British National Party (BNP) Parliamentary candidate Bob Bailey ran into a group of three Desi toughs in East London while campaigning earlier today, and the following is the result:
If you look at the reaction in the YouTube comments, as well as in the coverage of the story at the Daily Mail, there is an overwhelming consensus by readers that the Asian “thugs” got what was coming to them.
And yes, it’s hard to deny that the smaller South Asian kid in black started the physical altercation by spitting in Bob Bailey’s face. Unfortunately, the commenters on these sites are using the incident to unleash wads of racist bile… Pretty disgusting to read.
At least at Pickled Politics, the commentary on the incident is more sane. My favorite comment there is “Platinum786,” who writes: “If someone spits at you and you punch them, fair enough it’s almost instinct. If that leads to someone punching you back, pushing you, you fight back, again that is instinct. Once they’re on the ground, kicking them, that’s BNP” (link)
My own question is this: what exactly was Bob Bailey saying as the youths approached him on the street? My suspicion is that they thought he was accusing them of being “robbers,” but he may not have intended to say that. Can anyone work it out?
In the end, it doesn’t really matter that much — a brawl is still a brawl. But I can’t help but wonder: was this thing was the result of a misunderstanding caused partially by British accent differences?
Update: Here’s a little bit of backstory on Bob Bailey. Quite the character! (Now I understand better why he was on foot to begin with…)
Now there’s a real fascist! Shilpa salutes her desi boys’ bravery! Those thugs pointed out that they outnumbered the desis, but the desis fought bravely on!
Shilpa: What if the desi kids were Muslims or shudder even Pakistanis? Who would be the fascists then?
“How many of you use rubbers”?
Maybe he just didnt want to see anymore unwanted babies?
And what is up with the desi in the stripped shirt? I loved how he just got involved enough to be around the fight, but not actually be in the fight. That is a politician right there. Sign him up.
ShallowThinker, to my ear (and I had a few Britishers as teachers pre-IIT) the BNP man pretty clearly says “How many of you(se) are robbers”?
Pagal_Aadmi–hehe, then it would be like Kissinger’s take on Iran-Iraq war?
And what is up with the desi in the stripped shirt? I loved how he just got involved enough to be around the fight, but not actually be in the fight. That is a politician right there. Sign him up.
My theory is that he didn’t want to get his face on camera. But he ended up just looking stupid, as did the BNP guy on the other side who kept saying, “calm down, calm down” while Bob Bailey was going nuts. (Interestingly among the BNP guys, it seems like only the middle aged politician Bailey was really into it. The young men who were backing him were mostly just standing around!)
Shilpa, I gotta believe that you are just kidding. Whatever the religion of these boyz, they clearly were provoked to get out of their car by the BNP fascists. I am sure Bailey said something that provoked them; we only saw the proximate provocation by Bailey. There is something else that Bailey and his goondas said or did first.
Of course, Tuyngin, even Shilpa knows most Muslims aren’t Taliban! Shouldn’t even need to be said! That should be the baseline against which to interpret stuff. Who really thinks that? Maybe BNP!
Amardeep, Bailey is ex-Royal Marine, that’s why he’s actually tougher than the young BNP guys, I guess.
I for one am totally sick of these Indian “wiggers” acting like they are from the ghetto. In reality, while they’re out being “hood” their poor mothers are cleaning their rooms and making parathas for dinner. This was embarrassing.
Karan@8:
This is a stereotype.
You are merely writing; Bailey is actually ready for fisticuffs.
It sounds as if Bailey or one of his companions says something like “filth coming in here or what.” The spitting by the Asian guy started the physical fight, but it’s hard to argue that Bailey isn’t being a racist jerk. And those kids don’t look like “Desi toughs.” They look like kids. Parts of East London are pretty rough — if Bailey were to provoke some real Asian toughs, I suspect he would regret it.
I don’t think this was a misunderstanding. Bailey clearly was trying to provoke a reaction.
I support Bailey. The “thugs” got away lightly – i reckon they needed a bit more beating. Bailey let them off lightly – try spitting on a “desi” pollie and you would be lucky to be alive. “Spitting” is just not on. The thugs were looking for a fight – they got one. No sympathy from me.
