Daniel Randall is a member of the AWL who are pro-Israel (there leader describes himself as a Zionist) and Islamophobic - they tried to get the NUS to pass a motion calling on the ESF to withdraw its invitation to progressive Swiss philosopher Tariq Ramadan because he was a Muslim - I would give any event organised by this bunch of scumbags a wide berth

Can't you get over your petty hates for once to get together to discuss something of importance to this country - rather than wingeing about one guy who is organising something (I know some of the people are also involved and they are nothing like you describe) can't you give some support and make it a better event by providing help etc...?

First, this not an AWL organised event. ENS is trying to be an amorphous group that inspires political activism among students.
Second, one decision by a group rarely represent an individuals opinion. If this mindset persists, then people who have their heads screwed on real tight are going to get blacklisted for no reason. Unless you are an out and out anarchist, it is hard to seriously campaign without getting involved with NGO's or movements.
Third, if he is madly pro-Israel, then why did he invite me to speak about Palestine despite my pro-Palestinian views?
Fourth, there is no perfect view of the world, everyones is personal. Just because you would fight to the death for (insert any issue here) does not automatically mean you campaign for Palestine.

I urge people to come and learn from this event, and make judgements afterwords.

No front organisation is entirely made up of spooks and fellow travellers; it always needs the lame and gullible to give it some credibility.

I have been to the University of East London and some thing strikes me as odd. The UEL has the largest number of non-white students and Muslim students of any university of London. Apart from a single Muslim organisation, no one has ever heard of, all the speakers appear to be white, Labour Party supporters or fellow travellers e.g. TUC, NAFTHE, NOL's, NGO's. There is no Black organisation represented at all or third world trade unions.

Anyone who knows about the long and close collaboration of the National Organisation of Labour students and the Union of Jewish Students in carving up NUS will know that this unholy alliance has dominated NUS politics for years and has given the rest of us Charles Clarke and Jack Straw.

The presence of Searchlight is especially interesting given the disinformation campaigns that they have run over many years and their close collaboration with the state security services.

Nice to see Peter Tatchell, New Labour's very own rent-a-mob is also turning up.

God knows who the Federation of Progressive Student Unions is; Google gives no hits for this grand sounding organisation.

ENS has only been running a website since April 2005 and was set up at NUS conference in 2005 by political hacks, rather than ordinary students. The ENS public mailing list contains 7 names 5 of which are at Oxford. Odd how a bunch of students from Oxford can organise a conference at UEL outside term time isn’t it?

ENS advertises as working with “UK National Union of Students”, this is odd what other NUS would most UK students be aware of? Oh and Houzan Mahmoud also writes for ENS apart from also representing the Organisation of Womens Freedom in Iraq.

Further they cannot even spell Canary Wharf, no –e at the end guys, so they obviously aint locals organising this.

It is also strange that local MP George Galloway has not been invited.

This conference is costing a lot of money; I wonder who is paying for this?

If this conference was any more of a front, they would have to call it Brighton.

Umm...how is Peter Tatchell 'New Labours very own rent-a-mob'? He's a member of the Green party, for a start.

Sounds to me as though you don't know what you're talking about.

Can i first say that this is why we need a messageboard on Indy... to discuss this kind of thing and not let it rubbish up the newswire.

Now...

"No front organisation is entirely made up of spooks and fellow travellers; it always needs the lame and gullible to give it some credibility."

- Rather than being the lame and gullible, they are the unfranchised. i.e. they are not part of an organisation yet. So where does this leave them? Either they join the SWP etc. and get insulted for that, or they join and NGO and get insulted for that. Not everyone follows the anarcho way of life, but this is no reason for disregarding their view. For a movement that seeks to unite campaigns as opposed to forming its own, this point is irrelevant.

"I have been to the University of East London and some thing strikes me as odd. The UEL has the largest number of non-white students and Muslim students of any university of London. Apart from a single Muslim organisation, no one has ever heard of, all the speakers appear to be white, Labour Party supporters or fellow travellers e.g. TUC, NAFTHE, NOL's, NGO's. There is no Black organisation represented at all or third world trade unions."

