The Fla; Who Are Ya?

It doesn’t take long at all on the FLA Facebook page to find further evidence of this kind of thing.

It’s instructive that the commenter here is complaining about being banned from the page if “muslim grooming” is mentioned.This is exactly what those expressing concerns have warned about – the organisation’s leadership can express inclusivity and opposition to extremism in general as much as they like, but what they’re attracting is people opposed to very specific things.It seems to be naivety in the extreme if the FLA organisers think that publically stated intentions are all that are needed to maintain respectability, when they’re such a honey-pot for those who want a convenient fig-leaf for their own bigotry.

They reckon they’re “inclusive”. Are they?

The leadership certainly seem sincere about welcoming participants from all backgrounds.But that doesn’t necessarily equal inclusivity. For starters it’s a “Lads” alliance. Right off the bat there’s a little over half the population who are wondering how inclusive that inclusivity actually is.I’m completely confidentthe organisation’s more prominent supporters would point out that the name is just a name, and that which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet, and that women are more than welcome to join them. I’m less confident they’d quote Shakespeare while doing so.

It is true that women and black and minority-ethnic people join in their protests, but even a cursory glance at images of their gatherings demonstrate the demographics.

It’s aging mayonnaise as far as the eye can see.

Any conclusions?

It seems like there’s three types of FLA follower.The first are sincerely worried about extremism, and particularly about what they perceive as a lack of action, or at least focus, on behalf of the security services.I might quibble with their sense of perspective, but I can’t deny their sincerity.

The second type, and what seem to be the vast majority, are simply out for a decent day out with the Lads.They’ve been chatting to their mates in the local about a day out in London, with lads from all over the country, and they’re game for it. Good chance for some banter, a decent few beers, and a laugh.

But the third type are the ones to watch. They’re the ones that can spot recruitment potential when they see it, and they’re happy for now to not be quite too open about their time with the EDL, with Britain First, with Combat 18 or the National fucking Front.

At this point members of the first two groups are getting furious with me. That’s not what this group is all about, they’ll say. We’re not racists, besides, Islam isn’t a race. But you’d have to be quite naive, or wilfully blinkered, to not realise that nationalist groups haven’t looked at the burgeoning FLA scheme and seen an opportunity to spread their politics.

I’d appeal to the first two groups to be a bit more honest with themselves. They’re keen to protest political extremism, but how many of their number are as critical of Thomas Mair as they are of Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale?

How many of their number are happy to acknowledge that the incidences of death by terrorism now are as low as at any other time during the lifetime of any 45-year-old?

While you’re here…

Two things; first, did you know we have a new podcast? It’s available via iTunes and Soundcloud. Alternatively you can just listen to it in your browser via our podcast page. Di Cunningham from Proud Canaries joined us for the second episode, which is available now.

Secondly, to keep AlongComeNorwich advert free and to help us fund additional initiatives aimed at improving the Carrow Road atmosphere, we occasionally produce exclusive t-shirts.

To celebrate the latest Barclay classic chant, Farkelife we’ve done another one. As always, we take no profit from these and put all the revenue back into the site and things we can all enjoy.