On The EDL, Facebook And White Privilege

Ive been really fucking upset this week. Angry tears, proper rage and pressure cooker temper.

It all started with the horrific killing in Woolwich last week. I was in Brighton poorly with conference lurgy and hence in bed early when the news broke.

Like any rational human being I was horrified and sickened. Both at the act itself and at the jump straight to it being a terror attack.

Coz funnily enough, when a brown person gets killed by white people it's just murder.

My already pretty dodgy stomach lurched with the premonition that ramping up the rhetoric would bring out the scum EDL.

And predictably it did.

And over on Facebook I started the cull of 'friends' who had liked EDL statuses. The flags and the 'its our country, if they don't like it they can leave' bollocks appeared on my timeline.

And I was angry. I blocked anyone who posted this shit and got into a long and intense argument about why the hysteria and double standards were making me sick.

When I got to work, I was faced with one of those I had blocked. She was pretty pissed off with me and asked why I had blocked her. This reply goes to everyone that is no longer on my Facebook.

I blocked you because you are ignorant. I blocked you because your senseless posting of jingoistic, patriotic bullshit makes the EDL think they have a point. I blocked you because they gather strength and momentum from the bullshit bellendery you post and they think they are justified in marching past my fucking house on a Saturday afternoon chanting their message of hate while my neighbours cheer them on.

Most of all I blocked you because for the first time since the 70's my race is a thing again. I have to double risk assess leaving my home because I am a black woman.

Fuck you very much for that.

So yeah, I'm fucking furious.

Post what you want on your Facebook. Just don't expect me to stick around to see it.

And while I'm at it, not wishing to sound ungrateful and all that, this brings me onto white privilege.

I am aware that there are a lot of white people who are anti racist. Every one of my friends is the anti fash demo attending type and I love them for being the wonderful human beings that they are.

But.

When I say I'm crying tears of fear and anger PLEASE do not tell me you know exactly how I feel. Because you don't.

Unless you had your school dinner spat in because 'thats what niggers deserve', unless you have had rocks thrown at your head, been cornered and attacked, sexually assaulted, ALL BECAUSE YOU ARE BLACK then you don't know how I feel. That is white privilege right there and I wish you would put that shit the fuck away.

This leads me nicely onto my last point.

On Saturday, as the EDL marched all around the country, Twitter responded in a way only Twitter can with the hashtag #EDLmisfortunes.

This gentle ribbing of the nasty fuckers by hoping they stepped on Lego etc split opinion. Some said it was a bit of fun, some said (including white people *stern look*) said it trivialized what people of colour go through.

Thing is, everyone has a different response and EVERY ONE OF THOSE RESPONSES WERE VALID.

I bloody loved it. It was the perfect valve for my pressure cooker anger and without it I may have misdirected my anger at my friends and screamed at them to check their privilege. That I had somewhere to vent made that easier.

My anger is best reserved for those who deserve it, not those who are my allies.

The EDL will be in my beloved adopted city again on Saturday.

See you all who stand against their hatred there.

Personal Autonomy Part Two-On Society And Oxymorons-possible trigger for suicidal ideation.

Some of you may remember way back in the day that I blogged about personal autonomy and personal responsibility. The thrust of that post was about owning yourself, your choices and your decisions.

I'm not about to change my mind here but this post is going to be more about when those choices are less than palatable to wider society.

Can we have limited personal autonomy? I don't think we can. Personal autonomy cannot be a gift we give when it suits us. Like equality, it isn't something to bestow. It just is. So why limit it?

Argument one: we have to limit it or there will be paedophiles and murderers etc running wild with no limits.

Er, no. The flip side is personal responsibility. And owning yourself and your choices does not exclude you from living with a moral code, from knowing right and wrong and living within the law. It also presupposes that we're all just looking for an excuse to murder and abuse children. No. Just no. 

Argument two: There will be times when your choices will impact on others so we have to limit it.

Ah, no. There cannot be a halfway house on personal autonomy. My body, my life, my choices, my rules.

If I decide to terminate a pregnancy it may well impact on other people. My family, the other party in the pregnancy. It may impact on friends because they may be struggling to conceive.

Should I be sorry for my decision? More importantly, should I be taking all of that into account before I decide?

Hells no. My body my choice.

I may decide to end my life. This would definitely impact on others. People would try and stop me. They would question my mental ability to make the decision. They would heap pressure on me to see that life was worth living.

And I understand that. I'd do it myself. I have spent many a night talking people down from the ledge as it were. This is because as a society we believe that we are here to live. Biology means we are here to procreate, watch our children grow. Grow old watching the legacy that is the generations we're leaving behind.

But.

That decision is still mine.

Mine alone.

If you believe that we have the right to choose our clothes, our partners, whether or not we reproduce. If you believe we have the right to choose who we are then you cannot attempt to take away my right to choose when my life ends.

Personal autonomy doesn't work like that.