- Firstly, unless you personally know all the speakers, that is quite a bold claim to assume that they are all white. Secondly, you speak of non-white and muslim. Are you concerned with race or religion? They are two seperate things and to lump them together shows ignorance. Thirdly, the TUC, NAFTHE, NOL's, NGO's all have different race's/religion's within them, to say they must have a non-white person speaking is as obscenely racist as saying a white person must speak. Fourthly, the lack of 'non-white and muslim' representatives admittedly reflects a serious problem within the NUS and society as a whole, which is something that needs to be tackled; but before it can be tackled, there needs to be a serious political left that people feel comfortable with being involved with, regardless of the race or religions gettting involved at its conception.

"Anyone who knows about the long and close collaboration of the National Organisation of Labour students and the Union of Jewish Students in carving up NUS will know that this unholy alliance has dominated NUS politics for years and has given the rest of us Charles Clarke and Jack Straw."

- Fuck Labour, they are a dying party. The trade unions don't want to know any more, and society is becoming disilluisioned with them. Secondly, UJS harbours lefties despite its broad right wing standpoint, don't generalise. I think Charles Clarke and Jack Straw should be hanged, I don't support Labour, I don't vote for them, and ENS is not a political party.

"The presence of Searchlight is especially interesting given the disinformation campaigns that they have run over many years and their close collaboration with the state security services."

- Everyone deserves the right to be heard, and healthy debate is better than refusing people to speak. Much like Labours decision to outlaw radical Islam, society outlawing any group will only lead to problems.

"Nice to see Peter Tatchell, New Labour's very own rent-a-mob is also turning up."

- See previous point. Also, his presence gives all an opportunity to question him. If you don't agree with his views, please come to the conference and challenge him, as I or anyone else can.

"God knows who the Federation of Progressive Student Unions is; Google gives no hits for this grand sounding organisation."

- FPSU is in a conceptional stage. It is likely to merge a group of students with ENS. Until recently it has claimed the student anti-coke campaign. The upcoming progressive left within the NUS is literally at birth, and no constitutions have been finalised. This is highly positive, as it represents a new mindset within a wide-ranging group of students who seek to reform the NUS and at a later stage our corrupt and nonfunctional democracy.

"ENS has only been running a website since April 2005 and was set up at NUS conference in 2005 by political hacks, rather than ordinary students. The ENS public mailing list contains 7 names 5 of which are at Oxford. Odd how a bunch of students from Oxford can organise a conference at UEL outside term time isn’t it?"

- ENS set up in March. It had a website in April. I call that efficient. Secondly, if you take the time to understand the ENS, you will come to realise that it is aiming to seperate itself from political hacks. I urge you to consider who will become convenors for the group in the future. I would also point out that to have the political left within the NUS is better than having the political left outside the NUS - it means there is some form of political punch to the lefts procrastination. I again remind people of the fact that it is not a group of anarcho's but progressives. Next, it is not bunch of Oxbridges that have organised this, and even if it were, they are doing a damn site better at getting stuff rolling than the generally unfunctioning left across the UK.

"ENS advertises as working with “UK National Union of Students”, this is odd what other NUS would most UK students be aware of? Oh and Houzan Mahmoud also writes for ENS apart from also representing the Organisation of Womens Freedom in Iraq."

- Yeah they work with the NUS. If they don't, then there is no chance of reform. If you say reform is impossible, firstly you are wrong, and secondly, consider Leeds who have a motion for NUS dissafiliation over the Coke contract held with NUSSL. This is a movement waiting to explode. Again you miss the point here, you do not have to support the OWFI, you just have to accept them. They are arguing on the left, and therefore deserve recognition on the left. To shun anyones view is futile, once they are heard they can be argued against if one feels the need.

"Further they cannot even spell Canary Wharf, no –e at the end guys, so they obviously aint locals organising this."

- I'm from London. And who cares.

"It is also strange that local MP George Galloway has not been invited."

- He is not a student and he is boring.

"This conference is costing a lot of money; I wonder who is paying for this?"

- Oh! are you in charge of finances? I would love to see the expense forms.

"If this conference was any more of a front, they would have to call it Brighton."

- erm... what... as a counter labour-party conference or something?

SO!

If anyone reading this actually cares about the student political left, I invite you to attend the conference, and speak for or against the ideas being presented. You will all have an opportunity to shape the constitution, and to hear other peoples views.
It seems that the idea of 'unite to progess' seems to have died amongst some of todays supposed left.

