Rivers of Blood
Not really having any plans for the August Bank Holiday Monday it was an ideal time to go and witness the ENA's (English National Alliance) proposed march across Brighton. Most people dream about spending a Monday when they are not required to go to work hanging out with a bunch of nationalists or fascists, or however you want to describe them. For many that does not become a reality, but for me it did!
They are actually a “counter Jihad street movement”. They are not a political party nor are they affiliated with the BNP (British Nationalist Party), although they are happy to support any political party who will deal with the threat of Islamism (not really being an expert I suspect the BNP would definitely have “dealing with the threat of Islam” near the top of their “to do” list). Reading the blurb on the EDL website it becomes apparent they are actually quite tolerant as they primarily stand against Islamism. They do not hate all Muslims. It is only the ones that want to impose “… a vile and virulent ideology based on 7th century barbarity, intolerance, hatred, subjugation and war.” As long as you do not want to do that then you are ok in their book. Based on that comment there are probably plenty of non Islamists they would also have a problem with, but they seem to have forgotten about them for now.
They do not appear to be a “counter jihad street movement” either. Instead their intention is to:
“restore English Culture as the predominant factor in England and ensure Democratic principles are instated to ensure the English people have full participation in creating English laws and upholding the laws of this realm.”
On the surface this does not seem too bad. However the preservation of culture is upheld through tradition and when people stop following them, new social rituals and traditions take their place. In a sense what is perceived as a country’s culture is not a static entity but one that is constantly morphing and evolving into something that it was not before. For example take the humble Christmas tree, which was introduced to this country by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert and he was German. Therefore in order to “restore English Culture” should we not all burn our Christmas trees next Christmas in protest that a foreigner had altered the way we traditionally celebrated the birth of Christ, who most of us do not actually believe in anymore and if he existed was probably born in the spring and the date we celebrate Christmas on was actually a pagan festival etc.
As I made my way down to the protest it felt like I was in the 1960s and the days of the race riots were upon us. I also felt a bit like I was in an episode of Citizen Smith the sitcom starring the dad from My Family (yes it is much funnier than My Family) as a young Communist "urban guerrilla" living in Tooting.
By the time I arrived at the march it had arrived at the level (for you non-Brightonians this is an area of Brighton that is kind of flat, with some grassy areas. It is down from the station and essentially leads to the seafront). The police had created a barricade separating the anti-ENA protesters and the ENA from each other on one of the grass areas. It has to be said there was not a very impressive turn out on either side. If I had to call it I would say the anti-ENA demonstrators would have edged it. The spectators actually outnumbered everyone there. Congregating, I assume in expectation of a blood bath that never looked like happening. There were also a lot of police, who ran around looking concerned as the two opposing groups chanted at each other. The anti-ENA lot shouted “Fascist scum off our streets!”, while the ENA chanted various football songs they had appropriated to their cause, but I could not really make any of it out. After about five minutes I had exhausted all the interest that could be extracted from it.
The only sign of trouble came from a man with a beard walking too near the ENA with holding a Mountain Dew Energy drink. There was actually a Mountain Dew Energy promotion in the town center that day. Let me state for the record now that Mountain Dew Energy is in no way affiliated with the ENA, it was simply coincidence their promotion and the ENA march coincided. I managed to get one of these drinks myself. It came in a florescent bottle, reminiscent of the colour (color if you are in the USA reading this) of the radioactive rod that falls down the back of Homer in the opening credits of the Simpsons, which before even sampling the beverage makes you question whether you should actually be drinking it. And yes it is disgusting, it was really horrible. I would not recommend it. Apparently it had a very high caffine content, so children were not allowed it. I can only guess the bearded man with the Mountain Dew Energy was detained by the police because they were concerned he was trying to give it to children. Why else would they have led him away and put him in a one of their meat wagons?
Overall these types of protest/ demonstrations always puzzle me. First you have the symbiotic nature both groups, as the anti-ENA need the ENA in order to exist. The second is, why protest at all? In doing so you are generating more attention to the cause you are against. Take the infamous Nick Griffin appearing on Question Time incident. Here, protestors made so much fuss about his appearance the press had a field day and the BNP must have gotten more publicity than they would have thought possible, definitely a win for them. If the protestors had simply gone whatever and ignored the fact he was on Question Time, there would have been less coverage and the whole situation could have passed by with less than a whimper. Thirdly if marginal groups with extreme views do spring up from time to time and gain support then this is merely a sign the government should acknowledge as dissatisfaction within the population at some of the things happening in their country. If a country is run well then surely less of these movements would exist.
In the end I was reminded of Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech and thought how that did not really have any relevance to what I had witnessed. It was more like “fluorescent rivers of mountain dew energy” were gushing down the streets, rather than any blood, as people threw away the drinks because they were so unpalatable.
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