July 25, 2011

The Reality of Right-Wing Nationalism Hits Norway


75 years ago this October, my grandfather, the son of Jewish immigrants to London's poor East End, took to the streets with thousands of others to stop the ultra-nationalist British Union of Fascists from marching through a largely Jewish area.
The event turned into a pitched battle, with Oswald Mosley's fascists and the Metropolitan Police on one side, and locals, Jews, Irish, socialists and communists on the other. The fight (which became known as the Battle of Cable Street) ended with victory for the anti-fascist side, with the fascists and police beaten off the streets.

Following the Holocaust, Fascism became a dirty word, but Nationalists have continually tried to detoxify their brand and reinstate themselves into the mainstream. Mosley returned in the 1950s, this time labelling black immigrants, rather than Jews and Irish, as the main "threat" to the "British way of life". In the late-60s, Conservative MP Enoch Powell became famous for predicting that mass immigration would lead to "rivers of blood". Through the 70s, right-wing nationalism and street-thuggery rose in the form of the National Front, but the movement was resisted on the streets, and finally dissolved in the early-80s as a new, multicultural music scene brought young black and white people together socially. By the 90s, nationalism seemed to be a thing of the past, but the 9/11 attacks gave the racist right a chance to re-brand as an anti-Islam force. Nearly ten years on, and we can see that the "Islam is a threat" message has worked its way from fascist meeting rooms into the political mainstream-right in Europe and the US.

Gradually, the anti-Islam message has morphed back into a more traditional anti-immigration message, being amplified by the right-wing tabloid press here (and Fox News in the US). The nationalist, anti-immigration message isn't easy to sell; it relies on persuading people that the past (or rather, an imaginary, idyllic past) is being replaced by a more dangerous future as immigrants join their society. Prior to 9/11 it seemed that the Western World had moved beyond irrational fear of foreigners, and that society's liberal tendencies had prevailed; but we soon learned that race hate and xenophobia weren't far beneath the surface; that US and European society had changed less since the 1940s than we'd convinced ourselves.

When the drum of fear and hate is being pounded consistently, the infection will naturally spread. For most fear-infected morons, the outlet of Twitter or a blog is enough. But it's inevitable that angry or mentally-disturbed individuals like Anders Behring Breivik will become infected too, and violence will follow, as it did last Friday in Norway. Breivik's choice of target, the mainstream, liberal Norwegian Labour Party, was a natural one for anyone understanding the history of European nationalism. He chose a multicultural youth camp, something designed to ease racial tensions in Norway, but also proof (in Breivik's confused world view) that evil forces were trying to dilute Norway's racial and cultural past into something new and alien.

Whether Breivik acted alone, it can be stated with certainty that he was influenced by master-manipulators of the nationalist movement. It's already been established from his own blog (English translation provided by @Dilmunite) that he admired the far-right English Defence League; according to many EDL Facebook posts, Breivik had many EDL Facebook friends, and attended an EDL rally in the UK in 2010. I'd recommend following @BanTheEDL and @EverythingEDL on Twitter for a collection of evidence linking group members with Breivik.

Another key Breivik influencer was someone I've often mentioned: Pamela Geller, a self-appointed "defender" of America against "creeping Islamification". Pamela spent the weekend tweeting new myths distancing herself from the terrorist, for her army of moron followers to disseminate.

In my Twitter feed, I've long watched morons large and small disseminate misinformation about Islam, Muslims and immigration. Their purpose was to spread enough hatred widely enough that sooner or later someone would take action, and set a chain of violence underway. It looks as though they found a new disciple (though not their first - right-wing terror plots have long been of concern, especially in the US), and no doubt other "white heroes" are watching and contemplating whether to follow Breivik's example (as was clearly his intention).

Western governments now need to decide whether Islamaphobic lies and smears equate to hate speech, and whether to prosecute the most virulent of these liars. The shock following the Norway attacks will quickly pass, and lack of action against armchair-nationalist morons by governments will result in more confidence in the nationalist movements, and inevitably more violence.

Many thanks to Moron Watch for this article.

19 comments:

AF Backlash said...

I definately hope this does not happen as I do not agree with people taking the law into their own hands, but the next time the EDL go goosetepping through an English town centre, or creep like smileballs behind a troop homecoming ceremonies, the members of the general public are likely to turn violently against them and run them out of town after the Oslo outrage.

If I was an EDL neo-Nazi, I'd lock myself away and burn my Yaxley lennon merchandise for my own safety.

Anonymous said...

Yaxley Lennon and his millionairre fascist evangelical funder Alan Lake complained and had this story taken down by Channel Four.

http://www.channel4.com/news/edl-in-full-control-of-breiviks-norwegian-cell

So much for the freedom of the press.

NewsHound said...

