Danger ahead: National Action - you can ban a name but you cannot ban an idea

Danger ahead: National Action - you can ban a name but you cannot ban an idea

When in 2016 the then Home Secretary Amber Rudd decided to ban National Action and made membership of National Action a criminal offence, she didn't take into account that you can only ban names but banning names doesn't stop an idea from spreading even faster.

A few days ago, Lizzie Dearden writing for The Independent revealed that National Action factions are growing in number. So let's be clear. The then Home Secretary lacked the necessary expertise to deal with the issue and there was no one available to alert about the very serious mistake she was about to make.

After the court trials and the ban, followers of National Action simply went underground and out of sight they can become a lot more dangerous and especially when they are supported by present and former members of the British Armed Forces.

The fall from grace of mainstream political parties and the perception that the political classes have a completely different agenda that is incompatible with the expectations of the British Electorate have created an environment that is fertile ground for organisations like National Action to spread its ideas. Austerity leading to hardship condemning not just the unemployed but also those in employment to a struggle for survival creates exactly what National Action needs. People are fed up, disenfranchised, falling into the hands of loan sharks, feeling unfulfilled, forgotten and thrown aside. 

The news about bank branches closures, closure of branches of well-known retail companies, cuts affecting local schools, the failures of the Welfare State and other big items like the fall of British Steel affecting an estimated 25,000 families are exactly what National Action needs for recruiting ever more followers. There is the feeling of 'they don't care about us'. 

While the present Home Secretary Sajid Javid talks about an update of anti-terror legislation,  what we need is a better deal for families across the United Kingdom. A growing number of cases of suspected mental illness are the direct consequence of people living under enormous stress caused by financial difficulties. Repression will only make existing problems at lot worse. We need to deal with sub-employment - people at work that live in poverty.

By improving living conditions, we can improve physical and mental health, eliminating key factors that lead to extremism and terrorism. 

The Independent: Ban against National Action produced opposite effect

The Independent: Ban against National Action produced opposite effect

The Independent reports that a ban against National Action implemented in 2016 by the then Home Secretary Amber Rudd has produced exactly the opposite effect. There are more factions that follow the same path as National Action.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/national-action-neo-nazi-terrorist-far-right-uk-ban-a8878466.html

Dear Ben Wallace MP,

When the ban against National Action was implemented, Amber Rudd was very proud of her actions against National Action and there were celebrations. The mass media also talked about the trials taking place very publicly and all in all politicians and mass media thought that something major had been achieved. I never thought that such degree of political naivete was possible in a country like Britain that is supposed to have superior Security Services. Rosie Cooper’s feelings about being safe and the celebratory mood about having neutralized certain danger are not justified.

When I first heard the news that Amber Rudd, then Home Secretary, had issued the ban my first thought was ‘what a stupid thing to do’. If you drive danger underground, danger will not go away. Quite the opposite. You will not see it and it will continue to grow because the mentality of the people you are dealing with see such bans as an incentive and others are encouraged to join in because they see them as heroes, as role models, as fighters for the cause whatever their cause might be and no matter how misguided they might be.

This was John Tyndall a long time ago.  Any similarities with what is happening right ago? The picture was taken ages ago when John Tyndall was a young guy. Certain ideas have been around for a very long time. They are not going to go away with political bans or social media bans. The danger is very real but you cannot deal with it by running certain individuals underground. You don’t deal with the problem by creating martyrs or celebrities and this is exactly what Amber Rudd and others have created.

Instead of tackling the problem effectively, politicians, mass media and para-political organizations are making the problem much worse as they go along.

It is self-evident that the methods used until now are not working and the situation could be a lot worse than you think. You are a decision maker. You can make things happen. Law Enforcement Officers, even those in charge of protecting Members of Parliament, are only trained to deal with ordinary criminals. They have no sense of political and historical perspective.

You are not dealing with ordinary criminals. You are dealing with people who have got a very particular state of mind, driven by Messiah-like attitudes based on the idea that ‘the end justifies the means’. Their appreciation of what is rational and of what isn’t is different from our sense of what is rational and of what isn’t rational.

We are made to believe that this was an isolated incident. This was no isolated incident. There is clear thinking behind it. There is an intention. It was done to test the mood within the Armed Forces and it sends a clear message. Because it was widely reported, it became a widespread subject of conversation. There will be those watching, testing reactions, getting to know where others stand, what others think about the subject. I am not surprised that serving members of the Armed Forces were found to be linked to National Action. I would be surprised if middle ranks were not aware of the existence of certain ideas within the Armed Forces.

Best regards

Karl Hohenstauffen