and not Bounty Killer.

Even if I disagree with certain political and religious leaders, I do not support their being banned from the UK, unless they incite violence. That is why I oppose the exclusion of Geert Wilders and others such as Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam in the US. It is more effective to challenge and defeat their ideas in open debate, than to suppress them via the bureaucratic ruse of a banning order.

Bounty Killer encourages and glorifies gang violence. At a time when so many young people have been murdered in gang-related gun and knife crime, it is reckless and obscene for the Home Secretary to give Bounty Killer a visa and work permit.

Rewarding with concerts maladjusted singers who incite violence sends the wrong signal.

Bounty Killer helps reinforce and legitimate gang violence by encouraging, glorifying and celebrating the killing of gay people. His negative impact goes way beyond the gay community. He psyches up a whole generation to see hatred and violence as cool and street cred.

For the sake of parents whose sons have been murdered in gang attacks, it is time we closed the door on Bounty Killer and similar murder music singers.