Agent Provocateur

Lots (and lots and lots) has been written, both in the MSM and on social media, about the recent jailing of Islamophobe and founder of the EDL, Stephen Yaxley Lennon, better known as the self-styled 'Tommy Robinson'. For the most part, the deriders of Yaxley Lennon (YL from now on) have said he got what he deserved when he broke the terms of his suspended sentence, a judgement handed down for committing the same act, namely live-streaming a 'news story' outside a court in contravention of specific reporting restrictions. His supporters have, pretty much to a man, focused on conspiracy theory-like aspects of the case: was the court already set up in anticipation of his breaking the law? How can someone be arrested, convicted and jailed in a matter of a few hours? Is this all some Deep State plot to protect child molesters in high places? Most of this can be dismissed as the wild speculation it is. The Secret Barrister, a real life barrister with actual law training has written a good piece explaining what YL's supporters see as 'anomalies" (find it here). The bottom line to it all is that YL pleaded guilty to the charge and was, therefore, jailed.

I thought about this for a while. Why would a relentless self-publicist such as YL who is forever publishing pieces on YouTube and elsewhere about his martyrdom at the hands of the State not wish to have his day in court where he would have a chance for real journalists to report his every word? This seems rather perverse to say the least. Then I realised: his previous court appearance did very little in terms of garnering publicity: there is no cause celèbre for the 'masses' to get behind if YL walks from court a free man with only a suspended sentence. However, get actual jail time and suddenly, #FreeTommy is trending all over Twitter and Facebook. Clever. More insidious is that, by specifically surrendering your 'right' to free speech (although he can still write letters from jail), you can portray that surrender as having your right to voice your opinions *taken* from you. Very clever.

A sizeable minority of the people who marched in support of the #FreeTommy campaign in London at the weekend turned on the police and started throwing barriers, traffic cones and anything else they could get their hands on. The irony of people who supposedly 'love' their country and want to respect all things British doing this was almost too much. That and the nazi-saluting idiots make me think that there is still a large contingent of 'old school' BNP/NF/EDL adherents involved who, true to their fetishising of 70s and 80s football culture (the Football Lad Culture group being a case in point), like nothing more than a good ruck at the weekend. So far, so obvious: former football thug closely associated with the extreme right is supported by extreme right wing wannabe football thugs. But there is something else going on which is not as straightforward anymore. YL's support has suddenly gone international with social media commentators in Europe and, especially, the US all jumping on the 'free speech'/#FreeTommy bandwagon. Suddenly, people like Roseanne Barr (surely too busy to worry about a small-time convicted thug in the UK) are using the #FreeTommy tagline. Many, many alt-right figures in the US are suddenly tweeting about his 'plight' and weighing in on the supposed 'wrongful' conviction. None of them seem to have a clue about UK law, but the fact that they have bothered to take up his case in *any* way is slightly strange.

Which brings me to the big question: is it YL being suddenly very clever or is someone else pulling the strings and guiding the tactics in this case? For YL's case to make the jump across the pond would, at the very least, seem to imply the networking of the right across social media is worryingly strong right now. However, further than that, is someone funding and co-ordinating far right groups in the UK (and Europe) and by this I mean *seriously* bankrolling these groups, not justy passing collecting buckets round at events? Generation Identity patches, jackets and banners are not amateurish creations by individual members. They are factory-produced, quality products. The stewards' jackets at the march at the weekend were all professionally-produced and, in addition, there would have been all sorts of expenses to pick up in the organisation of such a march. Who is paying?

The right would seem to be properly organising and using little sparking points such as #FreeTommy that could develop out of control if they get the framing of such incidents right (e.g. 'denial of free speech' rather than 'man stupidly breaks law a second time and goes to jail'). YL has accepted his role as agent provocateur and it has produced a response out of proportion to his actual crime. When he is freed, I have no doubt he will continue down the self-same path hoping any judicial response to his next act of stupidity will keep that ball of hate rolling and growing.