English Shieldwall

The English Shieldwall is a failed campaign group dedicated to fighting discrimination against English people, active mainly in 2010 and 2011. It is closely affiliated with the Anglo-Saxon Foundation forum.
==History==
The English Shieldwall was founded in 2010 by the political activist Lee "Ingy" Ingram and a Woden-worshipper who calls himself Youngy.Anglo-Saxon Ing: 'The English Shieldwall' Protest group (screencap) In its early days the group called itself the White Wolves of England, but changed this after finding that the name "White Wolves" had been taken by a breakaway faction of the neo-Nazi group Combat 18.<capture>Anglo-Saxon Foundation: A Huge Stumbling Block</capture>
Within months of the group's establishment, Ingram left and had a falling-out with Youngy;Anglo-Saxon Foundation: In fighting hurts our progress (screencap) the reason for the split appears to have been Ingram's anti-military stance. While the Shieldwall is generally pro-troops, Ingram predicts a time in which the people of England will have to fight against the British army in an upcoming civil war.TPUC.org: my thoughts on edl and uaf Ingram subsequently became involved in the English Community Group (Leicester), an organisation chaired by Clive Potter.BLOTTR: Mayor Soulsby accused of discriminationAnglo-Saxon Foundation: 2 videos from Leicester
==Stance==
Like many other movements on the political margins, the English Shieldwall regards itself as "awakened" and the general public as "brainwashed". This view is elaborated upon at length in one of the group's newsletters:
The group argued that England is unfairly treated in the United Kingdom (see The West Lothian Question) and was initially focused on this issue.English Shieldwall: Discrimination (screencap) It has also complained that Woden-worship is being ignored - apparently failing to realise that this is because only a tiny handful of people are involved in itEnglish Shieldwall: Discrimination towards an ethnic people - while its video "The English Shieldwall - Who Are We?" expresses concern over people being "branded racist for requesting an English celebration day at the community centre" and schoolchildren "who [know] nothing of early English history but [have] a huge knowledge of foreign religions, Romans and Egyptians etc".YouTube: The English Shieldwall - Who Are We?
Later on, the group began promoting a more explicitly white nationalist viewpoint. "The truth is that the multi-ethnic society has never worked, is not working today, and will never work in the future" said the group's website following the 2011 England riots. "Like the multi-ethnic Roman Empire this modern multi-ethnic 'New World Order' is falling into chaos, anarchy and total destruction by fire and sword!" This situation is blamed partly on "the liberal humanitarian establishment and the alien-controlled media".English Shieldwall: Support us (screencap)
It has since revised this view. The current incarnation of the English Shieldwall website stresses that it has nothing against non-English people living in England and merely opposes excessive immigration levels, whilst criticising the government's "multicultural, globalist agenda" and advising that English folk value, recognise and practice their traditions.English Shieldwall: About Us
"The major question remains – why are governments all over the developed west acting in the same way, doing the same things?" reads a newsletter put out by the group. "They all seem intent on letting in as many immigrants as possible, adding to their countries already swollen populations. They all condemn patriots that speak up for the existing, often indigenous population – sometimes sanctioning opposition groups to counter & challenge patriots everywhere they go." The newsletter argues that the motive "could well be the idea, brought about by super rich groups consisting of heads of banks & large corporations (such as the Bilderberg group) of a new world, borderless, controlled by one government, with one currency." The piece goes on to state that for this to happen "they need to eradicate nationalism, & encourage mixing of cultures – one big mish mash of people, with mono-culture. Nationalism is the thorn in the side of their plans, & they will do what they can, through their many groups & organisations, to suppress it – outlaw it if possible." The article concludes with a warning that "these men & women are mega rich – with money comes power. They could control governments, mobilise armies."
English Shieldwall Newsletter, Autumn 2010 The Shieldwall also warns its members about the dangers of the Fabian Society.English Shieldwall Newsletter, Winter 2010
==Activities==
thumb|250px|right|The "stop Anglophobia" protest in Leicester
Other than posting online and holding private meetings the group's activities appear to be limited to the occasional small-scale march or protest. The earliest of these seems to have been when the group attended a march celebrating St. George's Day on 25 April 2010;YouTube: The English Shieldwall - St. George's March 2010 the following month it staged a "stop Anglophobia" protest in response to an English flag being burnt in Leicester and racial abuse directed towards a local pub landlord;YouTube: The English Shieldwall - Stop Anglophobia! Leicester (23/05/2010) this seems to have been the first time it staged its own event, rather than riding on the back of an existing one.
