The Violence of Far Right Ethnonationalism

We need to talk about how English nationalism has morphed into a fascist force capable of organising major violent protests in five cities and towns within days. We have spent the last ten years talking about whether Scottish nationalism is ‘civic’ and have ignored the growing phenomenon of far-right wing English nationalism, radicalised by its leaders, accommodated by the centre and amplified by the media.

As Owen Jones has written: “the scenes in Southport might only be foreshadowing something much darker to come.” The movement has erupted within the context of post-Brexit England, fuelled by conspiracism, Islamophobia and the constant drumbeat of racist dogma spouted by Conservatives and curated by its leadership.

As Sam Moore and Alex Roberts write in Post-Internet Far-Right:

“In the UK, the most prominent form of racism on the far right continues to be Islamophobia, present across the political spectrum in one form or another, but intensifying on the conservative right, among far-right civic nationalist street movements, through the identitarian movement, and onwards into ethnonationalism. Widespread it comes in many forms: hatred of Muslims spurred by the fear of terrorism, the association of Islam with with sexual violence, and the fear of changing demographics, with Muslims imagined as a growing population who will come to ‘replace’ whites. These three variants of Islamophobia are associated with increasingly extreme far-right groups, and increasingly totalising conspiracies among them.”

That the far-right is hallucinating the threats posed to ‘British way of life’ (whatever that means) doesn’t mean that it will go away. This movement should be ridiculed but ridicule alone won’t cut it. As Richard Seymour has noted: “Just in the last few days, there have been three significant far-right, racist mobilisations in the UK: Trafalgar Square, Southport and Whitehall. The recession of fascist street mobilisations is obviously over. We’re going to need to counter this.”

To do this we need to organise and create anti-fascist resistance. Ten years on from the independence referendum fascist forces are coming to Glasgow. No doubt they will be making alliances with the same forces that rioted in George Square a decade ago. The remnants of the Yes movement should make common cause with all groups opposing these people and defend Glasgow against their hate and bigotry.

The rise of these forces needs new responses and we need to learn quickly from the tactics and strategies that have defeated the far-right in the past.

The large sections of bored alienated and radicalised white men are ready to be mobilised after being drip-fed hatred for years and now surrounded by a culture of conspiracism, misogyny, and racist rhetoric which dehumanises immigrants and is uncoupled from fact or rationality. The movement has grown in the climate of racism that has been championed by the Conservative government for the past fourteen years and emerged fully-formed because we have not been able to talk about English ethnonationalism, instead talking in euphemism about ‘populism’.

Owen Jones reminds us that: “it is important to remember that there has been a homegrown far right on these islands for decades. In the 1930s, the main flag bearer was Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts, while from the 1970s onwards it was John Tyndall and the National Front, and then the British National Party (BNP) in the 2000s. Today, convicted fraudster and thug Tommy Robinson has the greatest prominence, but he left the English Defence League more than a decade ago, and it has since disintegrated. The far right now is fragmented and lacking coherent organisation, but it can draw from a wide pool of sympathisers and makes adept use of social media and messaging apps for coordination.”

But this lack of a distinct party is misleading. As Moore and Roberts “the far right is in a state of productive diversification.” The ability to organise mobs at scale does not require a party organisation that can be identified and infiltrated.

In some kind of weird symmetry – as we watch these forces take to the streets – we also can watch the Spycops Inquiry reveal the huge resources that the British state put into undermining the left and progressive forces in the UK, including this astonishing revelation:

What these revelations make clear is that the British state that was committed to Spycops is not going to help in the project of resisting and defeating fascism. Resisting and defeating will take different forms and timelines. The need for the left to form antifascist groups strong enough to oppose these forces on the street is obvious, but there is also the cultural/intellectual work of defeating their arguments online and in real life. There is also the long-term work of working in community to build solidarity and communications across religious and ethnic divides, and there is also the long-term work of rebuilding an economy that meets peoples needs.

Countering the fear-mongering of the far-right and challenging the narratives that have become dominant about race, religion and immigration requires us to have forums and alternative media that have reach and influence. This is particularly important when the public sphere is owned by a right-wing oligarch. We now have just over a month to organise a massive show of anti-racist action in Glasgow.

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  1. Alasdair Macdonald says:

    With the fascist right organising such demonstrations this will give the media, under the pretext of ‘warning’ of the danger, give wall to wall coverage of right wing organisations with regular contributions from Farage.

