Their lies, our strength: (September 2009)
BNP leader Nick Griffin went on air last month to distance the BNP from the hooligan protests. As usual what he did not admit was that many of the leading figures in the Luton protest are BNP supporters. Just like Oldham in 2001, Griffin denied responsibility while his own followers were inciting hatred and violence.
When the English Defence League announced its intention to hold a protest in Luton we were faced with two options. We could have called a counter-protest and mobilised the local community and anti-fascists to occupy the streets or we could call on the authorities to ban the march.
In normal circumstances we would have preferred the first option. Mobilising communities can be an empowering process but these are not ordinary times and the stakes are too high. There was a very serious risk of major disorder in Luton if the march had gone ahead – be it from the hooligans and fascists or the local community, which quite understandably wanted to defend its neighbourhoods.
We decided that any disorder would have been a disaster. It would have driven a firm wedge between communities in Luton and also had national ramifications. With the strength of the BNP and Islamophobia it is trouble we could least afford.
Anti-fascists must accept that we too have a responsibility to the people we claim to represent. Yes the fascists must be challenged wherever they raise their heads but it is also important that we are sensitive to the con-sequences of our actions. Stopping the fascists holding a meeting is pointless if we then have to endure three days of adverse publicity which leaves local people – the very people we want to keep away from the BNP – feeling sympathy for them. Likewise, burning the Union Jack in a city centre is hardly likely to win over ordinary shoppers.
It was precisely because of our concerns over the consequences of a march that we called for the protest to be banned. However, the manner in which we did it mobilised and empowered people. The Home Office banned the march because of the actions of thousands of people who got involved in our campaign. Over the coming months the hooligans and BNP will again try to whip up hatred and division. They need to be opposed but in a responsible manner which gives thought to the consequences and empowers people along the way.
Well connected
English Defence League remix a familiar tune
By Tom Woodson
At first glance the newly founded English Defence League (EDL) might appear to have its origins in the disturbances surrounding the parade of the Royal Anglian Regiment through Luton on 10 March this year. Indeed, Nick Griffin, the British National Party leader, was right for once when he identified the town as providing the organisational hub for the League’s shambolic anti-Islam demonstrations.
However, an investigation into the background of several high-profile EDL members shows that their activities are only the latest manifestation of a historical link between Luton Town football hooligans and far-right politics.
EDL makes three claims very publicly: firstly, that they are very distinct from the BNP; secondly, they do not advocate violence; and thirdly that they are opposed to racism. There is clear evidence to show that these declarations do not stand up to examination.
BNP links
Leaked documents written by Barry Taylor, a former Milton Keynes BNP member, reveal that the hooligans – otherwise known as the MIGs (Men in Gear) – played a key role in the local BNP branch. According to Taylor:
“A lot of the activism and support in Luton was due to the group of friends known as the MIGs. When Nick Griffin made a visit to our area in February 2007 the MIGs were not invited. Subsequently they discovered that they had been excluded from the guest list and were very disappointed. This was a very disrespectful way to treat our allies. The ‘loss of face’ that this caused for their leaders caused them to stop attending meetings and also prevented their campaigning on our behalf in Luton. These men had previously represented about 50% of the available workforce for Luton.”
Luton English Defence League activists Matt Unsworth (left) and Davy Cooling
One of these MIG activists was Davy Cooling, who lived in Luton at the time although he has since moved to Daventry, where he works as a council driver. A fully-fledged BNP member, Cooling is now a key activist in the EDL Luton “division”. This is demonstrated by his status as administrator of the Luton division’s Facebook group. Cooling still shows interest in the party, as shown by his posting on the Facebook site of the BNP’s 2009 Red, White and Blue Festival, which said: “I may attend, it will be my first one – what’s the score?”
The positioning of a BNP member at the helm of the EDL’s core division runs contrary to the League’s strenuous attempts to distance itself from far-right political parties. As far as Luton is concerned this was compromised very early on when a man arrested twice for using foul and abusive language during EDL demonstrations was revealed to be David Tull, a well known former National Front member.
Promotion of violence
The EDL makes great play of being innocent bystanders when violence kicks off at its demonstrations. Indeed, it put much of the blame for the disturbances at its Birmingham event of 8 August on the presence of Unite Against Fascism. However, the UAF has not been visibly present during the two disturbances in Luton, particularly the May event when 300 EDL activists went on the rampage overturning cars, smashing windows and attacking passers-by.
