Alex Callinicos/SWP vs Laurie Penny/New Statesman Facebook handbags

[rekil]

She mentions that she's written on the EDL before, and links to an old article. But she dosen't mention she's met and interviewed Steven Lennon / Robinson / Cuntface. Why so coy all of a sudden?

She says she spent months "fussing" over that ar'icle, ie chasing Thomas for a chat. Months.

https://twitter.com/PennyRed/status/273895253998710784

 

[rekil]

She'll invite the EDL to pub lunches instead.

No throwing punches, more EDL pub lunches.

 

[Bakunin]

She practically lives in exile in New York out of fear of British police death squads who would love nothing more than to silence such a courageous journalistic voice.

I thought it was some 'hate site' called Urban75.

 

[DotCommunist]

I thought it was some 'hate site' called Urban75.

cesspit of hate and unexamined privilege

 

[JimW]

I thought it was some 'hate site' called Urban75.

All the forces of darkness swarm around the last beacon of integrity and decency.

 

[Bakunin]

She says she spent months "fussing" over that ar'icle, ie chasing Thomas for a chat. Months.

https://twitter.com/PennyRed/status/273895253998710784

Doesn't say much for how seriously she's taken that a publicity tart like Tommy Robinson has to be coaxed that much for that long before he thinks she's worth bothering with. Were all the serious journalists busy or could he just not be that arsed?

 

[DotCommunist]

well its either a toss up between when he was free from judicial appointments or when he could get a booking at his local Toby Carvery

 

[Delroy Booth]

Doesn't say much for how seriously she's taken that a publicity tart like Tommy Robinson has to be coaxed that much for that long before he thinks she's worth bothering with. Were all the serious journalists busy or could he just not be that arsed?

Yeah this is a guy who'll turn up for pretty much any interview for £50 expenses and/or a free meal. His minor celebrity is all that kept the EDL on life-support these last months. Perhaps the "fussing" was over who would publish said interview.

 

[SpineyNorman]

No throwing punches, more EDL pub lunches.

 

[Bakunin]

Yeah this is a guy who'll turn up for pretty much any interview for £50 expenses and/or a free meal. His minor celebrity is all that kept the EDL on life-support these last months. Perhaps the "fussing" was over who would publish said interview.

He'd turn up to the opening of an envelope if it advanced his 'career' for him.

And yet the 'voice of a generation' has to spend ages getting his attention.

 

[JimW]

But look at how Tommy's career was on a relentless upward surge, just like the EDL itself, until that fateful steak and chips with LP brought the whole sorry edifice crashing down in a gale of coruscating prose.

 

[Bakunin]

well its either a toss up between when he was free from judicial appointments or when he could get a booking at his local Toby Carvery

'Try the porridge. It's excellent today...'

(And tomorrow. And perhaps for a good while afterwards...).

 

[DotCommunist]

Yeah this is a guy who'll turn up for pretty much any interview for £50 expenses and/or a free meal. His minor celebrity is all that kept the EDL on life-support these last months. Perhaps the "fussing" was over who would publish said interview.

luckily Vice would publish the nutritional contents of a tin of Nurrishment if it got them 30 seconds attention

 

[DotCommunist]

But look at how Tommy's career was on a relentless upward surge, just like the EDL itself, until that fateful steak and chips with LP brought the whole sorry edifice crashing down in a gale of coruscating prose.

side of onion rings was the coup de grace

 

[Bakunin]

a gale of coruscating prose.

Or a blizzard of bullshit, take your pick.

 

[sihhi]

Some excellent intersectional anti-fascism:

When the opportunity to do this interview came up, I hesitated. As a reporter, I was fascinated by the possibility of getting to see the pocks and pores on the human face of British fascism, but as an anti-fascist, I’m aware that UK organisers have maintained a long tradition of refusing to grant any sort of media or speaking platform to the far-right. The "no platform" principle keeps right-wing extremists on the fringe by denying them the legitimacy they crave. No room for racists, neither in the public conversation nor on the streets. It’s part of a strategy that has been successful in driving back wave after wave of far-right organisations in this country down the years.

