As the news this weekend filled with disturbing scenes from English towns and cities, it’s worth noting that Scotland, with its own separate political system and its own divided culture, has largely resisted the creep of loathsome right-wing violence on our streets.
But we’re not out of the woods in that regard, although the line is holding so far. It’s holding, in part, because of something few ever talk about; the rejection of far-right ideology amongst the vast, vast, vast majority of Scotland’s football supporters.
This weekend at Tynecastle, a prohibited flag was briefly unfurled by a group of Ibrox supporters. This flag bore numbers representing the letters ICF and contained a quote from Mussolini. It also carried the appalling symbol of the Waffen SS, the Death’s Head skull.
It was a shocking and unacceptable display, and quite how it was allowed to be unfurled in the first place is something those responsible for security in the ground have to account for.
Police Scotland’s failure to prevent this is concerning, and the passive response from nearby fans was disappointing. Yet, the swift backlash from the broader Ibrox fan community is encouraging. Social media and fan forums were filled with condemnation and expressions of disgust, demonstrating a collective refusal to tolerate it.
It’s no secret that a faction of the Ibrox support has flirted with far-right ideologies.
It is no secret that a loathsome majority of them continue to sing anthems of hate.
However, the creep of far-right extremism is still held at the door. The far-right presence at Ibrox, although troubling, is not as pervasive as some may fear, but it’s not insignificant either. They definitely have a problem worth keeping an eye on.
Those on the far-right in Britain often display a baffling contradiction in their beliefs.
They champion British patriotism while simultaneously adopting symbols and slogans from regimes that opposed Britain’s very existence. A section of the Ibrox support which enjoys Britshness Days and “supporting the troops” are still warped by ideas their forefathers would have wanted no part of.
But most of even their fans can see that contradicition clearly and want no part of it.
It’s a mix of delusion and ignorance, a glaring example of which was evident in the TV footage of flag-draped goons shouting “We want our country back.”
But from whom and for what purpose?
Their claims of impending Sharia law or other outlandish conspiracies are pure fantasy, unsupported by any political reality. I should know how mad these people are, and that they are not all confined to the flanks. I brought a lunch date to an abrupt end only two months ago because the person on the other side of the table starting ranting the most ridiculous rubbish about how we might soon be living in an Islamic state.
Where does these people get this crap from? How stupid are they?
Yet whilst some of this has started to creep in up here, Scotland has been spared the scenes of chaos seen in England. It’s not that we are immune to such sentiments. Glasgow and other areas have seen the rise of fringe groups with discriminatory agendas.
However, these groups have not gained the same traction here.
Scotland’s political culture is fundamentally different.
It’s more inclusive and less hostile towards immigrants, and the rhetoric is far less toxic.
The far-right in England has found a foothold among disillusioned young men, and those involved in the organisations responsible for that often target football fans. Yet, this strategy has been less successful in Scotland. While we are not entirely free from such influences, the reach and impact are far less significant. The aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum did see a rise in local extremists, of the sort we saw this weekend, but they remain on the fringes.
The Scottish Parliament has fostered a different debate around immigration and integration.
One of the reasons for this is obvious; within our political culture there is no equivalent of Nigel Farage or Tommy Robinson.
Scottish politics, for all its faults – and they are many – simply doesn’t provide a platform for such figures, and the media, for all its many issues, and we talk about them every single day, doesn’t play the same role in amplifying those voices that some of the gutter rags do south of the border.
Extremists are marginalized, not mainstreamed.
I am particularly proud of how football fans have held the line. If only those at Ibrox would recognise the glaring contradiction in condemning those far-right banners and the dregs who go unremarked on who continue to sing every weekend about being up to their knees in fenian blood.
Anti-Irish hatred pollutes too many stands at too many grounds, and those responsible for it continue to escape scrutiny far less sanction for it, and this is wholly unacceptable.
But we had no equivalent of the Football Lads Alliance here, and we have no equivalent of it now.
That sort of stuff still has no place in our stands. Despite the historical baggage and the degeneracy of some, Scottish football supporters, by and large, continue to abhor the far-right and have managed to prevent such organisations from recruiting from our stands.
But vigilance is crucial. We cannot be complacent.
The far-right menace is ever-present and could easily escalate if given the chance.
But for now, Scotland’s social cohesion and political culture offer a robust defence against it, and one of the rocks of that, and it’s one that we should recognise, is that it doesn’t fly in our football grounds, and that, as much as anything may explain why we’re not in the position England finds itself in.
Credit where it’s due: Ibrox’s online community, although guilty of a myriad of other sins and despicable behaviours are not guilty of this one (a few extremists aside) and want nothing to do with those people.
