Tema: Descubriendo a Joseph Pearce

Me gustaría conseguir el libro sobre Skrewdriver... he encontrado por ahí la introducción.

Introduction

I first met Ian Stuart eight years ago in the Hoop and Grapes pub in Farringdon Street. Before then, we both knew of each other even though we'd never met. I knew of him as the lead singer of the skinhead band Skrewdriver whose album All Skrewed Up I'd bought a couple of years before in 1977. He knew of me as the national organiser of the Young National Front since he was, at that time, the local YNF organiser for the Blackpool and Fylde Branch in Lancashire. The purpose of that first meeting between us was to discuss Ian's plans to reform Skrewdriver. It was a strange setting for such a meeting, not least because the Hoop and Grapes is renowned as a favourite drinking place for Morning Star journalists and printworkers.
Throughout the evening, although the subject of reforming Skrewdriver was discussed, we spent most of our time discussing politics. A few pubs and a few pints later we found ourselves in a Fleet Street pub frequented by journalists with Ian sounding off indignantly about the 'scum in the media'! Since that first meeting we have formed a good friendship and have worked closely together in building Rock Against Communism and White Noise Records.

All went well until December 11th, 1985, when Ian was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for defending himself from an attack by a black gang at Kings Cross station. Until then Ian had never been in any trouble with the police but that didn't prevent the judge from meting out such a harsh sentence. Needless to say the blacks that attacked him were never punished and got away scot free. I heard of the savage sentence inflicted upon Ian, and the six month jail term given to his friend and co-defendant Des Clarke, on the morning of December 12th at Snaresbrooke Crown Court where I was facing trial under the Race Relations Act. I remember being horrified by the harshness of Ian's sentence, yet little was I to know that on that very day I too would be given a twelve month jail term. I awoke the following morning, appropriately enough it was Friday the Thirteenth, in a prison cell at Wormwood Scrubs. I'd just spent the first night of my sentence with a Pakistani prisoner as a cell mate and was unsure as to what the next weeks and months held in store. I was, to say the least, somewhat anxious about what the future would bring. Imagine my delight, therefore, when I spotted Ian Stuart in the cell opposite mine as I 'slopped out' that morning! We exchanged a few words and I tried in vain to get a job on the hot-plate where Ian was working serving up prisoners' meals. I was transferred to another wing of the prison on that same day.

In the weeks that followed Ian was transferred to Wayland prison in Suffolk while I was transferred to Standford Hill prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Thus it was that we were destined not to see each other again until we were both released on parole six months later; Ian on June 11th, 1986 and me a day later on June 12th. In between time, however, we kept in regular touch by post and it was during this period that I suggested I write a book about Skrewdriver to commemorate the first ten years of the band in 1987. Ian agreed and this slim volume is the results of my efforts.

In closing this short introduction I'd like to dedicate this book to Ian Stuart whose acquaintance I've enjoyed over the years both as a friend and comrade. Without his help this book would not have been possible, not only because of the hours of taped interview he gave me so that I'd have all the background information I needed, but, far more importantly, because without Ian Stuart there wouldn't be a band called Skrewdriver to write about.

JOE PEARCE, April 1987

Me ha parecido sumamente interesante todo lo expuesto sobre J. PEARCE. Lo que conocía de él me ha venido por sus escritos publicados sobre TOLKIEN, que me han resultado verdaderamente placenteros. Pero no conocía su biografía y ya lo he puesto en mi lista de la compra. Sobre Tolkien ya he afirmado que es imprescindible conocer su personalidad y mentalidad, así como el ambiente socio-histórico en el cual vivió, incluyendo el tener siquiera una visión somera de los cambios que se fueron produciendo a lo largo de su vida. Sin ellos, la lectura de Tolkien es una lectura sin contenido real, por eso soy de los que opinan que la aplastante mayoría de los lectores de sus obras no se han enterado de lo que han leído, no han entendido nada.

Pues con PEARCE pasa igual, como pasa con casi todos los escritores, y digo "casi" porque hay un sector del que no merece la pena ni hablar y cuya finalidad es la puramente comercial ya que desligan su obra de sí mismos. Tampoco incluyo a panegiristas ni a panfletarios.

Y volviendo al tema concreto, es llamativo el hecho de las conexiones entre todos los que se convirtieron a la fe. Esto es un fenómeno nuevo, no en el tiempo pues ya se dio entre los primeros cristianos, sino en la situación actual del mundo. Y es importantísimo que así se proceda, pues estos conversos lo son en la misma medida que aquéllos de los primeros tiempos, por tanto, pueden ser expresión de una nueva evangelización. Quienes hemos nacido dentro del seno de la Iglesia quizás no hemos sido suficientemente conscientes de que el mundo occidental, Europa y España en particular, se estaba descristianizando de forma gravísima. Hemos fiado a las jerarquías, al sacerdocio, la defensa y no hemos sabido reaccionar a tiempo. Pues la Iglesia lo somos todos los creyentes-practicantes bautizados y también tenemos nuestra parte alícuota de responsabilidad.

Por tanto, creo que un modelo a seguir es el que nos han mostrado, sin ser conscientes de ello, este grupo de escritores. Quizás este tema debería haberse llamado de otro modo, aunque se haya empezado con PEARCE, para difundir el nombre y la obra de otros muchos. Pero puesto que ya se han mencionado a otros, quiero añadir alguno más.

Me refiero a Paul JOHNSON, que aunque nacido en una familia católica, apostólica y romana de Lancashire, nunca se ha cansado de ayudar a los demás a mantener la fe o a encontrarla. JOHNSON es historiador, y escribe en el "Daily Telegraph", así como en el semanario "Spectator". Azote de Richard DAWKING, "el cobarde de Cambridge", como lo llama JOHNSON, lo ha desafiado en numerosas ocasiones a debates públicos en la televisión, a los que este falaz enemigo de Dios no ha tenido el suficiente valor para acudir.

Paul JOHNSON ha publicado varios libros y apunto aquí dos de sus títulos, los dos que pueden resultar más interesantes para nosotros sin desmerecer ninguno de los otros:

La búsqueda de Dios. Un peregrinaje personal Planeta+Testimonio.

Una completa reflexión de quiénes somos y cómo enfrentamos nuestra realidad en todos los ámbitos.

Tiempos modernos: historia del mundo entre 1920 y 1990 Un análisis de l desarrollo del mundo a través del S XX y traducido a 15 idiomas.