Stephen Lennon was, until yesterday, the leader of the English Defence League (E.D.L), who liked to go by the name Tommy Robinson. Stephen is from Luton, which is not his fault, and has an Irish mammy. The movement he spearheaded always made a particularly thoughtful contribution to political debate and race relations in the U.K. Below are some geysers at an E.D.L. rally considering the issues.
Yesterday, Stephen Lennon announced that he is no longer a right wing extremist and has nothing at all against Moslems, as long as...He had a few qualifications to that statement which he will no doubt expand on at length in the coming days.
“English
Defence League leader Tommy Robinson [real name Stephen Lennon] has announced
his intention to set up a new anti-Islamist movement after he dramatically
stepped down from the party he founded, branding it too extreme.
The 30-year-old, who has become a familiar figure leading anti-Muslim protests around the country characterised by racist chanting and frequently scarred by violence, said street protests were “no longer effective” and that he “acknowledged the dangers of far-right extremism”.
Robinson,
from Luton, made the surprise announcement through an anti-extremist
organisation, the Quilliam Foundation, which said it had been helping the EDL
founder and his co-leader, Kevin Carroll, who is also leaving the party. It
called on extremists on all sides to follow suit.”
This announcement has been greeted with much skepticism. But for me it is an occasion of unrestrained joy and calls to mind, well, red knickers.
Pictured below is Colin Jordan, one time leading light of British Nazism.
In the early Summer of 1975, as Derby County celebrated winning the League Championship, Colin Jordan was already on the outs with most of the other leaders of British bootboy fascism when further misfortune befell him. Jordan was arrested for shoplifting three pairs of women's red knickers from Tesco's Leamington Spa branch in June 1975. Magistrates fined him £50 for the offence, which was quite a lot of money back then.
It was a happy day. And so was yesterday. Stephen Lennon's departure from the English Defence League will mean that some of the energy these apes put into targetting and harrassing Moslem communities they will now put into (hopefully) kicking the shit out of each other for a bit.
In a spirit of celebration I offer you a picture of Tesco's Leamington Spa branch
and a poem, 'Amongst Aliens' which, though set in Ireland, is perhaps relevant.
