. Daniel Trilling: On race, class and 'Bloody Nasty People' | Ceasefire Magazine

Daniel Trilling: On race, class and ‘Bloody Nasty People’ Interview

In a Ceasefire special on St. George's Day, Symeon Brown interviews Daniel Trilling, New Statesman Associate Editor about his latest book, Bloody Nasty People, and the wider debate over the far right, class and British identity.

Interviews, New in Ceasefire - Posted on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 21:06 - 17 Comments

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The English Defence League Hold City Centre Demonstration

Bloody Nasty People - Daniel Trilling - Book Cover - Ceasefire

If St. George were alive today it is unclear whether Nick Griffin or Nigel Farage would have considered him eligible for British citizenship. England’s patron saint is symbolic of a very British project, a project that has been built by the world’s resources, ideas and people – first by coercion and then by consent – whilst framing the same world as an aggressive and unwanted threat to British life. A curious twist of history but, then again, Britain is terrible at remembering and even more terrible at honesty.

In the exchange below – organised by Ceasefire (in association with Public) – Daniel Trilling, author of Bloody Nasty People, talks to Symeon Brown about how, in the 21st Century, an urgent and honest discussion on race, identity and Britishness remains long overdue.

 

Symeon Brown is a Londoner and has written on policing, justice and race in Britain. He tweets @symeonbrown

Nidal Hajaj

Nidal Hajaj is a programmer, documentary filmmaker and a member of the Ceasefire digital team.

Nathan Edward is a freelance writer and journalist, researcher, oral historian and digital storyteller. You can follow him on Twitter @Umanyano

17 Comments

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stuart
May 23, 2013 23:30

YOU STUPID FUCKING MIDDLE CLASS FAR LEFT MORON TWILLING,YOU SLAG OFF WORKING CLASS WHITE PEOPLE LIKE US AND CALL US RACISTS AND FASCISTS WHILE THE REAL RACISTS AND FASCISTS ARE THE MUSLIMS WHO ARE RAPING AND ABUSING ARE CHILDREN AND TRYING TO MURDER US ON A DAILY BASIS.I AM SICK OF YOU FAR LEFT APOLOGISTS OF RADICAL ISLAM AND THESE CHILD GROOMERS.YOU PEOPLE DONT LIVE ON ARE COUNCIL ESTATES WITH THESE THIRD WORLD BACKWARD MUSLIMS DO YOU,SO SHUT YOUR BOODY LEFT WING GOB UP ABOUT ISSUES YOU DONT KNOW ABOUT YOU PONCIE MIDDLE CLASS IDIOT…….stuart from birmingham

Stuart's mum
May 24, 2013 17:14

Oooh Stuart, get back in the house and stop scaring the neighbours.

Your tea’s ready – it’s your favourite, chicken jalfrezi from that lovely Indian takeaway down the road. You know, the one with the sweet little Asian girl you have a crush on?

Daniel Trilling
May 24, 2013 17:23

Hi Stuart,

Child abuse is committed by people from all ethnic and religious backgrounds, and can happen to children from all ethnic and religious backgrounds. The most comprehensive study of child grooming by gangs – published by the Children’s Commissioner in November 2012 – indicates that the of 1,514 identified perpetrators, 545 were “white”, 415 were “Asian”, 244 were “black”. And of the victims, 28 per cent came from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. More details here: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/info/csegg1.

If you turn it into an issue of race or religion then you are letting down victims of abuse who don’t fit into your way of seeing the world.

I don’t believe that working-class people are any more likely to be racist or fascist than anybody else. The BNP’s Nick Griffin, for instance, is a Cambridge educated ex-public schoolboy. Fascists are in a tiny minority in this country and they represent nothing but their own bigotry.

I have white, Jewish and Muslim neighbours.

Daniel

stuart
May 24, 2013 18:55

i am just sick and tired of working class people like me being smeared as fascists and racists by middle class left wing people just because we have had enough of the muslim extremists who are trying to trash my country with there racism and hatred,ok the edl are full of some hotheads,but who the hell sticks up for working class white people like us who feel like second class citixens in are own citys,why when we become victiims of racial injustice the police and the left just ignore us,i want peace and harmony in this country,i hate violence,.i get on with all races in birmingham except the the muslim community who just seem to have this hatred towards anybody that is non muslim,i have lived in birmingham all my life and i and many of my freinds want to leave this city because of all this islamic extremism and never ending terorist plots that seem to be coming from from within the muslim community.that is the point i am trying to make and if why should smeared as racist and fascist for saying by the goverement and people who call themselfes left wing .it is just not fair,i am not racist and fascist and i never will be….stuart from birmingham

stuart
May 24, 2013 19:16

another thing,the best decision i made in my life is to take my name of the electoral register,i have not voted for 12 years now and never will again,when i did vote,i always voted for the labour party when they used to represent the working classes like me and others in birmingham,i despise all politacal partys now including the labour party who have just abandoned the working classes in favour of middle class england,as for the bnp,well they to me if i did vote would be a wasted vote,they are no worse than all these other 2 faced lying money grabbing politacal partys who promise you the world but give you f.a. back in return,i did not fall into the trap of voting fdr the bnp,they are all crooks and liars like the rest of these lying politicians who con us with there false promises and treat us like zombies who bow than at there feet,thats it with politics with me forever….stuart from birmingham

Ok
May 24, 2013 20:54

Dear Stuart,

I understand your disillusion with politics. Many people of different shades feel the same way. But be honest: if Muslims went away, would you really be happy, or would you start looking around for some other ethnic groups to kick out of “your country”? Why not “black” people? Or Jewish people?

