Thursday 31 August 2017

Extreme Boys Terror

This weekend it's the International Break; it should give a chance for sober reflection over recent events involving Newcastle United, which I'll publish next week. This week, an article from the very wonderful Football Pink #17, discussing the strange phenomenon of the Football Lads Alliance, who will no doubt be keeping St George in their heart over the next few days -:


2017’s Album of the Year so far? While I’m in love with British Sea Power’s thunderous The Dancers Inherit the Party, unquestionably it has to be Vermillion by Alex Neilson, the drummer from Trembling Bells, in his Alex Rex incarnation. This is not the time for false modesty; Vermillion is a majestic work of genius. It is perhaps the best solo album to be released since Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde trilogy. Like those three magnum opi, there is a seam of eclectic genius running through the project that Alex and his collaborators mine imaginatively and zealously. The subterranean pit of Neilson’s artistry has many shafts of magnificence as yet undiscovered.  With typical insouciance, it begins with Screaming Cathedral; a duet with Lavinia Blackwall that is more Bosch and Dante than Peters and Lee; “it’s horror heaped on horror,” they endlessly chirp like Sonny and Cher jamming with The Third Ear Band on the walls of Bamburgh Castle.  The Perpetually Replenished Cup must be the only song in 2017 that borrows from Wilhelmus van Nassau, the national anthem of the Netherlands and turns it into an endearingly shambolic Klezmer pub crawl of a torch ballad. Best of all Song for Dora begins with an unaccompanied doo wop surreal poem in the style of Ginsberg, before a tight and dirty Magic Band style romp, with the most effective three note fuzztone guitar riff you’ll hear all year. Then all of a sudden, it’s Song for Athene at last orders in a social club Karaoke. You can’t want more than that. It is the finest album of 2017 so far and only likely to be bettered when Trembling Bells release their new one, Dungeness, late this year.

So what else have I been listening to? Perhaps it’s middle-aged nostalgia or perhaps it’s just the most appropriate soundtrack for summer I can think of, but I’ve been gorging on Van Morrison’s solo work from Astral Weeks to No Guru, No Method, No Teacher. You see it’s been 30 years since I had my sole religious experience, which occurred at Glastonbury 1987. Sunday night, still sweltering beneath a clear Somerset sky; Van the Man is headlining, bringing the chaotic Bacchanalian Bohemianism of the weekend to a close at the only festival I’ve ever been to. Perhaps it was the vibe, perhaps it was the 72 hours on the drink or perhaps it was the big bag of mushrooms ingested in preparation for the Belfast Cowboy’s set, but when George Ivan lost himself in a super extended version of And The Healing Has Begun, I found myself cutting a rug with une femme du certain age, who was attired solely in a pair of gumboots and a straw sun hat, while endlessly screaming Hallelujah at the top of my voice. We made a lovely couple. It was an epiphany, a moment of clarity, a game changer.

Similarly, the sight of Jeremy Corbyn on the pyramid stage Saturday afternoon June 24th 2017 was an epochal moment for our society. Thirty years previously, Billy Bragg was omnipotent and omniscient at Worthy Farm; proselytising the cause of Red Wedge (the Labour Party’s earnest and well-meaning music and entertainment wing) to all Pilton punters, to a respectful rather than ecstatic response. Times change and, to borrow a phrase, it appears Our Day Has Come. People want to believe in kindness, justice and compassion; only Jeremy Corbyn’s vision for Britain offers the chance of that, which is why he was afforded such a rapturous reception, not just by trustafarian hordes at Glasto, but by 200,000 ordinary, working class people at the Durham Miners’ Gala (aka The Big Meeting) on July 8th.

As I write, the country is in one hell of a mess; the deracincated and marginalised poor of all creeds, colours and ethnicities are in turmoil. The bitter harvest of austerity and the contempt for the less well-off has seen a hundred people or more die in the wholly preventable fire at Grenfell Tower, with the news that the retired judge handed the task of presiding over the Public Inquiry into the tragedy is already pouring doubt on whether the full truth will out and if those who are ultimately to blame will be brought to book. Is it any surprise that misguided and angry youths are wasting their lives and killing hundreds of innocents in terrorist atrocities? We can’t live like this any longer.

