An explanation of what went wrong with the 20th of december london protest and what implications this might have for future protests...
It is now widely accepted by left-wing online forums, online newspapers and organisations that the protest called today is "at best a fake, at worst an EDL front designed to discredit student demonstrations or even ambush peaceful protesters" (
http://lolrevolution.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/2012-march-of-resistance-an-edl-front/#comment-18)
This information, as much as it was originally based on some factual evidence, is WRONG.
The rumour only started (and spread rapidly) when the young, idealistic and somewhat naive organiser of the event lied about having the support of various trade unions and student groups. People obviously became suspicious and questioned his motives for calling the march in the first place, which was followed by further evasiveness on his part. Please read this brilliant peace of research by Adelaida Morales on the true identity of the organiser:
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"Please see the following conversation: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2010/12/470670.jpg . Does this mean that John Abrahams is a BNP fanatic/ supporter? I think this might be the case, however perhaps there are two John Abrahams. This is after all, a very common name.
.
The creator of this site [the facebook event for the march] changed his name recently into John Abrahams (working under the name here of "UK People's Initiative: March of Resistance). His real name is Angel Versetti (try and see for yourself: en-gb.facebook.com/people/Angel-Versetti/100001855624976?). Angel Versetti is in contract to John Abrahams quite a rare name.
.
Now we know who has created the site, I have found this in Google's mighty cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3AtcDswqK7HxIJ%3Ais-is.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D476528996977%26id%3D95873726977+bnp+%22Angel+Versetti%22&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a . (Angel: "Such people [i.e. BNP MPs] should not be allowed to go into politics. I'm really glad they didn't win a single seat in the parliament").
.
Angel Versetti is perhaps indeed an Austrian name (of originally Italian decent). This get confirmed when you read the following forum post: http://www.virtualvienna.net/main/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=11072 . Thus, we can conclude that Angel is probably from Vienna, while his email address is now known to use as well. His (grand)parents (at least one of them) were probably economic refugees from Italy in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s or perhaps political refugees in Il Duce's Italy.
.
Angel also created the "Cambridge University Further Education Summer School course 2010" ( http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3AYPpYx1cgjqUJ%3Awww.hs.facebook.com%2Fgroup.php%3Fgid%3D126767094020564%26v%3Dwall+http%3A%2F%2Fis-is.facebook.com%2Fangel.versetti&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a) . Hence, he is probably a Cambridge undergrad or a language students (he studied English in Britain).
.
Plus the guy has been writing against the cuts already for month (e.g. http://angel-versetti.livejournal.com/tag/angel%20versetti).
.
Ergo, I think his persona is completely legit. It was just a silly move of his to organise this without union or organised support. However, I reckon Angel to be idealistic, young and motivated, which maybe explains it all a bit."
She argues futhermore:
"I think Angel position is an interesting one. I hypothesise the following:
.
I personally don't think he is Swiss actually, he might originally be from Italy (the chapel in the background is St Peter in Rome: http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/76/m_f590bf402e054bb2ab9b85a604dda747.jpg). However, I think (50 percent sure) he is originally of Georgian descent but born in Russia. Why? Because he knows Russian ( http://www.podgotovka.ru/detail.php?siteid=8475&catid=7 (translates as "Teaches English in Moscow")) and because Versetti called be a Georgian name (translated from Cyrillic). Finally, he said somewhere in a link that he only since recently has been living in Vienna (that was October 2008).
.
He is not the kind of person that the EDL would consider " proper British" or even "European", so it is unlikely that he would want to be associated with them. He does however support Wilders, which not means he automatically support the EDL. Remember that Geert Wilders openly denounced an EDL demonstration some months ago in the Netherlands and said "I share nothing in common with the EDL and would not in any way want to be associated with them". Angel Versetti could support Wilders, given cultural upbringings (mostly religious maybe), naiveté etc.
.
Why he not openly said to be Angel Versetti? I reckon he could be thrown out of the country... UK immigrations laws are horrendous (personal experience)."
