I’m a Brit!

and I’m proud of my Britishness, but..

(I wanted an image here that conveyed ‘despair’. I couldn’t find anything that comes close to what I feel)

I’ve never been made to feel so ashamed of my Englishness as I have been over the last few days. The days when a far-right organisation called The English Defence League poured scorn on the English.

I refer, of course, to the EDL’s atrocities in Southport — a small seaside town on the Irish Sea coast of Merseyside in northwest England.

It would appear that members of this far-right organisation descended on Southport with the sole intent of causing mayhem and destruction, aimed squarely at anybody who isn’t or doesn’t appear to be white English.

Their fury was taken out, particularly against Muslims and a mosque in the town. The riots in Southport were not the only EDL action. Similar breakdowns in law and order were seen in other English towns.

What caused such rioting was the mistaken belief that the murders of three young girls and the attempted murders of several other children and two adults at a dance studio in Southport were either racially or religiously motivated.

This was the excuse — for there can be no reason — for what ensued.

The murders and attempted murders were committed by a seventeen-year-old son of Rwandan parents living in Southport. The boy is known to be suffering from a mental condition. This does not excuse his actions but may go some way to explaining them. We must not judge, it’s not for us to do so.

Whatever the reason, he caused untold horror and distress to the parents and families of those young girls and the two adults who were also attacked.

We may never know why Axel Muganwa Rudakubana did what he did. Indeed, he may not know why he did what he did. Whatever the reason, there can be no excuse.

Nor can there be an excuse for what the EDL then took upon themselves to do — including disgracing the nation.

They can’t even point to the horrific tragedy in Southport and say ‘This is the reason we did what we did’ — for there can be no reason.

I will direct you to this article for a fuller account of and deeper insight into Southport’s tragedy. Please read it. I find it too distressing to dwell on the details further.

Unlike some other countries, such evil events as these murders are, thankfully, not daily occurrences; neither are the riots. So when they do happen, they are a particular cause of collective, national shock. It will take some time for us to come to terms with what has happened in Southport.

Whatever we need to do to rectify the thinking of these people and to engender some sense of harmony in our society, I’m not sure. It may be that we should tackle the problem well before it arises — the education of our youngsters in school, perhaps. Maybe to celebrate the differences between individuals rather than highlight them as a need to create division.

I have recently been canvassed, as I’m sure many people here in Britain will have been, to add my name to a petition which would pressure the government to proscribe the English Defence League as a terrorist organisation.

It seems to me that in Southport and three other English towns, they certainly have behaved as one.