Saturday, October 21, 2023

Green Hamas Banners and the banning of the Green Brigade

Another international break is past, another visit to Tynecastle looms, another Champions League week to whet our appetites - and what, against a backdrop of unspeakable evil on the world stage, are we talking about? The Green Brigade.

I've expressed mixed feelings about them in the past: I've condemned them, criticised them, praised them and defended them.

And all of that is quite appropriate. Because as for Oscar Wilde, the only thing worse for the Green Brigade than being talked about is not being talked about - and that can't be allowed to go on for long.

The last two weeks have seen yet another division based on whether the Green Brigade do or don't “speak for me”. Has there ever been a precedent for a fan group that quite deliberately sets itself apart from the main, diverse body of Celtic supporters and demanded that everyone pick a side? (Of course there were other fans' groups who either faded away or lost some battle for pre-eminence as the only show in town – but we don't talk about them.)

There have been statements authored by the types we all know. The people who call themselves republican socialists who don't so much believe in those values as they project them like vegans declaring the heinousness of carnivores at dinner parties.

And, all the while, they get the support of mediocre academics and white, middle-class fan media commentators who see their bread being buttered on the side that exalts cosy rebelliousness from people who would have to run to the toilet if they heard a car backfiring.

To the last rebel

Rebels? Really? There's a difference between being rebels and being belligerents; modern-day Wild Ones answering, "What are you rebelling against?" with, "Whaddya got?"

The views the Green Brigade claim to espouse chime with those of fans who see our club as being born of oppression, a reaction against prejudice, racism, religious bigotry and injustice.

Yet it's possible to believe all of those things without feeling that only the Green Brigade can preach the revealed Word; just as it's possible to consider yourself a Labour Party supporter who is neither a blindly loyal adherent of Jeremy Corbyn nor Keir Starmer - and maybe feel that you preferred something about the party in another era.

Their latest show support of the Palestinians would be laudable were it not for the sheer crassness of its timing and the manner in which it was done.

It's no exaggeration to say that when I woke up to the shock of the Hamas attacks, my thoughts were firstly with the people harmed and in terror; followed by a sickening anticipation of just how brutally Israel would inevitably respond and then, “I wonder what the Green Brigade will do to make it about them?”
Centre: Green Brigade banners and (l) Sideshow: Celtic players


They didn't disappoint.

Do people have a right to fly Palestinian flags at games or elsewhere? Yes. Is there a wider context? Also yes - more than one, in fact - but they are not easily conveyed with a spray-can.

But it would be unforgivably dishonest to ignore the fact that the Green Brigade's actions (at Celtic v Kilmarnock!) were justifiably interpreted as an expression of a palpable glee that Hamas had launched such an audacious attack and that many Israelis had been killed, wounded, kidnapped or terrified. There would have been no reasonable room for doubting that even without the “Victory to the Resistance” banners and – as appalling as it was ludicrous – Hamas-ispired flags.

(There have been risible claims that the green flag with white writing in Arabic saying "ultras Celtic" just coincidentally evokes the style of the official Hamas flag. They belong with excuses that the Totenkopf flag with "936", flown at Ibrox, was just an unfortunate choice of clipart for an ICF flag - in the bin.)

Let me make it clear. I can very easily relate to why many Palestinians, abandoned by what purports to be the civilised world, choose to support Hamas or, even if they don't, refuse to be drawn into condemnation of them. Equally, I can relate to the many Palestinians who are opposed to Hamas, tolerate them distrustfully or even suspect them of actively working with the other side. (Despite what some would have you believe, all of those views can be found by both Palestinian and Israeli individuals.)

Let's also be clear: there can be no false equivalency between the plights of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. It should also be understood that death, suffering, fear, and grief are universal experiences, felt as keenly by all, regardless of nationality, culture, or beliefs. Decent people should recognize that the victims of war have an equal right to compassion. This is a truth often understood by war survivors but scorned by armchair warriors for whom battle is merely televised entertainment.

And, just as I would never dare to condemn any Palestinians – whose connection to the horrors that are ongoing now, and who have been suffering persecution and injustice since their land was taken from them – for how they see their plight best expressed, neither would I presume that they must share my perspective of the issues that affect them viscerally.

And, yet, with their typical sledgehammer understanding of politics and war, that's just what the Green Brigade did with those Hamas banners.

They conflated Palestinian solidarity with support for a group that is in direct opposition to the Palestinian authority and many of its people. A group that controls Gaza, largely thanks to Israel's blockade.

It's as egregious an error as conflating Judaism with the state of Israel, Protestantism with the Orange Order or Irishness with the Provisional IRA – and we know where the Green Brigade stand on those positions.

But worse – far worse than that – is the irreparable harm that flying those banners will have done to Palestinians themselves. Why? (Perhaps this was being profoundly pondered as the spray cans hissed and the delicious prospect of being shared by Ultras social media channels was being drooled over). 