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BLESS HIM, he just doesn't know what he is doing and it was too much to handle for him :)
The whole thing ended in a political rumour-frenzy culminating with veterans and various left-wing groups issuing statements that the EDL called this march in the first place, when, in fact, the organiser is completely innocent. The EDL are most likely to be there (since they promised to attend future student marches) but let's be honest, what real threat can they pose to our movement. LET THEM COME, as long as they are not organising any marches in our name. This event was NOT a fake or called by the EDL, however they most likely caught on and are USING IT TO THEIR OWN ADVANTAGE NOW.
It's a shame, it really is. Of course the organiser can take some blame for this as he lied to people in the first place; but I am sorry, it literally is just the mistakes of a 17 year old who is, at worst, not mature enough yet to take on responsibility for an event of this size. I have, however, NO DOUBT as to his good intentions when creating this event. I feel bad for the kid and while I think people had more than enough reason to be suspicious we should NOT have gunned him down the way we did.
This has some serious implications for further marches that may be organised independently, I have a yet unconfirmed anxiety that everyone is going to be afraid to attend anything that isn't "officially" backed, never mind all the bitter internal bickering and arguing that i saw online over the last few days.
What I saw repeated over the last few days, even weeks (we had slightly similar ideological divides at the Goldsmiths Occupation) in online discussions could be boiled down to this (please correct me if I'm wrong): An argument in the left between groups of people on one side saying that marches do NOT need to be organised (Anarchists?) and people from all sorts of backgrounds on the other side arguing that they do (Socialists?). Sorry for generalising here if you are neither an anarchist or a socialist, but I'm sure you get my drift.
I'll leave it to you to discuss this in full with whatever side on the left it is that you are bickering with at the moment, but could I please ask for mature, rational discussion in the light of the common aim: SOLIDARITY WITH ANYONE WHO IS AGAINST THE CUTS.
We need to pull together, have some sort of dialogue about any ideological issues at hand and then get down to practicalities; the age old problem of that split in the left whenever the right is on the rise springs to my mind once again. This is how Hittler came to power in the 1930's when the socialists and communists in Germany couldn't get their act together...
We have a COMMON ENEMY, can we work on that basis?
http://lolrevolution.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/2012-march-of-resistance-an-edl-front/#comment-18) This information, as much as it was originally based on some factual evidence, is WRONG.
The rumour only started (and spread rapidly) when the young, idealistic and somewhat naive organiser of the event lied about having the support of various trade unions and student groups. People obviously became suspicious and questioned his motives for calling the march in the first place, which was followed by further evasiveness on his part. Please read this brilliant peace of research by Adelaida Morales on the true identity of the organiser:
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
"Please see the following conversation:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2010/12/470670.jpg . Does this mean that John Abrahams is a BNP fanatic/ supporter? I think this might be the case, however perhaps there are two John Abrahams. This is after all, a very common name. .
The creator of this site [the facebook event for the march] changed his name recently into John Abrahams (working under the name here of "UK People's Initiative: March of Resistance). His real name is Angel Versetti (try and see for yourself: en-gb.facebook.com/people/Angel-Versetti/100001855624976?). Angel Versetti is in contract to John Abrahams quite a rare name.
.
Now we know who has created the site, I have found this in Google's mighty cache:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3AtcDswqK7HxIJ%3Ais-is.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D476528996977%26id%3D95873726977+bnp+%22Angel+Versetti%22&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a . (Angel: "Such people [i.e. BNP MPs] should not be allowed to go into politics. I'm really glad they didn't win a single seat in the parliament"). .
Angel Versetti is perhaps indeed an Austrian name (of originally Italian decent). This get confirmed when you read the following forum post:
http://www.virtualvienna.net/main/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=11072 . Thus, we can conclude that Angel is probably from Vienna, while his email address is now known to use as well. His (grand)parents (at least one of them) were probably economic refugees from Italy in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s or perhaps political refugees in Il Duce's Italy. .