I took a bet with a mate before my first post and you guys just won me £50, Thanks! I got you banged too rights didn’t I!!!

First Peter Tatchell may be a member of the Green Party (at the moment) but he stood for parliament in the same generation of Labour MP’s as Tony. So let us not pretend there is no relationship there. There is a link between Tatchell’s agenda and the objectives of New Labour. Look at the targets of Outrage: 1. C of E Bishops, 2. Mugabe, 3. Iran. Then look at the targets of New Labour 1. Reform of C of E, 2. Regime change in Zimbabwe, 3. Invade Iran. Tatchell is New Labour's John the Baptist to Tony Blair's Jesus Christ.

Like most students I do not need political “representation” I need a level political playing field, something that NUJ, NOL’s and NUS have denied millions of British Students for decades. That is why people are fucked off with all politics, they are sick of the carve ups. When for example will Scottish NUS be separated from English NUS? Scottish Students do not pay tuition fees, we suckers do but they still get to vote at NUS conference about a wholly English issue, funny that!

1. CND were hijacked by the “left”; where is Neil Kinnock, where is Joan Ruddock, where is Tony Blair-all key CND members? How many US nuclear bases do we have in the UK with all these “unilateralists” in power?

2. I made a clear distinction between race “Where are the Black speakers?” and religion “Where are the Muslim speakers?”

3. While the NUS left is carved up by NUJ and the New Labour it is a bit hard for there to be any objective view of “the left” or unified position, so don't blame us for Tony's divisive war.

4. NUJ harbours lefties, yeah well name one lefty in the NUJ that the rest of the non-Zionist left (outside New Labour) who says “There goes a shit-hot socialist!”

5. “Everyone has a right to be heard.” What bollocks is that! I do not think the BNP or NF has a right to be heard, no platform means, no platform. However, like many on the left when New Labour have killed more innocent Muslims (by several tens of thousand) than all the Nazis in Britain have ever managed, then it is a bit difficult to claim that it is the BNP who are the racists murders. Moreover, to maintain this con only plays into the BNP’s and Al Quaida’s hands.

6. The Federation of Progressive Student Unions has no student unions as members- the term front organisation was deliberately used in the earlier post. If you are going to call yourself “The Federation of Progressive Student Unions” you actually need at least one student union signed up. The fact that you have not is a dead give away for a front organisation guys!

7. The majority of public names in ENS are Oxford University Students which means you cannot claim you represent anyone more than your privileged selves. Further, why are no UEL students listed as speaking and why is it organised before term time when no UEL students are about?

8. The Strasser brothers argued from a left wing prospective, as did Pol Pot and Stalin. Calling yourself “left” does not make you progressive, indeed “left” means in the UK in 2005; less civil liberties at home, more foreign wars for the American Empire and more spooks all round.

9. If you are a student and cannot spell then why? Even after New Labour’s reforms 66% of university funding still comes from the British Tax Payer, I think you need to give UK Tax Payers a refund!

10. Many of the speakers are not students are they, but a local MP, G. Galloway, a well known critic of the war who was elected by local Muslims, including many students at UEL, is not invited; bloody strange or what? Moreover, why do you dismiss East Enders democratic choice as boring, isn’t that another example of patronising racism that you are supposed to oppose?

11. If you wanted loads of students to turn up why did you only advertise the event on 29.08.05 when the conference is on 3.09.05? That is less than 5 days notice, may be because you don’t want any students turning up?

13. The left is dead: thank god, now we can organise something better without the Labour Party, Searchlight or the NUJ.

The key questions are:-

1. Who is paying for this jolly, you failed to answer that question?

2. Is this being organised with the consent, agreement and following a vote by UEL SU. If so when did this vote take place?

3. Who is funding ENS, who and where do they represent?

4. What SU is affiliated to the “Federation of Progressive Student Unions”?

I don't know much about this conference, so won't defend it against all your accusations (although they all seem deeply paranoid to me) but your accusation that Tony Blair and Peter Tatchell are bosom buddies is deeply deeply bizarre.

Tatchell can be accused of many things, but being a New Labour stooge is not one of them. Yes, he stood for election at the same time as Tony Blair - in 1983, when Blair got a smooth ride into Parliament and Tatchell was red-baited and gay-bashed out of the election by his own party! He then went on to be one of the most strident representatives of the Labour Left, and then *quit* the party shortly after Blair became leader.