    If BBC Scotland News covers the demos in George Square on which side will their cameras be? In 2014, they were on the right wing side and Glenn Campbell presented the pro independence supporters as Co-rioters.

  2. Cathie Lloyd says:

    I’ve just heard Starmers reaction on bbc radio. He seems to be focusing on the criminal behaviour when we need to understand the conditions of existence of this movement in order to deflate it. Unity transcending existing divides needs to be built.

  3. Paddy Farrington says:

    Totally agree. The Yes movement needs to emerge from its silo and contribute to antifascist and anti racist mobilisation.

  4. CathyW says:

    There are useful, positive lessons perhaps from the Anti-Nazi League of the 1980s? Led by the left, it brought together a broad spectrum of people, with political affiliations and none, through music, festivals, rallies, published articles and literature, etc. in a wave of activism to counter the National Front and its ilk. It was popular and effective, providing the arguments and attitudes to take into the workplace, down the pub, etc., wherever vile bigotry might start to raise its head. Very much needed again today.

    1. John says:

      Cathy – the main difference today is how the far right is active in so many countries and feed off each other’s actions.
      They also gain traction during times of economic hardship when they stigmatise minorities to blame. They are often encouraged in doing this by the very people who have helped cause the economic conditions who are happy to foster the hooligans to divert the public’s attention.
      I fully agree that pushing back against the far right should be prioritised and we can learn from experience of 30’s and 70’s as you have outlined but unless we do more to remove the economic causes of discontent we will never rid society of the snake oil salesman and their henchmen.

    2. Yes, good lessons to be learnt from that movement

    3. SleepingDog says:

      @CathyW, I don’t see how that addresses the psychology of the right-wing rioters, though, however helpful the approach may be in other respects.

      Suppose we look at the demographics (of the violent prison population, say), commonalities in the kinds of belief systems like QAnon
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon
      and similarities between groups like the Proud Boys, the Taliban and the Sturmabteilung.

      I don’t think it helps to dismiss any human behaviour we don’t like as ‘mindless’, as some media have. There is thinking involved at some level. In the UK culture, alcohol plays a significant role in cultures of violence (like in the armed forces, who also make up a significant slice of violent offenders) but doesn’t *cause* that violence (there are minority genetic predispositions, however).

      From my stint studying Psychology, there are signs that these groups contain individuals traumatised by childhood abuse (physical, sexual, psychological, neglectful etc) and bullying (which of course makes up a significant part of armed forces culture here). What we see during these outbreaks may largely be misdirected violence. The targeting of innocent Muslims may be an indication of childhood clerical abuse, for example. Perhaps the original perpetrators are dead, or loved/feared/respected, or believed untouchable. Some in the demographic will have joined or try to join the police or armed forces, and if successful possibly had further unhappy experiences. Conditioning by UK armed forces is practically designed to foment bigotry (see the ‘hierarchy of hate’ described by Veterans For Peace UK).

      If people are taught how the British Empire invaded other people’s lands, trafficked, tortured, raped, murdered men, women and children, imposed vile racism, enslaved people in the worst kinds of ways, destroyed their cultures and so on… they can react in different ways. If they accept this is appalling behaviour, that may make them unpopular but it allows them to apply one rule of ethics to the world without cognitive dissonance. But if they celebrate the behaviour of the British Empire, that creates a difficult problem in justifying double, really, multiple, complex standards that can create mental disorder, and lead to fears that what was sown will one day be reaped. What we did unto others will be done unto ourselves. The state of mind I call karmaphobia.
      #karmaphobia

      The awful truth, however much a relief, is that European Christian empires were just particularly horrible, and it seems very few other people have seriously ever wanted to invade Britain throughout history, though our ruling class are largely made up of Europeans who did. However attractive primitive ancestor worship is to many Brits, on the whole, they aren’t worthy of it. Our traditions are largely of atrocities, oppression and superstitious cruelty, and our care of our natural environment appalling (and that includes Scots as well).

      So, if your approach can help free us all from our past, and build a healthier future, good luck.

