The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #122837 Message #2703122
Posted By: The Borchester Echo
18-Aug-09 - 10:56 AM
Thread Name: Folk Against Fascism launch at Sidmouth
Subject: RE: Folk Against Fascism launch at Sidmouth
Ah yes, the Dowager Lady Jane Birdwood as cited by Mike above, was a truly nasty and dangerous piece of work, aptly described in her Searchlight obit as "a very English extremist". I came across her many times in courtrooms when reporting incitement to racial hatred cases when she was almost always acquitted. The establishment seemed in awe of her title and regarded her as merely eccentric and just a bit bonkers. It is to be hoped that the BNP supported arrested last Saturday on a similar charge while actually under police escort won't be similarly let off. Oddly, she lived in an Acton council flat near an aptly-named pub, The Old Oak, a notorious 1970s nazi hangout where they gathered to sing the Horst Wessel-Lied (yes, they really did, I heard them while picketing outside). It is believed that the fire which destroyed the pub was started by rival nazis. Who knows? Homebase stands there now and the fascists are infinitely more sophisticated. That is why opposition has to be very specific and focussed on single issues. FAF is a bid to wrest English music from the grasp of a few who want to misappropriate it for thir own evil ends: just one strand in the overall anti-fascist struggle which is far broader than a far-left campaign. It is for the right of all citizens of the Place Called England to play our music as loudly and proudly as we damn well like.