And now we go live to London where Ricky Doolan, leader singer of the Patriots Gospel Band, is speaking to 15,000 mainly middle aged men attending a rally called Unite The Kingdom:
“Before I came to our lord Jesus Christ I was homeless on the streets of Manchester. But just one touch from him radicalised my life.
“And now I’m here with you. We thank that same Jesus Christ for the life of Tommy Robinson, we thank him for the heart, the spirit and the passion of that man.”
You fucking what? Why would we thank Jesus for the life of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon who calls himself Tommy Robinson? And what, exactly, is Unite The Kingdom all about?
That’s hard to tell, so let’s see if we can work it out based on what the crowd is singing and chanting. Here goes:
- “Two tier Keir fuelled the riots”
- “Bring back Rwanda”
- “Stop the Boats”
- “Who the fuck is Allah?”, presumably as in “Who the fuck is Alice?”, geddit?
- “We want Tommy out!”
- “Oh Tommy Tommy”
- “All British lives matter”
I’m none the wiser, but then I never really did multitasking. But it looks like Tommy’s big march, which Tommy himself couldn’t attend owing to being banged up in a police cell, was about a few things, but there is no overriding theme, other than most of those present are Yaxley-Lennon fan boys and they hate Johnny Foreigner. Ah well. When Yaxley-Lennon is released from prison in a few years time, we may learn a little more.
The was an alternative march which was actually bigger than the Yaxley-Lennon event, called Stand Up To Racism, which I have to say seemed to contain a few people I’d rather not sit next to on the bus, a mish-mash of smaller groups getting together for the greater good. In spirit, at least, I am with Stand up To Racism, albeit with the odd caveat.
I would not wish to march with the revolutionary socialists of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) or the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) for starters. Nor alongside some of the pro Hamas, pro Hezbollah, Israel haters either. Nor, for that matter the Stand Up To Racism supporters of Chris Kaba, a gang member who shot someone in a nightclub the day before being shot by a police officer. (The Guardian said this, by the way: “A speaker from the Justice for Chris Kaba campaign addressed the crowd as it marched to Downing Street. She spoke of “collective grief”, “devastation” and “disappointment”, adding: “We have each other. We are strong. We are powerful.” I’m sure things could have been very different had Kaba not been in a gang member and carrying a gun around, but I expect that’s the police’s fault, too.)
I’ve made the point already that given the choice I’d support the anti-racists every day at the week, if only because opposing racism is a good thing and hardly anyone on the Tommy march opposes racism. Yet there are so many wrong ‘uns with the good guys, my support, for what it is worth, is qualified.
Standing roughly in the middle of the 40,000-odd people marching in London today are the 67 million of us who chose to do something else. We are of course not all of the exact same view – how could we be? – but we didn’t go to London, nor even think about going. Some of the 67 million will support Rishi Sunak’s headline-grabbing gimmick over sending refugees to Rwanda and some of us won’t. Some of us will support Israel’s right to defend itself but still be appalled at their excesses. Some will have sympathy with Chris Kaba, some will think fair play to the coppers. None of us cared enough to change our plans today to march on London. Oddly, the actions, or rather non-actions, of the 67 million will not appear on tonight’s news bulletins.
I’m afraid Ricky Doolan’s love for Yaxley-Lennon/Robinson will not be shared by the sort of religious people I know. Indeed, I suspect they may be extremely concerned by the way the political right is embracing God. They certainly should be. But I guess that’s a discussion for another day.
However, it is worth pointing out something very important. Whether we agree with the views of the middle aged men who marched on behalf of Yaxley-Lennon today, the loathing of foreigners, mainly, there are issues to address.
People do have concerns about migration and even if their concerns are based more on perception than the reality, we can’t just brush them aside and tell them they’re wrong, even though we believe they probably are. I am not just an atheist, I am also a secularist and that means that while I do not believe in a supernatural creator, I fully support the rights of those who do. But I do so from a position of believing that those of faith should get no special privileges to those of us with no faith. No cruel religious killing of animals, no faith schools at all, no time off at work for prayer or whatever if those without faith are then denied the same time off. And a nation under one law and not special laws for those of faith. In my secular Britain, there are no exceptions. This is not anti anyone or any faith.
I say none of this to placate those with nothing but hate or bigotry to offer, but because it’s what I believe in. We should all be free to believe or not believe under one law in one country. It’s not hard, is it?
So let’s have a national debate about where we go in terms of migration, secularism and everything else that currently divides so many of us. These endless marches, led by extremes on different sides, help no one. And in the end, we can only live happily ever after if our differences can be addressed. However, I don’t think it will happen.
Wrong though it is to divide children according to which God their parents believe, or pretend to believe, in, the vested interests in our country, which exist in the faith groups and at the top of politics, won’t dare to upset anyone, especially if they fear they may lose votes on it. That’s just not good enough.
Maybe things will settle down a little when and if Yaxley-Lennon ends up doing porridge for a few years this time and not a few months, but then again, maybe they won’t. Because if the society in which we live decides to carry on as we are, the regular marches and riots will just go on and on.
Secularism is my answer, to pretty well anything. Do you have a better idea, because I’d love to hear it.