Angel also created the "Cambridge University Further Education Summer School course 2010" (
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3AYPpYx1cgjqUJ%3Awww.hs.facebook.com%2Fgroup.php%3Fgid%3D126767094020564%26v%3Dwall+http%3A%2F%2Fis-is.facebook.com%2Fangel.versetti&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a) . Hence, he is probably a Cambridge undergrad or a language students (he studied English in Britain). .
Plus the guy has been writing against the cuts already for month (e.g.
http://angel-versetti.livejournal.com/tag/angel%20versetti). .
Ergo, I think his persona is completely legit. It was just a silly move of his to organise this without union or organised support. However, I reckon Angel to be idealistic, young and motivated, which maybe explains it all a bit."
She argues futhermore:
"I think Angel position is an interesting one. I hypothesise the following:
.
I personally don't think he is Swiss actually, he might originally be from Italy (the chapel in the background is St Peter in Rome:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/76/m_f590bf402e054bb2ab9b85a604dda747.jpg). However, I think (50 percent sure) he is originally of Georgian descent but born in Russia. Why? Because he knows Russian ( http://www.podgotovka.ru/detail.php?siteid=8475&catid=7 (translates as "Teaches English in Moscow")) and because Versetti called be a Georgian name (translated from Cyrillic). Finally, he said somewhere in a link that he only since recently has been living in Vienna (that was October 2008). .
He is not the kind of person that the EDL would consider " proper British" or even "European", so it is unlikely that he would want to be associated with them. He does however support Wilders, which not means he automatically support the EDL. Remember that Geert Wilders openly denounced an EDL demonstration some months ago in the Netherlands and said "I share nothing in common with the EDL and would not in any way want to be associated with them". Angel Versetti could support Wilders, given cultural upbringings (mostly religious maybe), naiveté etc.
.
Why he not openly said to be Angel Versetti? I reckon he could be thrown out of the country... UK immigrations laws are horrendous (personal experience)."
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
BLESS HIM, he just doesn't know what he is doing and it was too much to handle for him :)
The whole thing ended in a political rumour-frenzy culminating with veterans and various left-wing groups issuing statements that the EDL called this march in the first place, when, in fact, the organiser is completely innocent. The EDL are most likely to be there (since they promised to attend future student marches) but let's be honest, what real threat can they pose to our movement. LET THEM COME, as long as they are not organising any marches in our name. This event was NOT a fake or called by the EDL, however they most likely caught on and are USING IT TO THEIR OWN ADVANTAGE NOW.
It's a shame, it really is. Of course the organiser can take some blame for this as he lied to people in the first place; but I am sorry, it literally is just the mistakes of a 17 year old who is, at worst, not mature enough yet to take on responsibility for an event of this size. I have, however, NO DOUBT as to his good intentions when creating this event. I feel bad for the kid and while I think people had more than enough reason to be suspicious we should NOT have gunned him down the way we did.
This has some serious implications for further marches that may be organised independently, I have a yet unconfirmed anxiety that everyone is going to be afraid to attend anything that isn't "officially" backed, never mind all the bitter internal bickering and arguing that i saw online over the last few days.
What I saw repeated over the last few days, even weeks (we had slightly similar ideological divides at the Goldsmiths Occupation) in online discussions could be boiled down to this (please correct me if I'm wrong): An argument in the left between groups of people on one side saying that marches do NOT need to be organised (Anarchists?) and people from all sorts of backgrounds on the other side arguing that they do (Socialists?). Sorry for generalising here if you are neither an anarchist or a socialist, but I'm sure you get my drift.
I'll leave it to you to discuss this in full with whatever side on the left it is that you are bickering with at the moment, but could I please ask for mature, rational discussion in the light of the common aim: SOLIDARITY WITH ANYONE WHO IS AGAINST THE CUTS.
We need to pull together, have some sort of dialogue about any ideological issues at hand and then get down to practicalities; the age old problem of that split in the left whenever the right is on the rise springs to my mind once again. This is how Hittler came to power in the 1930's when the socialists and communists in Germany couldn't get their act together...
We have a COMMON ENEMY, can we work on that basis?
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