Far-right response to Southport Outrage And Ongoing Violent Disorder

[Mr.Bishie]

Ah, I see - let them riot unhindered, we don't want to risk harming them they're just a mob intent on murder.

Are you also aware that a plastic baton round has never been fired on the British mainland? For the reason that they kill people.

 

[Wilf]

Something I missed on the Blackpool fash action was about their gathering point, the Metropole Hotel. It has apparently been used to house asylum seekers for a few years. This explains the seemingly odd policing configuration where they were lined up to stop them getting into memorial gardens which front the hotel (rather than keep the fash and punks who had gathered there apart).

Probably difficult for the police working out who was who with a town full of middle aged male punks as well. You'd need to know the subtle dress codes. I was all in black with a weed bucket hat and got a few looks from the fash where they thought I might be a fellow traveller.

 

[cyberfairy]

Where is this?

Can people give locations when posting pics?

It's not obvious to everyone.

Edit> Ta

Sorry,was writing about Lancaster so presumed it obvious.

 

[krtek a houby]

Are you also aware that a plastic baton round has never been fired on the British mainland? For the reason that they kill people.

Thankfully.

(Britain isn't the mainland, though.)

 

[Orang Utan]

Just seen on sky news live news feed that two counter protests in Leeds are hurling verbal abuse at each other which has to be the most surreal thing I think have read

Why? It happens at all demos that have counter-demos.
though it does make me think, is this all we can do? Is the battle against this to be done online? If so, how?

 

[Spymaster]

(Britain isn't the mainland, though.)

Eh?

 

[Elpenor]

Exactly.
I got completely shot down for expressing this opinion to a white person that lives in the country. She was unwilling/ unable to even envisage why I might have safety concerns in considering a move to tge country side.

I have friends who have expressed similar to me. I hope / think this is changing but definitely not quickly enough. Also my perceptions of how things are on the ground will undoubtedly not match how a POC sees it

 

[Lotte]

Yeh if you know nothing about history, about orgreave, about the poll tax riot, about Hyde park 94, about welling - the unity demo, about the kettling at Oxford circus, about the student demos and so on then yeh you might have a point. But there are so many times that the police have attacked peaceful demonstrators that you look utterly naive

And more recently, the vigils for Sarah Everard.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Are you also aware that a plastic baton round has never been fired on the British mainland?

During a ‘public order’ event at least - they have been fired a couple of times (hostage-type situations), and have been available and authorised for use a number of times.

As Liberty notes:

Met only authorised baton rounds for black-led events - Liberty Investigates

libertyinvestigates.org.uk

 

[pinkmonkey]

What's especially bizarre is when it comes from people who live in majority white areas, where there are little to no immigrants.

Yes this, the only black and brown people in this town are the shopkeepers and takeaways. The muslim owned pizzeria is doing free food for kids all summer, no questions asked.

 

[mojo pixy]

Hopefully it stays that way.

On reflection 'heartened' wasn't the right word for me to use. I'm glad the far-right here are not sufficiently numerous/organized/both to make a noticeable noise (yet...) but it's not IMO due to any kind of principled opposition, more to do with this very common west countryish individualistic, small-c conservative political apathy. Obviously as nearly everywhere else, all over the SW Reform came either second or close third - however if anything violence would (if it went on) repel some of that more individualistic, small-c conservative politically apathetic Refuk support (at least if Refuk could no longer successfully distance themselves from it)

OTOH I suspect it'd make organising against it more challenging, too.

Plus I expect there will be some of these noisy fash-wannabes that have come to it through conspiracism rather than politics as such (Quite popular especially in Torbay, maybe in part because especially Paignton has long been used as a kind of mental health dumping ground for people other authorities no longer want to deal with)

Anyway that's something new and complicated. And again makes organising against it more difficult IMO. Sorry to be a downer.

 

[barlimo]

Are you also aware that a plastic baton round has never been fired on the British mainland? For the reason that they kill people.

Incorrectly used they can kill as can taser guns.

 

[pinkmonkey]

Answered your own question.
Her personal profile on FB is just right wing propaganda.

My brother was saying first thing he does when he employs a tradesman is to find their Facebook, if it's full of alt right shite, they're not getting the work.

 

[maomao]

Didn’t see anything in Exeter when I was there yesterday but not sure where it would have been. Torquay stuff I knew about. A number of reform types in local fb groups going on about boats but not sure it’s really organised.

Hopefully it stays that way. Not many mosques to target locally for a start.

I was in Cornwall (St Austell) just after the 2011 riots kicked off and remember locals in the pub joking that someone had kicked a bin over in Newquay.

 

[Serge Forward]

Eh?

The mainland is Europe. Britain and Ireland are islands off Europe.

