When I heard the English Defence League was coming to Manchester in hope of marching its voice through the streets in unison for the future of England, my initial thought wasn’t race. It was the defiant prejudices of our past that crawl through remnants of dusty textbooks from Nazi Germany, Roman Italy, and modern day “Deep South” America, that inflicted the doubt I have. Someone should take a harpoon to these muppets, a band of narrow minded and illiterate football hooligans. I didn’t want to call them football hooligans because of its cliche place in today’s already evil society yet here we are.
The difference between football hooligans, football fans and racist political parties isn’t a murky pond of confusion and grey paperwork outlining pro’s and cons, its roots don’t manifest in one and spread to the other either. The EDL rightly – and too their small brained ideology which will quickly be their quick downfall – claim not to be a political or religious party. So with that the British street scally with no interest or idea of British politics will be easily seduced by the gang of Stella mashed fuck heads. Its easy also to construct an idea of them being Nazis, again they shouldn’t be given the chance. Nazi Socialism was a by product of a carefully laid political ideology that wanted to cast the German people into the forefront of power and race. Up until 4 weeks ago no-one had heard of this band of cretins and here I was, running in and out of Police armpits trying to get a close look at what some people up and down the country are referring to the second coming of Hitler.
After waiting around photographing the peaceful demonstration of Unite Against Fascism on Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester. I had the idea that it could be sometime before they emerge from the cheap bosom of Weatherspoons and its poor quality beers, food and wine at 11am. Manchester was already on full alert anyway with Police in your every pocket, which reminds me I was stopped for not having a ticket for the train and being threatened with arrest I gave in to the five high vis cops demanding my payment. Once we waited for the EDL to finish their fifth pint by 11.30am and emerge full of beans to take on….in fact they had no idea what they were doing. Their plan was to have a voice against the apparent radical Islam movement sweeping Britain, Al Qaeda in your cornflakes and stem grenades under your break pedal, threats with no weight, reason or evidence. It looked like a bunch of lads, pissed, lots of them laughing, I had to struggle to edit an image without them laughing. I feel the laughing was more powerful than the Nazi salute which I didn’t see.
Filed under: EDL, English Defence League, manchester, Manchester photographer, piccadilly gardens, UAF, Unite Against Facism