He orders the most expensive steak on the menu, with an enormous plate of cheesy potato skins, and chuckles that this is why he likes to meet left-wing journalists: so he can have dinner on their dollar.

"I want to see them, and I want them to see us,” says Hamid Soorghali, 22, an Iranian-born British student.

Lennon begins to argue finer points of the Koran with my student companions.

When I return, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is trying to explain the vital difference between attacking Muslims in the street and "real racism" to my student journalist friends. I find myself getting angry. Worse, I'm engaging with Lennon on his terms, which is precisely what he wants.

Lennon offers us a lift back to the station in his BMW. On the way, he takes us on a little detour around Bury Park, an area of Luton with a large immigrant population, and points to all the mosques, shaking his head, telling us how violent they all are. “This is the Islamic centre, the most extreme mosque,” he says, pointing to a huge building down the street. “Um - it says it’s a church?” I say. He tells us that the mosque is somewhere behind the church. It's like going on a guided bus-tour with a cracked-out stormtrooper.

In short:

The EDL is finished as a political force. That much was obvious within five minutes of meeting its leader, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon

 

[DotCommunist]

I bet he had the kronenburg as well, rather than the cheaper fosters. More evidence of his degeneracy.

Co authored a parody of that particular piece, felt slightly guilty for the constant lampooning but re-reading it makes me think we could have gone far harsher

 

[agricola]

In short:

Having read that piece, all I could think of was Golgafrincham Ark Ship B.

 

[SpineyNorman]

I bet he had the kronenburg as well, rather than the cheaper fosters. More evidence of his degeneracy.

Co authored a parody of that particular piece, felt slightly guilty for the constant lampooning but re-reading it makes me think we could have gone far harsher

Post it up then - don't be shy

 

[DotCommunist]

Post it up then - don't be shy

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...r-workers-girder.293550/page-34#post-11753462

shocked at you not reading your Girder. Re-education becons

 

[SpineyNorman]

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...r-workers-girder.293550/page-34#post-11753462

shocked at you not reading your Girder. Re-education becons

Sorry comrade

 

[SpineyNorman]

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...r-workers-girder.293550/page-34#post-11753462

shocked at you not reading your Girder. Re-education becons

Needs to be posted on this thread in full though so Laurie reads it.

 

[DotCommunist]

Needs to be posted on this thread in full though so Laurie reads it.

then do it, I'm far too retiring and shy to pimp collaborative work


ahem

 

[SpineyNorman]

Louisa Pfennig hits Berlin (1925)

After spending three days in the beating heart of the cabaret scene in Europe it was time for me to be rudely brought down to view the pockmarked visage of the new volkish right in Germany. My bohemian lifestyle among the artistes and activists of Weimar Berlin seemed a world away as I agreed to meet the rising star of German fascism in an exorbitant Munich restaurant.

He disembarked from a luxurious Mercedes. Chuckling, he led me into the beer-hall.

"I enjoy the largesse of left-wing journalists" he said. "I would not be able to live without it."

He looked sharp in a stylish uniform which resembled that worn by soldiers during the Great War, something which still casts a shadow over Germany. His red armband with the crooked cross against a white background was particularly striking. I wondered where he obtained the funds for this, given he portrays himself as a champion of the little man.

My good friend Musselpear was performing her usual routine, scant strasses from where I sat. Sweat gleamed on his small moustache as he ordered two plates of sauerkraut and the most expensive bratwurst on the menu. I caught a whiff of his Eau de Volk, the hottest fragrance on Germany's market.

I dismissed his talk of Jews instantly. Agitators for social change have long struggled with the complicated issues thrown up by the concept of Jewish emancipation, and I did not wish to dwell upon it, especially when he expressed himself in so vulgar and tedious a manner.

Such opinions are not to be found within the pages of Punch magazine.