 

[Lotte]

Incorrectly used they can kill as can taser guns.

Yep. That was how Dalian Atkinson died.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Exactly.
I got completely shot down for expressing this opinion to a white person that lives in the country. She was unwilling/ unable to even envisage why I might have safety concerns in considering a move to tge country side.

I am so sad to read that.

I moved from Worthing to a village back in December, and I was speaking to a black neigbour yesterday about these fascist mobs, and asked him if he had ever experienced any racism since moving here, and he hasn't, he said everyone was most welcoming. I guess it helps that we have a few people from all manor of different ethnicity backgrounds in the village, some running businesses here, including the village garage, shops and take-aways. Ditto with staff at the GP's and the couple of care homes.

I am under no delusions that we don't have any that hold racist views, it's just they are polite enough not to express them, for fear of the reaction they may get, in a reasonably mixed community, but we are a fairly large village, not sure if it would be the same in the smaller ones in the south downs, TBH.

 

[kenny g]

Not in the last couple oof days, but a week ago this:

BREAKING: Three pigs heads left outside Rainham schools and youth centre with Islamophobic graffiti.

The heads were found outside of Harris Academy, Rainham Village School and The Royals. It is believed they were left just after midnight with writing stating no mosques were welcome in the area.

thehaveringdaily.co.uk

Until the last election Rainham's Independent Residents Association Councillors were ex leading lights in the NF/ BNP. Fortunately kicked out by the electorate. It is a working class village with high achieving schools. Good to see the schools have been forthright in their response.

 

[cyberfairy]

Fucking scary in Lancaster atm.They are coked up and scary, taking pics of anti-fash etc, heavy police presence and a fantastic amount of Lancasters finest who are following them and drowning out their chants.

 

[Boo Radley75]

Why do they mostly wear face mask? I thought they were opposed to wearing face masks and call them face nappies, at least they did during the pandemic?

 

[Spymaster]

The mainland is Europe.

No. That’s the European mainland.

The British mainland, as widely understood, is England, Scotland, and Wales.

 

[bellaozzydog]

My brother was saying first thing he does when he employs a tradesman is to find their Facebook, if it's full of alt right shite, they're not getting the work.

Likewise.

 

[ska invita]

Fash call out at Weymouth at 5pm today will be..... interesting. Portland in particular has a grim vibe to it and some elements from what I hear. Will be full of seaside holiday makers to add to the madness

 

[danny la rouge]

I’m a disabled person with a chronic illness. I can no longer stand in solidarity on streets and picket lines, or doorsteps against warrant sales, as I did in the miners strike, the poll tax campaign, or even as recently as Kenmure Street when I was one of hundreds who turned away the immigration vans.

So. For all the good it will do, I have nonetheless written to my new Labour MP.

Dear MP

First of all, congratulations on your election.

These are not happy circumstances, however. I have been appalled by the far right violence erupting across the country. The BBC describes this as "protests", but they are nothing less than pogroms, targeting mosques and refugee hostels, as well as people simply perceived as "Muslim".

While the spark that lit this conflagration may well have been the misinformation spread about the suspect in the dreadful Southport atrocity, the fuel has been heaped up by the mainstream media and politicians when they talk of immigration as a "problem".

This has come from the Mail, the Express and the Sun, Farage, Patel and Braverman, but also the prime minister when as opposition leader he said there were "too many immigrants in the NHS", and the BBC when it constantly portrays migration, of whatever sort, as a "problem" to be "solved".

Make no mistake, we are in the midst of a parallel of Kristallnacht. People with brown skin are being beaten up by mobs. Citizens Advice Centres burnt down. Refugee hotels besieged by baying racists. This is but the violent tip of a much deeper pathology in this country's psyche. These attitudes of mistrust and xenophobia are rife, and instead of countering them our media and our politicians are pandering to them.

My wife and I have hosted refugees in our flat. We know that refugees are just people. People have migrated since the beginning of our species, and migration will only increase with the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, and the global social justice crisis.

War, heat, environment collapse and just a desire for better conditions will drive millions from their homes in coming years. These people are citizens of a planet. They will have to go somewhere. No amount of bureaucracy based on artificial lines drawn on maps will change that. No amount of "concern" over immigration expressed by "non-racists" will change that.

And more than that, people who are part of our communities, our neighbours, people born and raised alongside us, are being seen as "other". Are afraid to go out. Are viewed with suspicion.

I fear for our future. I look at the pogroms. I look at the foothold Farage has in Parliament. The disarray of the Conservative Party. The possibility of a realignment on the right. We are sleepwalking into very dangerous territory. Right now. And mealie mouthed pandering to "reasonable concerns" over immigration is absolutely not the way to deal with it.