Even the most paranoid conspiracy theorist would be hard-pressed to portray Blair and Tatchell as ideological colleagues, but you've managed it - congrats! It makes me think that the rest of your analysis is just as barking.

Matt

Ok i cant be bothered to come back on all your points this time as I have more interesting things to do with my life.
But, why have you got a stick up your arse about peter tatchell, is he an ex boyfriend or something?
Also, why do you seem to think anyone at this conference cares for labour? I openly speak out against labour, equally against conservatives and lib dems.
Next, yes everyone deserves the right to be heard. This conference however, is for a progressive left, and will not offer a platform to known racists/sexists etc, as it would be wholly inappropriate. If you try and silence someones view, you are as bad as the government, make sure you open your ears, and put some of your energy into arguing against what is wrong in this world.
NUJ... as i said, a group rarely speaks for the individual. And, as i said, why would a broad right group support a progressive left individual?
FPSU is a front for what then? Seeings how I am mates with the guy who set it up, who is a hardcore green activist, i beg to differ. As i said, if you read my response, it is in a conceptual stage. That means many evenings arguing down the pub about how it should be represented etc. Stop these conspiracy theories.
Finally, what is your deal with money. If you have done stuff within a SU you would know there are 101 corners you can cut, especially now ultra-viries is no longer an issue. I put on a conference with 60 people in Leeds from around the UK, which cost nothing. Not everything requires money in this world.

To finish, it is arguments like this that ruin indymedia, and ruin political movements. This obsession with factionism, and conspiricy theories about student activism for gods sake, will leave the progressive movement in shatters, with yet another generation left to consider which no hopers to vote for at an election. Either put up, or shut up, because you are not impressing anyone. If you have a problem, get involved and change it, everyone's input is welcome, but don't sit there carping like some miser.

I haven't got time to respond to everything, so very briefly.

1. The Federation of Progressive Students unions - not it's not a front for ENS, it was set up by some activists mainly at Sussex who have very widely disparate views from those you attack on Palestine, Iraq etc etc. They've been offered space at the conference because they are trying to do something vaguely similar and it's good to combine political sharpness with inclusivity. Btw, I agree that the name is a bit silly, but why are you being so vicious?

2. Galloway not invited? Lots of people haven't been. And I don't think a not particularly left-wing ex-Labour MP with dodgy views on everything from free speech to the former Ba'athist regime in Iraq is a particularly great speaker. If an MP was going to be invited surely it should be a real left-winger like Jeremy Corbyn or John McDonnell.

3. It doesn't cost a lot to organise a conference like this when the student union at UEL is helping. The rest of the costs - which are minimal, most of it has been done by email, website and photocopied leaflet - come from money raised at festivals through Workers' Beer.

4. The ENS discussion list only has a handful of people on it; a lot of them are at Oxford because someone from Oxford set up the list. Something needs to be done about putting more people on it, but the ENS announcements list has lots of people on from all over the place.

Grow up!

Sacha

This is incredibly boring, but given that I've been attacked in some of these comments I think it's proper that I answer some of the questions raised. (I've paraphrased most of the questions but the sentiments are the same.)

1) "Daniel Randall is pro-Israel."

I believe that a united workers' movement of Palestinians and Israelis should militantly fight the racist Israeli state in the name of democratic rights, national liberation and self-determination for all peoples. I believe this movement can be built, in the first instance, by uniting Palestinian and Israeli workers around a programme that recognises their mutual rights, summed up by the slogan "two nations, two states." If this makes me "pro-Israeli," then fine - I'm "pro-Israeli."

2) "Did the UELSU Executive vote to back this event?"

Yes.

3) "What is the FPSU?"

I don't know very much about the Federation of Progressive Student Unions other than that it's a network put together by (as far as I know) a small number of activists grouped around anti-Coke campaigning.

4) "What is ENS? What is its relationship to the AWL?"

Education Not for Sale is a network of activists that came together in the run up to NUS Conference 2005. AWL members make up a proportion of these activists but ENS is by no means limited to AWL members.

5) "Why is Peter Tatchell speaking? Isn't he in Tony Blair's pocket?"

