I have written this blog entry mainly as a record of my
experiences with the EDL, should it prove useful to persons faced with them in
the future.
I was surprised, and
then curious as to why the EDL had chosen to come to my city. And why would they
do something like this on the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who? Are they insane?
But then I found out the march would be in the afternoon, giving them enough time
to get home for an evening in front of the TV. They'd obviously thought it through.
A community driven
group called We Are Wakefield was formed with the intention of creating a
counter demonstration elsewhere in the city on the same day. I believe the
creator and driver of this group had previous experience on organising Love
Music Hate Racism events (as does Rhubarb Bomb) but it wasn't a politically
driven group. It was one interested in showing what an open minded, inclusive
and fun place Wakefield
is. Simple as that.
Questions
I was curious about the EDL. Although I despise the core politics of the
BNP and EDL, and UKIP too, I will never say I hate them. That is the core
reaction of many and yes, I think it is a sane one. But I can't, because that
kind of black and white thinking (pun NOT intended) is the whole problem with
these people.
And though the media
impression of them is the most comfortable to swallow, the media often makes
caricatures of us all. If I am going to be so disgusted by someone, I want to
do it for real reasons, not because some newspaper told me to.
I was seriously
interested in going down to speak to them on the day. I dug my dictaphone out
and started thinking about what kind of questions I would like to ask them. Any
political group has its share of oddballs, but it stood to reason that within
them, there must be what, within their scales, equates to a 'moderate'.
I wanted to know why
they had chosen to come to Wakefield.
Did they have a swell of support here? Was it typical of the types of city they
perform well in? Was there something about the racial makeup of the place that
attracted them? Having lived here thirty years, I cannot recall them
demonstrating or rallying before, so why now?
And I wanted to know
what they wanted to achieve. Was marching and spreading their message for a
day both the means and the end? To have their voices heard for an
afternoon? Or did they want something more long term? Were they recruiting?
Would there be leaflets and information I could take home? All I could really
gather prior was that they wanted an end to Extreme Islam within England. Other
than deporting 'them' all, was there a plan as to how this would be achieved,
what were the long to short term goals?
It's funny looking back
on this now. I genuinely had all those questions. I feel pretty naive now,
because it all turned out to be rather different than what I had expected. I
had given them far too much credit.
Facebook
In the week leading up
to both the EDL march and the We Are Wakefield event, EDL members discovered
the WAW Facebook page. Once more betraying either my sheltered digital
upbringing, or the fact that I only hang around the internet with people who
have the most basic of manners, I was shocked by the veracity and insistency of
their trolling.
Everything was argued.
And not argued as in 'aggressively discussed.' It was like having a
conversation with Begbie from Trainspotting.
It turned out
everything we ever thought, knew or had been told was incorrect. Red was
actually Green and we were brainwashed puppets of the state, or unwashed
hippies, to think otherwise. Each person who made a comment was attacked, their
opinions pulled apart with no regard for logic or sense. It was deeply
unpleasant.
At first, obeying the
normal rules of civilisation, the WAW member tried to engage them in normal
discussion, but it was impossible. They seemed to assume that we were all
members of United Against Fascism, and as such we were called out as violent
thugs and hypocrites. Their paranoia led them to pre-emptively attack us.
They have a right to protest, and we have a right to do the same, so what is
the problem? When they ran out of argument, or steam, they resorted to calling
us all cunts.
But then it got worse.
Some alleged UAF
members also came on board, and a horrid little political world was unveiled.
These people, on both sides of the fence, know each other well. Presumably they
see each other every week at the demonstrations. And what had started as a
community group created to discuss positive action sunk to a very personal and
pathetic level, on both sides. They both showed the absolute worst of both
their arguments. It was exhausting and massively depressing to watch.
The personal life of
one EDL member, Gary - the most aggressive and pathetic - was brought up,
things about his kids not wanting to know him because of his politics. What was
this achieving exactly? These ‘full-time activists’ seemed to thrive off
confrontation, and built their egos around what they opposed, and it looked
like they'd be using Wakefield
as their battleground this week. Next week Wigan, or Luton or Hull.
It was incredibly
depressing and nearly stopped me from attending, until I reminded myself that
this kind of bullying and unrelenting pressure was the only weapon they
had.
The Day
The day came. The EDL
were due to meet at a pub at the bottom of the city centre called The Wakey
Tavern from around 10:30, with things officially beginning around midday,
concluding in a march around 2pm. We Are Wakefield were position further into
the city on the precinct and their event was to run from around 11:30 til 3pm.
Needless to say, my
earlier ambitions to speak to the EDL directly had been kyboshed by the insane
and threatening behaviour online. There would be no chance of me having
anything approaching a conversation, if these were the types of people we were
to be dealing with. Instead, it was more important that we simply voiced an
alternative to their rhetoric.
The We Are Wakefield
demonstration was attended by a wide range of people; ages, sexes, races. There
was a good feeling up there. The Socialist Worker and the UAF were there to
offer support, but it didn't feel overly politicised to me. It wasn’t owned by
them, it was owned by us, Wakefield.
This was backed up by
the number of organisations that had put their name to the protest. Over 100.
That is a strong argument against the EDL. How many businesses and institutions
would publicly support them?
As the Bishop of
Pontefract was speaking, an alleged member (he definitely was) of the EDLpushed him aside and grabbed the microphone and tried to speak. He was pulled
away by the police. Like the Facebook group, they seem unable to accept that
there are people in the world who have different opinions to themselves. They
were unable to stick to their own march, and had to invade ours, just as they
had with our community page. Why is that? Incidentally, the EDL event page was
pretty much left untouched by those who opposed it.
In retrospect, it was a
shame he was pulled off the mic. What could he have possibly said? It would
have been great to see him humiliate himself.