Why were they out and about – rather than at home studying like good desi kids 😉
MB@11:
I agree with most of what you say except the first and the last sentences.
No need to support anybody.
People immigrate to free countries. In free countries, people are allowed to be out and about. They need not be at home and study all the time.
the irony 🙂 the comment was tongue in cheek. “free country” – UK maybe many things but free ? Your right to swing your arm stops where the other man’s nose begins. I pray Oz does not go the UK route – immigrants sponging off welfare.
Another stereotype.
Don’t believe what Murdoch’s papers tell you. You can’t get welfare as an immigrant here (UK), you need to be a permanent resident first (which takes 5 – 6 years) before you can touch any form or public funding (as it says in my passport).
And to my ears the transcript is: “how many o us are robbers?”, it feels like a provocation to something earlier.
I suspect Bailey has had some martial arts or paracombatives training. Does he have a military background?
I say this because most people’s first instinct in such a situation is to throw a punch or a kick. But Bailey’s first move was to grab the kid’s head and throw his elbow. If that blow had landed the kid would be in a world of hurt. A broken nose and split lip if he was lucky but probably much worse.
i read that just before this fight, nick griffin was campaigning along with bailey, and people started pelting griffin with tomatoes, so griffin got into a car and drive off. the guardian said that it appears these guys were just coming out onto the street after having heard the commotion involving griffin. the guardian reports hat the police is not following up, but the times reports that they are making enquiries. interesting, this scuffle was the headline, but not the focus, of each article, which mainly discussed disagreements within the party. amardeep, thanks for posting this.
I support Bailey. The “thugs” got away lightly – i reckon they needed a bit more beating. Bailey let them off lightly – try spitting on a “desi” pollie and you would be lucky to be alive. “Spitting” is just not on. The thugs were looking for a fight – they got one. No sympathy from me. Why were they out and about – rather than at home studying like good desi kids 😉 not sure if you are being serious, melbourne, but if you are, considering that he is running for public office and they are not, and also considering that his response was blatantly disproportionate to their provocation, i would have to disagree with you here.
and also considering that his response was blatantly disproportionate to their provocation, i would have to disagree with you here.
are you a jain? 🙂 yeah, he went pretty medieval to be sure. but sometimes this is reflex. one time in high school a skater kid spit on the back of my neck in english class (he sat behind me). i remember feeling his warm saliva, and next thing i know i had turned and jumped on top of him and was punching him (he would whisper annoying shit when i was trying to read sometimes, so he had a history of harassing me). luckily the teacher liked me a lot and the skater was a trouble maker, so i wasn’t suspended or anything. but i wasn’t really thinking too consciously, when someone disrespects you you sometimes see red. of course, this dude obviously doesn’t like brown folk, though to be fair i wasn’t a big fan of stoner-skaters.
i assume lots of white folk in england feel like they’ve been harassed and disrespected by colored youth, and so they’re reacting positively because of that. just like if you saw a kwiki mart owner in the USA pull out a bat and start beating the crap out of redneck thugs who were harassing him you might have reflexive sympathy because you had the experience of being outnumbered and targeted by people like that.
Yup–see comment #7.
Here’s how Mr. Bailey fared in his electoral contest —
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/constituency/d74.stm
Hmm, not so sure I agree that the ‘thugs’ started it…seriously, a bunch of middle aged men attacking kids? Its pretty clear that Bailey and co. were provoking them. But then, its the BNP. Obviously they would take time out of their hate- filled campaign trail to beat up a couple of boys. What I find even more scary is how quickly the BNP is becoming mainstream in the UK. Yikes.
i have to disagree with you here. If you spit on someone – all bets are off. In fact if anything the respone was very weak to the provocation. Would your response have been the same if the attackers were white kids while the pollie was black or desi. What if someone had spit on Obama? the media would be screaming racism ( very correctly). As a brown immigrant in a foreign country every Faisal and brown thug hurts me personally 🙂
I dont know who to believe. for now ill take the murdoch press over the guardian.
Precisely – the way to fight discrimination and prejudice is not via thuggery but the ballot box.
Nice–pro-Hindu Tory MP win,, BNP fascist loss!