It then joined an anti-Sharia protest in August 2010YouTube: The English Shieldwall - Citizens Against Sharia, London (31/07/2010) and supported a Nuneaton English Defence League march in November.YouTube: English Shieldwall - Supporting EDL in Nuneaton (27/11/2010) It held another St. George's Day march in 2011,YouTube: English Shieldwall - St George's Day 2011 in London apparently its last noteworthy activity to date.
Beyond this, the Shieldwall is primarily an online group. At its Facebook group, its supports can be spotted endorsing Iranian attacks on English soil:File:Engshiran.jpg and dismissing the majority of Christians as "bed-wetting liberal cowards".:File:engshichrist.jpg
==Notable members==
Besides Ingram and Youngy, the group's most prominent member is Neil Hodgkiss. Hailed as "decent top brass" by Ingram after he left the group, Hodgkiss would appear to be the Shieldwall's current leader.
Another member of note is Clive Calladine (active online under the pseudonyms "Harold Godwinsson" and "Teutoburg Weald"Fundies Say the Darndest Things: Harold Godwinsson), who contributed articles to the Shieldwall newsletter.English Shieldwall Newsletter: Spring 2010English Shieldwall Newsletter: Summer 2010 Calladine later came out in support of Anders Behring Breivik after his killing spree in July 2011,<capture>Anglo Saxon Foundation: Hero, or villain?</capture><capture>Anglo-Saxon Foundation: Far right or just had enough of government discrimination</capture> as did fellow Shieldwall member Jim Morgan.Facebook posting (screencap) The groups website states they don't agree with everything their supporters say, but "will defend their right to say it".
The English Shieldwall has its very own marching band, called the Rising Sons of Harold, comprising "AelfredSeax" on fife and "Geþun Hreodpipere" on drum.<capture>Anglo-Saxon Foundation: English Christmas Carols Fife and Drum</capture><capture>Anglo-Saxon Foundation: English Fife and Drum selection</capture><capture>Anglo-Saxon Foundation: English Fife and Drum selection</capture>
Novelist S. A. Swaffington, aka Ryan West, is a supporter of the group, and uses its Facebook page to moan about the trouble he has getting his books published.Posting on the English Shieldwall Facebook page, via Archive.is A look through the Amazon reviews of his novel The Rise of the Saxons and the Legend of Hengest and Horsa might give us a reason for this state of affairs.Amazon.co.uk: The Rise of the Saxons and the Legend of Hengest and Horsa
==Theme song==
The English Shieldwall has a rather catchy theme song:YouTube: The English Shieldwall - 'English Shieldwall' Music Video
:Lock tight
:Hold tight
:Stand together
:It's the English Shieldwall
:It's the English Shieldwall
:It's not wrong to be English
:It's not wrong to love
:It's who we are
:We're English
:We know where we come from
:So we're gonna stand together
:Lock arms like shields gone by (shields gone by)
:Draw a line in the sand
:And say we're here 'til the day we die
:It's the English Shieldwall
:It's the English Shieldwall
:Who are you to put us down?
:Who are you? You don't know this part of town 
:Who are you? Got a job and your car
:But you don't know where you're from or who you are
:We're not on the attack
:Come and join us
:We're defending our lives
:Come and join us
:There's no turning back
:Come and help us
:On the English Shieldwall
:On the English Shieldwall
:Well, lock tight
:Hold tight
:Stand together
:It's the English Shieldwall
:It's the English Shieldwall
:We know who we are
:We don't need permission to be
:It's deep in our culture
:And history
:We know who we are (we know who we are)
:We are the sons and daughters of liberty (liberty)
:One part of the world's history (history)
:One part of the world's family (family)
:It's the English Shieldwall
:It's the English Shieldwall
:It's the English Shieldwall
:It's the English Shieldwall
:Lock tight
:Hold tight
:Stand together
:It's the English Shieldwall
:It's the English Shieldwall
:It's the English Shieldwall
==Structure==
Originally, the Shieldwall had a needlessly fiddly structure with a load of Old English words thrown about for no apparent reason. Individual members were known as Fyrdsmen; the chairman of a Shieldwall chapter was identified as a Thegn; and the Thegns, in turn, answered to the area's Ealdorman. In addition, each chapter of the Shieldwall was given its own name, such as the Fired Earth Hearth of Mid-Essex, the South Burgh Hearth of Suffolk and the Sarum Sentinels while chapter leaders gave themselves names like "Edmundy, Thane of the Sud folc".