“Your country” is home to many people who are different from you in some ways, it is their country as much as it it yours, and there’s nothing you can do about that. Is this the “racial injustice” you speak of, the fact that you can’t be king of the castle?

I’m sorry but, if you don’t like it, maybe you should leave. Why should other minorities leave the country of their birth? I’m sorry but you’re just gonna have to suck it up. Some people are just bad, and it has nothing to do with ethnicity.

stuart
May 24, 2013 23:24

i have never judged any fellow brit by the colour of there skin,i grew up in inner city birmingham with black people who i got on with great,i know how black people suffered at the hands police,i have witnessed that many times.i am not stupid enough not to know about the history of the jews and there suffering at the hands of those nazi thugs.yes i do have a problem with islam and some muslims in birmingham and there extremist behaviour,the thing is,i class these muslim extremists as far right as these neo nazis thugs who hate jews and black people,i am not 2 faced about this,anybody who preaches hatred and carrys out murder as we witnessed in london this week whether there white or muslim must be classed as far right mongers of hate and death,that is my honest point of view that i hope left wing people in the media will try and understand.my first post at the top was full of anger because i was angry and i apologise for my swearing,i hope now that you just read my point of view and not class me as some racist or fascist which i am not

Ok
May 25, 2013 19:42

Ok, I see.

Please tell me more about the “racial injustice” you say you have suffered as a white person, that “the left” and the police have ignored.

And if you see people who disagree with your views as “the left”, where do you place yourself? On the right?

Just curious.

bob
May 25, 2013 23:12

i feel your frustration stuart mate,and i dont think you are fascist or racist,you have to put your energys into something positive stuart,join a politacal party that cares about you………http://marxismfestival.org.uk/

stuart
May 26, 2013 1:54

@ok.i dont class myself as left or right,what the hell does left or right mean,as for racial injustice,i was attacked 5 weeks ago with my freind by a bus stop in sparbrook in birmingham where i live by 4 pakistanis in a car who told us to get out of there muslim area you white bastards and threatened us with violence.lucky for us we did not live in that muslim area,police got involved,not heard from them since,not interested,i have other freinds and people i know who have been attacked in muslim areas just because of the colour of are skin,if that is not racial injustice what is.

Ok
May 26, 2013 21:59

“i dont class myself as left or right,what the hell does left or right mean”

But in all the paragraphs above you use the disctinctions incessantly. Never mind….

I’m sorry to hear of your experiences, this is not something I hear about often, so it’s useful to hear the other side of the story. I don’t believe that only white people can be racist, but you have to understand that many Muslims are not Pakistani (are you sure they were Pakistani?). You probably walk past loads of white Muslims on a daily basis, so you can’t generalise about all Muslims causing problems, or that Pakistani issues are automatically Muslim ones,

Once you start generalising about a whole group of people, I and many others are likely to just tune you out. Nobody likes -isms of -phobias of any kind.

stuart
May 26, 2013 23:39

do you know what ok,i could not give a fuck about what you think about me,you might mock me to wind me up,thats ok, so its useles to hear the other side of the story you say.well go down to fucking sparkbrook and ask these racist bastards why they picked on me and my freind and racially attacked us,i might not be good at writing and all that shitt in blogs because i am not as clever as you,but my post was to daniel twilling if you have not noticed,why are you sticking you big nose in shitt that has nothing to do with you.bty bob,i cant afford to join your party in london,iam on the dole

stuart
May 27, 2013 0:40

another thing,right wingers like you ok always look down on the working classes,you call us scroungers,you slag are women off and say they have kids to get houses, you spit on the homeless soldiers in doorways, you cut are are dole money so you can fund al qaeda in syria,you tell us to pay money for extra bedrooms,you go on holiday while most working class familys cant afford a day out in blaclpool,you sneer at poor people while david cameron and his wife drink wine in spain, i hate you middle class and upper class liars,you live a life of good wine and big houses,you dont know what poverty is,you hate us and we hate you,so go to hell with your posh voices and lies about us,we have had enough of you lot ok,ok

bob
May 27, 2013 3:03

stuart,dont let them wind you up mate.unemployed people get concessions to attend are meetings brother.contact swp.com/birmingham branch.

bob
May 27, 2013 3:11

oops.typo.swp.org.uk

stuart
May 27, 2013 3:49

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tUBVU73ziM…..ok…i have my say,,,thank you daniel for letting me have my say,,,,enough is enough,,i move on now,,,bob,,,thank you but no thanks,,i am skinto….i no fascist or racist,,,my favorite band is santigold…thank you all,bye

Jerry Clifford Kays
Aug 26, 2016 17:52

an interesting interchange that … reflecting the state we are in after the powers that be have divided us to conquer us … making us too busy conflicting and blaming each other to ever realize the “enemy” is the same for all of us … it hides and laughs at us as it enjoys the negativities that result.

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