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Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts
Guardian ✒ Former BBC One controller Paul Fox says anti-Catholic prejudice was deeply embedded at the corporation during the Troubles. Written by 
Richard Brooks. Recommended by Marty Flynn.


The British public were not told the truth about the Troubles in the 1960s and 1970s because “the bloody Protestants were running the BBC in Northern Ireland”, the then controller of BBC One has claimed.

This is the damning judgment of one of television’s most distinguished former top executives, Sir Paul Fox, who was editor of Panorama and then controller of BBC One. He firmly believes this meant that British viewers were not told the truth of what was really happening in Northern Ireland and in particular to the Catholics.

Fox, who was editor of Panorama in the 1960s, condemns “the censorship” of the Catholic viewpoint in a new documentary about the corporation’s fights and impartiality. Similar sentiments are expressed by Martin Bell and Irish-born Denis Tuohy, who were then both reporting from Northern Ireland and who agree that the BBC was prevented from telling the British public about discrimination against Catholics in education, work and housing.

Yet the documentary, Shooting the Rapids, was itself nearly “censored”. 

Continue reading @ Guardian.

‘The Bloody Protestants Ran BBC In Northern Ireland’ In 60s And 70s, Says Ex-TV Boss

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ BBC Match of the Day Presenter Gary Lineker has spoken out against the British Governments “plans for illegal immigration.”


They plan to ban for life anybody trying to enter Britain, illegally, and sending them back to their country of origin is an option, providing their life is not in danger. Another option as part of a broader plan is to send people landing on British shores to Rwanda! 

Have these ministers ever considered the real possibility that many arriving in Britain, or anywhere else for that matter, may not have the correct papers thus making them possible illegals? Countries where people are fleeing for their lives do not always, if ever, go through the niceties of giving these desperate souls documentation which may give them access to their country of destination? So, what happens if a refugee arrives, in Britain, without the correct identification or other required paperwork because the authorities where they are coming from refused to give them any? Or, the government of the land they are fleeing wanted to kill them? After all, if a regime has the idea to liquidate a person, they are hardly likely to go to a branch of that government asking for the correct paperwork in order to travel! Does this mean they will be refused entry into Britain and thereafter banned from the shores for life? 

The British Government is lunging further and further to the right and is adopting para-fascist methods. How long before we see the mask come off and the real face of fascism exposed in the corridors of Westminster? It was arguably tried once with Thatcher, but the checks and balances prevented her going as far as perhaps she wished. She did try to get the Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, kicked off the Privy Council because he was too left wing! This was Kinnock who failed to support the NUM in the 1984/85 strike!!

All these racist plans and legislation are a direct result of so-called Brexit. The campaign to bring the United Kingdom out of the European Union which was led by an alliance of the parliamentary right-wing, the far-right and the fascist right. This alliance was not dissimilar to the first minority government formed by Hitler in 1933 when the Conservative Right held governmental posts under Chancellor Hitler. Two of the constituent parts of the UK, Scotland and the Six Counties, voted to remain in the EU but have nevertheless been dragged out against their will in favour of the overriding will of England. The racists have been trying for years to legitimately introduce racist legislation and Brexit has provided them with this opportunity. The British plan may also go against International Law and conventions. What next for the British, pull out of the UN perhaps? Or no longer apply international conventions on human rights? This is what Hitler and the Japanese did to the League of Nations: when things did not go their way, they just left. More similarities perhaps?

Gary Lineker has spoken out against this and has compared the language used by the British Government with that of the Nazis in Germany during the 30s. His analysis and comparison is about right. British Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has said Lineker is being “unhelpful” with his comments. She said his comparison with the language used in “Germany during the 30s” is unfair. Other right wingers have said it is “preposterous” to make such comparisons and called such comparisons “unfair and dangerous”. They appear to be suggesting Lineker is likening the governments language to those who died in the German camps via the Gas Chambers, and that such a comparison is unfair and an exaggeration. Gary Lineker never mentioned the Gas Chambers or the so-called “Final Solution” which came about in the early 1940s not the 30s. What the former Leicester City, Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur player was doing, by comparing the “language” used by Ms Braverman and her cohorts with that of the Nazi Government in 1930s Germany and where it led to! The language used by Hitler took several years to gain traction amongst the German population but eventually he got his sick message through. The next step was eradication, after Jew baiting, physical assault and separation. Camps like the notorious Treblinka were set up across Germany and the countries the German armed forces (the Wehrmacht) had conquered.

Was Lineker correct in drawing comparisons with the language used by members of the British Government with that of the Third Reich? Yes, he was, very much so. If we look at Hitlers early ideas to transport Jewish people to the island of Madagascar it does sound frighteningly similar to the British Governments plans to send refugees to Rwanda! This was one of Hitlers early ideas to get the “Jews out of Germany”, later more dramatic less humane methods were adopted. But it was much of this early language during the 30s which ensured the public would not say too much against these ideas a few years later. 