HARD RIGHT HATERS ARE STILL GOING ON ABOUT ISLAM: -

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/07/norway-tragedy-the-hard-right-haters-are-still-going-on-about-islam/

Anonymous said...

This should be the death throws of the EDL.

The death of so many innocent young people in Norway by a mass murderer who used their violent anti-Islam message to murder the innocent citizens of Norway.

bennie said...

Yaxley Lennon and his millionairre fascist evangelical funder Alan Lake complained and had this story taken down by Channel Four.

http://www.channel4.com/news/edl-in-full-control-of-breiviks-norwegian-cell

-------------------
Money speaks. Lake can afford to pay for the best lawyers of the land.

Anonymous said...

I just read this on the BBC news website ...

Lennon described Breivik as a "sicko" and a "weirdo" but said: "I've been saying in my speeches, I think we're five years away from that happening here, or 10 years, of English lads doing that because of the desperation they're in."

In other words, Xayley is tactically defending the Oslo slaughter as an act of "desperation".

In five or ten years, Yaxley says, quoted in his very own damning words "English lads" will carry out the same atrocities here "out of desperation".

(Please read this, everybody: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14273546

STEPHEN YAXLEY LENNON OPENLY SUPPORTS RACIAL MASS MURDER OUT OF "WHITE DESPERATION".

SO MUCH FOR NOT BEING A NEO-NAZI, YOU EVIL BNP CUNT!

Anonymous said...

If links are proven, the EDL must carry the can by dismantling itself, if of-course there are any moderate nazis left in the EDL.

Or are there only hardcore neo-nazis left in the group?

NewsHound said...

ALAN LAKE (FINAL SOLUTION, SHOOT MUSLIMS, ETC) CALLS THE OSLO MASSACRE "CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST: -

http://uaf.org.uk/2011/07/edl-funder-alan-lake-calls-norway-massacre-chickens-come-home-to-roost/

Anonymous said...

This article is still there :

http://www.channel4.com/news/edls-connections-with-breiviks-norwegian-cell

joe said...

Latest news: "Hoodeeny" Yaxley lennon escapes jail once more. He's a far better escapologist than the late and great Houdini: -

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/news/article/edl-chief-guilty-over-street-brawl/14610/

District Judge Carolyn Mellanby told Lennon: "I am entirely satisfied you were at the front of this group of angry Luton supporters looking for trouble when you were confronted by the group of Newport supporters who were also angry and fired up looking for trouble."

"Lennon, a father of three who got married on Saturday, was sentenced to a 12-month community rehabilitation order, 150 hours of unpaid work and hit with a three-year football banning order. He was also ordered to pay £650 in costs".

Note: no suspended sentence or ban involving his participation in EDL riots.

This is the lasting evidence that Yaxley is a special branch informant. The judge obviously was given orders to go soft once again on Stephen Yaxley lennon, while jailing anarchists for throwing a couple of sticks off-target for 12 months with their first-offence, recently!

Stephen Yaxley Lennon could gun people down on the street Oslo-style, and still get off scot-free.

Anyone surprised why once again he escapes justice with a pat on the fucking back?????????????

Anonymous said...

It's been edited to take out the more damning editorial.

Trust the power of the press to cave into Alan Lake.

If Lake's only concerned with anti-Islam, why does he fund the Roma gypsy-bashing Jobbik thugs of Hungary?

eliza said...

Waxy Lemon will get his neo-nazi cohort thugs to set fire to mosques and beat up random Asian people as part of his "12-month community rehabilitation order".

He got married on Saturday.

Who gives a monkeys, apart from the judge, who felt so damn sorry for him, although he led a football riot in a town centre, he decided to let the thug off.

Any other riot organiser would have been jailed for eighteen months, however Stephen Yaxley Lennon has friends in high places.

Friends who will advise David Cameron to keep turning a blind eye to them.

Anonymous said...

Please Repost :

ANDERS BREIVIK AND THE ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/07/anders-breivik-and-the-english-defence-league.html

Anonymous said...

There needs to ab an urgent anti-fascist protest in Highgate.

Outside of Alan lake's mansion.

Let him knows how urging a breach of the peace feels.

Anonymous said...

Where does Alan Lake live?

Anonymous said...

Channel Four have replaced the wording "in full control" with "connections".

PC or what?

Anonymous said...

so we can peacefully protest outside his house, with pictures of the Norwegian victims?

Anonymous said...

Stephen Yaxley Lennon has already done a pre-recorded interview for Newsnight tonight.

A friend who works at the BBC has confirmed this.

Anonymous said...

To my shame, I wasn't historically clued up enough until now to realise the met were on the side of the fascists at Cable Street. I thought it was a relatively new phenomenon for the racist Met to stand shoulder to shoulder with the scum of the earth...