Understandably this whole set-up was eventually dropped, with the chapters disbanded and replaced with a new scheme in which newcomers would only be admitted if they had been recommended by an existing member. "To be a functioning, recognised member of the
English Shieldwall, you will need to become a member" read the group's announcement of the scheme. Can't say fairer than that.English Shieldwall Newsletter: Autumn 2011
==Promotion online==
Co-founder Youngy attempted to use Wikipedia to advertise the group (a full account of his antics is provided here). He did this twice, and later on a second individual created an article about the groupWikipedia: User talk:Æthelred which was similarly deleted.Wikipedia: Articles for deletion: English Shieldwall
The reason for this is pretty straightforward: Wikipedia's guidelines on notability require articles to be about subjects that have been covered by reliable third-party sources, such as news reports. English Shieldwall is an obscure group which, at the time of writing, has almost no coverage in third-party sources, and so it simply does not meet Wikipedia's criteria.
But nevertheless, Youngy insisted that his article was deleted because Wikipedia has an anti-English bias. Following the deletion of the second article, the proprietor of the English Shieldwall Facebook group started a discussion about Wikipedia's alleged Anglophobia, which included a rather creepy post from Breivik-admirer Jim Morgan asking for the IP addresses of the people who were responsible for its deletion.
==Views from other nationalist groups==
Shieldwall's standard response to criticisms of its approach appears to be the tried-and-true method of dismissing detractors as "traitors" or "anti-English".Cross of St. George: The English Shieldwall
The group is well-liked at the Anglo-Saxon Foundation, which hosts the official English Shieldwall forum,Anglo-Saxon Foundation: English Shieldwall Forum but found a more lukewarm reception at Cross of St George, a forum dedicated to England's withdrawal from the UK. "Very commendable, but they suffer gravely from an image problem! They've cleverly set themselves up for portrayal as an English BNP!" says "egbert". "What ordinary, conventional person would want to stand alongside and be seen with them?"
"I take it this is just EDL MkII then?", added "BeornWulfWer". "All these Burberry caps and football chants of 'inger-land, inger-land' and badly formulated shows of defiance till at least tea time are becoming boring."
The group's founders weighed in: "these are your English people and they are fighting for you!!! and all you can do is pick at what they are wearing!!!!!?????" said "Ingy" Ingram. "How pathetic of you and traitorous of you to attack your own when they are fighting for you in dangerous circumstances." Youngy, meanwhile, cast doubt on whether "BeornWulfWer" was actually English at all, suggesting that he might even be Welsh.<capture>Cross of St. George: The English Shieldwall</capture>
"Scaffold" was more supportive. "Thank you English Shieldwall for having guts to say word 'ethnicity'", he said. "Is makes me sick to read kneejerk politically-correct apologies like 'irrespective of colour, origin and relgion' every time any organisation dares to say it represents England. That's why I could never bring myself to support English Democrats Party."
Ingram also stated that "Men in suits and Jesus has proven how they will not save us, in fact they have helped to enslave the English and have taken away our freedom to be freeborn Englishmen and women".Cross of St. George: The English Shieldwall
==Defunct?==
Although the group was never officially disbanded, it is not in good shape. The official website has lost its own domainOddly, EnglishShieldwall.org is now home to a French blog. and now makes do with the freehost Weebly; the group doesn't seem to have held any marches or demonstrations since April 2011; its last YouTube upload is from that month; its quarterly newsletter has not been issued since Autumn 2011; and its forum is hardly a hotbed of activity. Its Facebook page is regularly updated, but there is nothing here that can reasonably be described as a campaign group.
The people of England, it would seem, simply didn't want their Shieldwall.
==See also==
*British National Party
*English National Resistance
*March for England
==External links==
* Official website
* YouTube channel
* Rand chapter
* Forum
* Facebook page
==References==
Category:British politics
Category:Nationalism in the UK
Category:Organizations