Once an idea is planted it just needs cultivating which is what happened in Nazi Germany, before it blossoms which it did. Could the same happen in Britain? Yes, of course it could, once language like “ban for life” and “deportation of all illegal immigrants” without defining what an “illegal immigrant” is. Once language like this gains an audience, people who are prepared to listen, the narrative becomes the norm. Making deals and agreements with other countries acts as a smokescreen if things go wrong, is another ploy. More police on the ground could be a move towards the arbitrary arrest of any citizen on the grounds of national security. The latest language to come out of the British parliament is “the patience of the British people will run out if we do not act” when referring to refugees. This is akin to the German propaganda office and Minister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, when he addressed a monster rally claiming “the Jews had better shut their filthy mouths, our patience will one day run out.” See the similarities?

It is this language Lineker is talking about, and what such talk and narratives led to. He did not mention the Gas Chambers, or mass murder in the 40s of Jewish people and any other group, trade unionists, socialists, communists and Gypsies, in his condemnation as Braverman implies. It is the language and where it could lead which is his bone of contention, as it should be to any sane person. This kind of crap is expected from the far-right groups like “Britain First” the “British National Party” and other neo-Nazi organisations. The similarities between what the Sunak Government are using and that of Hitler's Nazi party are stark. Of course, these ministers when questioned about this comparison run immediately for the fact their grandparents were immigrants fleeing oppression, or had escaped the Nazis in Germany during the period Lineker alludes to. Well, if this is the case then they should know better than to use the same language their forebearers fled from.

Gary Lineker has since been reinstated as presenter of MOTD subject to a review of BBC policy on presenters making “political comments”. The BBC policy is not the issue here. What is the issue is the language used by the British Government in this regard! Are the BBC shit scared of this right-wing Conservative Government in Britain? Is Britain witnessing the planting of the seeds of constitutional fascism? In England, more so than Scotland and Wales, there are those who will agree wholeheartedly with the government’s plans for “illegal immigrants” perhaps, in most cases, not knowing or thinking where it could all lead! Unfortunately, there are those, a minority so far, who know full well the possible end result!

In London’s East End, once a hotbed of socialist activity back in the pre-war Second World War years of the twentieth-century, the fascists now have traction. The National Front (NF) and later the British National Party (BNP) have, in the very recent past, made headway in local council elections. They have been assisted in their quest for power by centre left and far left councils knocking down English working-class temples of culture like, for example, the Public House, traditional meeting places for the workers after a hard day’s work, and replacing them with Mosques. Nobody was objecting to Mosques but not at the expense of the cultural places for recreation already present. There could and should be room for both to cater for all. This causes discontent which the fascists immediately jump on. If such activity continues the fascist gains made at local level could, one day, be transformed into national government. Could the Conservatives be trying to emulate the fascists by enacting many of their would-be laws? Perhaps the people of Britain should wise up, and fast.

Over here in the 26 counties we too should not get complacent. Recently, Sunday 5th March, on RTEs A Week in Politics presented by Aine Lawlor the question was asked, by her, of Sinn Fein and People Before Profit, “if a left-wing government were to be elected in Ireland there could be a backlash by the rich using the army and police could there not?” Now, what this was suggesting, and it does not mean Aine believes this should happen or will happen, is just how shallow this liberal democracy really is. If the electorate vote the wrong way this was almost an acknowledgement by RTE that forces are available to the wealthy, the Irish bourgeoisie, to remove the elected government not to their liking by force! As we know the far-right are active on the streets all over Ireland with, it appears, very little left resistance and now are they being given credibility by RTE? Politically these are potentially dangerous times and not only on these islands. Anti-fascists must not get caught napping!

Finally, let us all face facts, none of us in any country can say they are not descended from people who came from somewhere else. In other words we are all, either directly or indirectly, refugees.

🖼 Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

Lineker Is Right

Anthony McIntyre ☠ Events as Harold McMillan once said. They can disrupt or upend everything.


For years people have complained about the volume of Tory ideology running through the veins of the BBC without much success in being able to push back or ignite public concern. 

In the end the political hot potato was brought to the boil not by the legions of BBC political correspondents or expert analysts but by a sports presenter expressing his personal view on his own Twitter page. It resulted in an eruption of public anger that made the BBC look like the PR agency for the Bullingdon Club. The artificial tide of impartiality has gone out, leaving the politically partisan shill house without a vestige of cover.

It was less what Lineker said that caused the stir but the decision by the Tories at the BBC to suspend him from presenting Match Of The Day, to which he will now return, leaving the British Bullingdon Cartel to lick both its wounds and the egg splattered all over its face. The huge outcry combined with the solidarity of his fellow presenters had the effect of a stun grenade lobbed into the middle of the highbrow low life.