As any gentleman would, he rose as I did, half-masticated bratwurst still in his mouth, his thrown Roman salute almost took out my eye as I excused myself to go to the ladies'.

This is Adolf Hitler. Has he any idea of the Germanic grace he is attempting to defend? What is this lebensraum that he and his shady friends are attempting to create?

Hitler is unable to describe any positive features of the country in which he lives instead he conjures up a nightmarish vision of a society run by Jews. The brave heroes of the First World War thrown onto the streets.

"I've been to NSDAP demonstrations," I say. "At the one where you were on last November, where you tried to launch a coup from a beer hall".

"That was no coup," says Hitler, as he removes a piece of sauerkraut from hsi teeth. "That was the start of a national awakening"

Most German people do not share Hitler's paranoid prejudices. I should know because I am Louisa Pfennig.

Last year's economic crash will in no way engender support for a handful of madmen and their schemes. How could it, when I have stood side by side with Munich's political agitators and the cream of German bohemian society as they burn copies of Das Kapital to keep their hands warm as they march for freedom?

I leave Hitler sat on the table, poring over his sausage, screaming obscenities at the barmaids. So we have it. The far right can never conquer Germany.

 

[newbie]

Probably not what you're looking for but I found this interesting and amusing (though I'm a bit unusual on this score - love my toilet humour - find farts amusing etc so it might not be for everyone) if not especially rigorous in its analysis.

tvm. a bit tangential to what I've been wondering about (hasn't he even noticed there are more interesting questions than his rather laboured french/english/german joke?), but good to see he acknowledges that toilets are an ideological battleground

 

[newbie]

I have gıven consıderable thought to thıs matter.

It seems to me that all toılets ought to be unısex. Quıte apart from the human rıghts ıssue, there ıs a pragmatıc consıderatıon: Cleanlıness.

Where do we fınd the cleanest toılets ın the world?

That's rıght: on aırplanes.

And apart from theır unrıvalled cleanlıness, what else ıs unıque about aırplane toılets?

That's rıght: they are unısex.

Although ıt may also be because people suspect that there mıght be cameras ın them.

otoh portaloos, also unisex, are usually vile.

 

[DotCommunist]

if you are onsite and need to shift that tricky five coffees and a big breakfast shit, thunder boxes are like a gift from heaven.

 

[SpineyNorman]

I did a bit of work in Belgium once and was well impressed by the bogs. They had those outdoor urinals that you've started to see in that London now (looked a bit like a bus stop - I was so impressed that I took a pic of them - not noticing that a bloke was walking into it as I was preparing to take the shot - he didn't look impressed!). But most impressive were the shitters - the ones in the factory I was working in had circular seats and after you'd laid your cable, when you pulled the flush, the seat rotated through this cleaning device at the back. It was cool as fuck, I sometimes went for a shit when I didn't even need one just so I could use it lol

It was like this:

 

[andysays]

I did a bit of work in Belgium once and was well impressed by the bogs. They had those outdoor urinals that you've started to see in that London now (looked a bit like a bus stop - I was so impressed that I took a pic of them - not noticing that a bloke was walking into it as I was preparing to take the shot - he didn't look impressed!). But most impressive were the shitters - the ones in the factory I was working in had circular seats and after you'd laid your cable, when you pulled the flush, the seat rotated through this cleaning device at the back. It was cool as fuck, I sometimes went for a shit when I didn't even need one just so I could use it lol

Sometimes I worry about you, Spiney. I'd say maybe you should get out more, but that obviously doesn't quite capture it...

(that is an interesting toilet seat innovation, but I certainly won't be travelling to Belgium anytime soon to check it out)

 

[treelover]

Yeah this is a guy who'll turn up for pretty much any interview for £50 expenses and/or a free meal. His minor celebrity is all that kept the EDL on life-support these last months. Perhaps the "fussing" was over who would publish said interview.

in the video of him being 'escorted' by his minders thru Newcastle, the king of the EDL...