If social media is anything to go by, it is likely the number of Google searches for the lyrics to Kelis’ well-known hit, “Milkshake” will have increased dramatically. As Nigel Farage, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) and Carl Benjamin (aka Sargon of Akkad) have been repeatedly doused in milkshakes from a range of different outlets… Continue reading “Milkshaking the Radical Right: humiliation not violence”
Britain’s far-right undertow turns hostile currents against ethnic and religious minorities into a tsunami of hatred. Pause a moment to register two unloved anniversaries. This spring marks a decade since the first anti-Muslim street movement, the English Defence League (EDL), emerged on British streets. Slowly but surely, the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA), now a… Continue reading “The DFLA: a(nother) new UK far right movement?”
The far right recognizes the value, both in training and in terms of access to arms and equipment, that active and former soldiers bring to its organizations. In early October 2018, a photo emerged that showed former leader of the English Defence League, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) posing with a group of Army Cadets.… Continue reading “The Far Right Has a History of Infiltrating the British Army”
On Thursday, Gerard Batten, the leader of UKIP, hired Stephen Yaxley-Lennon as an adviser, a move which marked a canny awareness of the power of digital influencers to reach new audiences, and suggested an overt shift towards the far-right under the stewardship of Gerard Batten, as well as the embracement of a new digital strategy.… Continue reading “Split Kippers: The Increasing Populism Of UKIP”
On October 10 2018, British anti-Muslim figurehead Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) caused uproar when he posted a video of himself with a group of young trainee soldiers online. The British Army quickly reacted to the incident, disavowing Yaxley-Lennon, and discharging one of the soldiers involved. Subsequently Yaxley-Lennon has hijacked this incident to promote his… Continue reading “The Ramifications of the #IAmSoldierX Campaign”