This is a story about a young ‘Neo-nazi’ who was entrapped by the intelligence services into “buying” a gun. [1] In a way it connects to the previous post about the “terrorist” who attacked two Jewish people in North London yesterday. In both cases the “terrorist” appears to be a loner with mental health problems. But, the authorities, for performative reasons, always talk up these cases. (There was even a trial a few years ago of two schoolchildren who had had some stupid phantasies about blowing up their school, which resulted in severe sentences). [2]
In the case of this “Neo-nazi terrorist” we have a picture, from the limited amount of information allowed to be put into the public domain, (the media, of course, very rarely, dig deep into these cases), of an isolated young man who got lost in an internet black hole. One can wonder about his parents – no information of course, He looks somewhat autisic to me.
From my point of view he is a young man who needs help. He was 19 when he was entrapped by the intelligence services who then, according to press reports, acted out some weird spy drama – “forcing him to the ground”. Up to that point we have a case of too much time on the dark side of the internet, and an obsessive collecting of things like knifes and spy-gear. This then culminated in the attempt to purchse a gun from MI5. When I read about these entrappment cases I can’t help wondering if the victim wasn’t really aware that the people he is talking to are intelligence agents. It reminds me a bit of how people get scammed by online scammers. You can wonder how otherwise rational people might fall for it, but one part of the answer is that they ‘subconsciously’ know they are dealing with criminals, but they are just scared out of their wits and so become like malleable sheep in the hands of the scammers. Another possible explanation for how these would be “terrorists” get entrapped, might be that they see this as a chance to get help. The young man had, at this point, not, based on media reporting, harmed anyone. It was all internal.
This is a performance by the security services to create a needed political narrative about “the threat from neo-nazi terrorism”. Alfi is a pawn in their game. The state needs “extremists” in order to justify its hold on the centre and its monopoly of violence. They need to paint Aflie as a hard-core “terrorist” because the alterntive, asking how, as a society, people can become so lost as Alfie, is going to throw up all sorts of difficult for power questions. Alfie is no less than a human sacrifice.
That doesn’t mean I think Alfi is alright. He patently isn’t. I would have no problem with him being detained. But detained and helped. Not, used as a prop in someone else’s narrative building project.
Notes