      1. SleepingDog says:

        More on the institutionally racist and misogynistic British armed forces:
        Face of British army recruitment drive wins payout for racist and sexist abuse
        “Kerry-Ann Knight hoped to pave way for Black women but was instead subjected to 12 years of abuse”
        https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/02/face-of-british-army-recruitment-drive-wins-payout-for-racist-and-sexist-abuse

        However, I should point out that the officer class still tends to come from the privately-schooled establishment elite, double-barrelled or no, whose imperial training has long been geared toward churning out psychopaths who view others’ lives (outside their cliques and class) as expendable, exploitable, endable. Some of these will be familiar from their ‘man-of-the-people’ shticks.

    4. Cathie Lloyd says:

      Yes I remember the way Rock Against Racism and then the ANL helped create an anti-racist hegemony among the youth. We/they now have the resources to build it further through global social media. Of course the issues of education, critical judgement, the political environment, depair and lack of trust in any authority play a part, but I think the current task (probably – certainly not my generation) is to build hegemony against the far right. I’m confident that people like my grandson will see their headbanging acceptance of lies and rumours and ridicule them. For the far right to be embarassingly uncool is a first tiny step. And move on from there so those in government dont supply them with slogans like they have done!

  5. SleepingDog says:

    I have just started reading historian Susan Williams’ book White Malice: The CIA and the Neocolonisation of Africa (2021, 2023), and the first chapter relates how British colonial Gold Coast became independent Ghana, despite the British attempts to smear Ghana’s first Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah who lived and studied for a while in London, under surveillance by Special Branch and MI5.

    But formal independence didn’t mean that the British were about to let go. p5 “At the opening of the first session of the Parliament of Ghana, Sir Charles Arden-Clarke was sworn in as governor general, as the representative of the British crown; before independence, he had been the governor, representing not only Queen Elizabeth II but the powers of the British government in its colonial territory.” Stating oddly the ‘continuity of purpose of British colonial policy’.

    Does anyone suppose that the secret apparatus of the British imperial state has stopped its surveillance, persecutions and smearings of independence movements and political targets within its wider territories or ex-colonies? There are other important agencies (and their successors, as these get too exposed). It was a Labour government who set up the Information Research Department (IRD):
    https://www.declassifieduk.org/top-secret-document-exposes-uk-role-in-ghana-coup/

    You can find some relevant digitised documents online from the National Archives, but don’t expect the most sensitive ones to be made easily available to the general public. Some of the Ghana ones were apparently closed for fifty or sixty years. The labelling of non-aligned governments as ‘communist’ was a standard device, helpful in opening up CIA coffers and zealous USAmerican assistance.

    So as usual I suggest looking beyond the confines of these isles to places where the British authorities really don’t want us looking, and making common cause with people on the fringes of the British Empire, but at the centre of their own vital stories, and ask them about their histories, presents, and hopes for the future.

    1. Cathie Lloyd says:

      Ghana is a useful example of how music particularluy (Highlife) helped to bring people together in the struggle for independence.

  6. SleepingDog says:

    The latest Scottish Census results have published for demography and migration:
    https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/2022-results/scotland-s-census-2022-demography-and-migration/

    1. Niemand says:

      I guess the headline when it comes to apparent ethnicity will be this:

      ‘Scotland’s population grew by 144,400 (2.7%) since 2011. This was due to an increase in people born outside of Scotland.

      Between 2011 and 2022 the number of people living in Scotland who were born in Scotland decreased by 90,400. This decrease was offset by increases in the number who were born in the rest of the UK (up 49,200) and born overseas (up 185,600)’

    2. Dougie Blackwood says:

      In recent years I have been horrified by the population trend in Scotland and probably in UK.

      Our society makes it extremely difficult for young people. outside a small high flying elite, to form a stable relationship find somewhere within their means to live and start a family. The financial realities are set against them. I was fortunate, born soon after the war and able to raise 4 children. I now have only 3 grandchildren and my position is probably replicated throughout the country.

      The result is a rapidly aging population where I expect a plunge in the Scottish born population as we and our 1960s born children begin to die off.

      I graphed the annual birth rate from 1945 to recent times. It peaked in the 1940s, had another smaller peak in the 60s and is now less than half what it was in the 60s.

      We need a radical rethink on our policies for young people, their employment and housing availability; otherwise our society will collapse for lack of young people to sustain it. Immigration helps but it’s a second best solution.

      1. Dougie Blackwood says:

        I dug out the posting and grtaphic of live births in Scotland and for info, copy it here.

        https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=6573120952700826&set=a.799272646752381

  7. Sandy Watson says:

    How can the calls to action of Robinson’s nasty squads (“this will remain a peaceful protest” it says on the poster), and of the Stand Up To Racism movement, both planned for the same date, time and place, be prevented from becoming the ‘bloody battle of George Square’?

