Not everyone who attended Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s rally in London was a fascist. Yaxley-Lennon, who calls himself Tommy Robinson, is unquestionably a fascist, as were a number of his far right guests on stage in London and speaking via videolink from the USA, like Elon Musk who directly called for the UK government to be overthrown by undemocratic means. Yaxley-Lennon said that the revolution was coming, Musk said violence coming. Essentially, they are talking the same language and if you drive a Tesla whether you like it or not you are supporting an actual fascist.
Musk said “the left are the party of murder“, a reference to the murdered far right polemicist Charlie Kirk. Presumably, he did not have time to add that the vast majority of political violence happens on the far right of politics, but I am sure he meant to. Or perhaps not. Musk went on:
“There’s so much violence on the left, with our friend Charlie Kirk getting murdered in cold blood this week and people on the left celebrating it openly. The left is the party of murder and celebrating murder. I mean, let that sink in for a minute, that’s who we’re dealing with here.” I don’t really know the “left” party but facts are not important to the man who has turned twitter into a poisonous cesspit of hate and loathing. A poisonous cesspit of right wing hate and loathing.
I have been a member of the Labour Party, off and on but mainly on, for nearly 50 years and I would take issue with anyone who suggested it was the party of murder. Deeply flawed though it is, Labour remains the voice of working people. There may have been the odd act of violence here and there from members but generally speaking, they don’t go around murdering political opponents. That’s the same the world over, at least in terms of the mainstream democratic left. As with the far right, the far left are far more likely to get involved in a ruck. The rest of us just want Britain to be changed for the better.
Musk went on explaining that the British people were “scared to exercise their free speech” and claimed the BBC was “complicit in the destruction of Britain”. Well, given that most of the mainstream media is owned and controlled by the super rich and promotes hardline right wing politics, that seems odd to me. I don’t know anyone who is scared to exercise their free speech. He’s making it up. Where I might agree, at least in part, is the role of the BBC in giving disproportionate airtime to the likes of the Fagash Fuhrer Nigel Farage and his British version of MAGA over many years, especially since Brexit where it played a disgraceful role in helping to take us out of the heart of Europe. The Tory slant of the BBC’s news output could only be missed by someone who wasn’t paying attention.
Yet the rise of the far right is all to do with immigration, particularly that 4% of migrants who arrive in the UK on small boats. They don’t seem to care about the post Brexit migration scheme delivered by Boris Johnson, which saw immigration rise dramatically, with European workers being more than replaced by people from Pakistan, Nigeria and India in particular. Most European workers ended up returning to their own countries whereas Boris Johnson’s replacement migrants tend to stay permanently and bring their families with them. I rather liked it when the Polish plumbers and Eastern European fruit-pickers came over, but those days have been ended by Brexit. Still, I am sure the Yaxley-Lennon fans in London knew what they were voting for.
Among those present today cheering on Yaxley-Lennon and co were those who remain proud of Britain, particularly its great history, particularly the heroism of our forefathers who fought for us to be free from the fascist invaders. How strange today, then, to see over 100,000 people roaring their support for actual fascists. Because let us be clear about this: fascism comes only in one form. To quote Google’s AI definition: “Fascism is a far-right political system marked by a dictatorial leader, a single-party state, extreme nationalism, militarism, and the forceful suppression of opposition. It prioritises the nation over the individual, seeking to create a strong, unified country by tightly controlling aspects of life and often using violence and propaganda against perceived enemies and minorities.”
Don’t be fooled by the nonsense emanating from the far right about so-called free speech. If there are limits, it is because of the right and far right, not because of soggy, lily-livered liberals like me. Like it or not, the aims of the far right are little different from the Germany of the 1930s. We saw through it then and we need to see through it today. The future is not Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and Elon Musk, people who make Nigel Farage look like a Liberal Democrat. Hopefully, a revolution isn’t coming despite the warnings of the far right. If we let it happen, we will pay a heavy price in terms of our freedom in ways you might never imagine. And Musk? Mind your own business.
