From Black Cats to Black Shirts?

Standing up to Fascists

A consistent world view of England is one of profound conservatism, whether it be in the kitchen (Sausage, Egg & Chips please love), in the bedroom (I’m not taking my socks off for anyone, especially you Ms Von Teese), on the playing field (England will line up in their traditional 4-4-2 formation tonight) or even in the parallel political realm of the ghastly Daily Mail (I’m not letting Johnny Foreigner tell me how long my Cucumber should be). This view, along with hundreds of other examples to support it suggests that the traditional English psyche leans so far to the right that an acceptance of some of the ‘more palatable aspects*’ of extreme right wing ideology might be comfortably absorbed without murmur into everyday English life.

That, thankfully, is invariably not the case. From the Battle of Cable Street, which saw Moseley’s Blackshirts roundly dispatched and the more recent Battle of Barking, through the numerous counter fascist actions of the ANL and Rock Against Racism, the ‘Kick it out’ Campaign in football and the equally admirable ‘Hit racism for Six’ Campaign in cricket. Time and time again the English people have taken affirmative action against those hiding behind the blustering cowardly façade of fascist doctrine. The most recent action has been in response to the appointment by Sunderland AFC of self-confessed fascist sympathizer/supporter/apologist/football manager Paulo Di Canio.

Di Canio, when interviewed in 2005 offered a bizarre take on the by now worryingly traditional “I’m not Racist, but…” statement, by following it up with “…I am a Fascist”. As if by denying a racist element to his persona he was somehow justified in his extreme political position. However, a collective hotchpotch of the Dean of Durham, David Milliband (not a renowned notorious Trotskyite firebrand) and various local Unions (including the Wearmouth Miners) with a long tradition of fighting fascism in all its various guises (even Prada suited ones) have come out and vociferously challenged Di Canio to state his position, clearly and unequivocally. However, the most refreshing challenge to Benito (sic) Di Canio has come from unaligned Englishmen and Englishwomen who have expressed their contempt for his political position.

Of course, it isn’t all good news. A number of Sunderland fans have expressed the view that politics has no place in football or even worse that it is (with a deep sigh) “Political correctness gone mad”. Political correctness!! To be seen not to support somebody whose views directly supported that of one of the 20^th century’s biggest mass murderers?

As John Arlott, the great cricket commentator and poet so rightly said; “Politics governs everything we do - the games we play, the way we play them, who we play.”
He also said that; “Say that cricket has nothing to do with politics and you say that cricket has nothing to do with life”. A different sport but without doubt the same principle.

Unfortunately such a view isn’t held by all and rather surprisingly amongst them is renowned anti-racist activist, style icon and past his sell by date centre back Rio Ferdinand (Manchester Utd & Al-Jazeera FC) comes down on the side of DI Canio. Ferdinand tweeted: “why has a paper brought out a quote from years ago to try + derail Di Canio?? Lazy journalism again. I wish him good luck in the PL. Simple.” Lazy journalism? To pinpoint that someone in a leading role in English football has expressed fascist sympathies? Obviously Ferdinand has got very high standards when it comes to journalism. I can imagine him tweeting something equally pithy about John Terry in years to come. 

Anyway, moving on… To my mind another question the whole episode raises is why was it somehow acceptable for him to be the Fascist manager of Swindon Town but not acceptable to be the Fascist Manager of Sunderland? Swindon could by no means be regarded as the hotbed of leftist revolution (despite it being a railway town and having a large post WW2 ex-pat Polish community – who more than most would be aware of the impact of Fascism) but surely the anger Di Canio’s appointment has given rise to, should have grown much louder before he became head honcho of a Premier League club…

Oh hang on! Did you see what happened there? The scales just dropped from my eyes. It would seem that being a Fascist Manager of a Div 1 club is acceptable but when the spectre of sponsors looms large then it is time to ‘fess up Il Duce and renounce your squalid political past for a slice of the honey soaked loveliness of the Premier League. Mind you if Di Canio took over as a manager in some other European leagues he’d most probably be denounced as a namby-pamby liberal wet and would receive a fine from UEFA for not clicking his heels at the same time as saluting the Ultras!

And so, once again football takes another step further into the wilderness. The World Game™ it may well be but perhaps it is no longer a world I care for. Until Di Canio properly denounces his fascist past and actively works against the creeping influence it has in the local community he should be roundly and repeatedly challenged and criticized for his stance. And until he does that Sunderland FC should be equally challenged for appointing a man with such abhorrent views.

What if he does just that? Should he be forgiven? Well, yes he should. But it should never be forgotten. We have seen many examples of the re-writing of history (by no means just a fascist trait) and the lessons of life lost therein. But perhaps I am getting ahead of myself once again. Let him take the first positive step and let him renounce his past stated position unequivocally before getting on with the matter in hand – namely telling eleven professional footballers where to stand and where and when to kick the ball!

 

*By the way there is no such thing as a palatable aspect of fascism.