[Peace-discuss] Mother Agnes and the 'liberal' hawks out to silence her

Tue Mar 3 21:00:09 EST 2015

Mother Agnes and the 'liberal' hawks out to silence her

 <http://rt.com/op-edge/mother-agnes-liberal-interventionists-026/>
http://rt.com/op-edge/mother-agnes-liberal-interventionists-026/

 <http://rt.com/op-edge/authors/neil-clark/> Description:
http://img.rt.com/files/opinion/95/00/00/00/neil_clark.bn.jpgNeil Clark is a
journalist, writer and broadcaster. His award winning blog can be found at
<http://www.neilclark66.blogspot.com> www.neilclark66.blogspot.com. Follow
him on  <https://twitter.com/NeilClark66> Twitter

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Published time: November 20, 2013 14:16 

Description: A street in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital
Damascus (AFP Photo/Anwar Amro)

A street in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus (AFP
Photo/Anwar Amro)

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 <http://rt.com/trends/syria-unrest-assad-opposition/> Syria unrest Tags
 <http://rt.com/tags/human-rights/> Human rights,
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Just when you thought the 'liberal interventionists' and neo-cons couldn't
stoop any lower, they just have. 
The 'pro-free speech' but actually very anti-free speech bullies have got a
new target. A 61-year old nun called Mother Agnes-Mariam who has been living
in Syria for twenty years and who runs a campaign called Mussahala
(Reconciliation). 

For  the West's 'liberal hawks' and serial interventionists, this elderly
lady, who is working tirelessly for peace and an end to the bloodshed in
Syria, has become Public Enemy Number One.  
Mother Agnes has been subject to a vicious internet campaign of character
assassination, smears and defamation. We've been told that she is an 'Assad
apologist,' 'Assad's favourite nun'- she has even been called 'the Syrian
equivalent of one of Hitler's brown priests'.   
When the liberal hawks and serial warmongers
<http://rt.com/op-edge/mother-agnes-liberal-interventionists-026/%20http:/st
opwar.org.uk/statements/stop-the-war-statement-mother-agnes-and-the-internat
ional-anti-war-conference-on-30-november-2013> saw that Mother Agnes had
been invited to speak at the forthcoming international conference of Stop
the War, they had a collective hissy fit.  
An 'Assad apologist' speaking to a large audience in Britain?! Why, in the
name of 'free speech' and 'democracy' it must not be allowed! We must Stop
the Nun! Two 'A List'
<https://twitter.com/jeremyscahill/status/401373828107874304> speakers at
the Stop the War event - Owen Jones and Jeremy Scahill - were urged by
Mother Agnes' enemies via Twitter not to share a platform with the nun.
'Dear Owen/Jeremy, do you know who you're sharing a platform with?' style
tweets were sent. The two were sent links to articles attacking Mother
Agnes. 
Jones and Scahill unfortunately bowed to the pressure, and said that they
would withdraw from the conference if Mother Agnes was also on the platform.
At the weekend Stop the War announced that Mother Agnes had withdrawn from
the conference. Her dignified, graceful
<http://stopwar.org.uk/mother_agnes.pdf> letter to Stop the War was in sharp
contrast to the nastiness of the attacks made on her by her accusers. 
Why were the liberal hawks and supporters of the Syrian 'revolution' so
frightened of an elderly nun addressing a Stop the War conference? If she
really was a 'crackpot' - another claim made against her - then surely that
would have been obvious to those listening to her? Lots of lurid claims have
been made against Mother Agnes, someone even claimed on Twitter on Tuesday
that she worked 'with Assad intelligence', but evidence to back up the
claims is decidedly thin on the ground.  
The reason she has been attacked - and why it was so important to stop her
speaking at the Stop the War event- is because her first-hand account of
what has actually been happening in Syria challenges the dominant western
narrative. 

Description: Mother Agnes-Marie de la Croix and the Red Cresent (unseen)
with the help of the Social Affairs Ministry, lead the evacuation of Syrian
civilians from the war-battered suburb of Damascus, Moadamiyet al-Sham, as
fighting between pro-government troops and rebel fighters continues in
districts of the capital, on October 29, 2013. (AFP Photo)

Mother Agnes-Marie de la Croix and the Red Cresent (unseen) with the help of
the Social Affairs Ministry, lead the evacuation of Syrian civilians from
the war-battered suburb of Damascus, Moadamiyet al-Sham, as fighting between
pro-government troops and rebel fighters continues in districts of the
capital, on October 29, 2013. (AFP Photo)

