By: Trevor Loudon
New Zeal

The Marxist/Muslim alliance is a worldwide phenomenon. In New Zealand, Auckland University is a major center of this new “Axis of Evil.”

Joe Carolan, center

On March 11, Auckland University’s Marxist and radical Muslim activists got together to hold a “2011: A year of Uprising: Middle East Freedom Forum.”

Joe Carolan’s Socialist Aotearoa and Students for Justice in Palestine were the main organizers, but the Communist League (NZ affiliate of the US Socialist Workers Party) also showed up with their cutesy little book stall.

Communist League stand

Other lefties in evidence included Amnesty on Campus, Oxfam and Medical Students for Global Awareness.

Speakers included:

  • Mohsen Al-Attar – “What Arabs can learn from Malcolm X”
  • Mohamed Hassan – “The role of youth and new media in the Egyptian Revolution”
  • Rana Ghumkhor – “The importance of women during the uprisings and what the revolutions could mean for occupied lands”
  • Bilel Ragued – “North African Revolutions – a personal perspective”
  • Zaeem Baksh – “It’s time, it’s time, its Palestine”

Mohsen Al Attar, an Auckland University lecturer of Canadian/Egyptian extraction, was described by one attendee as a very persuasive speaker, reminiscent almost of Van Jones. I have written extensively on Attar here, here and here.

Rana Ghumkhor, an Afghan refugee, has long been one of the most radical activists at Auckland University. She is hard core. She once wrote a short story, in the first person, telling the story of a suicide bombing on a bus outside Jerusalem.

For generations we suffered at the hands of the Zionists. Oh my insane rage vengeance will be ours, the clouds will clear and the sun will shine on us again…

I feel around in my pocket for the trigger that leads to the c4-taped securely to my chest. I swallow the bile that had risen in my throat. I am afraid yes, I am afraid the bomb won’t go off…

I clutch the trigger in my hand. I take the time to acknowledge each person in the bus. I feel the walls in my heart closing up for I feel no pity where we received none. I look out the window for the last time. The bus is coming over a hill. There lies Jerusalem in all its glory. I close my eyes and take my last breath… Freedom…

Zaeem Baksh, has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley and has been active in Students for Justice in Palestine at Waikato and Auckland universities.

Speaker after speaker covered all the usual bases:

  • Vocal and emotional support of revolutions in all the Middle East
  • Denouncement of “Apartheid Israel”
  • Encouragement to boycott all Israeli goods
  • Marxist-style anti-rich sentiment (“Why did we elect a $21 million prime minister?”)
  • Calls for the immediate removal of troops from Afghanistan (NZ troops)
  • Anti-American sentiment, particularly perceived American imperialism

Following the “Middle East Freedom Forum,” there was a student-led vigil in the quad, held in honor of the “thousands of students and citizens who have died protesting for freedom and democracy across North Africa and the Middle East in the last few weeks.”

Marxist Green Party MP Keith Locke also turned up. After supporting Pol Pot’s invasion of Cambodia, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the murderous Philippines New Peoples Army, Irish Republicanism, the Palestinian Intifada and countless other Marxist and terrorist causes over the years, wild camels couldn’t have kept him away.

A fun night of incitement to mayhem and socialist revolution was had by all!