An Anti-Semite, a Misogynist, an Icon for Fools but above all else An Enemy of the Black Working Class At the end of July, the high court overturned the ban on Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI) from entering Britain from the USA. The Labour home secretary will give his reasons for this decision in October after the high court returns from their vacation. The ban on Farrakhan coming to Britain has been in place since the Tory government implemented it in 1986 in response to his racist, sexist and homophobic views. Coming from a racist Labour government that has let the killers of Steven Laurence walk free, has publicly celebrated its murderous attacks on refugees, has refused to investigate the racist lynchings in Telford and has banned anti-fascist marches and demonstrations, this rapprochement with Farrakhan should come as no surprise. It represents an alliance between the racist, social authoritarianism of big business and the fascist, anti-working class vitriol of the black middle class. This is an alliance that will be ever more necessary for British Imperialism as wider sections of the working class are forced to fight back against racism, poverty and state repression. An Anti-Semite. So far, opposition to the lifting of the ban has come mainly from the middle class Jewish organisation, the British Board of Deputies; itself supportive of the racist settler colonialism of the Zionists in Palestine. Farrakhan is undeniably a vicious anti-Semite. He has referred to Judaism as a ‘gutter religion’ and to Jewish people as ‘bloodsuckers’ and understandably looks to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Holocaust for inspiration. At a rally for the Democrat Jesse Jackson in 1984 he said that; ‘Hitler was a very great man, he rose Germany from the ashes.’ In New York in 1994 he was excusing Nazi anti-Semitism: ‘Everybody talks about what Hitler did to you. What did you do to Hitler?… What made that man so mad at you?’, and sees himself as following in the same footsteps. ‘The Jews don’t like Farrakhan so they call him Hitler. Well, that’s a good name, Hitler was a great man.’ Let us hope that he reaches an equally ignoble end as Hitler did and as soon as possible. Farrakhan’s racist proteges have tried to hide his disgusting views by claiming that the word ‘great’ in the above quotation means influential and is not necessarily complementary. They must be judging us by the level of their own intelligence. Like most liars their own words expose them. Paul Twino of ‘Operation Farrakhan’; the campaign to overturn the ban, wrote to the Home Secretary; Jack Straw in 1995, accusing him of being manipulated by ‘Hebrew puppeteers’ and ‘that loathsome and slanderous generation of Talmudic vipers known to the broad public as the Board of Deputies.’ A Misogynist. Like most reactionaries Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam treat women as domestic slaves to their husbands and as baby producing machines to bring up the next generation of men. Women in NOI are said to follow a code, which includes the wearing of headscarves and floor length skirts. They can only work before they have children and may only marry fellow members of NOI. Relationships of mixed ethnic background are not allowed. The NOI run three schools in Britain at which their pernicious brand of fascism is disseminated. In their ‘Muslim Girls in Training’ lessons, girls are taught to cook organic meals and how to rear children. Sadly some bourgeois women are backward enough to accept this oppression. Speaking on Radio 4, Dr Martha Lee of the NOI said that ‘children are our first priority to nurture’ and that ‘the role of the woman is first and foremost that of wife and mother’ Farrakhan and the NOI organised the ‘Day of Atonement’, Million Man March when black men were to march through Washington to tell the world that they were to blame for their oppression. 800,000 men attended, less than one fifth were under 25 and over one fifth earned over $40,000 (£29,000) p.a.; the real people for whom such racist, anti-working class sexism made sense. An Icon for Fools All religions are rooted in a backward and unscientific methodology, but most at least have an historical development in feudal societies when people knew little better. Farrakhan however takes his messianic beliefs to new levels of absurdity. Farrakhan has said that the white ‘race’ was created by an evil wizard, called Dr Yacub, as an experiment on a remote island, 6,000 years ago. He has said that he met his former leader, Elijah Muhammed, on board a flying saucer orbiting the Earth and that his body will be conveyed to heaven on a UFO. Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam supporters are sufficiently immoral to stomach his anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia and hatred of the working class but in calling for him, ‘to come and give us much-needed and valued guidance and instructions’, they display a staggering credulity. Above all else an Enemy of the Black Working Class. Aside from his attacks on oppressed sections of the working class, Farrakhan has attacked white people in racial terms without distinction. In New York in 1985 he said that, ‘The white man is our mortal enemy, and we cannot accept him.’, and has talked about ‘settling the score’ with white people who he says are ‘devils’. Such racist remarks have been explained away by reference to the imperialist nature of European ruling classes but far from being anti-imperialist slogans they are a grave danger to the more oppressed black working class. By labelling all white people as enemies, Nation of Islam aims to prevent revolutionary alliances being formed with progressive sections of the white working class moving into struggle such as the Miners hit squads of 1985 or revolutionaries from the dissident elements of the republican movement. Perhaps far worse still, NOI present the interests of black middle class parasites as being those of the whole black community, without distinction for class antagonisms or social contradiction. Any attempt by the black working class to put forward their own interests will be met with extreme force from these reactionaries. After a tour of revolutionary African states fighting imperialism for their independence, on March 8th 1964, the revolutionary leader Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam. Later, on Jan 24th 1965 at a public rally in Harlem he said that, ‘I am no longer held in check from fighting white supremacists by Elijah Muhammed’s separatist black Muslim movement.’ On the question of fighting slum landlords, Malcolm X said that, ‘It tells how the white power structure downtown controls the black community through the black establishment’. When asked for his opinion of the worldwide struggle between capitalism and socialism, he replied that, ‘It is impossible for capitalism to survive, primarily because the system of capitalism needs some blood to suck. Capitalism used to be like an eagle, but now it’s more like a vulture. It used to be strong enough to go and suck anybody’s blood whether they were strong or not. But now it has become more cowardly, like the vulture, and it can only suck the blood of the helpless. As the nations of the world free themselves, then capitalism has fewer victims, less to suck, and is becomes weaker and weaker. It’s only a matter of time in my opinion before it collapses completely.’ Such revolutionary expressions of the interests of the working class were too much for a rich parasite like Farrakhan with his Southside Chicago mansion, vacation villa in Arizona and heavy gold pendants. Farrakhan set about ensuring the murder of Malcolm X. In speeches made in 1965 Farrakhan said that, ‘Such a man as Malcolm is worthy of death.’, and that ‘The die is set and Malcolm shall not escape’ Days later on Feb 21st, Malcolm X was murdered by three Nation of Islam assassins. Regarding his role in Malcolm X’s murder, Farrakhan admitted on TV in 2000 that he might ‘have been complicit in words that I spoke leading up to Feb 21st.’ This should come as no surprise from a group whose reactionary anti-working class politics have led them to form an alliance with the murderous fascists of the Klu Klux Klan and shows what could be in store for the black working class in Britain. If we are to avoid this terror then we must ensure that these vermin are driven out of our cities for good. ---------------- Following the attacks on bankers and military personnel in the US, Farrakhan was quoted by the Chicago Defender; Sept. 19th as calling the USA the "greatest nation on this earth" and then said that he agreed "with President Bush that there must be an appropriate response to this wicked attack’.