Because the major excuse Israel has given for blockading Gaza and intercepting aid on innumerable occasions has been that it may be a front for smuggling weapons.
Aid worker Mohammad El Halabi was
alleged to have funnelled $50m to Hamas


Right now – without exaggeration the Mossad will be paying close attention to everyone involved with the Green Brigade's “fund-raising efforts for Palestine”. Of course they are – you have a group that continually sings about the Provos, who were closely affiliated to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, another organisation that Israel and its western allies deemed terrorists. Naturally, the majority of the political sages in the Green Brigade are too young to remember the PLO's iconic leader Yasser Arafat, and most of them weren't born when the Provos officially disbanded.

The facts that Arafat was able to win admirers through his efforts to make peace with Israeli governments that considered him a terrorist or that Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness understood that ultimately peace must be negotiated would be of little consequence to the Green Brigade because cheering on the fight from a safe distance is more fun.

And this “football fans'” organisation which embraces low-level criminality as a cultural tattoo believes it can swirl all these issues into one big pyro sing-song and have their charity to Palestine waved on without a raised eyebrow from the Israeli security services.

Has anyone stopped to ask if the flying of the Hamas flag would be worth one aid package to Palestine being blocked? Of course not. 

It's worth noting that while many Palestinians interviewed in the Western media avoided criticizing Hamas, others did distance themselves from the attacks and express sympathy with the victims. Few expressed enthusiasm for the events celebrated so vibrantly by the Green Brigade. 

To require the Green Brigade's delinquent expressions as thought-leadership is both intellectually lazy and morally vacuous. (I await the charge of being a “snowflake”.)

In recent years, some fans have rightly complained about outrageous harassment from special units of Police Scotland. It's almost comical to think that some of the very same would be thrilled to be elevated to the status of a security threat by Mossad. 

Calling on the Green Brigade to consider their values is a futile exercise; they take such entreaties as personal affronts. But any fan has the right to say the Green Brigade speaks only for themselves, not for the club or its supporters as a body. 

Yes, they bring banners; yes, they bring noise and yes, they bring colour. But there are those who believe that should give them carte blanche.

Admittedly, they have done well in the aforementioned charity drives for Palestinians and others. Equally, the Celtic Charity Foundation raised £400,000 from one dinner this month and, across the world, countless fans have and still do raise money for charity - large amounts and small.

Charity is part of Celtic's identity and all of it is to be welcomed but it didn't start with the Green Brigade and it certainly won't end with them. 

The Green Brigade have been given privileged status by the club and, with that has come a sense of entitlement.  They seem to feel that they, and only they, have the good of the club at heart and that, coincidentally, is always what raises the profile of the Green Brigade themselves.

Many say people don't understand Ultras culture, as if we are all too insular to see how football fans organise in central and eastern Europe. We do – ultras culture is most often associated with the far-right that the Green Brigade so despise. It's also associated with the “not here to take part; we're here to take over” culture more often linked with clubs of a nationalist/imperialist agenda.
Green Brigade's IRA-themed Brendan  banner


Several of their banners have been out of order, not least when Brendan Rodgers had to criticise them for attaching his image to political messaging he had good reason to wish to eschew.

Unlike most of the Celtic supporters, they have declared Brendan irredeemable, not so much because he left as because they produced a typically childish banner after his move to Leicester from which they cannot step back. Because they can never step back: they lack the maturity for introspection and self-criticism, never mind accepting any from outsiders.

And outsiders are everyone who doesn't worship at their altar. Many do. Many have come round to the board's idea that Celtic is about atmosphere and being loved abroad before fielding a competitive team.

The sort who constantly post selfies in their latest Adidas kit – and doesn't it go well with the latest Stone Island range? The people who boast about how much they spend on merchandise and join in the modern football selfie culture. “Look at me – I'm at the game – amazing atmosphere – goosebumps!”

The irony shouldn't be lost on anyone that Celtic continually tolerate and try to work things out with the Green Brigade because they're a useful marketing tool, who the club uses like a minstrel show. It's one of those tawdry, unspoken deals that serves the interests of both parties – until it doesn't.

The board of directors have acted, with abysmal timing that appeared tin-eared as Israel's bombardment of Gaza escalated. This can be attributed to a "jobs for the boys and girls" culture within Celtic that often renders their media and PR activities amateurish and counter-productive. 

The board was partly motivated by the understandably hurt words of Nir Bitton and concerns for Liel Abada, who found himself in an invidious position. Unlike most Celtic fans, both are directly affected by the Hamas attacks and the ongoing war and they have every right to express their feelings robustly during this emotional time.

Due to Celtic being, as ever, behind the curve, events have brought so much misery to the Palestinian people have worked in favour of the Green Brigade. Most fans are no admirers of the board, and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has solidified their support for the Palestinians. So, being asked to pick a side has had predictable results.

However, reports of fans being bullied out of seats, ticket forgeries, and attempts to rush gates and burst open fire exits, among other transgressions, may leave the club with no choice but to take long-lasting action against the Green Brigade, irrespective of the fall-out for their show of support for Hamas.

It is their very determination to live up to the "last rebel" image that evinces the reality that they will never keep to an agreement. It's against their identity and recidivism is inevitable.

If that happens, and Celtic do draw a line, expect fan anger and a flurry of statements from performative rebel socialists. But the club will survive, fans will sing again, and perhaps energies will be refocused on the team and the football.

You know, regressive stuff like that.



Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)