When speaking out against Islam at Speakers’ Corner, one immediately finds oneself surrounded by Muslims in a circle formation. It’s akin to red Indians circling a cowboy wagon. It is intimidation tactics, and it ensures that there will be no escape for anyone who crosses the line. With this in mind, I’d like to pay homage to some of the fiercest critics of Islam who risk their physical well-being in order to speak out loud and proud most weekends in the face of Islamic intimidation at Speakers’ Corner in London. Oftentimes these men and women are unaccompanied and alone. The courage it takes for them to speak out on all of our behalf is immense.
Steve – has been going there for almost 2 decades. What drew him to Speakers’ Corner was the variety of speakers and topics, and that he liked that the debate and dialogue and conversations were unfettered. Today, with 80% of the Corner being dominated by aggressive Muslims, Steve continues to attend, because although the speech and ideas on offer have become more restricted, he feels it is imperative to continue to shout out against censorship and in spite of the threat of violence by Muslims in the park. I’ve watched Steve on YouTube. He is an atheist and has debated with Christians and every other denomination in the park. Only the Muslims have done violence to him, and only the Muslims cause him to look over his shoulder as he exits the park and heads for home. One of Steve’s best moments came during a call to prayer in the park by the Muslims. Steve stood next to them as they were ululating and he started singing, “Oompah, loompah, stick it up your joompah.” And he somehow lived to tell the tale.
Tan – A young Chinese man born in Malaysia who spent some time in the UK on a visa. There is a video of him confronted and surrounded by a gang of Muslims at Speakers’ Corner. Tan very bravely stands his ground. He tells them to f*ck Islam. He is almost like a troll. He goes to mock Islamic ideals, and the Muslims in the park are often too stupid to understand his intelligent wit. Muslims approached him and started touching him and stroking his chin (which is considered to be physical assault in the UK), but Tan wouldn’t rise to their provocation. I also witnessed a scene where Tan went over to Muslims who were illegally praying on the grass while he stood silently among them. Two Muslims took hold of him and dragged him away from what they considered to be their space. The cops escorted Tan out of the park, in a public display of appeasement. In the UK today, the police don’t arrest the violent mob; instead, they send the peaceful protesters out of the area. And of course, the Muslims recorded Tan being escorted out of the park by the police, and they played the footage on their worldwide Dawah channels, suggesting that Tan was a hate preacher and that the police are on the side of the Muslims who are always in the right.
Amy – otherwise known as based_amy. She is a little old lady with a walking stick. She confronted the police and educated them in relation to London park laws, which clearly state that praying on the grounds or monopolizing them for religious reasons is illegal. Her video went viral. She was educating the police and they couldn’t respond to her as to what the law actually states. All they could stammer was that the situation was being elevated and a decision would be forthcoming as to whether religious groups can take over the area or not. She is also famous for waving bacon sandwiches in Muslims faces at Speakers’ Corner. Childish stuff, I agree, but mocking religion is a freedom of speech issue. One time she was also educating Muslims on their toilet habits and she was immediately surrounded by at least 50 of them who all began to chant, “Amy has skid-marks. Amy has skid-marks.” Little to zero respect was shown to an aging woman.
Raj – A Sikh who was interviewed by Peter of Sweden. He is known in the park as Tommy RobinSINGH. He goes along to the park to heckle and debate with Muslims. I have witnessed him getting some harsh criticism from some hardcore fellow Sikhs. They are ashamed that he would identify as British and adhere to British values. These extreme Sikhs told him that even after seven generations of Sikhs being born into the UK, Sikhs will never be British. Raj has repeatedly stated his love for the UK and its values, but even still he is an outsider in parts of his community.
Bob the Builder – is a Christian who challenges the Muslims at an intellectual and literary and scriptural level. His main concerns are that Islam is taking over the UK and that sharia is slowly creeping its way into our legal system in the shape of blasphemy laws and Muslims being above the law. There have been tons of court cases in the UK where a Muslim gets off with rape, or some other heinous misdeed, because he apparently didn’t understand that it’s not okay to rape a 12 year-old girl in England. He also notes that the political left are aligning themselves with Islam for whatever reasons they have. My own suggestions would be that the left are using Islam as a political weapon purely because they think all Muslims are brown, and also because they view Islam as being compatible with their own Marxist ideals. No country or culture is without historic blood on its hands, but the left love to use colonialism and Empire as tools with which to erode English people’s self-confidence. The left neglect to note that Muslims were dealing in the African slave trade long before the white man came along. They neglect to note this because it doesn’t fit in with their narrative of the white man as being the bad man.
Gary Google – An absolute legend. After Tommy Robinson debated Ali Dawah, Gary tormented Ali in the park about Ali’s stance on sex with children. Gary looks like an aging rapper, gold microphone, sunglasses and all. He hounded Ali and would not leave him alone. Ali was reduced to looking like a lost puppy and desperately clinging to his phone in order to look up verses of the Quran in a bid to spend his time “constructively.” And no matter what part of the park he tried to escape to, Gary Google was right behind him with his gold microphone to mock him and demand that he defend having sex with 6 year-old girls.
These legends demand a shout-out. They will go down in history as being integral players in the battle for Speakers’ Corner, a microcosm or metaphor for the rest of the UK. If we lose Speakers’ Corner to Muslims, it’s an indicator that the rest of the country will follow suit. These people are a prime example for us all, that we should use our voices or lose them.