Flames: a blaze caused by the petrol bomb attack at Dover were doused and nobody was injured.
A researcher from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College, London, has been looking into the history of the man who petrol-bombed a migrant concentration camp in Dover, then took his own life.
Do you even remember this incident? Rajan Basra reckons you might have forgotten it already. I reported it, briefly, here.
Mr Basra’s Twitter thread is illuminating and I present it unedited and without further comment:
On October 30th, a man threw petrol bombs at an immigration centre in Dover, injuring two. Minutes later he killed himself.
Three days on, the attack has been largely forgotten.
But it's worth taking a closer look at what he posted online, and what it says about radicalisation: pic.twitter.com/jGs8hboTWq
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
He was following 59 accounts. 58 were mainstream; the type twitter suggests you follow when you sign up.
The remaining account he followed was the BNP.
So it seems he held far-right views since at least 2014. pic.twitter.com/bySmyHaxzn
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
His response was, ironically, exactly what ISIS wanted: to (further) polarise European societies, provoke a backlash, and force Muslims to decide “us or them”.
ISIS wanted to destroy, in their words, "the grey zone" and reduce the world to black and white choices.
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
Then there's radio silence until he pops up on YouTube.
At first, some innocuous videos: him drinking in the street (2016), an intelligible rant (2017), and complaints about internet speed (2017).
So far, nothing wild. Videos sent into the ether, watched by virtually no-one. pic.twitter.com/dTGuXMDVot
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
Then a step change. A 2019 video after Parliament voted to reject a no deal Brexit (on March 13)
Titled: "Treason buy Facebook zuckerman…" (his typos)
He said: "Facebook has committed treason on the British people. They have blocked Facebook and Instagram because of the vote" pic.twitter.com/ss3ce435nX
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
Throughout this time, the grooming gangs issue was still on his mind.
He even made a Pinterest post (!) about it in 2019.
(Look at the contrast between his post and what Pinterest suggests you use the search bar for… just unreal) pic.twitter.com/AOXcjzdJGN
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
Then there's his posts in the last few months.
In April he posted a video on Youtube titled "I am broken".
"I buried my 41 year old son yesterday, and I'm devastated" pic.twitter.com/HuZtKkCNnf
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
And then after that, a truly bizarre video:
"If you want to be in on the next biggest dating site, contact me. £100 will get you a long way…"
In the context of him just saying he's buried his son, this was a real change of pace. pic.twitter.com/2WWD93xCSy
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
At the same time he was posting anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, and general xenophobic tweets. pic.twitter.com/lyKda7i2pQ
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
He styled himself as a “Defender of free speech” and “Protector of women and children”.
And then there were scattered calls to action and some signalling of intent.
These tweets are hints he wanted to actually DO something about what he perceived to be an injustice. Red flag. pic.twitter.com/KlyIhYK0Rv
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
Those questions are tough to answer. But when you put all of this together, we can see a complex mix of racism and xenophobia, conspiratorial thinking, and what appear to be mental health issues. I wouldn't be surprised if there was drug/alcohol misuse too.
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
He returned the next morning, driving ~110 miles from his home in Buckinghamshire.
Eyewitnesses describe him “laughing” and “shouting” as he threw a handful of improvised petrol bombs at the migrant centre. pic.twitter.com/K7fOpgN70S
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
The next day the Home Secretary said: “The British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our Southern coast…”
What followed was debate over the word "invasion", but next to nothing about how this rhetoric relates to an attack like this.
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
As a thought experiment, let's imagine if the perpetrator had, say, brown skin.
That he made negative comments online about the government.
And then threw petrol bombs at an army recruitment centre, before killing himself.
Would there be a delay in classifying it as terrorism?
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
The "is this terrorism?" debate can obscure the insightful things Andy Leak's case shows us.
There's much more to say about this, but I'll stop here.
You can amplify this thread to your audience, if you've found it interesting. Thanks for reading. /ENDhttps://t.co/IQkmJiUM6e
— Rajan Basra (@rajanbasra) November 3, 2022
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