Friday, December 10, 2010

Is entrism about to make a comeback?

Unless you live in a box, you'll all be aware that yesterday, approximately 0.01% of the population took to the streets of London to protest about tuition fees. You'll also know that some of that 0.01% weren't really there to protest, but instead came along to "smash shit up" complete with their hoods up and faces covered.

It's likely, if you listen to the likes of Aaron Porter from the NUS (who oddly is being touted as a modern Che Guevara which is either a compliment or insult depending on what your moral view on mass murder in the name of politics is), then you'll no doubt hear something along the lines of "this was a tiny minority amongst a majority who were peaceful" etcetera etcetera.

As David Aaronovitch from the Times, and former student agitator commie noted on Twitter last night though, when you look at the pictures and footage, "it doesn't look as though the rioters were a 'tiny minority'. Quite a big minority". One of the thing I couldn't help but notice myself was the placards that many of those having a ruck with Police were carrying though, emblazoned with the words "Socialist Workers Party" along the top.

Now, naturally, it may just be that the SWP (who it's worth adding are as mental as mental monkey in a mental institution) had been distributing their "Fuck Fees" posters to the useful idiots pouring into London, but you can't help but think when you see the very same people throwing stones and sticks at Police horses, that perhaps it is not so simple.

There has been quite a lot of talk from some on the Left about how we're entering a period like the 1980s again. They argue that this is evident by the anger that people feel about cuts and the Coalition programme to fix the biggest budget deficit the last Labour government left behind. However, there is another analysis to be offered I'd say.

Yes, it is like the 1980s, but not because some delinquents decided to smash up windows and use a fence as a battering ram on the door of the Treasury, but rather because the militant Left appears to be back, and appears to be relishing in the fact that the useful idiots on the moderate Left, and the non-political ASBO carrying hoodies, are providing them cover to create civil unrest. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy for the militants.

Right now, it's not absolutely clear how it will pan out on other issues, but I imagine that yesterday is not the end of things. There will be more riots to come, but they will not be started by those who want to protest, rather they'll be started by those who want to be violent, because if they do so, they know that it will cause a reaction from the Police, and that will cause a reaction from others, and before you know you have an absolute shitstorm and a false historical record that can be written when the pendulum swings back to the Left in elections.

Today the militants will be laughing about and joking about "smashing the evil capitalist state and its Tory scum Government" whilst no doubt munching on MacDonald's breakfast and Starbucks coffee.

There is a political question though. What will Ed Miliband do? Will he face down what could spell the beginning of Militant's rebirth and entrism? Or will he dither on whether to condemn or support? Currently there is no statement on the Labour website about the violence of yesterday, which suggests, possibly, that Miliband is stuck in that 1980s rut where the question "is political violence ever justified?" is haunting his thinking.

Will he expel any Labour members that are shown to have be involved in the violence?


The problem he has of course, is that it is not only the sudden increase on left wing violence that will cause him a headache, but rather the rise, respect and popularity being given to certain commentators on the Left who are either apologists for violence, or play the "see no evil other than that of the Police".

Sunny Hundal and Laurie Penny are a case in point, both have positioned themselves on the edge of the Far Left, and both are popular and influential with the Left as a whole.

Last night was a good example of the agenda these types want to push, where Sunny Hundal posted on Twitter asking for "videos or pictures of appalling behaviour by the police today". We're going to hear a lot about how the public are rising up and the Police are oppressing them in the coming months, but what need to happen is for someone to call the "police state" line for the bullshit it is.

Did the Police hit anyone who was a genuine peaceful protester? Probably. Is it regrettable? Of course. But don't expect for one minute to hear the Far Left acknowledge the context and escalation of events that lead to such things, or the role that they and the even more extreme loonies play.

Let's be clear. There were people yesterday who went on to the streets for a fight. However few they may have been, once it kicked off it was going to escalate and people who were not there for violence would end up "defending" themselves against the Police, and the Police would end up "defending" themselves from them, and, before you knew it, it would become a riot and containment would be necessary.

A wet dream scenario for the far Left and their perception agenda of the state as an oppressor of free protest.

The Police, of course, are in between a rock and hard place when fences are ripped up to use as weapon; things are set on fire; and missiles are thrown. What, exactly, do they do? If they do nothing they'll be criticised by the far Left as being totally unprepared and lacking control. If they try to contain the protest and the violence, they're the fascist bullyboys of the Tory scum in Parliament.

Yes, this sort of thing happened in the 1980s, but let's not forget that even though today's militants' predecessors did similar things, they lost, and ensured 18 years of Tory Government. The British public may have had some sympathy at first but it soon ebbed away at the ballot box as Labour support nosedived.

There are lines that should not be crossed you see, and when they are, failure is guaranteed. Taking a piss on the statue of Churchill or swinging from the Union flag on the Cenotaph being prime examples.

It's a cliché to say that we learn lessons from history, the question this morning is whether Ed Miliband will learn the lesson and cut the proverbial head off the basilisk that may just be waking from its sleep?

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