Peter Tatchell is a campaigner with a long history and a lot of experience. I don't agree with all of his politics but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in what he has to say. Whatever you think of his politics, he can hardly be accused of chiming in with Blair on questions like religion; as you might have noticed, Blair is very fond of religious schools and loves to have chummy sit-down meetings with "faith leaders." Peter Tatchell, at least, knows a religious reactionary when he sees one.

6) "Why are there no trade unions from the third-world at this event?"

Quite why there have to be trade unionists from the third-world at every event I'm not sure, but either way it's not the case that this event doesn't have any. Houzan Mahmoud, the representative of the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq, is also linked to the Federation of Workers' Councils and Unions in Iraq which, the last time I checked, was a "trade union from the third-world."

7) "Why isn't George Galloway speaking?"

Because, as well as being "boring," as Sparta points out, George Galloway is also a complete demgagogue whose speaking style is similar to that of a particularly fire-and-brimstone Christian priest. He also happens to be a filthy-rich Stalinist hack.

8) "Who's paying?"

First of all, why does it matter? Second of all, as Sacha pointed out the costs are minimal given that UELSU is co-sponsoring the event and it's being held on UEL premises. The rest of the money, as Sacha says, comes from funds raised by ENS activists themselves.

I hope this clears up some issues. Frankly I'm a bit disinclined to engage in weird, circuitous discussions with internet-dwellers who think that "the left is dead," but in the same post bizarrely divide up "the left" into the categories of "Zionist" and "non-Zionist."

Indymedia debates are funny things. I think I'll stick to the real world...

Would that be the same Sacha Ismail of the AWL who spends his time writing letters to the Bourgeois media attacking Respect? Of the AWL who support the occupation of Iraq, who set up a front campaign to OPPOSE the academic boycott of Israel, whose leading figure describes himself proudly as a Zionist, whose only place of influence (for some reason) is the NUS executive where they spend there time cosying up to the Israel-promotion society, Union of Jewish Students and the (New) Labour Students

It is interesting that the main people the AWL have attacked are George Galloway, progressive Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan, who they outrageously smeared, and anyone who stands up for Palestinian rights

Why don't the AWL actually attack somebody like Blair, Labour, Bush or Ariel Sharon for a change?

As to Peter Tatchell, he is a member of the Green Party, but he shares some similarities with the decidedly dody AWL (the only Pro-Israel group on the left) - he supports the US occupation of Iraq, describing it as "the lesser evil" too!

The AWL have obviously used the respectability of their NUS face to con a couple of reasonable speakers into appearing, but given the record of this organisation as a pro-israel, pro-Occupation of Iraq, highly Islamophobic organisation, I would'nt touch this event with a barge pole

1. Tariq Ramadan is a progressive? AJ, I challenge you to read the following dossier (composed by a French socialist of African descent, before you go off on one) and then say again that Ramadan is progressive.

 http://www.free-education.org.uk/ramadan.shtml

2. Third World trade unionists? In addition to Houzan Mahmoud, there is going to be a speaker from the Bolivia Solidarity Campaign who is highly involved with the trade union movement in Bolivia. You may have noticed that AWL has rather a good record of involved in campaigns which bring over trade unionists from what you call the Third World (Indonesia, Mexico, Haiti, Iraq in just the last few years), while the SWP etc are busy promoting not fellow labour movement activists but reactionaries like Ramadan.

3. Yes, I've had a letter in the Guardian attacking Galloway and Respect. What's wrong with that? Why shouldn't I state my views publicly?

Not even with a bargepole, AJ? That's means you'll be staying away, presumably?

That's brilliant news. An event like this can do without people who substitute slanders and fabrications for political criticism.

To respond to just a few of AJ's ill-made points...

1) The AWL is "Zionist."

In an article last year, AWL member Sean Matgamna argued that if "Zionism" means the belief that the Israeli Jews have a right to national self-determination, then that makes him a Zionist. Personally I think he was wrong and wrote an article in the AWL's paper - Solidarity - saying so, as did several other AWL members. People can read those articles on AWL's website. If people think Sean's position - mistaken though it is - somehow puts him in the same category as Israeli bourgeois reactionaries then they don't have a political brain-cell in their head.

2) The AWL "supports the occupation of Iraq."