Years of unnecessary and damaging austerity inflicted on us by the Tories and the broken promises of the failed Blairite experiment have left the population angry, turning inwards to blame others who are enduring equal levels of social misery and financial misfortune. Embittered, frustrated ordinary people have chosen hatred and blame in preference to understanding and a desire for solutions. However, the mood of negativity is altering, in a good way. About halfway through Theresa May’s election campaign that took more than a single leaf out of the French Royal Family’s 1780s guide to humility and the common touch, it became clear that enough was enough; people simply decided to reject conflict and start loving each other once again. The young in particular got out and voted for a positive, vibrant future and rejected the lies of the Tories and their partners in the mainstream media. We didn’t win, but we will, because that tidal wave of love and warmth and inclusivity is an irresistible force for good in society; it’s going to wash away the hatred and conflict that has left deep, wounding scars on the body politic of our society. Most people, good people, don’t want lies and violence; they want hope and compassion for all. Change is inevitable; have you met a single person who thinks May’s cosying up to the Young Earth Ulster Israelite no dancing on the Sabbath fundamentalist Sharia Law in a Sash that’ll be a billion quid and kick the Pope nutters from the DUP is anything other than a farce? Nah; a change is gonna come. It’s inevitable.

On the same day as Jeremy Corbyn owned Glastonbury more than Chic, more than the Foo Fighters, even more than Michael Eavis, Theresa May was in Liverpool (don’t laugh), being booed from pillar to post (I said don’t laugh) at an Armed Forces Day parade (honestly, please stop laughing). Liverpool, the city whose entire recent history is built upon implacable opposition to the right wing establishment, did not let us down. The endless jeers and catcalls, in contrast to the deafening acclamation Corbyn got at Glastonbury and Durham (and before you start, it’s about ideas not a cult of the personality), meant that May was publicly humiliated, once again.

It is worth noting that her latest public relations fiasco took place at an event commemorating a recently invented day of dubious moral provenance; I mean Armed Forces Day isn’t Remembrance Sunday is it? Indeed, I’m not actually sure what it is and who officially recognises it. Gordon Brown announced a Veterans’ Day would take place on the last Saturday in June back in 2006 and in 2009 it changed its name to Armed Forces Day. Pretty much it appears anyone can set up an event, as the whole umbrella organisation ostensibly co-ordinating the project appears messily organised and less than meticulously scrutinised. No wonder the solemn day of reflection seems to have been hijacked by Britain First, the EDL, UKIP and all the usual far right Fascist fuckwits out there. Indeed in London, while Theresa May was being excoriated by angry Scousers,  a heavily policed EDL gathering of 50 unemployable pissheads were kept behind metal railings by a few dozen Met Officers, while ten times as many UAF protestors let the boneheads know their tired, lame Islamophobic ultra-nationalist agenda was not acceptable in modern day Britain.

So what’s all this got to do with football huh? I must mention that finally the CPS have decided to press charges against David Duckinfield, Norman Bettison and other members of South Yorkshire Police for the tragedy of Hillsborough,  which is further vindication of the unending struggles of those who sought Justice for the 96. But there is more to consider than that. You’ll remember the appalling events at London Bridge, when 3 suicidal terrorists murdered 8 innocent people (three French citizens, two Australians, a Spaniard, a Canadian and a Briton). One of the many moments of heroism that evening was the bravery of 47 year old Ray Larner, who was repeatedly stabbed by the terrorists while allowing others to make good their escape from the Black & Blue Restaurant in Borough Market, having stood up and announced “Fuck you I’m Millwall.” He was hospitalised after the attack, when it became clear he was both unemployed and homeless, resulting in a crowd funder campaign that has earned him in excess of £30k, intended to help him put his life back together. Meanwhile a Swedish Brewery has named a beer “Fuck You I’m Millwall” in recognition of his heroism, with some of the proceeds from future sales going to the fund set up in Roy’s name.  That said, the latest tabloid revelations of his prior involvement in a fracas where he set his dogs on several marchers during a Black Lives Matter demo, then followed this up with a tirade of racist abuse, may mean his star has waned already.

