First published in Communist Student no.3

The Stop the War Coalition’s student grouping has censored a critical article on the question of Iran, submitted by CS member David Isaacson – an indication of the lack of democracy that still cripples much of the left

Any Facebook-using comrades who looked at the new Stop the War Students group recently might have wondered why it had the facilities for a discussion board and a public message ‘wall’ switched off for a few days. What is it that caused all the facilities for open debate and grassroots involvement in this group to be shut down?

Well, soon after the site – officially set up by the Stop the War Coalition students grouping – was founded, I joined and decided to post a link to an article by Yassamine Mather of the Hands Off the People of Iran campaign (Hopi) on the public message wall. Checking to see if there had been any responses the following day, I noticed that the message had been erased. One of the three other postings was a message from the group administrator letting members know that the wall would be “moderated” and asking comrades to keep it “clean and political”. I sent the administrator a message acknowledging this but reminding him that my message did not fall foul of these requirements in any way.

The comrade responded with the following – revealing – message: “Hi David, your posts on other pages include slanderous attacks on other members of the left. Your obsession with Iran is an attempt to weaken the campaign to prevent any attack on Iran. If you are so concerned about state executions, take your laptop to Saudi Arabia and try posting from there.

“I will continue deleting your posts so long as they are designed to give credence to US and Britain’s planned attack on Iran. A balanced post might include reference to the workers of Saudi Arabia, of Uzbekistan and anywhere else where workers are attacked.”

It is rather rich for Stewart Halforty, the administrator, to refer to my posting as “slanderous” when in the same message he claims I was attempting to “give credence to US and Britain’s planned attack on Iran” by posting an article which expresses … an unwavering opposition to such an attack! A student comrade from Solidarity Federation who posted a message asking, “What do comrades think of the Grand Old Duke of York strategy?” also reported receiving a similar response.

I posted the link twice again in protest, only for it to be deleted both times. Presumably because he realised how time-consuming such censorship would be if the group really took off, Stewart then decided to close down the wall and discussion board facilities altogether!

While a whole range of other groups not only tolerate but welcome opposing views, Stop the War Students under its Socialist Workers Party leadership instinctively clamp down on discussion rather than allow points to be made to which they have no answer – such as comrade Mather’s correct criticism that acting as an apologist for the Tehran regime actually undermines support for the anti-war movement.

It transpires that comrade Halforty is the newly appointed (not elected) full-time student organiser for the STWC. This perhaps gives us some insight into the lies and slander that the STWC leadership have in store for other Hopi supporters should they be too bold. It also shows what depths some of these control-freaks will sink to.

Communist Students is adamant that if we are to build a truly radical and mass anti-war movement amongst students and in society more generally then we must champion democracy – both in society and in our movement. In this regard it is also a matter of grave concern that Stop the War Students appears to have no plans to establish a democratic structure, its full-timer having been appointed by the ‘adult’ STWC, and the planned national meeting looks like it will be the usual rally dominated by top-table speakers. Last year Communist Students had to protest similarly at the refusal of the Student Respect ‘conference’ to accept motions (see Weekly Worker November 30 2006).

I am pleased to say, however, that our protest at this Facebook censorship seems to have produced results: on September 6, the same day as an article by myself on this issue was published in the Weekly Worker (and on the CPGB website), the public message wall was reactivated. Clearly, this was not just a coincidence – it shows that with effective publicity we can force some changes. I expect an ‘important’ non-SWPer in the STWC read the article and had the good sense to say, ‘Hang on a minute …’

Communist Students will continue to insist on the importance of democracy for our movement.