  8. CGT says:

    I’m a Welsh nationalist from Gwynedd. The Welsh language has been replaced over the past 30 years by English in many of its heartlands, due to huge immigration from England and elsewhere. Primary schools which managed to assimilate newcomers are now virtually bereft of Welsh speakers. We in Welsh language protest movements, almost invariably left-wingers, have fought against this, but are powerless against such vast immigration. Goodwill will only get you so far, as local societies are taken over by non-Welsh speakers, or parallel ones established which rapidly become dominant.
    Am I a fascist for trying to oppose the smothering of my culture by other nationalities ? You don’t have this problem in Scotland, to all intents and purposes. Every time a Plaid Cymru politician mentions this, he or she is shouted down and abused by the Labour party and their poodles in the trade unions.

    1. Dougie Blackwood says:

      As you know we had a referendum in 2014. I suspect that most of the many more recent immigrants from England voted no and that may have been enough to tip the balance.

      1. John says:

        Dougie – everyone who lives in Scotland, obeys the law of Scotland and pays their taxes in Scotland is a citizen of Scotland and their vote is equally valid.
        As you have pointed out Scotland’s population would be falling if there was not net immigration.
        The key for independence supporters is to persuade all citizens of Scotland of merits of case for independence. We have no chance of doing this if you start blaming people who have moved to Scotland plus if you indulge in ethnic Scottish nationalism you will lose a significant section of current support for independence

        1. Dougie Blackwood says:

          I entirely agree with what you say and my comment was not intended as any slur on those people that now live among us. It was stated as probably an accurate response to the comment from Wales. You will know as I do that many activists in the Yes cause are of ethnic English origen. This does not change the fact that, on the doorsteps while trying to persuade, you will often be met with a blank look and the response ” but I’m English”. This is something we meet very often in an area where we have a very large percentage of the population that rely on the Clyde Submarine base for their income.

          1. John says:

            No problem Dougie – I agree with your earlier comments about giving younger people with families more economic and societal support to try and help address the falling birth rate.
            Having lived in Wales and England I would say their is a subsection of English people who are English nationalists and they may not be the violent right wingers of this article but they are ignorant and sometimes arrogant about the Celtic nations as well as most other countries. These people probably fall in the same category as that part of the mainly older Scottish population who consider themselves British first rather than Scottish. They are part of the 25-30% of population of Scotland who will never consider voting for independence.

          2. dan says:

            Who is it that now live among us doogie, is it the aliens again?

        2. CGT says:

          That’s the difference between Scottish nationalism and Welsh nationalism. Immigrants to Scotland can change their accents, put a cross in a certain box, and they’re assimilated. They can do that in large parts of Wales, but unless they learn a new language, they’re destroying the most distinct and important part of our nationhood. It’s easy to criticise ethnic nationalism if you’ve not experienced language replacement within three decades.

          1. John says:

            CGT – having lived in Wales for 14 years I understand the importance and sensitivity around the Welsh language issue.
            I moved to Wales in my 40’s and learned a few Welsh words and phrases but I didn’t need Welsh to carry on my everyday life. My children learned to speak Welsh at local comprehensive (as opposed to a Welsh speaking school.)
            After living in Wales I was sympathetic to the cause of Welsh independence from a political perspective. I was not amused by how Westminster used to kick down on the Welsh government. (but am amused when Labour in Scotland oppose policies that both Scottish and Welsh governments support)
            I acknowledge the far greater influence people England has in Wales than in Scotland due to proximity of many towns to border and historical differences between Wales and Scotland. I understand therefore how in these circumstances the language has become totemic to Welsh identity but would caution those who desire Welsh independence to avoid using it as a dividing line between being Welsh or an outsider as this will be counterproductive and can be interpreted as a form of ethnic nationalism. I would humbly suggest it would be wiser to encourage the young to learn to speak an use the Welsh language and encourage it to grow organically while making the political case for independence from Westminster

    2. Cathie Lloyd says:

      There is no reason why movements for self determination as in Wales particularly around our language should be weaponised by the right. There are good examples of people whose families migrated to the UK who are now proficient Welsh speakers. Same for Gaelic. Someone said Let a thousand flowers blook’. (I know !!) Let them