EDL Presence
The event going well, I
decided to wander through town to observe the scene at The Wakey Tavern and
surrounding areas.
Wakefield city centre was
bustling due to the Christmas market. Many were perplexed by the huge police
presence in the area of the EDL march. It's the largest police presence I have
ever seen in Wakefield,
and it also included private security, presumably brought in by the council.
Most people in the city centre that I overheard didn't seem to know what
was happening.
I worked my way down
the hill and could see a small crowd outside the pub. I bumped into a friend of
mine. For what it matters, he is a white Wakefieldian with a beard. He was a
bit wound up as he had just walked past the pub (on the other side of the road)
and had incurred the wrath of the EDLers. "Shave your beard, then you'll
look more English" they had said.
I got closer, and the
final piece of the EDL puzzle fell into place. Around thirty people were stood
outside the pub (though there were certainly more inside). And they were,
without exception, the living embodiment of the clichéd EDL member. Aside of a
couple of females, they were male, shaven headed, drinking pints and
wearing St George Crosses (bar one with an Israel flag). One had a bulldog.
These weren't political
activists. They were numbskulls on a dayout. The appearance of Wakefield that day was what the city would
look like if we had a large football team, and fans akin to those of Millwall
lore. There were no leaflets, posters, no-one speaking. It was just a piss-up
with a police cordon. Locals looked on, bemused, wondering where to catch their
bus from since they had to be diverted to accommodate this 'demonstration.'
The liberal and
lefty-leaning mind the EDLers would no doubt mock me for had indeed let me
down. I was open-minded enough to accept the EDL could be something more than
2D caricatures in search of a brain and I was wrong.
My last remaining
question was; how many of these people are from Wakefield? I really want to know. Because
otherwise, what the fuck are they doing here? On my way into town I was behind
a large coach that had a flag in the back stating 'English Defence League:
Gateshead Division.' It encountered massive problems with Wakefield's one way system, ending up turning
left at a right only junction, causing chaos (or maybe they were fearful of
having to drive past the WAW event. Or maybe traffic laws were invented by
Islam, who knows?).
Back up at WAW, we got
a shout out around 14:30 that the EDL march had concluded (more words and lots of photos of that HERE) and we were to be
watchful as they would now be dispersing and potentially heading our way. A few
passed on the other side of the road. They threw wanker signs and filmed us on
their camera phones. We waved them off. They were just pathetic, utterly
utterly pathetic, an appalling demonstration of what they supposedly stand for
and believe in.
Is it worth protesting?
When their visit had
first been announced, I had felt it might be best to just leave them to it.
Opposition would just increase the press they would get. But I am glad that we
did. Because although the 'politics' of the EDL are so stupid and backwards it
doesn't seem worth arguing against, doing nothing would leave the headlines to
them.
If they come to your
town, it is essential the headline the next day reads that they were
outnumbered and embarrassed. My opposition to them was not specifically for
their politics (which as I say, I despise, but in reality holds absolutely no
substance) but more because of the effect it can have on Wakefield.
In essence, theirs is a
politic based on the closing of doors and minds. Ours is the absolute opposite. It is nothing to do with right or left wing. Rhubarb Bomb and hundreds of other people and Orgs in Wakefield
spend a lot of time trying to attract people to Wakefield, to drag the spotlight onto the
people here who do amazing things. Idiots like the EDL have no idea about any
of these things because they don't live here, and even if they did, wouldn't
step outside their own doorsteps, unless to visit the local pub. By turning up,
they have the potential to ruin a lot of good work.
So I am glad I stood
shoulder to shoulder with so many right minded people. I still resolve to
remain open-minded about everything, even those as revolting as the EDL, but I
have learned of the utter vacuity at their core. There is nothing there but
bullying. They are just a club, a group of people drawn together by a vague
ideology. Over time their sense of self-worth and purpose has aligned with that
of the group as a whole and in opposition to anyone who questions it, questions
their very way of life.
Lacking basic human
skills of interaction, they just shout and stamp their feet, like small
children. For them, a day in Wakefield
is a fun trip with friends, somewhere new. We'll never change their minds,
but we can continue to show how flawed and pathetic their opinions are, with
the hope that generation by generation we make them more and more irrelevant.
Thankfully, this was the headline the next day, and though Calender sent its cameras along, violence and hate live and direct from Wakefield was not a story they went with.
If they come to your town, they WILL harass and bully any opposition. They are not coming for a discussion. They lack the general manners we all take for granted. They will attack you personally and make wild accusations. On the day, they will come and find you and threaten you. But this is exactly why you need to stand up to them. You will find there is nothing to fear, but you'll be glad you made the stand.
Epilogue
Oh, and as a final
postscript, in the days following, on the We Are Wakefield event page, certain
EDL members who had been blocked created 'new' profiles and began commenting
again, continuing their pathetic screaming into the void. A hundred people,
surely one of their worst showings ever (except THIS) and still they claim it was a
'victory'...
They always presume the
burden of proof is on you to PROVE that the population of your city aren’t
supporting them. Imagine that, they presume everyone is as hateful as them.
They think people are born to loathe. There’s no talking them round.
After the event, Gary, now calling himself
Ellie sent me and others this message:
100 turned up....out of 76,000. What
'important' work was done? all that happened is that the people of Wakefield ignored your
stupid support for the ethnic diversity that has been forced upon them.
So I replied
Hi Gary,
100 turned up....out of 76,000. What 'important' work was
done? all that happened is that the people of Wakefield ignored your stupid support for the
ethnic cleansing you would like to force upon them.
Now, go get a life, pal
In retrospect, it
should have been 100 out of 63 million, since they are supposedly fighting for
the whole country, but nevermind!
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