The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #130402   Message #2934081
Posted By: Darowyn
24-Jun-10 - 01:40 PM
Thread Name: The Blackleg Miner and FAF.
Subject: The Blackleg Miner and FAF.
In the latest message from Folk Against Fascism, there is the following suggestion.

"At festivals, why not have a FAF-themed singaround? Nick Griffin challenged Billy Bragg on BBC News during the recent election to sing "a proper folk song, like the Blackleg Miner", implying that only BNP propagandists know anything about folk music. We want to make The Blackleg Miner our festival anthem, so if you're running a singaround or you're just singing at one, why not sing it? And be sure to tell people why!"

I could not despise the BNP more, but I shall certainly never sing "The Blackleg Miner"
I find it a truly hateful song in both literal and metaphorical senses, containing, as it does, and explicit death threat.
"Across the lane we've stretched a line, to catch the neck and break the spine of the dirty blackleg miner"
Living in a mining area, where there were both strikers and 'blacklegs' during Thatcher's Miners' strike, it seems to me that the mindless and violent tribalism expressed in the song is the last thing that we should be promoting as Our British Heritage.
Cheers
Dave
It's just the sort of song I'd expect the BNP to pick up on.
They can keep it, as far as I'm concerned!