Shoreditch Holds Its Nerve

The Old Blue Last

Terry Sorensen sampled the cafe culture of Shoreditch in the wake of the Paris massacre.

In light of the decision to bomb Syria, I visited a part of East London that attracts the same sort of metropolitan young set that seems to have been targeted by IS in Paris – Shoreditch.  Given the parallels, I wondered if people there would feel afraid, but the thing that struck me was how measured and intelligent all the response I got were.

I was near the Old Blue Last, a Shoreditch music venue not unlike the Bacalan in Paris, when I met Naomi, a local student, and two of her friends.

What do you think about the decision to Bomb Syria? Was it a good idea?

“No it wasn’t, and I was actually at a protest against it. All that does is kill more innocent civilians, which will make more people angry, which in turn again breeds more extremism.… the bombings will undoubtedly lead to more terror attacks.”

Are you acting any differently as a result of the Paris attacks?

“No, I’m not going to hide from anything.”

Do you think the attacks can be attributed to Islamic doctrine?

“No, they can be accredited to an ideology which tries to mask itself as religious, which is actually just crazy. It’s just sick minded people trying to implement an unjust ideology.”

What do you think can be done to stop terrorism?

“We should stop supporting Turkey, because they buy ISIS oil. We should also stop buying our oil from Turkey. In addition we should stop selling weapons to every other country, including Saudi Arabia who are a sexist regime whose ideology actually is quite similar to ISIS. So maybe if we stopped supporting Saudi Arabia, who are selling their weapons to ISIS, we wouldn’t have as much freaking terrorism!”

Next stop was the Old Blue Last, described as “East London’s most notorious venue” by NME and “The cradle of British music’s future by The Guardian. It has a laid back hipster feel to to it, and a lot of the men in there had beards! Given the way that it was in a music venue that most of the Paris murders took place, I decided to question the doorman, whose name was Justin.

Have you done anything to beef up security for tonight’s event in light of terror attacks, and the decision to bomb Syria?

“There is not that much more one can do that is not already being done at this place. We typically search bags, and check IDs. If someone were to force their way in at gunpoint, there’s not a lot we could do.”

Do you think the attacks can be attributed to Islamic doctrine?

“As long as extreme people are let into Mosques to teach, this will be a problem. Also the open borders in Europe make it very easy to smuggle weapons over vast distances. I don’t think it’s as easy getting weapons into the U.K. though.”

What do you think can be done to stop terrorism?

“What I think about that isn’t really relevant, I’m not a politician so who cares what I think.”

The only other person I found willing to talk to me, just outside Shoreditch, was Meraj, a student from Kashmir.

Are you acting any differently as a result of what has happened?

“Not really. In Pakistani Kashmir where I’m from such things are fairly common unfortunately.”

Do you think the attacks can be attributed to Islamic doctrine?

“No, it is said in the Quran: “He who saves a life, saves all of humanity, and he who takes a life, kills all of humanity.”

What do you think can be done to stop terrorism?

“It will take a lot of work. We have to identify the causes of terrorism, and who the actors promoting it are. It is also important to find out where these people are getting their resources from and to block their supply routes and impose sanctions on their supporters. Last but not least, it should be a priority to spread education in the poorer parts of the world so people are not so easily exploited in the name of religion and can think for themselves.”

Naomi (on the left) and friends
Naomi (in the middle) and friends
Justin
Justin
Meraj
Meraj
The Old Blue Last
The Old Blue Last

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