British Home Secretary Suella Braverman, forever eager to grease the pole that helped her climb so that no one else could avail of it, announced her plan to stop migrants crossing the English Channel. Lineker’s terse observation on Twitter was “Good heavens, this is beyond awful’

Somebody joined in to criticise him, accusing him of being “out of order . . . easy to pontificate when it doesn’t affect you”.

Lineker pushed back:

There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?

And for that he was forced off the air.

The sheer bias in the decision to make him walk the plank was identified by Sky Sports' Kaveh Solhekol:

But a lot of people are looking at this and saying, how come Andrew Neal, one of the most high profile political journalists and interviewers on the BBC for many, many years, how come he is allowed to be the chairman of a right wing magazine, The Spectator?
How come he is allowed to express political opinions on Twitter as much as he wants?
How come the Chairman of the BBC, Richard Sharp, the Chairman is somebody who donated £400,000 to the Conservative Party, someone who has helped arrange an £800,000 loan for the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
How come Robbie Gibb, or as we have to call him, Sir Robbie Gibb, who used to be the Communications Director for the former Prime Minister, Theresa May, how come he’s on the BBC board at the moment?
Why is Alan Sugar allowed to say what he wants on Twitter about political matters? What about Jeremy Clarkson? He’s got a column in The Sun, he’s got a column in the Sunday Times. He was on the BBC. He frequently expressed political opinions, which many people think are extreme on social media.
And why is the Director General of the BBC, Tim Davy? The Director General? He used to be the Deputy Chairman of the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative Party. He’s a man who’s stood as a candidate in local elections for the Conservative Party.
So why is all this allowed? Yet Gary Lineker is not allowed to make a fairly innocuous comment, which many, many people would agree with about a policy that has been condemned by the United Nations and also by many human rights groups. And this is the same Gary Lineker who’s been allowed on the BBC to criticise the human rights record of Qatar.
Why is he not allowed to criticise the human rights record of the country he lives in?

 

As clean a knock out punch in the political ring as we are likely to see from any sports commentator for years to come.

⏩ Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

British Bullingdon Cartel

Fra Hughes ✒ When defund the BBC campaign meets Irish reunification Boris Johnson and sections of the Conservative Party are calling for the scrapping of the BBC license fee.

In reality they are simply garnering7 leverage for more political control over the State broadcaster. When I say state broadcaster I of course really mean 'state paid propagandists'. 

I have been a longtime critic of the institution which regularly spoon feeds us, its listeners and viewers with the latest government agendas to condition us to accept illegal wars, colour revolutions, and outright lies as the truth, while they create their consensus narrative around a rule based, unipolar world order, led by white European supremacists and capitalists from London, Washington, Vancouver and increasingly Brisbane. 

Which will come first? Irish reunification when BBC NI will become defunct as the Irish state propagandist takes over, or the Conservative Party's threatened demise of the national broadcaster? 

Either way it's a win win for the listeners / viewers and lose-lose for the overpaid, overbearing privileged elite, that have long ruled over us. 

Personally I won't shed any crocodile tears at the decline of the anti-republican, anti-nationalist and one time anti-Catholic Broadcasting House cabal.

May I suggest they turn Ormeau Avenue and Blackstaff House (do they have any visible black staff) into to a hostel for the homeless.

That way it might be of some real service to the people? 

Fra Hughes is a columnist with Al Mayadeen.

BBC, Huh

Mick Hall writing @ Organized Rage asserts that:
The BBC should be a national treasure but instead it's become one more money tree for white middle class elites.

BBC Money Tree For White Middle Class

Mick Hall @ Organized Rage recalls the time when:

When senior BBC executives, managers and editors fought tooth and nail to tell viewers the truth about 1981 hunger strikes.

BBC Stood Firm On Hunger Strike

Mick Hall accuses the BBC of being extremely biased. Mick Hall is a Marxist blogger @ Organized Rage.

The Tendentiousness Of The BBC Is Unlimited

Mick Hall @ Organized Rage dismisses as a whitewash the Dame Janet Smith's report on the BBC.

It is also worth noting MI5 kept an officer stationed at the BBC until the 1970s. Their job was to vet members of the staff, which sounds a bit hollow as far as Savile and Stuart Hall are concerned.

As Far As The BBC And Dame Janet Smith's Report Are Concerned, It's Job Done

Mick Hall traduces Nick Cohen of the Observer. for his views on who is destroying the BBC. Mick Hall is a Marxist blogger @ Organized Rage.

Nick Cohen in his latest article blames everyone but the guilty parties: 'Traduced by all sides, who will defend the BBC'.
     
Nick Cohen

Nick Cohen In His Latest Article Blames Everyone But ...

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