“there is an overwhelming consensus by readers that the Asian “thugs†got what was coming to them.”
Who do you think comments on these YouTube clips? Just check out the comments on Express India and Ican assure you, tha you will have nightmares. You Tube comments are not an opinion poll.
please do note that spitting is a disgusting action and can only be justified when enjoying a lovely paan.
The desi thugs are at fault here completely.
Ew. I don’t think a lovely paan is a justification.. but rather another reason NOT to spit (think of all the poor innocent walls , and the arms hanging out bus windows that have been subsequently violated)
One should have a right to enjoy a fine breeze without fear of paan-in-face.
It seems pretty clear that the brown dudes started the fight. That’s not cool. That said, if you’re going to pick a fight with anyone, I think it should be a BNP parliamentarian.
LinZi, what about in a bucket in a safe environment? 🙂 mmmm sweet paan!
thugs, i fail to see how these three guys were thugs? they approached the BNP candidate after he said something that i am sure did not go along the lines of “good afternoon, how is your day so far?”. spitting is a vile but so is hating someone for the colour of their skin.
I’m okay with them starting the fight, but they were too lily-livered to follow through on the bravado. That is what’s not cool.
Maybe not cool. But you don’t take provocational BS to the wrong places for its own sake. This is a micro UK version of taking a Klan rally to College Park. You’d think Sascha Cohen was behind this, except it’s not funny.
If only it was so simple as the color of your skin! Their hate has far deeper and uglier roots than that- they effectively treat any culture that’s not White (Protestant) as completely inferior and deserving of abuse, complete with an insipid variety of the UK’s proud divide and conquer policy. And I hate them.
One politician surrounded by body guards utters a racial inference = klan rally? It is disrespectful to equate what this guy said to the klan. I know someone who was actually harassed by the klan and I don’t like bogus comparisons made for the sake of winning an argument.
I have commented as san previously but the comment here and another one are not mine. Needless to say it is not too important but I won’t be commenting in the future so the user name is available
NYX, just take it for what it is and stop whining about what you think is a some sort of insult to your friend.
Some of you are really blowing my mind on how you take the sides of the BNP guy. If you want to self hate then why dont you go and punch your father in the face for making you brown.
Thanks for the ad hominem. I was feeling so left out before the knight in shallow armor acknowledged my presence. Give me a moment to weep like the Bollywood heroines of yore. There is no ‘self hate’. Nor am I ‘whining’. Nice projection though. You just cannot stand that some people will not take the side of a bunch of young yahoos who spit on a BNP chump based on a racial slight and got roundly beaten by him.
Just wanted to chime in and say I never thought I’d see desis defending the BNP on SM. But I guess anything is possible: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250949/BNP-votes-allow-non-whites-join-party.html
There are no British Accent differences, in our area, which is WASP in american terms, 1,500 people voted BNP. YOu have got to understand two contradictory facts
1) BNP are actually a minority and are to be taken no more seriously in the UK then your own KKK is stateside 2) It is a fact that Asians ( what you call Desi) will always have a glass ceiling which they can’t break, because in their hearts even the liberal whites don’t like non whites getting on in work, life etc. That said, most BNP, Combat 18 ( their terrorist wing, which kills asians and blacks, and yet unlike other terrorists is legal), NF types ate working class blue collar chav stupid worthless trailer trash who blame non whites for all their insecurities.
Spitting..how denigrating. Desi dude would have shown more class if he pulled his one of his chappals off his feet and slapped Bailey with it a couple of times.
This reminds me of a certain “Rivers of Blood” speech..
I think however as we integrate as a society; the BNP will start to become less of a threat. After all Britain, like the West (and much of the world), has always been a high immigrant society.
Racial purity is a myth and eventual global unity cannot be prevented. There is no alternative to a united humanity.
Yeah Amardeep, its very convenient to notice only such incidents when the damn native Whitey can actually fight back against Brown thugs. The hundreds (thousands?) of incidents of Pakistanis thrashing whites, criminal gang activity against defenseless native whites will never be posted here of course. Damn those racists nazi British whites for fighting back. And I’m brown BTW.