This is simply a lie. It's an old and boring lie, too. It takes a quite incredible leap of logic to get from slogans that the AWL uses such as "no to US/UK occupation," (you can see that one in almost every issue of Solidarity) "back Iraqi workers' against US/UK occupation," (again, in almost every issue) "end the occupation," (agreed upon in our 2004 Conference resolutions) "support workers' resistance to occupation," (a 2003 headline from a youth-mag we used to publish) and so on to "the AWL supports the occupation of Iraq." It's quite staggering. If we did actually believe that it's a good thing that Iraq is run now by a bunch of extreme right-wing religious gangsters propped up by imperialist troops whose pastimes include attacking striking workers, why would we have spent the last 3 years building solidarity - including raising funds for - revolutionary working-class militants in Iraq fighting to force the occupation out?

3) The AWL has "conned" some decent speakers into coming.

This is laughable and quite offensive to the speakers. It suggests that the speakers are too stupid to know about AWL's role in ENS - even though neither the AWL members or the non-AWL members in ENS have ever lied about this - and are too stupid to know about AWL's politics. Everyone who's speaking knows exactly who's behind the conference so that means they know that AWL members have been involved with organising it. Don't insult them by implying that they're ignorant enough to be "conned."

Our AWL chums manage to go from "this has nothing to do with the AWL" to "Well everyon e knows the AWL's role"

The AWL seem as ill-informed as The Sun on Tariq Ramdan - indeed I'm surprised that Sacha Ismail hasn't contacted the Sun to congratulate them on calling for Ramdan to be banned from the UK

The AWLs ill-informed attack on Tariq Ramadan has been well exposed - incredibly they attacked him without even taking the trouble to read any of his books - as the writer below notes, it is inconceivable that any other academic or philosopher of Ramadan's stature would be attacked, the AWLs sole reason for calling for him to be banned was that he was Muslim.
The leaflet you produce by somebody know one has heard off, is a parody and caricature of Ramdan's positions

Here is an excellent reply to their slurs -  http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/Politics/Ramadan.html#Correct

Interesting, the only speaker that the Islamophobic and racist

The AWL argued against an immediate withdrawal of US and UK troops, therefore arguing that imperialist rule is the prefered alternative - a little bit like supporting the South Vietnamese puppet regime on the basis that the Vietcong were totalitarian.

There main activity is getting people elected onto the NUS executive, where they cosy up to the Union of Jewish Students and Labour Students.

The AWL support the Jewish state where 20% of the population are not Jewish and live as third class citizens, they actively campaigned against the boycott of Israeli Universities - including a University built on an ilegal Jewish settlement.

They have no problem inviting someone from the Union of Jewish Students who support the reactionary policies of the racist State of Israel to speak at one of their events, but call for progressive Muslim academic to be no-platformed

It's also okay, if you are a New Labour MP who supports attacks on the working class and the murder of 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

The AWL called for a vote for Oona King, you heard that right!
They may have even gone out canvassing for her!!!!

1) "The AWL seem as ill-informed as The Sun on Tariq Ramdan - indeed I'm surprised that Sacha Ismail hasn't contacted the Sun to congratulate them on calling for Ramdan to be banned from the UK"

This is just moronic. Are you arguing that the left must stop criticising people if right-wing newspapers like the Sun criticise them from a different, in fact totally opposite, perspective? If the Sun criticises Ramadan from a right-wing viewpoint (claiming he's an apologist for terrorism etc), we can't criticise him from a left-wing one (pointing out his reactionary politics on issues from women's and gay liberation to freedom of speech)?

Specifically, btw, the AWL opposes the deportation and banning even of far more radical right-wing Islamists than Ramadan from Britain:  http://www.workersliberty.org/node/view/4490#comment-1238

2) For a detailed overview of Ramadan's politics which NO ONE has yet even attempted to refute, see
 http://www.workersliberty.org/node/view/4004

3) ". . .it is inconceivable that any other academic or philosopher of Ramadan's stature would be attacked. . ."

Er, no. We're communists, we're quite happy to attack anyone we disagree with, regardless of their "stature" among religious obscurantists or in the world of bourgeois academia. If you visit our webiste you'll find polemics against manner of "well-respected" academics and pundits.

