Keep Nazi uniforms out of our bunkers

How very tasteful!

It's come to my attention in the last couple of days that a small bust-up has occurred in the last week within the fortress subcommittee (FSC) of the Channel Islands Occupation Society, and it's given me a bit of a wee cause for concern.

You might remember from a blogpost I wrote back in September, criticizing the increasingly common presence of Nazi swastikas graffitied onto the island's German bunkers, that I'm not such a fan of edgy neo-fascist symbology around our bunkers.

You may also be aware that last week's meeting of the Occupation Society's FSC recorded in their minutes a certain discussion, entitled:

"It was brought to the meeting under general conversation that the current rule with regards to uniforms being worn needs to be altered, potentially to be allowed with the main committees’ approval due to the number of living history / re-enactment groups we have visiting the societies various complexes, as the rue stands, we should be refusing entry to said groups / people which would, be very detrimental to the societies (sic) reputation as well as losing a fair amount of entrance fees"

Entrance fees! Of course! Who cares about neo-Nazis potentially latching onto this when there's money to be made?

You know, I'll say right here and now that this is just my two cents. I'm not involved with the Occupation Society or maintenance of these sites in general, so maybe there's something I'm not getting here. That said, I feel like it's going to be a lot more "detrimental to the societies (sic) reputation" to allow uniformed fascists to parade around our bunkers under the guise of re-enactment - as Jon Carter, head of Jersey Heritage once called the idea, it's "insensitive, tasteless and insulting to the victims of Nazi tyranny".

That's right, we've had this debate before, and the clowns in favour were pretty soundly rejected. Back in 2007, Insel Soldaten, a group of "re-enactors" led by infamous public twit and Moore Stevens trust officer Simon Dodkins, tried to convince us that letting people who enjoy dressing up as agents of ideological criminality and homicidal racism was A-OK. After a public consultation, in which a large amount of people came out violently against the idea, and the President of the Jersey Jewish Congregation said it would "give encouragement to those people who either deny the holocaust or perhaps more unfortunately tacitly support all or part of the aims thereof", this got followed up by a Special Branch investigation into potential links with off-island neo-Nazi groups. Sounds pretty sensitive, right? Not according to our Mr Dodkins, who, according to the local rag, claimed at the time that "he could not understand why opinion was divided within the Occupation Society as to whether dressing up as German soldiers was a good idea or not". 

Is Mr Dodkins thick, or simply deeply out of touch? I wouldn't dare presume exactly what sort of ideas in Mr Dodkins' head might've precipitated that sort of view, but suffice to say it feels a little worrying. 

I'm not sure why, after the previous pushers of this farce of an idea were investigated by national counter-terrorism police, the Occupation Society are working on this idea again. 

Who in the right mind thinks they're serving the public interest by pushing for this?

Sun's out, guns out!

Occupying British forces suppress a protest in Basra, 2003

Seems the military-industrial complex is planning to enjoy the sun while it lasts.

This Saturday, another militarist showboat will fill up our Royal Square. Armed Forces Day will be marked in Jersey and across the country by military drills and army stalls, with the flag of the armed forces to be flown from the Royal Court and the Cenotaph for the rest of the week and reservists and cadets set to attend work and school in army uniforms.

I hate to rain on the parade, so to speak, but I can't be the only one who is deeply disturbed by the continuing attempt to normalise the presence of the agents of state violence in ordinary people's lives. As recruitment stalls in the latest episode of a long-term decline in the size of the army, the generals are desperate to shore up their recruitment levels, and parades like those that take place on AF day are another familiar part of this ongoing campaign - they are designed to glamourise the armed forces and encourage you to become another cog in the military machine. Don't be sucked in. https://dontjointhearmy.co.uk/ is a site produced by former soldiers, in order to show potential squaddies what life in the army is really like.

The news is grim. The ex-troopers report poor food, standing on parade for hours on end, endlessly polishing uniform and accommodation, loss of free speech and severe punishment for failure to obey orders such as "report to the officers' mess, they need a waiter tonight", "stick your chin out, I am going to punch you" and "you aren't going home this weekend. You're on guard instead". The training encourages soldiers to form an in-group and hate civilians, operators in other branches in the military and foreigners, marshaling this hatred in order to psychologically transform ordinary recruits into killers. And while we're on the subject of killing - 179 British soldiers were killed in the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. 456 were killed in a similar intervention in Afghanistan. During Operation Banner, the British intervention in Northern Ireland, 763 servicemen were killed.

Don't become a killer. Don't become a casualty. Please, don't join the army.

If you go to the event on Armed Forces Day, if nothing else go with the knowledge that they are trying to suck you in. Go with the knowledge that the smiling men and women trying to get you to take the Queen's shilling have only one aim - more cannon fodder for the generals to sent off to die.

I even made a playlist just for the occasion. Let's see if the squaddies enjoy this one.