There will be no protest marches in support of Jack Renshaw, no mass gatherings in Trafalgar Square, no online campaigns in his support, and precious little sympathy. Because Jack Renshaw is a self-confessed terrorist, although his terrorism will garner fewer column inches and press punditry - because he is white.
What he and his pals may have been up to was told yesterday by the Mail: “Alleged members of banned Neo Nazi group National Action have gone on trial in connection with a plot to murder a Labour MP with a gladiator-style sword … Suspected ringleader Christopher Lythgoe, 32, gave permission to Jack Renshaw, 23, to kill 67-year-old Rosie Cooper MP, according to charges.” There was more.
“Renshaw bought the 'Gladius Machete' and made threats that he would murder the West Lancashire MP while in a pub in Warrington on 1 July last year, it is alleged … Lythgoe and Renshaw were charged with belonging to the banned far-right group National Action on 27 October last year … They appeared in court today along with Garron Helm, 24, Matthew Hankinson, 24, Andrew Clarke, 33, and Michael Trubini, 25, on charges of belonging to a proscribed organisation”. But the real drama happened this morning.
Jack Renshaw - admitted plot to murder MP
The BBC explained why: “An alleged member of a banned British far-right group has admitted planning to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper … Jack Renshaw pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to preparing an act of terrorism by buying a machete with the intention of killing the West Lancashire MP … The 23 year old from Skelmersdale in Lancashire, also admitted making a threat to kill another woman”.
As the Beeb’s Daniel de Simone explained, “Renshaw had previously denied the charges, but changed his pleas on the first day of his Old Bailey trial”. The revelations may produce some further media coverage. But there will be nothing to compare with the blanket outrage that gets reserved for anything perpetrated by Scary Muslims™.
After all, when the arrests of all those suspected of National Action membership happened last September, as Zelo Street noted at the time, “out there on the right, there is silence. Nothing from Nigel ‘Thirsty’ Farage or his pal Arron Banks, not a peep from pro-am motormouth Katie Hopkins, no sound from the convocation of the irredeemably batshit otherwise known as Breitbart, nothing from Doug Murray The K, zilch from … Anne Marie Waters”. And there won’t be very much about Renshaw’s confession from them today.
Nor, despite the Mail having produced a pre-trial report on the case yesterday, will there be anything on the front pages of all those right-leaning members of our free and fearless press. White and supposedly Christian terrorists don’t fit their agenda. To qualify for wall to wall press coverage today, a terrorist has to be brown or black.
After all, unless the charge of being a member of a proscribed organisation sticks, there will be plenty of opportunity to call Renshaw and his pals “lone wolves”, and claim they have “mental health problems”. Like they said about Thomas Mair, who murdered Labour MP Jo Cox. Until it was discovered he was of sound mind. And part of Britain First.
The far-right is the real and growing terror threat in the UK. Don’t ever lose sight of that.
So......Not a conspiracy theory......But a conspiracy fact.
ReplyDeletePut this alongside the assassination of Jo Cox and Britain's far right monopoly-owned mainstream media has a lot to answer for. It is they and their politicians who created the atmosphere which encouraged that kind of murderous mentality.
You can be sure there will be more of it.
Him being white's only half of the reason there's been little coverage
ReplyDeleteDon't forget, a Labour MP was the intended victim; had it been a toerag MP...
The excuses will fall from the inner ages of the Daily Sieg Heil, how such and such lad had mental health problems, failed by the school system and the NHS and how layabout dad deserted family.
ReplyDeleteThese are the stock responses for white male terrorists.
Not that the perpetrators were highly trained by fascist groups with links to neo Nazis overseas will be conviently forgotten by the Sieg Heil.
But what is forgotten is the damage austerity a policy so disastrous it unwashed Fascism in Europe and Japan in the 1930's and dumped a narcissistic sociopath in the White House and led the UK to buy the flannel and bluster of Gove, Johnson and Farage.
They say history repeats itself, Harry Leslie Smith a man of 94, who lived through the darkness of the 30s fears we have failed to learn the lessons of his generation this time it could be the end of all human civilisation
I knew Chris for a little while, though only remotely. He struck me as very committed to his cause. But not dangerous or violent. I think they have been stitched up to be honest. Would not be the first, nor the last to fall foul of British (in)justice.
ReplyDelete