The club’s strong stance against the flag incident is commendable, and their efforts to promote diversity and multiculturalism down through the years do obviously have some modest impact and are a steps in the right direction.
If only they would apply the same rigor to combating sectarian chants, and removing those bigots from their ground, society would be all the better for it.
But I was pleased to see the backlash against the flag, and I’m pleased when I read comments on fan forums from other sides all over the country expressed their abhorrence at the scenes which have rocked England these past few days and nights.
We must remain alert to the dangers, but there is a lot to be proud of.
Scottish football fans have, by and large, stood against this kind of thing, and again, this is not to say that any of us should, or will, tolerate the problems we have in other areas, and with the disgusting chants which the Irish and Catholic communities still have to hear in too many stadiums, but one in particular; yet in a world increasingly divided and where hateful voices are amplified in a big, big way, we should take our wins where we find them.
This is not an insignificant one.
Whilst I agree with your sentiments that in Scotland we have a far different political landscape I don’t think what is happening in England is a million miles away from Scotland. I think the main reason for this is quite simply we don’t have the same incidents happening up here or the same number of immigrants being brought into communities. Having worked with several English contractors who grew up & live on council estates they don’t have a very popular opinion of the immigrants coming in & being given housing due to it stopping themselves or people they know not being considered for housing.
The ability to spread misinformation about any incident in England is rife. The MSM do not help this by immediately stating the ethnicity & views of the individual are “unknown”. It immediately gives people room to speculate. Why not just operate under the assumption they are a British citizen until differing news is released.
I hope we don’t see anything like what is happening down there in Scotland & I think when the clown Tommy tries to bring his protests up here (I believe he plans to over the coming months) he is roundly told to fuck off.
But I do also think that if we were to see similar incidents as have been occurring in England then it wouldn’t take long for similar opinions to develop.
This isn’t a pot that has just been stuck on the heat & brought to the boil all of a sudden this has all been simmering for almost years now with the heat getting more & more.
Labour have been given a hell of a task early into there tenure for sure.
THEY….. that bitter, rancid Club, promote orangeism at every opportunity James. I don’t think they have any club sports gear without orange as part of their dress theme. They are steeped in hatred and encourage their vile fans to wear their anti-catholic regalia. When did orange overtake their club colours of blue red and white. None of them get pass marks from me James.
Orange walks are a show of fascism, elitism and supremacy. There should be no place for them in this country.
So just reading the breaking VAR story and it all becomes clear. The folk using VAR are sitting drinking a cargo in their wee office getting mad with it, that’s why the drawn lines are often squinty… LMAO.
Smashing up road signs…. ROFL. !
I have noticed recently that a lot of our own supporters are becoming intolerant of others and it annoys me, there’s a lot of good rangers supporters out there but as in society in general they are silenced by the ever increasing amount of bigots and racists who are only too happy to put their head above the parapet and have been given a voice by clowns like Farage and Robinson.
Did they not fly the same flag last season (perhaps the season before) and the clumpany promised an investigation, eventually, after it broke briefly in the mainstream?
It seems their investigation doesn’t stretch further than a press release. The directors in the stand at Tynecastle must have seen it as there were hardly any of them in the pitiful away section that Hearts permit.
A simple instruction to the nearest snorkie to tell his match commander to instruct a brother snorkie to go remove the flag and the fat bald tattooed fuckwit it belongs to would have been simpler and much more effective.
Wow – Another magnificent article James – Sensibly thought and sensibility written as well…
Yep – I have a dip into Swallow Swallow (Follow Follow) now and again and credit to them where it’s due, the vast majority were very unhappy with The Tynecastle Banner indeed…
Good point about the contradictions as well – I remember being in Belfast years ago and loyalists ‘demanding’ to walk The Whitewell Road to ‘raise’ money for The Tsunami victims families (I think it was just an excuse to walk through the upper and lower bits of the road which were Nationalist – They ‘had’ a bit in the middle that was called The White City) – So given the ‘good cause’ the march was granted and their beloved BNP came over only to see various Israeli flags festooned all around The White City And Gunnell Hill near The Arthur Bridge which caused all sorts of consternation between themselves of course…
Anyway the march went ahead (To deliberately annoy the Nationalist Community in Upper and Lower Whitewell and nearby Longlands and Bawnmore in my humble opinion) they raised just over £1,000 for The Tsunami, got their march for their ‘good’ reasons but it cost a fuckin staggering £107,000 (Yep – ONE HUNDRED and SEVEN THOUSAND) to police the bloody thing so yeah – They’re capable of anything indeed so they are !