Sean Walsh, a Luton EDL activist, uses the EDL Luton division Facebook page to suggest some particularly dangerous tactics to use against the police when being hemmed-in. Walsh suggests: “if the police make a square surrounding you the protesters should all be in organised groups specializing in their strengths and weaknesses there should be a core of strong people (heavy infantry) with the ability to penetrate a weak point in polices defences with a wedge attack and create a opening and be able to hold the opening for the other protesters to break through the opening. Adaptability is the key.”
Interestingly, Walsh is a signed-up member of the Bedfordshire BNP Facebook group.
Promoting racism
Matt Unsworth, a 19 year-old EDL member, made strenuous attempts to introduce a “cultural” dimension to the demonstration in Luton that was scheduled for 19 September before it was banned. He sought to secure the Leeds-based singer Anglo-Saxon to play a gig in Luton that evening, with a Facebook message that read: “Respect to you for sticking to what you believe in and I admire your work. You are a credit to soceity! [sic]. Also I might get you to come down to Luton for a show in September on the day of the protest if you are interested?”
It is fortunate for Luton that Anglo Saxon was not available on that day, as the singer was arrested in 2007 for incitement to racial hatred for the lyrics of his song, This is England:
Is this the land you want to leave to your children
They bleed the state and ask for more …
They took the passport, they took the pound
And now they’ve bombed the underground.
It is very hollow for the EDL to make banners bearing the slogan “black and white unite and fight” if at the same time they seek to promote artists who spread the creed of race hate.
Unsworth attracted the attention of the national EDL leadership through his attempts to book Anglo-Saxon, in particular a shadowy character called EDL South, who clearly has a key role in the organisation. Soon after his encounter with EDL South, Unsworth created a new Facebook persona by the name of Luton English, separating his feverish political postings from the social chit-chat. No doubt he is following instructions from his new political masters.
A tragic pair
Peter Fehr, the BNP’s Luton organiser, often moans about the lack of activists and so, as for those who have gone before him, it is easy to see how attractive the MIGs must appear as a readymade street army. Like a moth drawn to the flame, Fehr retains a fascination for the rough and tumble of marches, banners and “well-directed boots and fists” that Griffin claims to have left behind.
If you sign up to the MIGs though, you inherit all the baggage that comes with them and boundaries between the two organisations are becoming increasingly blurred. The EDL has the destructive street muscle but ill-defined politics. Luton BNP has the hate-inspired ideology but a handful of activists.
It is our job to ensure that on the streets and through the ballot box we defeat both sides of the same coin.
People power forces hooligan ban
By Nick Lowles
An attempted protest by rightwing football hooligans, BNP supporters and other Islamophobes in Luton has been banned by the Home Secretary after an online campaign initiated by HOPE not hate.
The English Defence League had hoped to rally in the town on 19 September to coincide with a Luton home game against York City. The last time the EDL organised a march, violence followed. There were 35 arrests as hooligans and racists rampaged through a predominately Muslim area of the town.
With that area being very close to Luton’s football ground, further violence was likely.
The HOPE not hate campaign sent out an email calling on its supporters to write to Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, and Gillian Parker, the Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police, asking for the rightwing event to be banned. A simple link allowed our supporters to dispatch emails to the pair.
Within five minutes of our call, over 1,000 letters had been sent. Within an hour this had increased to 5,000. By the end of the day our supporters had sent over 12,500 letters.
The email campaign took hold, especially in Luton itself. Over 5,000 invitations to join the campaign were sent out by our existing supporters and a third responded by sending on letters themselves.
It was a phenomenal success. Just over 40,000 of our supporters opened the email and in the end almost 15,000 actions were taken. On the back of its success, over £1,500 was raised to help us fight key council by-elections over the coming months.
By the evening we had learnt that the Home Office not only had banned the EDL march but had ordered no political demonstrations or rallies in the town for three months. It turned out that the local council and police were also not keen on the EDL protest for fear of violence.
The online campaign was a victory for the people of Luton and for common sense. Allowing extremists hell bent on confrontation to be allowed to whip up hatred and violence has no place in a democratic society.
