Fuck Osama bin Laden

GNUS INTERNATIONAL

It's difficult to write a post like the one that follows, especially when I write more in anger than in sorrow.

Right though it is for those of us on the Left to criticise the US and its allies for their wars on Afghanistan and Iraq... right though it is for us to express outrage and horror at the human rights abuses at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, etc. ... right though we are to resist the British government's attempts to tag us all, abuse our right to privacy and the security of our personal information... right though we are to protest against globalisation, Israeli aggression, racist attacks on Muslims, Halliburton's shady dealings, and all the other sacred cows of the Left... there is one thing I think we don't say often enough, loudly enough.

I don't care (well, I do care, but not for the purposes of this post) whether Osama bin Laden himself plotted yesterday's bombings in London which have left, at present count, over 50 people dead. The fact is that he is rejoicing in the devastation and death caused (presumably) by people loyal to his cause, who have lost touch with the compassion espoused by the religion they claim to follow, and have childishly sought to hurt not the decision-makers whose policies affect their region of the world but civilians, people like themselves, people with no political agenda, people who might actually agree with them on a number of points. People who didn't vote for Blair, and couldn't vote against Bush. People who have never handled a gun in their lives. People who feel no hatred or aggression towards Muslims or the Islamic faith. People, some of whom might have been Muslims themselves. People whose only error was to have been on a Tube train or bus at just the wrong time.

Well, fuck you, all you Islamic terrorists who have misappropriated your peaceful and respectful religion, selectively quoting the Qu'ran and ignoring the bits that inconveniently condemn violence (especially violence against Muslims). Fuck you, all of you who have so lost touch with reality that you see glory in taking explosives into a crowded, virtually unprotected public area and detonating them without warning and without regard for the bloodshed caused. Fuck those of you who post anonymous internet messages crowing about the 'heroism' of your acts. You're not heroes, you're fucking children. You're not even fit to be called children. My one-year-old son has more integrity in his little finger than you have in your bodies. You're giving your lives to promote the vanity of an obscenely wealthy Saudi renegade who sees himself as some kind of lunatic Messiah and who has sacrificed his humanity and morality on the altar of grandeur. There is no heaven with virgins serving you wine into eternity - or, if there is, you're not going to be part of it, because the atrociousness of your acts qualifies you for instant and everlasting damnation. You talk about freedom, but the obscure and archaic version of Islam which you have co-opted into your insane cause has no room for freedom, only room for slavish devotion to rigid principles and no space for dissent.

And those of us who live in civilised, liberalised countries - yes, we have our faults. We're not blind to them, and we should point them out at all times, whenever possible, especially when those who call themselves our leaders try and hoodwink us, commit acts of indiscriminate violence on the defenceless in the name of some kind of ridiculous concept of global justice, bribe and coerce the rest of the world into accepting their way of life as the only right way to live, fix elections so that democracy is cheapened, weight the global economy in favour of the small percentage of our own populace who are already so rich they don't know what to do with their money, and finally insult our intelligence by introducing legal constraints they say are for our protection*. We should draw attention to this, and always exercise our right to campaign against the absurdities and dangerous excesses of those who are privileged to have power over us. But let's not turn our faces away from these evil, bigoted, ruthless, amoral, uncivilised, compassionless, anti-human bastards. Let's remember to condemn their actions in as loud a voice as we use to condemn our own governments.

Fuck you, Osama. You're fighting a war which you can never win. You're going to die leaving a legacy of discord. You've set back the cause of religious tolerance and integration a hundred years or more. You're a despicable, evil, foul pig who hasn't got the guts to stand in public and denounce the things you oppose. I went on more than one protest march to oppose war against the country you've adopted as your temporary home (and which will be delighted to see the back of you). You don't even have the courage to appear in public. Fuck you. Fuck you and your sallow skin and your stupid beard and your Kalashnikovs (yeah, you're so fucking hard) and your appeals to Allah. Allah will shit on you when He gets the chance, and that's more than you deserve.

Come on, come and get me. I'm sure you can find out where I live. Come on, turd-face. But don't send some impressionable eighteen-year-old who's signed up to your cause to win respect from his friends and gain brownie points from the imam in his North London mosque. Come and get me yourself. Show your face in West London. Knock on my door. Come and convince me that you're the true bringer of light to the world. Come and tell me why you should have the right to oppress the world, instead of the Americans. I bet you drink fucking Coca-Cola, you hypocrite.


(* Clarke admits ID cards would not have prevented attacks.)


Read Ken Livingstone's passionate response to the bombings here. That was his off-the-cuff Singapore reaction; his subsequent, even more inspiring statement is here.


UPDATE: The team at The Sharpener have organised a PledgeBank pledge to hold a public demo defying terrorism. The pledge has already met its target, but do go and sign (by 15 July) so you can get details of the demo - although I'll post updates about it here, of course. Good work, guys!


Further comment on this topic can be found at NoseMonkey, Green Fairy, Kathy F, Non-Trivial Andrew, John B, Alex and about 3 million other bloggers, I suspect.

Meanwhile, Justin wisely urges caution.


ANOTHER UPDATE: You can donate to the Mayor's Charitable Relief Fund here.

The target for the pledge has been increased to 2,500 people so it's worth signing it after all. I imagine the demo will happen anyway. Stop the War had a vigil yesterday, but I don't know what the turnout was like.

An article in the London News Review mirrors my feelings.