". . .the AWLs sole reason for calling for him to be banned was that he was Muslim"

Please justify this. Firstly, we didn't call for him to be "banned", prevented from entering any country, denied any job etc etc etc - we simply argued that as a conservative right-winger, he should not be invited as a keynote speaker to the left-wing European Social Forum. Secondly, we would have objected to any prominent speaker with his reactionary politics, regardless of their religion. In fact the real point is that no Christian with similar views to his would ever be invited to the ESF; but somehow, for people like AJ, Ramadan being a Muslim excuses his bigotry. This stereotyping of all Muslims as reactionaries is deeply offensive.

4) "[The AWL's] main activity is getting people elected onto the NUS executive"

It really isn't.

"where they cosy up to the Union of Jewish Students and Labour Students."

Yes, we cosied up to UJS by being the ONLY left group at NUS conference to oppose all faith schools (we were defeated by a UJS-FOSIS-SWSS-Socialist Action popular front) and by calling for immediate Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian Occupied Territories; and we cosy up to Labour Students by continuously denouncing Blair, supporting strikers (who in NUS has proposed any solidarity with the Gate Gourmet workers? only us) and advocating world-wide communist revolution.

5) "The AWL support the Jewish state where 20% of the population are not Jewish and live as third class citizens. . ."

What does this mean? We don't support the Israeli state, as we are revolutionary socialists who want the working class to smash all bourgeois states; and we don't support its discrimination against its Arab citizens (though we do point out that far worse discrimination is practised against minorities by virtually every other state in the region). We do support the right of the Israeli national entity to continue to exist, but that is a different matter.

". . .they actively campaigned against the boycott of Israeli Universities - including a University built on an ilegal Jewish settlement.

We think the boycott would be counterproductive, isolate the Israeli left, harm the building of links between Israelis and Palestinians and boost anti-semitism by singling out Israel for punishment in a way which the boycotters do not advocate for any other state which violates human rights (many of them far more egregiously than Israel). As for the College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel in the occupied West Bank, there is certainly a case in the abstract for boycotting it, but for the boycotters it was just a "way in" - as far as they were concerned, the University of Tel Aviv deep inside Israeli territory was every bit as illegitimate.

6) "They have no problem inviting someone from the Union of Jewish Students who support the reactionary policies of the racist State of Israel to speak at one of their events. . ."

About anti-semitism, not about Israel.

". . .but call for progressive Muslim academic to be no-platformed"

See above. And please note that a number of genuinely progressive Muslims (anti-war group Just Peace, LGBT rights group Imaan) have been invited to speak, along with Houzan Mahmoud, a Kurdish woman from a Muslim background. Tariq Ramadan would certainly denounce Imaan and Houzan, so the question is - which side are you on?

"unless you personally know all the speakers, that is quite a bold claim to assume that they are all white."

I've been following this debate from the sidelines, but one remarkable fact has provoked me to post. (Let me say now that I don't know AJ's sex, so I'm going to assume he's male for simplicity's sake).

AJ seems quite happy making statements which are the total opposite of the truth. This implies either that he's so oblivious to the facts as to be really quite stupid, or that he's a liar.

For instance, he "points out" that there are no UEL students speaking. But in fact a speaker from UELSU is speaking in the first session. He also "points out" that there are no black speakers. But in fact, in addition to the ridiculousness of his assumption that all the speakers are white, there are some whose names or campaigns make it pretty obvious that they're non-white (Houzan Mahmoud, the speaker from Iran, Just Peace, Alys from School Students Against War).

Similarly with Muslims - what about the speaker from Just Peace (a more recent version of the agenda, posted on Educationet, indicates that an activist from LGBT Muslim organisation Imaan is also speaking, but that's by the by). And most outrageously, he claims that there are no trade unionists from the developing world - when in fact there are two very impressive speakers from developing world unions, Houzan and the speaker from the Bolivia Solidarity Campaign. (Though to be "fair" to AJ, he probably doesn't know anything about Houzan or Bolivia Solidarity, as he's not actually very interested in developing world labour movements.)

Which is it, AJ - totally stupid or a shameless liar?

There were 70 people at the conference during the day, around 60 at the height, so I'd say it was a success. Very interesting and useful discussion and presentations, finished off by a speaker from the Gate Gourmet dispute and the presentation of a cheque for £200 ENS activists had collected.