It also sends out a clear message to the hooligans and rightwing extremists that their actions will not be tolerated. This time it was Luton, but we will act swiftly to prevent them taking their hate to other towns if needed.
The victory is also a further demonstration of the power of our online campaigning. That thousands of people will respond to a call within minutes shows what is possible when we get motivated and organised.
Hooligans disunited
Nick Lowles reports on the mixed relationships between football hooligan gangs and the far-right parties.
Over the past few months there have been a growing number of football hooligan-led mobilisations around the country. Luton might have captured the most headlines in recent weeks but there have been protests in Birmingham and East London, with future actions planned in west London and Manchester.
Some commentators have dismissed these gatherings as fascist events. This is inaccurate and misunderstands the relationship between football hooligans, nationalism and fascism.
As reported in last month’s Searchlight there are a number of organisations currently active that derive from the hooligan world. The English Defence League (which was originally the English and Welsh Defence League), Casuals United, March for England and the SIOE.
While there are undoubtedly fascists involved in these protests they owe more to the racist and nationalist mentality of hooligans than to any real fascist undertones.
The British fascist right had its strongest influence on the hooligan scene during the mid-to-late 1970s. Racism was rife on the terraces and the revival of skinhead fashion and the birth of racist Oi music gave young violent working-class men a racist and political identity.
By the early 1980s, this was on the wane, certainly within many of the gangs associated with larger city clubs. Changing football culture, the emergence of black players and probably most significantly the growing prominence of black football hooligans pushed the hardcore fascists out.
Most gangs linked to London clubs, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester City and United, Leicester, Derby and the Sheffield clubs saw sizeable numbers of black hooligans emerge during the 1980s.
There were of course exceptions. Leeds and Newcastle both had strong National Front influence within their mobs, as did many of the gangs linked to smaller clubs, where either there was little non-white population or there were deeply segregated communities and little Asian interest in professional football.
Chelsea was an enigma. No club has had such a long link to the far right – from the NF and British Movement of the 1970s to Combat 18 in the 1990s. And yet, despite this, they also had black hooligans and they were generally accepted. In fact, the one falling out that the Chelsea Headhunters had with Combat 18 was when the nazi activist Mark Atkinson left a threatening message on the windscreen of Big Willy, a leading black hooligan.
The relationship between hooligans and fascists was even more fraught at Millwall, which will surprise many given that this was where the British National party had its first electoral breakthrough in a council by-election in 1993. Millwall has always had black hooligans. Even back in 1977 when Panorama documented the infamous Millwall “F-troop”, one of the central characters was a huge black hooligan called “Tiny”.
In 1993, shortly after Derek Beackon’s election victory, Combat 18 went round some of the Millwall pubs trying to recruit. They were given short shrift by the Millwall hooligans. To Millwall Combat 18 was too associated with Chelsea and they were also willing to accept anyone within their ranks as long as their loyalty was to southeast London and the club.
A bigger clash between hooligans and fascists occurred in April 1994 when England was set to play a “friendly” in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on the anniversary of Hitler’s birth. British and German fascists hoped to join together to attack a Turkish demonstration in the city the day before. Tony Covelle, the leader of the Chelsea Headhunters and seen by many as the most important hooligan on the England scene at the time, would not consider the idea. He was English and the Germans were their key enemy.
Fortunately, the game was eventually cancelled after a campaign led by Searchlight and our German friends.
Loyalism has always been a bigger unifier for British football hooligans. During the late 1980s and more importantly during the early 1990s loyalism became central to hooligan nationalist identity. The IRA was bringing its campaign to the British mainland and English hooligans heavily adopted the loyalist cause.
In January 1993 over 600 people, including hooligans drawn from 22 gangs around Britain, met to disrupt the annual Bloody Sunday march in central London. Their intention was later to travel to Kilburn, an area with a large Irish community, in an attempt to kick off trouble with local people. Only the intervention of police and the arrest of 396 hooligans and loyalists prevented this from occurring.
The far right has never enjoyed this level of support. Hooligan gangs linked with Aston Villa, Oldham, Charlton, Swansea and Mansfield all had rightwing connections but they were easily the exception than the rule.
