Interview with For Britain founder, Anne Marie Waters on Islam, the PC brigade, Brexit, her new book & much more.
Some call her a bigot, far-right, anti-Islamic, others describe Anne Marie Waters as a soothsayer, a brave politician who will evince nuances of uncomfortable subjects and debate controversial but pertinent topics with a clarity and detail that others will not. I sat down with Anne Marie Waters prior to the first For Britain conference (which was held last week and which featured Katie Hopkins as a guest speaker) for a far ranging discussion on the conference, whether her anti-Islamic campaigning is really anti-Muslim, and her new book Beyond Terror: Islam’s Slow Erosion of Western Democracy.
SD: I’m guessing that putting together the new book was challenging to say the least from a PR perspective. Can you talk about the resistance you’ve met (media, publishers) in simply putting together a cogent point of view? At the same time has there been support for those who have championed your freedom of speech in doing so?
AMW: I submitted the book to every publisher I could find but was either rejected or I got no response. I didn’t want to self-publish so I carried on trying and I finally came across SOOP (Something Or Other Publishing), who gave the book a chance on free speech grounds. I’m very grateful to them but it’s telling that I had to use an American publisher as nobody in Britain was interested.
SD: I’ve come across more than one petition attempting to block stockists from carrying your book. They say it’s peaceful protest; but isn’t their act of telling us what to read and when to read it utterly totalitarian?
AMW: There’s a difference between protesting against a book and demanding it be banned. The left-wing now does the latter. A legitimate protest against a book is to dispute and debate it with arguments and facts, but those who seek to ban a book are demonstrating that they are unable to do so and as such, are shutting down debate because they can’t win it. Politically of course it is totalitarianism, the total control over the information which a person may be exposed to in order to prevent dissent.
SD: Naysayers will say you know nothing about the Quran, the Hadiths-that you are misrepresenting a peaceful religion: how do you respond to that accusation?
AMW: It’s objectively untrue. Anyone can read the Koran and confirm that what I say is true, that’s why telling the truth is the most powerful argument. The Koran does call for the submission of the non-Muslim, Mohammed did set an example of violence, and the hadiths do allow for grotesque cruelties like stoning and child marriage. It’s a fact, there’s no getting away from it. The interpretation issue has always worried me, it involves manipulation of language and the subjective use of words. Words have objective meaning. There is also little on-the-ground evidence for this apparent religion of peace. Everywhere it is in power there is oppression, violence, misogyny, and tyranny — the greater power it has, the greater the oppression and violence. That’s reality. I’m not saying Islam is violent, its scriptures and its practice say it for me.
SD: The term ‘far right’ is almost ubiquitous in mainstream media whenever individuals such as yourself are described. Why isn’t there a similar appropriation of the term ‘far left’?
AMW: Because the media is dominated by the far left. There aim is to demonise opposition out of existence. It won’t work though most people are too smart to fall for it.
SD: Moving to your objectives for ‘For Britain’ your first annual conference is coming up. What can members and those in two minds about joining For Britain expect?
AMW: We’ll be launching our manifesto, which I’m really excited about. Our manifesto will continue to grow and grow but this is our first and I’m looking forward to hearing the members’ views. We also have fantastic guests who I know members will love, including of course the wonderful Katie Hopkins!
SD:As we conduct this interview two interesting developments have occurred. Can I get your take on both? (NB: Not long after we sat down, Anne-Marie Waters had her Twitter account suspended).
a) Alex Jones of Infowars has been taken down from Facebook, Apple and Spotify. Is this ‘big tech’ looking out for our interests or just posturing for good PR?
AMW: It’s political censorship, nothing less. Once again, political debate is regulated by organisations and companies dominated by left-wing thinkers. Open borders are the order of the day and it is dangerous to disagree. As with the media however, it can only have so much effect, people will always find ways to fight for their freedom and to stand up to bullies.
b) Boris Johnson has (again) been called Islamaphobic for saying women in burkhas look like ‘letterboxes’ and ‘bank robbers’. Was he just being typically glib in his remarks, or has he stumbled onto a legitimate grievance?
AMW: Both. The burqa should be banned, that it isn’t is insanity. It is a security threat and a symbol of Islamic supremacy; once again, Islam trumps wider culture and Muslims are exempted. Boris Johnson I suspect is positioning himself as ‘politically incorrect’ to appeal to that element of the Conservative Party, but he will certainly do nothing to confront the problems of Islam, even ruling out a ban on the burqa.
SD: To wrap up, what do you want readers of your new book to take away. What key lessons can they draw and will there be a sequel?
AMW: That this society is on the edge of disaster, but can very much still be pulled back. Not enough people understand the threat that Islamic doctrine poses to us and to our freedoms, and they are quietly standing by while all they know is taken from them. Islam is changing our society beyond recognition and it is happening not through terror attacks, but slowly through the demand of exemptions from society’s rules and our complicity with this. We must understand the kind of societies Islam creates, and that only we, the everyday citizen, can save Britain from becoming such a society.
Thank you Anne-Marie Waters for sparing the time to discuss these topics. Love what she has to say? Hate it? Read the For Britain manifesto and make your own mind up, critique, debate it, share it — just don’t believe what others tell you to feel about her party and her policies.
