Timothy Garton Ash: Stop this folly now

The guardian has an article on latest New Labour's cynical trick to try and win back some of the Muslim voters that it lost through the Iraq War, by sacrificing our right to critise religions.

Will this stop the far right from trying to demonise Muslims? No they will do that anyway. They need some one to demonise as without some easily identifiable enemy they have not reason to exist. It could even end up with them looking like marters which would be completly counter productive.

Will it stiffle artistic expression? Yes.

Will it stop people trying to raise awareness about some of the less savoury aspects of Islamic culture, or trying to argue for better human rights in the Islamic countries? Yes, Islam is not just a religous and moral system, it is also a political system. The Sharia is deeply ingrained as a requirement of Islamic countries, and as like all other parts of Koran it is beleived to be devinely inspired and therefore cannot be amended by mere human laws.

So we get our rights trampled on, and are no longer able to argue against the hatred incited by such people as Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who advacates wife beating and murdering gays, but Labour manages to claw back a few votes.