In more recent years the rise of the BNP has been mirrored by a growth in political hooliganism. The Oldham riots stemmed from weeks of hooligan incursions into the predominantly Asian areas of the town. The first was when 450 Stoke City hooligans rampaged through Westwood a few days after the pensioner Walter Chamberlain had been attacked by four youths.
Over the following few weeks Oldham hooligans, one of the most rightwing gangs in the country, were joined by small groups from Stockport, Shrewsbury and Huddersfield in a bid to whip up trouble. Eventually, on 26 May 2001, the hooligans succeeded. After a day when 80 hooligans and nazis had been frustrated by police a group of ten hooligans ran down a predominantly Asian street attacking people and property in what a judge later said was the “trigger” for the Oldham riots.
A week later the rightwing hooligans attempted to do it again, though this time they were stopped by Searchlight intelligence and police intervention.
A week after that Oldham and Everton hooligans tried to link up with Combat 18 in an attempt to disrupt the England v Pakistan cricket match at Old Trafford. The plan had been for an Oldham hooligan to run onto the pitch during play and place a Combat 18 flag in the middle of the wicket. The hope, according to Combat 18, was for maximum media attention and a violent reaction from the Pakistani supporters in the crowd. Once again the 40 thugs failed because of Searchlight intelligence.
However, these incidents have been the exception. There is certainly a growing anti-Islamist feeling among many hooligans but this is probably just a reflection of attitudes in wider society. More hooligans are undoubtedly supporting the BNP but again this should not be of any great surprise given the growth of the fascist party in many parts of the country and the profile of the typical BNP voter. But this does not mean we are likely to witness an explosion of hooligan-based racial disorder.
The appalling turnout of hooligans in Birmingham in early August is testament to this. In smallish towns such as Oldham and Luton a local incident can quite easily incite a violent response from thugs and racists. However, there is no sign that hooligans will properly mix together for a political cause.
Football rivalry means that Watford hooligans, who might live only a few miles away, will never mix with their Luton counterparts and the return of the football season will refocus some hooligans on their traditional pastimes. In addition, heavy policing and the threat of arrest, football bans and possible prison will keep many away. It was interesting to witness the robust police response to an anti-Islam protest in East London in summer. Having been kettled for several hours and generally given a rough time, many of the hooligans who attended are hardly likely to come out again.
Finally, there is the very nature of hooligans themselves. They are a generally undisciplined, lazy group who prefer drinking and talking a good fight to involving themselves in a political battle. And those who do will be nervous about the role of the BNP and other fascist groups. Even at Luton, where the heart of the current hooligan mobilisation has emerged, there are growing voices of discontent about the presence of the BNP.
The organisers of the English Defence League and Casuals United have announced their intention to hold several more protests across the country, including in Manchester, Dewsbury and Bradford. Whether these go ahead remains to be seen but the dangers lie less in the big cities than in the smaller conurbations where tensions already exist.
Hooligans will not travel in large numbers across the country and they will be even more put off by the threat of arrest and football bans. However, in places like Luton, Oldham and West Yorkshire there are more than enough people to cause trouble without the need for outsiders. With the prospect of violence and communities tearing each other apart very real, HOPE not hate will be campaigning to get these events banned.
- You may also be interested to read
- English Defence League cracks begin to show The English Defence League was born in 2009, but as we begin 2010 Simon Cressy wonders whether the EDL is about to self-destruct Searchlight Magazine January 2010
- People Together Nick Lowles explains how the threat from the English Defence League should provide us with an opportunity to promote the society we want to live in
- Businessman bankrolls ‘street army’ A middle-age, respectable looking man has emerged as a key figure behind the English Defence League Searchlight Magazine October 2009
- BNP blame Zionists for EDL BNP leader Nick Griffin has claimed that the English Defence League is being manipulated and directed by Zionists to create a race war on the streets of Britain
- Hooligans Unmasked The claims of the the English Defence League and mixed relationships between hooligan gangs and far-right parties Searchlight Magazine September 2009
- A hot August? Gerry Gable, Simon Cressy and Tom Woodson look at the Islamophobic groups that are trying to provoke racist violence Searchlight Magazine August 2009
- BNP supporters triggered Oldham riots In an exclusive investigation, Nick Lowles reveals how the BNP supporters triggered the Oldham riots