Yep – Lets keep that kinda evil shit outta Scotland for sure and let’s try to (slowly no doubt) eradicate anti Catholic policy and anti Irish racism as well while we’re at it…
I was once told that anti Catholic and anti Irish racism were not welcome here in ‘Modern Scotland’ –
I don’t like that phrase as it should NEVER have been welcome in Post War era Scotland, nor Victorian era either nor any other bloody era in Scotland either !
i live in ireland….take a walk around the little town i live….full of foreign accents…dublin is just remarkable…it is hard to find a dub..no exaggeration..there ARE too many foreigners in our country..which puts pressure on an already stretched to breaking point, health service,social services and housing,private rental resources-pushing rental costs up,and, as a consequence, price of housing increase, many hotels being used to house immigrants,taking away from the tourist market, of which, ireland is dependant on for foreign income…and of course the very real social structure…a lot of irish feel every aspect of the country is being eroded…NONE OF US ASKED FOR THIS. NONE OF US WERE INFORMED THAT THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN…so then, when the ordinary working class people, to whom all of the above affect the most, complain – we are told we are far right racists…certainly, beware the far right – what about the far left james ?
just where and how can the ordinary man and woman protest about the above without being classed as right wing racists? starmer ? sunak? give me a break…over here, sinn fein seem to have drifted away from it’s roots of supporting the working man..the other 2 party’s, like the uk don’t give a fuck what the working man wants or thinks…leaving a vacuum…and guess who will step into it…
bleeding heart liberals are just as dangerous as right wing arseholes…
If you think it’s foriegners to blame when people like Desmond are paying marginal tax rates you haven’t been paying attention in class.
One of the most absurd things ever posted in the history of this blog.
How any Irishman with a scintilla of knowledge about the history of his own island and its own people, and their struggle to be accepted in places all across the world, can actually write something so aggressively ignorant and stupid I do not know.
You never heard of the “No Blacks & No Irish” signs that profilerated up and down the East Coast of the US? They were greeted with much worse in England and here in Scotland.
Our club was founded by those immigrants. Those illegals. Those Irish.
Your comments are scandalous.
then RE-READ my post…government policy is to blame…a policy that has been lumbered on my country…you are one of the superior, opinionated, bleeding heart liberals i refer to…you are just as ignorant and blind as any rightwing arsehole…
oh i forgot…i’m the rightwing arsehole ain’t i…..
You’re certainly coming across as an arsehole. I suggest YOU go back and read what you wrote again.
And it should make you feel ashamed. Ashamed.
Yes well said James,I can’t believe someone from Ireland can have his attitude he sounds more like a farage/ robinson foot soldier,I posted earlier about my dismay seeing the tricolour alongside a union flag in the farage riots in Belfast,thank god it’s not spread to Scotland,I remember when farage visited Edinburgh he had to stay in a pub for his own well being,that’s how much the Scots believed his poisonous rhetoric,they knew he was a charlatan.
Yep King Murdy you’ve hit the nail on the head, you’re the “right wing arsehole” throughout the World the descendents of the persecuted and economic Irish immigrants are scattered. Not to have any empathy with people escaping the same problems, makes me doubt your knowledge of your own peoples history.
.
Well said Michael I can’t believe king murdy,farage/Robinson acolyte.
Thank you James – you saved me the trouble of responding in similar vein to king murdy (although why anyone on this site would claim the title of king is beyond me). I dare say like many on this site I am of immigrant stock, where my father and my mother’s parents left Ireland for a better future. They would be called economic immigrants these days and a drain on society. My father arrived in Glasgow aged 14, started an apprenticeship and worked continuously till he was 62 (including national service in the merchant navy). And throughout those early years he was subjected to discrimination that I can’t comprehend. To show no empathy to the trials and tribulations of immigrants in our society is something I just can’t begin to comprehend.
I wrote an email to Anas Sarwar last week after his ignorant, misguided quote on supposed unity up here. I highlighted his refusal to see anti-Irish racism for what it is. Surprisingly he hasn’t replied yet.
Supposed to be a “protest” at Paisley’s Watermill hotel on Friday night by the “patriots”.
Onion bears involved I hear, would be good to see the decent bears condemn this unreservedly on their forums
There is a rise in Europe of the far right, Italy, Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovakia have hard right governments. Immigration is a hot topic for the electorate, and even countries like Ireland, it’s in the public eye there as well, and there is protests there as well. The left have to get their act together on this, because they don’t seem to have an answer to the issue, and that’s why there is a surge in the right. There is always people who will react like this after a tragedy, my only hope is the riots don’t take away from the real tragedy, which is the poor kids in Southport, who were murdered of that scumbag.
