Yesterday’s killing of a member of the armed forces in Woolwich, south London, is clearly shocking, more so because the people who attacked him made clear that they did so for political reasons. We’ll be writing more on the issue over the coming days. For now, below are a few important comments made on Twitter last night.
As I said on Facebook yesterday,
It’s possible to have sympathy for the family of someone brutally murdered, while at the same time showing absolute solidarity with an entire community that is gonna be blamed for that murder. So, it’s simple: We should stand united with our Muslim friends and neighbours, we stand with them against groups like the EDL which want us to hate each other. Not gonna happen. We’re not so stupid that we have to blame anyone who “looks Muslim”. We don’t need to make excuses. We don’t need to demand apologies. We must all stand united against racists who want to make all Muslims feel scared tonight. It’s not up to Muslims to stand alone, it’s not something we should just ignore cos it won’t affect white people. We must not allow the kind of backlash that the EDL is so desperate for.
Oi, Nick Robinson, have you ever called a white guy “Christian Looking”? No? Shut up then. #Woolwich
— Ciara Squires (@ciarasquires) May 22, 2013
Number of Muslims I’ve seen supporting the attack? Zero. Number of far-right thugs who seem to revel in the situation? Far too many.
— Philip Copley (@PhilipCopley) May 22, 2013
When I was a serving British officer in Bosnia, MUSLIM women saved me from being murdered by CHRISTIAN SERBs risking their lives! #woolwich
— Captain Shouty (@MrRae1000) May 22, 2013
The post Murder in Woolwich appeared on Socialist Unity.