I think it is instructive that the Ian Durrant story broke the same week as the Call It Out meeting had to move venue due to threats.
I had known of the venue situation over the weekend.
However, I wanted the organisers of the Call It Out meeting to source an alternative venue before reporting on it.
If there was any discussion as to whether or not there is a need for Call It Out then the klan have provided it in spades.
Today I spoke at length with a spokesperson for the Renfield St Stephen’s Centre.
He said that they had a duty of care to their staff and that, after consulting with the police, they had rescinded the let to the nascent Call It Out organisation “in the interests of public order”.
The spokesperson told me that the centre had held an event with a “Sinn Féin speaker” some months earlier.
This had prompted a series of threatening phone calls and then several what he styled “extremists” came to the centre and the staff found this intimidating.
Therefore, that was the immediate background to the centre cancelling the hall let to the group last week.
It should be clear that the folk at the centre are not the bad guys in this shameful episode.
Sadly, there people in Scotland who feel culturally authorised to indulge in this intimidation
Of course, that which is cultural is not amenable to reason.
Consequently, Mr Durrant probably thought nothing of his outburst at the time as anti-Catholic sentiment is woven into the fabric of Scottish culture.
It had existed for centuries in Fair Caledonia and long before the Catholic Irish arrived in large numbers fleeing An Gorta Mór.
However, sectarianism and xenophobia became synonymous and theological antipathy towards the Church of Rome and nativist hostility to the Irish became conjoined prejudices.
By the time I was born in the 1950s anti-Irish racism and hatred of Catholics were woven together to create the Scotland that I grew up in.
I was very clear that I was growing up in a society where I was part of a highly othered minority.
The community response was the keep the head down and hope that the natives would continue to sullenly tolerate the Irish Gastarbeiter amongst them.
Of course, the locals had the right to abuse and intimidate the Fenians when the spirit moved them.
Thankfully my trio has had no such experience and that isn’t because Scotland has measurably improved.
It’s because I took them out of it.
I do not know Mr Durrant.
However, I’m sure that he is Quintessentially British and acts at all times with Unsurpassed Dignity.
However, the belief system that socialised him is a cultural tumour that cannot be allowed to remain extant in any decent society.
It is a worldview at variance with decency, respect and tolerance.
The fine people behind Call It Out have all of their work in front of them.
I wish them well.
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What’s going on in an ex player’s mind that he has to grab the mike at a function and abuse the leader of a Christian religion.
No doubt Durrant’s street cred will be through the roof with the support.
Tells you everything about both.
If Stevie G was unaware of the sectarian cesspit he’s jumped into then Durrant and his like should be opening his eyes.
Gerrard is only a couple of bad results away from a story about his trip to Seville in 2003 to cheer on the hoops being released, perhaps with a photo in a retro strip being thrown in?
Durrant is far from being the brightest tool in the box but that’s no excuse for his behaviour.
Don’t be fooled by the ‘ but he’s a stand up guy’ nonsense being trailed by the media.
A bigot is a bigot, is a bigot and no attempt at a media whitewash will change that.
Two statements from Phil’s article seem similar but are diametrically opposite. One states “anti-catholic sentiment is woven into the fabric of Scottish culture” the other states “in the 1950’s anti-Irish sentiment and hatred of Catholics were woven together to create the Scotland that I grew up in”. The first statement I have no problem with. The catholic religion, like all or at least most other religions, is something worth being “anti” about, however hatred of Catholics, indeed hatred of anyone, no matter how despicable their beliefs may be, is intolerable.
Well done on continuing to call out the klan and their pernicious beliefs and behaviours, Phil. Shocking but not surprising stuff from those who intimidate others and ditto the clown Durrant. HH
Very sad. Lamentable. But growing up in the west of Scotland, all too predictable.
15-20years ago I could sense and feel the the FTP slogan, although still used and said etc, Was starting to become a bit of a faux pas to say least. Even in largely Protestant communities etc it was being used and said less.
This improvement in the catholic Irish’s lot, coinciding with the improvement of the Asian miniorities treatment in Scotland and in U.K.
However there remains a reserved place for hatred of the Irish catholic’s and particularly those who identify with Ireland despite being born here.
As Phil has said before a second or 3rd generation Italian or Indian is more readily allowed to identify as such but not a Irish person.
Durrant dude and acceptance at said event is a sign of how far the cultural environment at ibrox and the surrounding fans and followers have to come.
In the 80s they were 100years behind the times. Now the same people different club, are just a mere 30years behind the rest of us.
Sad
Great post again Phil but I have to disagree on one point.
The Renfield Saint Stephen’s Centre people must take their share of the culpability here.
What happens if every organisation gives in to threats and intimidation?
Don’t we have a police force to ensure our and their safety?
It is not good enough simply to say, “Sorry, no can do.”
Is that what Angela Haggerty said to you when you asked her to edit Downfall?
God bless her, she stood up to the intimidation and threats just like you do on a daily basis Phil.
And she had one of them quite rightly jailed.
We need more Phil’s and Angela’s in this country, people who will call out and stand up to any and all anti-Catholic sectarianism and anti-Irish racism.
I am not a Catholic but was raised a Catholic. I believe in complete religious freedom for all. Every religious group has the right to worship God, according the dictates of their own conscience, however, no-one, individual or collective has the right to force their brand of sectarianism on any or all of the others.
I agree that The Renfield St. Stephen’s Centre should have gone ahead with the event and Police Scotland should have given them their complete support against their brethren from the lodges.
Perhaps, instead of St Stephens Church having to cancel because of “threats and intimidation”, Police Scotland could perform their public duty to make their presence extremely felt at that location, and arrest anybody, on-sight, that attempts to “air their views” publicly. Earlier, in another post, I made reference to my cousin, who called my Catholic neighbours “worshippers of the anti-christ”. I think that label belongs closer to home for these “peepul”, as it is the Christian thing to do to “love thy neighbour”, irrespective of race, colour, creed, sexuality, or whatever. Perhaps the truth simply scares the shit out of them?
While that would work for hosting the event on the day, it wouldn’t stop the troglodytes from intimidating and harassing the staff in the days and weeks following.
The idea of arresting someone for having the temerity to “air their views publicly” is one that you may want to revisit. The majority could use their power to arrest people for airing their view that the Pope is God’s representative on earth and shut down all the Catholic Churches and ban all Catholic schools. Freedom of speech, especially speech you disagree with, is an incredibly important right that has to be protected.
Everybody, in a democratic society, is entitled to free speech, which includes the right to offend (strangely enough). But when that right to cause offence becomes something such as bigotry or xenophobia, then it has gone beyond offensive, and should be punished by the laws of the land.
Sometimes, I wonder what the west of Scotland would be like in the present day without computers, and the world wide web. In my view, technology has eroded morals, and hatred is spewed out by little keyboard warriors without any thought to what they have posted.