Making Britain Great Again? Tommy Robinson’s ‘Day for Freedom’

The “Kekistan” flag flying on the DFLA demo is modelled on the war flag of
Nazi Germany (inset).

Thousands of racists, far right activists and fascists marched through central London and staged a festival of hate outside Downing Street on Sunday 6 May. We want to set this event in a wider context – it illustrates how the far right is operating today and how it is drawing on trends across Europe and America. It marks a new departure even from previous mobilisations by Tommy Robinson and the Football Lads Alliance.

More than 5,000 took part all told, with up to 3,000 joining a feeder march organised by the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA) from Speaker’s Corner to the rally staged by “Tommy Robinson” (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) in Whitehall.

Precise numbers were hard to gauge – many of those of the DFLA feeder march did not go all the way to the rally, with large numbers preferring to go to the pub instead. At Whitehall, it was clear a different broader crowd had come directly to the rally, and large groups continued to arrive throughout the more than three-hour event.

But the scale and prestigious nature of the so-called “Day for Freedom” marked something new on the far right in Britain. Not since Oswald Mosley’s fascist rallies in Olympia and at the Royal Albert Hall in the 1930s have we seen such a professional set-up for the far right in Britain.  (more...)

Tommy Robinson’s ‘Day for Freedom’ – a new turning point for fascism and the far right

That's so gay.