I plead with you. Take heed. We must reverse the tide of hatred and mistrust, and reintroduce solidarity, empathy, community, love.


Yours sincerely.

 

[Elpenor]

Fash call out at Weymouth at 5pm today will be..... interesting. Portland in particular has a grim vibe to it and some elements from what I hear. Will be full of seaside holiday makers to add to the madness

A few handy prisons nearby.

 

[Serge Forward]

No. That’s the European mainland.

The British mainland, as widely understood, is England, Scotland, and Wales.

Your "widely understood" only works if you see the island of Ireland as somehow belonging to Britain.

Anyway, enough of this derail.

 

[ska invita]

I’m a disabled person with a chronic illness. I can no longer stand in solidarity on streets and picket lines, or doorsteps against warrant sales, as I did in the miners strike, the poll tax campaign, or even as recently as Kenmure Street when I was one of hundreds who turned away the immigration vans.

So. For all the good it will do, I have nonetheless written to my new Labour MP.

Dear MP

First of all, congratulations on your election.

These are not happy circumstances, however. I have been appalled by the far right violence erupting across the country. The BBC describes this as "protests", but they are nothing less than pogroms, targeting mosques and refugee hostels, as well as people simply perceived as "Muslim".

While the spark that lit this conflagration may well have been the misinformation spread about the suspect in the dreadful Southport atrocity, the fuel has been heaped up by the mainstream media and politicians when they talk of immigration as a "problem".

This has come from the Mail, the Express and the Sun, Farage, Patel and Braverman, but also the prime minister when as opposition leader he said there were "too many immigrants in the NHS", and the BBC when it constantly portrays migration, of whatever sort, as a "problem" to be "solved".

Make no mistake, we are in the midst of a parallel of Kristallnacht. People with brown skin are being beaten up by mobs. Citizens Advice Centres burnt down. Refugee hotels besieged by baying racists. This is but the violent tip of a much deeper pathology in this country's psyche. These attitudes of mistrust and xenophobia are rife, and instead of countering them our media and our politicians are pandering to them.

My wife and I have hosted refugees in our flat. We know that refugees are just people. People have migrated since the beginning of our species, and migration will only increase with the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, and the global social justice crisis.

War, heat, environment collapse and just a desire for better conditions will drive millions from their homes in coming years. These people are citizens of a planet. They will have to go somewhere. No amount of bureaucracy based on artificial lines drawn on maps will change that. No amount of "concern" over immigration expressed by "non-racists" will change that.

And more than that, people who are part of our communities, our neighbours, people born and raised alongside us, are being seen as "other". Are afraid to go out. Are viewed with suspicion.

I fear for our future. I look at the pogroms. I look at the foothold Farage has in Parliament. The disarray of the Conservative Party. The possibility of a realignment on the right. We are sleepwalking into very dangerous territory. Right now. And mealie mouthed pandering to "reasonable concerns" over immigration is absolutely not the way to deal with it.

I plead with you. Take heed. We must reverse the tide of hatred and mistrust, and reintroduce solidarity, empathy, community, love.


Yours sincerely.

Who is your MP?

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

I was in Cornwall (St Austell) just after the 2011 riots kicked off and remember locals in the pub joking that someone had kicked a bin over in Newquay.

That was an accident, though. They put it back upright again soon after.

 

[Elpenor]

On reflection 'heartened' wasn't the right word for me to use. I'm glad the far-right here are not sufficiently numerous/organized/both to make a noticeable noise (yet...) but it's not IMO due to any kind of principled opposition, more to do with this very common west countryish individualistic, small-c conservative political apathy. Obviously as nearly everywhere else, all over the SW Reform came either second or close third - however if anything violence would (if it went on) repel some of that more individualistic, small-c conservative politically apathetic Refuk support (at least if Refuk could no longer successfully distance themselves from it)

OTOH I suspect it'd make organising against it more challenging, too.

Plus I expect there will be some of these noisy fash-wannabes that have come to it through conspiracism rather than politics as such (Quite popular especially in Torbay, maybe in part because especially Paignton has long been used as a kind of mental health dumping ground for people other authorities no longer want to deal with)

Anyway that's something new and complicated. And again makes organising against it more difficult IMO. Sorry to be a downer.

Agree there’s an element of being inward looking and “that’s the sort of thing that happens upcountry” down here. Perhaps lack of big football teams (and hence associated firms and hangers on) help too.

I don’t know, feels like 15 minute cities has more traction locally, but that’s because there are lots of drivers and not many visibly different people? As I’ve said lots of Facebook comments about boats not not really any action. Mind you Farage did have the rally at Trago

 

[danny la rouge]

Who is your MP?

Martin Rhodes, Glasgow North.