  9. mark says:

    TV OR NOT TV
    Sifting thru archives from 2016 & much as I dislike giving oany politician a mention it is necessary to note Country Dave did say Brexit might lead tae conflict in Europe whilst the great BJ said, Oh no, all will be well. So here we are in 2024 & Country Dave has bin proven correct. Well, I dare say mixing in the circles he did & likely still does he’d be wan ti know. My ain take on UK politics is faivir ye vote for ye’re voting for a war. Wish ti stay sane ye’d best abstain.
    *
    Trouble is son ae Anndra, former Labour then Tory now Reform MC that swaps shirts mair oaften than socks, is that maist fowkies receiving medals end up braindead pushing up daisies afore their time as do them they have maimed mutilated rendered disabled slaughtered like so mony heid ae cattle in order tae accumulate the number ae points required afore oany such accolade/honour in the shape ae sum seen tae be forgotten dustgathering trinket/bauble is deemed wurthy ov being bistowed upon thir person in sum outdated medieval ceremony so sinister anti-minister anachronistic somnambulistic oanly iver serving tae remind wansel less ov a gude kick up the jacksy than sum centuries ald diabolical dramatical with its teleological trajectory towards the hackneyed sleazy bashful & bleary red-eyed bloodshot & weary, perturbing, deeply disturbing denouement where the higher the hill ov disease ridden corpses, the mair rancid the stench ae rotting flesh, the mair putrid the run aff shall be in oany subsequent instalment ov Great British jest less entertainment judged fit to be screened.
    *
    Thus far I have resisted the urge tae down a half bottle ov the Gaelic super juice, trip o’er my ain feet & vanish into the north basin nivir tae be seen again. There is nothing particularly Gaelic about such behaviours, nor those daft labels distillers insist oan sticking oan their product, a practice that should be banned immediately. But this is not me taking a stand against cultural stereotypes tae be found in canonical texts taught in universities a’ o’er the planet which portray Highland people as caricatures wurthy ov scorn. As you shall no doubt be progressively made aware ov during the course ov yer studies ‘gitn pisht’ is sumn a mair sensible species wid hav outgrown 3 centuries ago. It creates a multitude ae problems & solves precisely nane.

  10. florian albert says:

    How many people support Mike Small’s call for ‘physical resistance on the streets.’ ?

    Even fewer than supported suggestions a couple of years back to defund – or even abolish – the police.
    Depressingly, there is a small number of (mainly middle class) leftists who long to see themselves as street fighters. In this country they can do this secure in the knowledge that they are unlikely to come to any harm, thanks, at least in part, to the very police they criticize so stridently.

    1. Hi Florian, you can see in Liverpool tonight people gathering to protect a mosque from attack. This is what I am talking about and what people are organising around.

      Have you been watching the Spy Cops inquiry? If so you’ll agree the police needs completely re-structured and re-imagined.

      1. florian albert says:

        Most people would take it as read that you can protect yourself and your property. Not incidentally, it appears that the police protected the mosque. In fairness, the counter-demonstrators appear to be admirably restrained.

        I do not think the police need to be ‘re-imagined’. I think they need better leadership – even in comparison with other British and Scottish institutions.

    2. mark says:

      In my experience no one ever wins a fight, mind you, this might depend on what your definition of a fight is.

      1. Ted says:

        the guns mark, necessary if we is too defeat this evil!

        1. John says:

          Ted you ain’t right in the head!

          1. Ted says:

            John cannot catch a prawn
            which is where
            bible thumpers go wrong

        2. mark says:

          och, ahv tried the shotae wance or twice ted but these days ah prefer the hatchet, the shotae is o’er too soon, wi the hatchet ye git tae enjoy it a bit mair, taks practice like, an hour a day hatchet practice is fit ah wid recommend

          1. ted says:

            Right inuff mark, ma hatchet skills huv diminished since ah retired frae the scalping. If ah huv inuff sheckles left o’er efter peying this month’s expenses ah shall treat masel tae a hatchet, provided ah kin find wan at a reasonable price.

          2. dan says:

            ye’re aff yer heid mark, the hatchet is over rated & leaves wan hoorna mess, gude result at the wikend tho, thank fk fur fitba is a’ ahv gote tae say

          3. dan says:

            ps. I left a shotae up by in the usual place, courtesy ov a len off a fren, so if circumstances dictate ye kain far tae find wan 🙂

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