I sincerely help his future life is a happy and a fortunate one and that he can rebuild with the cash he has been donated. However, I’m not quite sure if his acts, at Borough Market I stress, are being properly celebrated by the formation of a supposed pressure group called Football Lads Alliance (FLA), taking inspiration from Roy Larner’s bravery, who organised a “Unite Against Extremism” march across London Bridge, also on Saturday 24th June. Unfortunately, what with the attention being given to Corbyn and May’s activities on the same day, media interest in this procession was minimal, which is a shame as by all the no doubt unbiased accounts of those who took part, there were “fahsands” in attendance and “not a spot of bovver”-:

24 June 2017 21:35

went ok all firms integrated - west ham , , pompey, yids, chelsea etc etc nobody said a word when they turned up 200 boys each firm just mingled except us lot when we came we sing a low millllllllll and all firms clapped us - bit mad really proper respect we had from everybody. Marched to london bridge and most went our own way west ham turned back halfway over london bridge & did not come south total respect we had a good drink with pompey proper boys these lot and no trouble average age of everybody 45-50.

have a feeling the next march will double in size. It would be good next time for everyone to demonstrate at a mosque or the like, as this is where the extremists are made. That Britain First mob turn up about 30 handed at places like Luton and East London mosque to demonstrate, have to admire their bottle. Would be good if they got the support of the thousands yesterday, as we are all against the same common enemy.
  
I probably don’t need to tell you this, but pictures show the FLA demographic was resolutely white, resolutely male and almost certainly Brexit voting. It’s not an unexpected outcome when you mix up West Ham, Millwall, Chelsea, Palace, Portsmouth and the more lumpen elements of Spurs firms. Again, it’s unsurprising that Arsenal, Fulham, QPR and Brentford followers were conspicuous by their absence. However, I would contend that this was an event with only a tenuous connection to London, specifically restricted to the football clubs those taking part support; indeed the actual home turf for those marching will have been the dreariest of the M25 satellite and dormitory towns, from Basildon to Slough and Dunstable to Haywards Heath, where the displaced descendants of those who could remember Drake’s Ducklings, The Irons winning the World Cup and Harry Cripps in his pomp, have lived their lives.  For them, London is a place for relaxation and recreation not community cohesion, which is probably why they combined protest with a day out on the gargle. Southerners and Home Counties residents, not Londoners or Cockneys. In many ways, they should be of a similar stamp to the enormous crowd drawn to the Big Meeting, but ideologically these modern day variants of Essex Man keep considering closer to the right than left of the spectrum.

While attempting to discover more about the FLA and their beliefs, I liked their Facebook page, followed them on Twitter and sent both the same fairly detailed message, asking if they could tell me exactly what their working definitions of the highly emotive and subjective terms “extremism” and “terrorism” were. I obtained no reply. However, I did find a link to an interview with the founder of the FLA, 32 year old Spurs fan John Meighan on the Shy Society website, an organisation whose raison d’etre is described as follows -:

We are opinionated. We like common sense. We consider ourselves liberal in many aspects. Alas, not by today’s definition. We believe in fairness and transparency. We don’t shy away from change, yet tradition and identity are things we hold dear. We are proud of Britain and will always champion democracy. But we are cynics who can detect corruption like a stench fills the air. We are engaged, yet disenfranchised. We can see right through the mainstream media, career politicians, and the establishment. And we are numb to the excruciating snobbery of the metropolitan class which has stifled our speech for so long. We are loud. But we dare not speak out. We had no voice, until now. We are the Shy Society…



Presumably this is why the site includes two posts revelling in their attendance at marches in the company of Tommy Robinson; one in Sunderland as part of the specious #JusticeForChelsey campaign that local police have described as “racially intolerant” and “deliberately inflammatory” and the other in Birmingham to protest about “Muslim extremists.” If you’re in any doubt about Shy Society’s ideological standpoint, here’s what they said in advance of the general election, while urging readers to vote Tory -:

“Corbyn couldn’t be any more anti-British even if he wrapped himself in a black flag started chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ through the streets of Islington. From refusing to sing the national anthem, to describing the huge sacrifices made in the Falklands War as “flag-waving nonsense”, to his unrepentant support for terrorists including the IRA and Hamas – backed up in Labour’s manifesto by their pledge to “immediately recognise the state of Palestine” thus putting strains on UK-Israeli relations. This is a man who was arrested at a protest to “show solidarity” with accused IRA terrorists in 1986, a man who invited convicted IRA terrorist Gerry Adams to the House of Commons just weeks after the Brighton bombing, and a man who was actually investigated by the MI5 over his close links to the Republican cause. This despicable man now wants to lead the United Kingdom.”

