Gerry Gable whines about his erstwhile apprentice, Nick Lowles’ (now of Hope Not Hate), denial of his right to free speech by failing to publish one of his comments, yet doubtless fails to see the irony in doing so.
Fascists and nazis are not the only ones who behaved oppressively when they had the power to do so with impunity. Historically, communists bear an even greater burden of guilt when it comes to denial of human rights and in particular, repressing free speech. Yet one hears no argument from Mr Gable and other so-called antifascists to the effect that the Communist Party and its members should be denied the right to a platform on which to make their case.
Perhaps Mr Gable thinks that British Communists ought not to be tarred with the same brush as the bloodthirsty Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Pol Pot. If he thinks that those who espouse the same Marxist ideology as these foreign mass murderers should be allowed a platform for their views, then why does he not feel the same way about those who may espouse the political philosophy of fascism or national socialism?
Should Roman Catholic priests in Britain be denied a platform for their views, on the spurious grounds of historical guilt for the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition?
Mr Gable says, in an attempt to justify his anti-democratic stance, that the inmates of German concentration camps did not find themselves there because their debating skills were not up to scratch. But the fact is that before they wound up in the camps they had progressively been stripped of other rights, including most notably the right of free speech.
It is exactly this right, when exercised by those for whose arguments they have no rational answer, that Mr Gable and his ilk are most at pains to deny. So who are the real fascists here? Those whose right to free speech is denied, through intimidation, or those who intimidate, or countenance the intimidation of, their political opponents?
