By Joe Langabeer
Last week, it was reported by The Times that the popular left-wing Twitch streamer, Hasan Piker, and his uncle, Cenk Uygur, the co-founder of the YouTube channel The Young Turks, were both banned from entering the UK. This was confirmed by the Home Office with Shabana Mahmood giving the feeble reasoning that their presence may not be “conducive to the public good“.
This is clearly an assault on democracy, where left-wing political commentators are being targeted by the state. Their only ‘crime’ is being heavily critical of Israel and its continuing assault on Arabs, in both Gaza and now Lebanon. This squeeze on free-speech rights is unfortunately becoming all-too common under this supposed ‘Labour’ government.
The ban came into effect after comments from Labour MP, David Taylor, suggesting that they should be barred from the UK. They were both set to attend the SXSW London festival to speak about their political activities in the US. It is not the first time Taylor has attempted to stifle criticism of the Israeli atrocities being committed in Gaza. Even last year, when the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, made comments criticising Israel, Taylor objected to her reappointment by the UN, as reported by The Jewish Chronicle.
An Influence on the Left
Hasan Piker is one of the most popular media personalities on the streaming platform Twitch, where he discusses US and international politics with viewers, who can interact with him via a chat function for many hours a day, seven days a week. He originally appeared as a guest and commentator on The Young Turks, the YouTube channel co-founded by his uncle, where he rose to prominence among the left.
He now has a substantial platform across both Twitch and YouTube. He is a self-described Marxist and communist and will often discuss Marxist thought and ideas with his viewers during his streams.
Whilst we at Left-Horizons will not always agree with his framing of socialist principles, which can sometimes come across as slightly lacking context, nor with the tendency of Hasan and his uncle Cenk to veer sometimes into ultra-left sentiment, they are, nonetheless, important voices on the left who wield significant influence among young people in both the US and the UK.
No real justification for the ban
The only real justification that has been given for the ban is through the voice of David Taylor, who has inaccurately suggested that Hasan and Cenk are antisemitic and that their views sow hatred. That is ironic, given that Hasan gave a speech to the Oxford Union over a year ago, criticising the western establishment for their weaponisation of antisemitism in their defence of Zionism, and an Israeli state which has and continues to murder and oppress thousands of Arabs. It was a very good speech from Hasan, and a video link from YouTube will be provided here.
Hasan has not only received this ban from the UK, but he is also facing threats in his own backyard. He recently produced a mini-documentary on his YouTube channel, where he visited Cuba on a humanitarian aid mission and spoke to the Cuban public about the continuing suffering of Cubans under both the historic embargo and the current oil blockade imposed by Marco Rubio and the Trump administration.
Because of that documentary, a report from Fox News suggested that the Feds have issued a subpoena on Hasan Piker and others who joined him on the trip. Hasan has said on his YouTube channel that he has not officially received one, though he was not surprised to see the report and is increasingly concerned about the US government’s continuing interest in his platform.
He has also been banned from Twitch multiple times because of his criticisms of Israel and its lobbying power within Western politics, though he has managed to be reinstated on all of those occasions.
Young people are turning towards socialism
Why have the UK authorities decided to ban him now? In a recent opinion piece for the Financial Times, Edward Luce, their chief US correspondent, offers a reason: young people in America are turning towards socialist ideas. He cites a Cato poll in which more than a third of young Americans now have a “favourable view” of communism.
Whilst Luce is not completely in agreement with young people — what he characterises as Gen Z — he does argue that they want reasonable things that are necessary to improve their lives: affordable housing, safeguards on AI to protect the future of decent jobs, and universal healthcare.
Many of these issues matter deeply to young people, alongside a desire to halt imperialist military ventures abroad. As Luce points out, many young Americans have become less patriotic over time, likely due to the bullying nature of US imperialism and the support it gives to countries like Israel, which they believe, in increasingly large numbers, has committed serious war crimes.
The shift in politics among young people in the US is mirrored here in the UK. In a recent Ipsos poll, it was found that people aged 18–34 were more than twice as likely to vote for the Greens under leader Zack Polanski than for any other political party. Polanski is seen as the most favourable leader among young people, with Kemi Badenoch and Keir Starmer trailing behind, whilst Nigel Farage is viewed as the least popular. Like young people in the US, their UK counterparts see the economy as the biggest challenge facing them.
The failures of Starmer
It is a trend, both historically and in current events, that social democratic governments, such as the current Labour government, enact harsh measures against workers and socialists in defence of a decaying capitalist class. It should come as no surprise, given Starmer’s track record, from banning the left within the party to ordering arrests of activists protesting against the genocide of Palestinians.
This represents a further escalation in authoritarianism, and in attempting to silence dissent, Starmer is paving the way for parties like Reform, and its new far-right counterpart Restore, to take power.
Young people, however, will not accept the status quo much longer. All this banning order will do is galvanise them into taking further action against the government. It will embolden them to develop their political knowledge and fight for a different future, seeing that the establishment and the bosses it serves, have no future to offer them.
Socialists must condemn this ban against Hasan and Cenk and challenge the authoritarian streak running through the heart of Starmer’s government.
[Feature photograph of Hasan Piker is from Wikimedia Commons, here]
