Back in July 2004 distinguished UK professor David Marsland gave a speech to the Springbok Club describing how to win the War on Terror. His advice, after a lengthy rant, includes the following (emphases added):
…Halt or segregate air flights into or out of Britain by Arabs.
…Strengthen anti-terrorist legislation to allow on suspicion indefinite secret imprisonment (without appeal, without visits and without any privileges), tough interrogation, and where necessary summary execution by authorised agents.
…Reduce the need for prisons in Iraq by authorising summary execution of known enemy. Throw journalists, servicemen or anyone else who seek to file lying and negative reports about conditions in terrorist prisons in Iraq or elsewhere into these same prisons for an indefinite term.
…Censor prejudiced and negative reporting of the war against terrorism by British media. Neutralise by military means any Arab media providing a propaganda outlet for terrorists.
And Marsland had harsh words for anyone who might dare to demur:
…Our enemies will no doubt claim that measures such as these will “make us as bad as the terrorists”, that ends, however desirable, can never justify such “undemocratic” and “immoral” means. This is utopian nonsense calculated to assist al-Qa’eda.
David Marsland is of interest to this blog because he’s one of the patrons of Anglicans for Israel, the new pro-Israel lobby group currently being puffed at the London Times and elsewhere as the supposedly “moderate” voice opposed to Anglican criticism of Israel and the General Synod’s recent call (inspired in large part by Palestinian Christians) to divest in firms that assist with the Occupation (I blogged on the group a few days ago). And like Anglicans for Israel founder Simon McIlwaine and campaign director Huw Shooter, he has extensive links on the Tory right.
It’s also interesting that Marsland chose the Springbok Club to lay out his plan: the club is a network which allows disaffected white South Africans and former Rhodesians living in the UK to reminisce about the good old days before – as founder Alan Harvey puts it – the “sell-out policies of P.W. Botha and F.W. de Klerk”. Harvey explains:
In a nutshell our policy can be summed up in one sentence: “We want our countries back, and believe this can now only come about by the re-establishment of civilised European rule throughout the African continent.”
The Observer (via the Black Information Link) describes Harvey as a “former NF [National Front] activist”; a claim backed up by trawling through some far-right websites. However, while the NF was anti-Semitic, Harvey is vehemently pro-Israel, and an upcoming event is an address by an “Ulster supporter with strong Israeli connections who recently visited Israel – including the Gaza Strip – to express solidarity with the Israeli settlers there.”
(amended for clarity)
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