Outnumbered, outgunned

How a wave of fascist violence in Britain was put down

AFTER A WEEK OF having it all their own way, Britain’s fascists were stopped in their tracks. The better part of the population proved that the old formula is best: not to hide in fright or flee but to confront the fascists where they stand in a demonstration of unity. But there’s a risk of missing the point completely:

A lot of breath will be wasted by anyone who identifies “disinformation” as the cause and culprit, as if the mob were set to frenzy like a rabid dog near water by a Russian bot. They did not go to the street for a lie. They did not risk spending the next 10 years in the slammer for a lie. They went, many with intent to murder, because the warlike and paranoiac tenor of their feeds told them the lie was plausible. A vast architecture of corrosive belief props up the choice to tag “Move them out or we burn them out” on a wall or indeed to actually set fire to a migrant hostel. An ideology built entirely on the total language of domination, invasion, and replacement only spurs retaliation in kind. Fact-checking and passing out more Pinocchios-per-fib was proved not to move any needles during the Trump administration; a fresh dose of hectoring will not send the fascists back home for a cup of tea and some quiet meditation on their sins.

Read the full article: The Day the Riots Stopped