Enemy Combatant: The Autobiography of Mozzam Begg

I forced myself to read Mozzam Begg's autobiography 'Enemy Combatant,' although I made sure I bought it second-hand for a penny. It is part biography, part novel-and all propaganda.

What struck me about all his life, whether in the UK or round the world, including Afghanistan, was how he searched out the purrst of the pure and best of the best fellow believers; in other words people such as Mullah Omar and the Taliban. This is, after all, someone who thinks that the best way to fight ISIS is to back al Nusra-in effect al Qaida.

Begg is to be found posting on the website of CAGE, the pseudo-advocacy group campaigning against the anti-terror PREVENT agenda. He is also the key speaker in the 'Students Not Suspects' roadshow currently touring UK universities. The message here is all about the Government is allegedly targeting Muslims and stirring up Islamophobia.

I previously challenged president Megan Dunn about this campaign's claim that it has NUS backing. She repeated, rather formulaicly, that the two have no official connection. Obviously the NUS Black Students officer does not agree. SNS promotes itself as backed by the NUS and carries its logo and that of the UCU.

The meeting included a mix of bare-faced lies, for example: "Lecturers are expected to report ethnic minority students who take part in strong debate" and clever insinuation-

Redbrick exclusively interviewed Moazzam Begg; his advice to students was to ‘challenge it [the government counter-terrorism strategy]’. He added, ‘Prevent, and the way that it’s implemented into schools, universities and colleges is a spying scheme, which essentially targets one community. As the prime minister has said, the Muslim community is incubating within it, extremism. Nobody likes a spy and I think students are not exempt from that.’

(from Redbrick, the Birmingham student newspaper's account of the meeting) 

UK universities, the UCU, NUS and Birmigham Student Guild all have anti-extremist policies aimed at racists and fascists and monitor on campus for this. If a student, lecturer or speaker was suspected of belonging to the BNP or the obscure National Action was suspected, we can be sure Hope Not Hate and all these organisations would quickly mobilise. That, of course, does not constitute spying.

Of course the 'student' reaction was as follows-

Community Action Officer for the Guild of Students, Lewis Addlington-Lee, told Redbrick he found the evening ‘incredibly enlightening’. He went on to say Prevent was ‘an assault on BME and Muslim people throughout the UK’ and suggested students ‘mobilise and fight’ against the initiative.

-Struggle comrades! There are real (clerical) fascists on campus and not only do the heroic liberal/left anti-fascis fighters not confront them, they are actually their allies!