Originally Posted by
ragingpup
Been meaning to say something about Tommy and trying to find time to review some of the videos and comments from both sides.
This 'mini thread' on this unfortunate incident is a good point to comment.
First of all, in looking at the videos and some public reaction to them, it's true that the police don't come out looking great in that moment, nor do some of the Muslim responses. I've looked to see if I can find any direct evidence (in the limited time available) of BF actively using racist language per se. I was interested in his appearance with at a Q&A with students at Oxford (on YouTube where he makes some very good points and in this context, I can understand where he's coming from and appreciate the energy and concern behind his work.
However, these are limited observations and am always willing to review these points if someone directs me to contrary evidence. In the meantime, I'm taking him at face value on the evidence I've looked at.
However, what I am concerned about is not so much the message but how they choose to present it. Looking at this 'charity walk' for a little girl, I can appreciate their thoughts and taking the time to make a considered gesture. What sticks in the craw though, and for me cheapens some very good points, is the pair's decision to choose a route where a walk comprising members of BF would be likely to cause unrest, both from the multicultural residents and from AFL. From the reports, the police contacted BF to offer a couple of alternative routes but for a reason that sounds sinister to me, Tommy and co seemed to want to insist on the 'controversial' route that would obviously provoke a response.
This appeared to me to reveal an intention to provoke. They were offered and in the negotiations appear to negotiate an alternative with police but this was after a horrible incident that quite frankly they knew all along was going to happen. My impartial feeling on this is to dislike their organisation as they seemed to be wanting to create a hostile situation and response. The idea that they used a dying girl as a reason for this 'walk'. knowing all the time that they were aiming to create a provocative situation is repulsive. It completely turns me off, following my initial thoughts of "seems quite a reasonable bloke". If they had negotiated a route before hand that the police and locals were happy with, I'd be quite happy for them to proceed. I wish they'd have kept the dying girl walk separate to this though, or done it privately?
Similarly I saw another extended clip that followed BF on an 'official walk', handing out leaflets with their views on it. On this walk they walked around Brick Lane, East London - a heavily Muslim area handing out their newspaper. On this walk they:
1. Carried their large white crosses down a road where most of the locals are Islamic
2. Chanted "We want our country back" repeatedly
3. as they handed out their newspaper, they used the phrase "Take our country back"
All together, this obviously makes for a highly charged situation that was obviously calculated and executed to upset and incite the locals. Why do this? As I said above, Robinson has some good points to make but this puts someone like me completely off his cause. It makes him look cold, calculating and hateful. I don't know that much about him other than views on here and my own look at the Oxford debate. As I said, he came over well in this kind of context but in these two clips (and BF actually put the video of Brick Lane so that's how they wanted to portray themselves obviously) it really demeans themselves and their arguments.
Sorry if this is a bit rambling and disjointed - keep being made to do some work!