This dominant narrative says that all the deaths in Syria are the
responsibility of the Evil Dictator Bashar al-Assad, a crazed Hitleresque
tyrant who since 2011 has been massacring his own people and has even used
chemical weapons against them. The dominant narrative says that the Syrian
conflict is a clear case of Good vs. Evil, the anti-Assad rebels are Good,
Assad and his government are Evil. 
Mother Agnes' testimony challenges this dominant narrative- which is why for
the liberal hawks, she is so dangerous.   
She has revealed how the 'Good Guys', who we 'plebs' in the West are
supposed to be cheering on, have been guilty of mass murder. 
"Everyone in Syria is facing grave danger. There was a case of Muslim
religious leaders being kidnapped and beheaded. They were humiliated and
tortured. Ismailis, the Druze, Christians - people from all parts of Syrian
society - are being mass murdered. I would like to say that if these
butchers didn't have international support, no one would have dared to cross
the line. But today, unfortunately, the violation of human rights and
genocide in Syria is covered up on the international level," Mother Agnes
<http://rt.com/op-edge/mother-chemical-attack-footage-fraud-509/> told RT in
September.  
In the same interview she also questioned the dominant narrative which said
that the Syrian government was responsible for the chemical weapons attack
at Ghouta in August.  
It's not hard to understand why liberal hawks and the serial
interventionists didn't want Mother Agnes' to address a well-attended event
in London. 
The appalling atrocities committed by the rebels- which include the regular
terrorist bombing of civilian targets and beheadings, need to be played
down, otherwise the 'plebs' will be asking: why are our governments in the
west siding with such people? In the same way, the dominant narrative
regarding the Ghouta attack - i.e. that it was carried out by Assad- must,
under no circumstances, be questioned- even if no conclusive evidence has
yet been produced to prove that the Syrian government was indeed
responsible. 
Mother Agnes' testimony reveals that the so-called 'War on Terror' is a sham
- that in Syria, the western countries and their regional allies, Saudi
Arabia and Israel, are on the same side as the extremist Islamic terror
groups that we are told are our greatest enemies.   
 In my RT OpEdge column last week I
<http://rt.com/op-edge/conspiracy-theory-west-poisoning-648/> discussed how
the label 'conspiracy theorist' was used by elite gatekeepers to silence
dissent and narrow the parameters of debate. In the case of Syria, the
preferred technique is to label anyone who challenges the dominant narrative
as 'pro-Assad', or an 'Assad apologist'.  
It doesn't matter if the person/individuals concerned have come out publicly
and said that they don't support President Assad- the charge will still be
made against those who dare to question the official line. 
The media monitoring group Media Lens  <https://twitter.com/medialens>
@MediaLens for instance have made it clear that they oppose all violence in
Syria, whoever is behind it, but that still doesn't stop them being smeared
as 'pro-Assad' by 'liberal' hawks for their exposure of media bias on Syria.

Description: Mother Agnes-Marie de la Croix (R) and the Red Cresent (unseen)
with the help of the Social Affairs Ministry, receive Syrian civilians as
they evacuate the war-battered suburb of Damascus, Moadamiyet al-Sham, as
fighting between pro-government troops and rebel fighters continues in
districts of the capital, on October 29, 2013. (AFP Photo)

Mother Agnes-Marie de la Croix (R) and the Red Cresent (unseen) with the
help of the Social Affairs Ministry, receive Syrian civilians as they
evacuate the war-battered suburb of Damascus, Moadamiyet al-Sham, as
fighting between pro-government troops and rebel fighters continues in
districts of the capital, on October 29, 2013. (AFP Photo)

The aim of this 'pro-Assad' labelling is to marginalise those who dispute
the dominant narrative. Someone labelled as 'pro-Assad' is deemed, by elite
gatekeepers, to be 'outside civilised debate', but of course there is no
such exclusion order served on those who support or defend rebels who bomb
innocent civilians, behead people and who persecute Christians and religious
minorities.  
In Britain and America- countries which like to boast of their commitment to
free speech and free expression, it is considered beyond the pale for any
public figure to say that they support/defend a secular government which
defends Christians and other religious minorities and which is fighting Al
Qaeda and other extremist terrorist groups, and which, very probably, enjoys
support of the majority of people in Syria. However, it is deemed perfectly
acceptable for public figures to say that they are on the same side as
'rebels' who put bombs in crowded public areas, behead people and murder
religious minorities, or to call for military action to help these 'rebels'
topple the Syrian government.  
Terrified of being branded 'pro-Assad', public figures in the west who
oppose military strikes on Syria, feel obliged to stress just how 'barbaric'
the Assad government is and they support Assad standing trial for war crimes
at The Hague. And of course, they must agree not to share platforms with
people like Mother Agnes. They have to bow down very low indeed before the
'liberal' hawks and elite gatekeepers, if they're permitted to have their
say on Syria and escape the usual smears, vilifications and defamation. 
The campaign against Mother Agnes and the elite gatekeeping on Syria shows
us how much free speech and free expression is under threat in Britain today
from those who are determined to narrow the parameters of debate and to
dictate who should and who should not be allowed a microphone. Expressing
his disappointment that Mother Agnes would not be speaking at the Stop the
War conference,  Twitter user Orlando Hill said that he would like to have
heard a 'wide spectrum of opinions' on Syria on 30th November.  But the very
last thing liberal hawks, neo-cons and supporters of the Syrian 'revolution'
want is for people to hear a 'wide spectrum of opinions'. The dominant
narrative must not be questioned. Or else. 

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