Well, I guess we made it through Armistice weekend without anyone getting killed, a bizarre and somewhat surreal notion. We certainly saw the full bell-curve of human depravity on open display, from the ignorant, Jew hating, brain washed Islamist zombies on one side to the knuckle dragging, beer bellied Green Street fantasists on the other. Was anyone's opinion changed? I seriously doubt it. Although, if the events of the day precipitate the removal of our current cartoon figure of a Home Secretary then at least we can say it was somehow worth it.
Of course the way the media pitch these things to us is also part of the problem, the balkanised view that the various narrow interest bubbles present does nothing to promote a sense of communicating truth (which, I believe, is what good journalism should be about) For example the way in which some (including some mainstream channels) presented the pro-Palestinian protestors as "peaceful" and the, predominantly racially White, counter-protestors as "right wing thugs" was dubious in the highest degree, my read was that there were undoubtedly Neanderthals on BOTH sides, but the old political debating trick of comparing the best of one side with the worst of the other doesn't wash with me, and I would hope the majority of reasonable people can see through this obvious fallacy.
There were plenty of examples of idiotic brown people intimidating innocent white people on tube trains and in railway stations as there are equally numerous examples of idiotic white people intimidating innocent brown people on street corners and in London squares. However, I would also say that equating a chant of "you're not English anymore" with a chant of "kill the Jews", is a false equivalence, one is quite clearly more problematic than the other, both infantile and ignorant, but ultimately only one with hateful/murderous intent, and that's a concern for everyone here who wishes to live in a safe, stable and respectful community, particularly those of a Jewish persuasion.
Should the march have been banned? Was it disrespectful to hold it on Armistice day? these are reasonable questions but I think on balance it was right to allow it to happen at a different time, and also the correct strategy to segregate the EDL hooligans, as is done at football matches up and down the country on Saturday afternoons. I thought it was telling that the self-appointed leader of that group (Tommy Robinson) fled the scene in a taxi as soon as the riot police turned up! Luckily, the nationalist crew seem as badly organised as the Islamist crew, the police didn't have too much trouble in keeping them apart and impeding their progress throughout the day, CCTV must make that job so much easier these days.
So what are we to conclude from all of this? The complexion of this country, particularly London has certainly changed in the last couple of decades, the various troubles of the world will undoubtedly surface here now, the population of the city is so diverse. You could reasonably argue that this has always been the case and that from the Romans onwards this special place has invariably reflected the zeitgeist of the ruling classes and the status-quo thrust, aggressively, against against the disruptive and aspirational desires of the underclasses and the struggles of the latest wave of immigrants. I guess this protest should be viewed as just the latest of many that the city has seen and successfully weathered, of one thing we can all be certain, it won't be the last.
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