A group of protesters dressed in black military-style uniforms march in tight formation through the streets of London.
They are led by strapping men who bellow orders such as 'Atten-hut!' and 'Right face!' and look like a highly trained group of soldiers out on parade.
Some have dark berets, gloves and knee-high leather boots. A few carry walkie-talkies. At least one is wearing an IRA- style balaclava.
In some ways the scene appears to echo the 1930s, when Oswald Mosley's 'Blackshirts' took their ugly brand of fascism to working-class neighbourhoods of our capital city. But this was Brixton, last Saturday.
The occasion was a march for African Emancipation Day, held on the first day of August each year to mark both the anniversary of the date in 1834 when the Abolition of Slavery Act came into force, and to campaign for Britain to pay reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade.
The protesters in their stab vests and paramilitary-style fatigues belonged to a strange new organisation that calls itself the Forever Family Force.
Formed last month, to pursue what its social media feed has described as 'the battle against racism, inequality and injustice', it seems to have been conceived as a sort of British version of the Black Panthers, the radical far-Left protest group which wore similar garb as it campaigned against police brutality in 1960s America.
In keeping with this tradition, Forever Family has already sparked controversy.
To critics, the group appears to be importing an inflammatory brand of American-style identity politics — given oxygen by the Black Lives Matter movement — in which people of colour are encouraged to believe that society is so intrinsically racist, their only hope is to mount an organised resistance against the ruling class.
Those who see them as divisive and intimidating include Nigel Farage, who circulated images of last Saturday's protest on Twitter, saying: 'Terrifying scenes in Brixton today. A paramilitary-style force marching in the streets. This is what the BLM movement wanted from the start and it will divide our society like never before.'
Supporters, for their part, point out that the Brixton event was largely peaceful, with just three arrests, and argue that Forever Family is a harmless, if somewhat eccentric, group of well-meaning activists who enjoy dressing up.
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The new Blackshirts
The new Blackshirts
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: The new Blackshirts
People will go to great lengths to create an illusion of power and competence.
yrs,
rubato
yrs,
rubato
Re: The new Blackshirts
I'll not argue with that.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”