With his full Arsenal kit, his fresh, beardless face and broad east London accent, 17 year old Khen Al-Livingstan does not appear to be a stereotypical extremist. “No, people never expect any trouble from me at all,” he says when I meet him at home, “they just think I’m some kind of multi-cultural success story.”
When we sit down to talk he tells me that he feels ignored by the mainstream British media. The problem is that Khen, and many other young Muslim Londoners do not see themselves reflected in the media portrayal of Muslims in Britain. “There’s no one like me on the telly,” he explains. He says that his extremist friends and schoolmates all feel the same way. “Islamic extremist youth w in London yeh, we feel like we get underrepresented by the media. When they talk about ‘home grown terrorism’ on TV, it’s always Northerners innit? How come we don’t get covered? Shezad Tanweer [Leedsborn 7/7 bomber] yeh, how’s he meant to represent me? The media are just pushing their own agenda.” Khen feels that the media are failing to report on the reality of extremist activity in London in an attempt to create a better image for the city. The reality, he claims, is that increasing numbers of Londoners are deeply committed to an anti-western and anti-Semitic agenda.
Many senior figures in government and the media were shocked by last Friday’s demonstration in Trafalgar Square, which saw broadsheet newspapers and press releases from the Mayor of London being burnt. A Sky News reporter was set upon by the crowd and beaten with his own microphone. It was whilst searching in East London for the source of this extraordinary rage that I met Khen.
Alarmingly for the government, it seems that Khen’s attitude, far from being unique, is in fact pretty typical of disillusioned young Muslim men in this part of London. I spoke to a young man outside the library at Harrow Green, who did not wish to be named [because you just made him up - Ed]. He told me that “kids round here…see all this shit on telly about Beeston, Bradford, Dewsbury…we don’t even know where those places are! We’re alienated youth right here man, right here in London.”
“Lads in Leytonstone, Walthamstow yeh, they cook up all kinds of foiled plots, and nothing! The media is just pushing the Mayor’s agenda. All of them man, all this One London shit man. Where’s the kids like me on telly man? I hate Jews and Christians and no one mentions it. All they’re interested in is another ‘trooble at t’mosque’ story. It’s bullshit man.”
Local youth worker B. Tal- Al-Lay thinks there is a simple explanation for this atmosphere of anger and distrust. “It’s a simple matter of role models. These kids have no positive male role models to look up to. Maybe if they saw young successful extremists from their own local communities on the television, they would be able to say ‘yeh, this is me, this is who I am,’ you know?”
Last Friday’s demonstration, and the fallout from it, quickly fell away from the front pages, no doubt fuelling the demonstrators’ perception that they are being ignored by the media. The lack of coverage has prompted youth leaders to call for another demo, which is planned for next Saturday. Organisers are inviting protestors to march under the banners ‘Eel Pie and Extremism,’ and ‘Pie, Mash and Murder’.