Indy Media Watch

Indymedia UK are censoring material again for no reason, other than it isn't anti-Israel.

This time, it's ridiculous as well as offensive.

This article draws the reader's attention to an England versus Israel football (soccer) match. As if that game wasn't going to be enough of a walkover, the lovely folk of UK Indymedia have decided to lend a hand.

Zionist national team will be coming to London in Euro 2008 qualifying.

Presumably they are including Walid Badir who is a Palestinian Arab and one of the most popular players in Israel, but the term "Jew" would confuse matters.

England have been drawn in the same group as Israel in qualifying for the Euro 2008 European Championship qualifying. This means the representatives of Israel will have to pay a visit to Wembley some time in the next 18 months, along with a 93,000 spectators and a massive Europe-wide TV audience.

I suggest joining the ticket queue as soon as possible, so as to make sure you can get seats near the pitch.

Because of the excellent view. Obviously.

Just in case it's not obvious, the provocateur links to images of the last pitch invasion for Palestine.

If your read the UK Indymedia post with the hidden comments showing however, you will see the type of material deemed far too inappropriate for the oh so sensitive readership.

So will you Jew-hating fuckers be protesting (aka acting like total twats) next time England play Iran?

As for Israel playing in a European competition. Why not? Do you object to Turkey playing in it?

Yep - it's another post for the 'moderators' to look at and refuse to publish. Cowards.

Whilst this is okay:

Get as many Palestinian Flags in the stands. Let's show them what we think of their policy.

Then again we should also bring Iraqi flags in protest for the English.

This sensible response:

How about just bringing the team flags and enjoy the game.
You can celebrate dead British soldiers and dead jews some other time

...was censored.

This comment is okay however:

Why is this middle-east terrorist state allowed to participate within EUROPEAN competitions. Whoops, I forgot- while people that state the FACT that zionists control the UK, France, Germany, Russia, etc are accused of being 'racist' (ironic, given that zionists invented the pseudo-science of 'race' to justify US slave-trade in the early 19th century), we must ignore examples like this that PROVE the fact.

The inclusion of Israel in European events is as sickening as would be the inclusion of an African country just because it happened to be under the control of 'whites'.

One more thing, I assume the football governing body ensures that members of the Israeli team have NEVER served in terrorist organisations like the IOF. (sic)

I am not the only one to notice this censorship, as well as the hypocrisy involved. The following comments, naturally were censored.

I stopped reading Indy-Media because of the anti Jewish articles but I see the old trends are continuing. These is really no place for this type of Nazi rubbish on a website with the aims and aspirations of Indy-Media.

Until such time as you deal with this problem I won't be a reader or contributor
...
You let the original article remain but hide the comments that are critical of it !!!!

What a bunch of Jews haters you are. No wonder this site is dying

Not quickly enough!

This isn't the first time football matches have been politicised by the creeps running this show.

See: Political Football parts I and II.

Regular readers will know I draw a distinction between editing and moderation, which is good, versus censorship of dissenting views. It should be noted that this very one-sided hiding of comments appears most frequently on articles to do with Israel, however potentially 'offensive' comments on other threads are cheerfully overlooked, so that excuse doesn't hold water.

Annie writed to point out that a regular contributor to UK Indymedia, who goes by the handle "concerned" has his comments hidden with a nearly 100% guarantee, surely not because of his content, but his inclusion of a link to Protest Warrior within. See this example where half of a debate is missing and this page where the comment by "Concerned" is quite reasonable, whether you agree with it or not, however censored by UK Indymedia.

Kudos to "concerned" for not kowtowing to this censorship by removing the Protest Warrior link. Too bad most readers wouldn't realize what they are missing, thanks to UK Indymedia's despicable habits and inability to handle the thought of a pro-Israeli comment or someone clicking on a link to Protest Warrior..

I frequently link to sites besides Indymedia, whose politics or opinions I disagree with. On UK Indymedia however, dissent must be squashed!

Shame!

Update: Via the comments, I learn that one of the censored comments,

lasted about an hour, disappeared for a couple of days and then reappeared for a little while. Now it's gone for good!

Could anyone shed some more light on this?