Britain has an issue with thugs regardless if their ancestors came from Normandy with William the Conqueror or Babur who founded the Mughal empire.
Is he the one who converted the Vedic temple/palace complex into the taj mahal? 😉
“And yes, it’s hard to deny that the smaller South Asian kid in black started the physical altercation by spitting in Bob Bailey’s face.”
The question is, what prompted the spit ? Looks like the british version of this if you ask me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fojkVfh0WQI
or this
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/214912/
It looks like the Brit was clearly making racial epithets first, and what people don’t realize is, there’s really no verbal comeback to a racial slur. That’s kinda the point of the word, it’s a word I say against you, and because of who you are, and who I am, and the history between our groups, there is NO VERBAL COMEBACK.
What’s the comeback to being called a “N8Gger” ? a challenge to get physical (break my radio ) or an upping of “honkey’ to “dead honkey”
Here’s the real pryor skit
http://www.yourememberthat.com/media/12064/Famous_SNL_Skit_with_Chevy_Chase_and_Richard_Pryor/
Perhaps I am being old fashioned but I don’t think spit should be a good response to racial prejudice. The skit is funny (chevy chase is always hilarious – I loved him as Ford) but it has little relevance to the incident at hand unless we presuppose that the BNP politician has power over those two or three desis (how? I wonder. Other than being a random white Brit). How much more damage could the boys do by asking gently what the BNP politician meant, chastising him that it is not right to use the slur and record him on video . Spit is never the proper response to a racial slur (nor is acting like wannabe thugs). These young guys, to put it mildly, were not snow flakes. As to the ‘N’ word, any African American can just record a guy or girl using it and destroy his career, reputation and future prospects. No need for him or her to go ‘yo mama’ on this.
“Perhaps I am being old fashioned but I don’t think spit should be a good response to racial prejudice”
no, if you were being old fashioned, you’d say that the browns shouldn’t even walk on the same side of the street as the white folks. I never said spit is a “good” response. I’m saying the purpose of a racial attack is to undercut any sensible verbal response. A racial epithet is useless without history. When Michael Richards yelled “throw him out it’s a n*gger” at the laugh factory, the phrase would be meaningless without the history (in fact he even explicitly called in that history, saying 50 yrs ago you’d be upside down hanging from a tree)
However, it’s not a surprising response, also there’s a maturity difference here. those are kids and these are adults. It’s not justified, but give me a break, this guy is running for some kind of political office or whatever ?
“The skit is funny (chevy chase is always hilarious – I loved him as Ford) but it has little relevance to the incident at hand unless we presuppose that the BNP politician has power over those two or three desis”
It had major relevance, if you actually care to read what I wrote in the original post. When Chase says “n*gger” pryor has no verbal counteraction (so he invokes violence by saying “dead honkey”)
“As to the ‘N’ word, any African American can just record a guy or girl using it and destroy his career, reputation and future prospects”
Thanks for proof of your complete ignorance. Do you ever stop to think that an African American wouldn’t even know the word exists were it not the history of it’s usage against them ? Please, go pick up a history book. Does context of usage have any meaning to you?
That’s because he’s at a job interview and chevy chase is in the position of power as his employer. The BNP fellow was not hiring anyone nor is he influencing anyone politically (despite some seats in the local elections, I gather that the BNP had no members in parliament or house of lords. I am willing to be proven wrong. I am not very knowledgeable about British political affairs). Can you think of no non violent responses to racial slurs (other than dead h-)? I don’t think so.
When did I say I did not know the history of the ‘N’ word? Why would I not know the history of the ‘N’ word as an American? That’s just bizarre. I never talked about the history of the ‘N’ word. I talked about its implications today. You were stating that it is not possible to have a nonviolent response to a racist slur without being silenced. I just stated that it was false. Your implication that people of color are snowflakes that will wilt at the first hint of racist sentiment is bizarre.
The real issue here is that those pussies got the shit beaten out of them by a middle aged, white man. That’s fucking hilarious.
What I find even more scary is how quickly the BNP is becoming mainstream in the UK.
Not only the UK, but also in the rest of Western Europe are seeing the rise in right wings groups. It not hard to guess what group is causing most of the problems in Europe that causing more native Europeans to support far right groups.