Todays G2 section in the Guardian had another piece about Redwatch – the far-right website. This time there is a “delegation of MPs and union activists” going to the Home Office to call for it to be closed down. Good luck to them, but there have been plenty of similar calls in the past, going all the way back to December 2003 – this story from back then is identical to today’s in so many ways, but nearly 3 years later nothing has happened.

The Home Office has the same reply every time – the site is based in the US so they can do nothing about it. A telling quote from Peter Lazenby, a Journalist from the Yorkshire Post, in today’s story:

“They have said repeatedly that there is nothing that can be done, but I simply don’t believe them. We have quite rightly managed to close down paedophile sites and others that are deemed unacceptable, and I am sure that if Redwatch was targeting the richest 100 people in the country, it would be swiftly dealt with.”

I’m sure he is right. If al-Qaeda sympathisers set up a website urging British muslims to violence it would be closed down tomorrow even if (especially if) it was based in the US. Why don’t they take whatever laws they would use against the hypothetical al-Queda site and use them against Redwatch? Simple. Maybe then we could believe that the ‘war on terror’ is aimed at terrorism in general and not just particular terrorists of a specific religion… My question for the Home Office is, have they actually asked the US Government, or are they just assuming?

Anyway, this is a good time to point out that today is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, when the ordinary working people of the East End barricaded the roads to stop the British Union of Fascists from marching through. The event will be marked by various events on Sunday. More details in a separate post…