Today I saw some nazis.
Some of them were boys in their late teens running away from anti-nazi protesters. The others were boys in their late teens being led away by police. Not so much brown shirts as brown trousers.
The EDL (English Defence League) had been planning for months to bus 15,000 into my home town, and march through it intimidating all the non-white people.
They kept changing their mind about the date and venue, but today managed 150, meeting in a park to listen to speeches about how muslims caused the recession, then march out of the park, around the corner and back into the park by the other entrance.
Meanwhile I was among 300 local anti-nazi protesters, in the pouring rain, holding a counter-rally in the town square the EDL had planned to march through.
It was a wide range of ages, nationalities and political persuasions, and I didn't know most of them. But we did have a clutch of hip young things who'd brought their own chants. I'm used to chants like:
Caller: Whose street?
Response: Our street!
Caller: Whose world?
Response: Our world!
etc.
...and...
Caller: Auschwitz?
Response: Never again!
Caller: Belsen?
Response: Never again!
Caller: Treblinka?
Response: Never again!
etc.
But they had a slew of new lyrics to old songs, like:
(To She'll be Coming Round the Mountain)
We are black, white and asian.
And we're jews.
(And we're gay)
We are black, white and asian.
And we're jews.
(And we're gay)
We are black, white and asian.
Black, white and asian.
Black, white and asian.
And we're jews.
(And we're gay)
There are many more of us than
There are you.
(Nazi scum) etc.
I got to practice this and some more vitriolic numbers whenever small knots of EDLers appeared and tried to charge into us. Some tried to swagger, most looked a bit lost and didn't resist as the police guided them back to the flock. One or two tried to fight the police - never a good idea.
We did this from midday for three hours - after which the EDL disappeared to watch a football match. There's a long tradition linking far right politics and soccer, and they'd obviously thought they could get higher attendance if the day trip included a soccer match. Perhaps they did.
I turned for home, passing an officer. Our eyes met briefly.
"That was relatively painless."
"Yeah, more or less."
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