I would hope John Meighan was aware of who he was talking to when he gave his interview to Shy Society, because if he didn’t he has shown a terribly naïve lack of judgement. Of course if he were aware, it would make it considerably easier to write off the FLA as another far-right Trojan Horse, looking to recruit the shiftless, prejudiced low-life that have bounced between the BNP, EDL and Britain First over the last decade or so. As the question of his understanding of the agenda of those interviewing him is unknown, we can only judge John Meighan and his pet project with the words they’ve spoken. They aren’t encouraging -:

“Longer term, it’s looking at terror laws and preachers of hate. We’ve all seen it in the press that they’ve got thousands of people on watchlists but the reality is you can’t watch them all so you need to look at somehow putting a framework in place to monitor what they do. Be that electronic tags, be that some form of confinement – I don’t think we as a country should be afraid to deal with radical Islamic extremism.”

When compared to calls for internment or electronic surveillance of ordinary British citizens for ideological reasons, the delusional belief that 5,000 bladdered, baldy, ageing, semi-literate, jug-eared porkers called staying out of Ladbrokes and Wetherspoons for half a day is going to “make our voices heard” or “get things done our way” is almost grimly humorous. Let’s be honest about this; I don’t really see Daesh unilaterally laying down their arms just because The ICF and Bushwhackers have laid a bouquet together, do you?

Now fair play to the FLA for not kicking off on the day, banning flags and ensuring Robinson and his pals were kept well away from this demo, but what on earth can Meighan expect to be the future direction of this organisation if he is making public statements in such immoderate and confrontation language? There is a chance the whole momentum of the thing will get out of control and that is something to worry about. Not only that, it’s disturbing to note there are several tweets by the FLA stating that they respect Tommy Robinson, who is apparently “on our wavelength.” This is a worrying statement and the FLA need, before their next demo on October 7th, to state explicitly what their ideological as well as organisation links to the EDL or Britain First are. If the answer is none, then best of luck to them, but I worry its political agenda could be more accurately described by changing the word “extremism” to “Muslims.”

I think it is important to realise what we should be doing as football fans to rid our game of hatred. Up here on Tyneside, we have seen the real and positive effect fan involvement in the wider fabric of society can make. In one afternoon, a fundraiser by the Gallowgate Flags collective to purchase a Rainbow banner with an NUFC crest in the middle, as part of an attempting to be socially inclusive and to make the stadium an LGBTI+ place of safety, achieved double its target amount, with the surplus going to Stonewall.  Equally importantly, a channel of communication has been opened with the Football v Homophobia project, which will be as solid and symbiotic as earlier alliances with Show Racism the Red Card and the FSA. Perhaps the FLA could reflect on the fact that the annual Pride parade in London attracted 10 times as many marchers as their debut swagger across London Bridge.  

Of course, there’s more to football supporting than challenging homophobia; the Newcastle United Food Bank project has been an amazing cohesive project for social inclusion, which has brought together club, fans and the local community, despite the niggardly naysing of a dozen dismal dullards with their pitiful #CasualsAgainstFoodBanks hash tag. It makes my heart sing with joy when I see the good this initiative has done and continues to do; it is a source of immense pride that we see young African Muslim women able to wear Hijabs to SJP and not be confronted by small-minded bigots, or the club’s official twitter account wishing Eid Mubarak to all.

If Newcastle United fans, with the stereotypical baggage of northern, industrial working class masculinity to contend with, can bring to fruition such positive achievements, then surely supporters in the South East can do similar?  In my opinion, these are the sort of campaigns the FLA ought to be busying themselves with; reaching out to their local communities, inviting them in, though I’ve seen no hint of that as yet in any of their posts or public pronouncements. If the FLA continue and want to do some good in the world, perhaps they could send their condolences to those who suffered at the Finsbury Park attack or even, have a march in solidarity with poor old Orient fans who have seen their club decimated by corrupt and incompetent owners. It’s got to be a better option than risking heatstroke in a CP Company rig out while looking for bother with anyone who seems up for it. Let’s not look backwards to the days of hatred, but to the optimistic future that awaits us, Inshallah…


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