A couple of weeks ago, I posted this video of a song I wrote
about The EDL.
With the recent changes in the organisation (if this
language isn’t too grandiose for them), I thought perhaps the song was a bit
out of date (the recording is from 2012) and nobody would be that
bothered. Given the amount of comment
and reaction it generated, both real and virtual, it seems I was wrong.
I am generally reluctant to explain songs and their meaning,
for reasons I have articulated before, in various forums. However, after many questions and
conversations about this particular song, I’m discussing here some of the main
points:
Every time we demonise someone, we lose some of our own
humanity.
And that goes for the EDL, the people they hate, the people
who hate them, and everyone else.
I can’t remember who it was (and I wouldn’t embarrass them
by saying here), but I saw a post on facebook a while back, which along with the
usual “Fuck the EDL” also added: “Hate the haters”.
The immaturity displayed in this comment is so obvious it
sounds like it might be satirical. Is
it any more ignorant or misguided than the “back where they came from” rhetoric
of the “extreme” right wing? (Was it
satire…? I’m not sure now, it was a while ago.)
One common complaint about the EDL is that they are stupid
and crass. If this was the worst thing
about them, it would be funny, but this is the very reason they need our help.
(Is it not safe to assume that the dude who talks on camera
about “Muslamic ray guns” has been failed by the education system? This is someone who could do with some of
that there book-learnin. And we’d all
be better off if he got it.)
I’m not trying to hold up my ideas/perspective/opinions as
some sort of ideal, that if only everyone was as educated/sensitive/intelligent
as me, everything would be fine (it’s probably true, but that’s not the
point). Lots of us think that…it’s part
of the problem.
As I see it, people hate mostly because
they are afraid. Sometimes this fear is
not what it is often thought of as – an irrational deflection of a problem –
it’s a response to a threat. Why do
Israelis and Palestinians sometimes hate each other? Perhaps they represent a
credible threat to the other’s existence.
The same could be said about many conflicts in many parts of the world
and in many times.
If it is sometimes necessary to demonise The Enemy or The
Other to inure us to the things we feel we must do to them, then we must, as if
the ends justify the means. It happens
in war, and it’s why most of us are right to want to avoid war.
This is where racism comes from: it allows Us to do unspeakable things to Them, because We’re
Better than Them, or They deserve it, or They’ll do it to Us if We don’t get
Them first.
The fear that causes someone to be concerned with Islamism
or immigration (out of all proportion with reality) is harder to
understand, so it takes a bit more work.
I’ve never liked binary opposition used to explain human
difference, because I don’t think they relate to much human experience. When someone insists I take sides, I usually
think “No. Fuck off.” The more the debate is polarised, the more I
refuse to take sides…
(I know what side I’d take, mind.)
Fascism is not necessarily racism, although the words are
used interchangeably in this debate. To
equate the EDL with fascists raises their ill-informed bigotry to the level of
political ideology – erroneously, because they are neither fascist nor ideologues.
One of the points I’m trying to make in the song is that
there are bigger threats of fascism from within the establishment. (For example: attacks on protest rights, unions, freedom of speech,
disappearance of suspected terrorists into a murky world of “rendition” outside
the law and officially non-existent…)
What is fascism?
It’s a word, (like “terrorism” or “extremism”, or, in an earlier era,
“communism”) that is used to shut down debate – if someone is a fascist, shut
them up, give them no platform. Just
like fascists do to others…
When I was at university, the Student Union debated banning
the BNP from campus, on the grounds of a “No platform” policy. As a friend said at the time: “Give ‘em a
platform and we’ll cuss ‘em down innit.”
If we aren’t good enough at debating to disprove them then
we should, as a matter of urgency, get a lot better at debating.
The issue with the EDL – and the BNP – is that they sound
less like extremists, than a voice at the edge of acceptable debate, less articulate
about their racist rhetoric than the mainstream media and certain
politicians. So some have argued,
cogently, that the problem is that they are a divisive organisation. However, as such, they are a symptom, not
the problem itself. The problem is that
mainstream politics and the media do not reflect public opinion, and attempt
(often successfully) to shape it.
This is also a problem that can’t be solved by shouting at
people in the streets.
It’s heartening to see that so many people are willing to
stand up against fascism and racism, but if we do that by employing the same
tactics as those we oppose, isn’t that a victory for fascism? Not many people will suddenly agree with you
if you shout at them and call them names and threaten them everywhere they go –
it seems likely that this will entrench them in their current worldview.
This is fine if you think it’s just a question of beating
down whoever disagrees with you – there are plenty who agree with that
approach, and some of them can reasonably be called fascists.
But if you want to change people’s minds….
What I am saying in the song is that if you think there’s
too much hate, stop hating people.
If you think there’s too much violence, stop being violent.
If you think there’s too much division, stop dividing
yourself from others.
If you think there’s too much demonisation of minorities,
stop demonising minorities.
We must be the change we wish to see.
Peace
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