Islam4UK should not be banned from marching in Wootton Bassett

It is a strange day when the defence of civil liberties in Britain is left to the police, but that is exactly what happened today. As government ministers, civic leaders and 400,000 facebook members combined to call for Islam4UK to be banned from carrying out their planned demonstration in Wootton Bassett to protest against the war in Afghanistan, only Sir Hugh Orde, President on the Association of Chief Police Officers, has stepped in to defend the group’s right to protest, however "unpleasant and offensive" their views.

Much has been written about the views of the organisation and its leader, Anjem Choudary, designed to emphasise their most controversial standpoints which many find to be extreme and abhorrent. I quite agree that even free speech must have its limits – the incitement of violence against a person or group of people being the best example of where to draw the line. However, I do not see how one’s views can be cited as a reason to deny them their right to free speech at all. This is the case with Islam4UK.

No one is saying that it is wrong to question the continued presence of UK soldiers in Afghanistan or that lamenting the human cost of the conflict, particularly to Muslim civilians in the region, is an illegitimate grievance. Indeed, only a few people complained when the BBC staged a Question Time debate on the war in Wootton Bassett just a few months ago. So, what the opponents of Islam4UK are essentially arguing is that it is not what you say that matters, but who you are.

If we take their argument to its logical conclusion, that those with ‘acceptable’ views should be allowed to speak freely while those who offend should be denied the same right, then we will surely find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of having to ban extremist organisations of all persuasions, including political parties such as the BNP, or effectively endorse their views with our silence. It is not hard to anticipate how the British Muslim community, whose co-operation in defending ourselves from violent extremists is so crucial, would respond to such a declaration.

So, does this mean that I actively support Islam4UK’s parade through Wootton Bassett? Absolutely not: the headlines the next day will not be dominated by stories of innocent men, women and children in Afghanistan dying for a war we may yet walk away from – stories that do need to be told. Rather, the newspapers will write about how the march has inflamed racial intentions in this country (even though I suspect you could count on one hand the number of British Muslims who had heard of Islam4UK before, let alone supported them). That is of course unless the English Defence League shows up, in which case we will have a quite different story on our hands.

Needless to say, the real victims of this whole debacle are the families of the soldiers whose bodies are passing through the town on a disturbingly regular basis. Not only do they have to deal with the heartbreaking loss of yet another husband, or another wife, or another son, but they have to endure these moving ceremonies being used as a political punch bag by anyone who has anything to say about Afghanistan. That didn’t start with the announcement of Islam4UK’s parade, nor even with the equally insensitive staging of a politically charged Question Time debate. It started when television cameras and photo journalists were allowed in to broadcast the ceremonies in the first place.

Incitement of violence and hatred aside, we can either have free speech for everyone or free speech for no one, but we cannot have it for some and not others without first passing judgement on their views.