I agree on the left having to get their act together. However the tragedy in Southport was quite probably caused by an individual with serious mental health issues. Not helpful to label as a scumbag for something that was utterly incomprehensible. Let’s wait for the investigation and trial.
Mental health issues, I’m sure the families of the murdered wee girls will now have mental health issues, because of an animal who has murdered their kids. The only reason it’s going too court, is because that’s the due process they have in a democratic society, they did the same for example when young James bulgar was also brutally murdered, the boy in question is bang to rights, it’s only going to court because that’s the process. He better make sure he is away for a long time, because I’ll tell you if that was my girls.. I would be doing a life sentence. Immigration is a major issue, whether you want to believe it or not, it’s why the snp were annihilated in the election, because they took it lightly, and the electorate made them pay for it.
We will see what happens on Saturday when a Republican March takes place in Glasgow City Centre.
As a diaspora product I am embarrassed by the protests in Ireland, but I was surprised by the level of change in small town Ireland.
I personally was all for it but I could see a lot of unhappiness with the changes. The tiger killed a lot of pubs in the local towns and some people, especially older ones, feel that their towns and culture are disappearing.
It’s not just a right wing thing. People are scared of change and the amount of change in the last 20 years has been huge in Ireland.
This has also impacted UK.
The left has to deal with immigration and the changes it brings or we will all be facing more of these rabble rousing populists like trump, farage and Robinson, especially in the Internet era if these are the only ones who seem to pretend to care about this.
Change has to be managed and we have to bring people with us on that journey or we will lose them to the right.
Finally, a dig at our own support. This is not the 70s or 80s, internment is gone and sinn fein is in government.
Stop the explicit ira songs at games. It makes us look bad and unacceptable to the nation we live in. It excludes many who would be sympathetic to us.
My nephews born in England, no longer watch games, especially away games as they don’t like what they hear.
Rangers have catholic players and catholic managers now and we both have objectionable songs. Whats the difference now for other fans?
We know the history ,let’s embrace the future. Change and bring the people with us. The war is over.
You think GB Celtic fans are going to put a blocker on singing the rebs? Not a chance. You see how much they are prepared to go against the graln when it comes to flares. And that IS stupid.
However, consider what you’ve just written here, Tippbhoy. On one hand you empathise wit lh old people in small-town Ireland who fear change. Yet, on the other demand that Celtic fans stop the rebs. Aren’t Celtic fans allowed to fear change?
Please don’t compare us with that lot who stink out Liebrox (and now Hampden). People who do that care not for nuance. They will tar us with the same brush regardless. And a lot of it will be down to petty minded intolerance. I LOVED the reaction to the Celtic fans show of disrespect to the monarchy when Lizzie croaked. That’s part of who we are as Celtic fans. If people judge us on that alone then that’s just going to have to be the way it is.
‘Rangers’ HAD Catholic players and and HAD Catholic managers Tippbhoy…
I use the above word in bold print as it’s PAST-TENSE which is what is generally the language used when referring to anything that is DECEASED as ‘Rangers’ clearly are…
Apart from that interesting anologies…
One af these anologies… “The War Is Over” – Maybe so, but The Island of Ireland still has 6 of her 32 Counties under The Tyranny of The British Butchers Apron you know…
Tragically so does Bonnie Scotland…
I don’t think many Celtic supporters voted for to still be under The Butchers Apron in The Six Occupied Counties of Ireland, but tragically it looks like more than a few did in the country of ma birth by voting Butchers Apron loving Labour !
What gets me is the, “oh, they have taken our houses and we have no where to stay” bollocks. Why don’t they look at the Irish government allowing multi-nationals to not pay tax and then have the cheek to say they have no money for house building. The Conspiracy Theorist never looks at actual conspiracies whereby billionaires tell governments what to do and rich people like Farage get poor people to lose their minds in the peddling of Constant Rage. Have a word with yourself. We are an immigrant Club started to feed the Irish poor when they were being attacked for taking Scottish homes, etc. Sound familiar, Kingy.
What’s the population of Scottish and Irish people around the world? At least 10 times the populations of both countries! From whatever I’ve seen working abroad, we’ve been fully integrated and made welcome everywhere we’ve settled, more than in the UK for the Irish.
It’s therefore the ultimate hypocrisy for us to complain about immigrants of any colour, religion or creed wanting to settle in the UK.
I’m also not sure what the difference is between nazi flags and sectarian singing every week, and hate feuled anti-catholic marches through the streets of Glasgow or Belfast. Someone will need to explain that to me.