Rabbit hole...

The Boston bombings are proving a strange fascination. They are being investigated by federal prosecutors. Their abiding metaphor, at least in public, seems to be “rabbit hole”. The only man who could have unravelled their mystery, who could have said why the bombings happened, is dead.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older brother, seems to have been the instigator of these acts. He is described as being “self-radicalised”. The evidence of his internet browsing and mosque attendance shows a man who became attracted to a hard line, literalist interpretation of islam around three or four years ago. But that is not evidence of terrorism. There is nothing in islam that advocates bombing massed crowds. Terrorist acts are secular acts. Terrorism is the most oblique form of war. When people resort to terrorism it’s because of their military/political weakness.

In terms of politics he did take an interest in Chechenya. But that begs the question, why attack crowds in Boston? Tsarnaev was also known to have propagated conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks. The centre of various conspiracy theories was himself a conspiracy theorist. When the elder Tsarnaev was interviewed in 2011 by the FBI at the Russian state’s request he was found to have no actual terrorist connections.

The younger brother appears to be an even vaguer character. It is a strange thing when a 19-year-old effectively sacrifices his life without any compelling reason why. Could it be Dzhokhar was kept somewhat in the dark by his brother? Perhaps he was just a fool. We may yet find out. Mystery abounds.

One thing is for sure, it is practically impossible for any society to physically defend itself against so-called lone wolf attacks, including supposedly apolitical, non-terrorist acts, like the Sandy Hook or Columbine massacres. Even if they ‘worked’ before no crackdown is going to guard against this kind of thing happening again. The only substantial defence lies is asking why. Why do these things keep happening?

For your information

Norman Bettinson, the man who ran the Hillsborough police 'liason' unit that spread ugly lies about Liverpool fans after the disaster, has also been in charge of PREVENT, and Vice Chair of ACPO's Terrorism and Allied Matters committee. This:

puts him at the heart of state snooping against Muslim, Kurdish and Tamil communities, as well as 'counter-terror' strategies against LWX (left wing extremists) and anarchists.

In his PREVENT role he has shown evidence of some rather unpleasant views. When the Met was found guilty and fined in a corporate prosecution for the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, he described it as "a triumph for health and safety, a lucrative new territory for lawyers, a disaster for common sense."

He has also claimed that that schoolchildren as young as 13 are being groomed for terrorism, said that it will “probably take 20 years” to prevent the “infection” of extremism spreading within Britain’s borders", and blamed Muslim communities for not doing enough to prevent terrorism. He's not averse to a bit of the high life. In July he was criticised for spending £300,000 of his force's money on seven high performance executive cars for the 'personal and professional use' of senior officers, including himself, despite moaning on about police spending cuts. His crusade against 'all forms of extremism' has also taken him on all-expenses paid trips to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Abu Dhabi.

It's alright for some, isn't it?

Ain't it the truth!

As more information regarding the identity of the terrorist responsible for the massacre comes to light, articles attempting to explain his motives are starting to appear online. And beneath them are comments from readers, largely expressing outrage and horror. But there are a disturbing number that start, "What this lunatic did was awful, but . . ."

These "but" commenters then go on to discuss immigration, often with reference to a shaky Muslim-baiting story they've half-remembered from the press. So despite this being a story about an anti-Muslim extremist killing Norwegians who weren't Muslim, they've managed to find a way to keep the finger of blame pointing at the Muslims, thereby following a narrative lead they've been fed for years, from the overall depiction of terrorism as an almost exclusively Islamic pursuit, outlined by "security experts" quick to see al-Qaida tentacles everywhere, to the fabricated tabloid fairytales about "Muslim-only loos" or local councils "banning Christmas".

Charlie Brooker is right, as usual.

A portrait of the fascist as a vain man

Know your enemy, Anders Behring Breivik; look at him. He is out to kill you. He and his associates are out to destroy everyone and everything you hold dear.

Even from these collated pictures you can see he is a walking study in the fascist mindset. Megalomania, self-importance mixed with a dominator complex. The flip side of megalomania is paranoia, hence, for example, his fixation on the alleged 'marxist/multiculturalist' conspiracy. He also has severe logorrhoea.

His manifesto, which is now getting worldwide attention, is supposedly 1,500 pages long; phew! Excerpts appearing in the news, including praise for various people and groups, Mel Philips, Jeremy Clarkson, the English Defence League, have highlighted a crucial point for anti-fascist politics.

The mainstream right, populist right and fascist right are cross-fertilising. Rightists of all kinds are using racism in general, islamophobia in particular, as their wedge issue, their cutting edge. Fascist or not, they are reinforcing each other at every turn, co-ordinating across Europe and America to bring violence and fear to our streets. We need a Europe-wide anti-fascist alliance.