Blossom III - Billesley i /Operation Mastiff
In Billesley, hosting a Japanese cherry tree - boughs stretching over an entire front garden - is rapidly becoming a much treasured subversive statement. The endurance of this particular tree in preference to another brick or slab and a shared appreciation of nature were initially the sole motivation for the tree study, and would have remained so if it’s full riotous bloom hadn’t coincided with another Operation Mastiff booklet dropping through the letterbox.
In 2013 Operation Mastiff booklets complete with mugshots and exclusion zone maps restricting youths in receipt of Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBO) & Anti-social Behaviour Injunctions(ASBI) were delivered with the regularity of McCarthy propaganda. Lacking a lexicon for codename operations of war I associated the name with the Mastiff Terrier, a descendant of the ‘Pit Bull’ and a commonly preferred breed of dog on the estate at the time, with dangerously strong jaws, a reputation for loyalty to its owners and aggression towards others. Curious of the etymology, I looked up the word mastiff and found it to be based on Latin mansuetus ‘tame’. Apart from the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership’s operation in Billesley, I also discovered that it’s darkly understated humour has seeped into many forms of conflict, from World War II and the Vietnam War, to the gang wars of Montreal (with a small addition, Operation Maggot-Mastiff), and even BioWares, Bounty Weekend electronic games.
‘Everybody wants to be a hero,’ and undoubtedly the name, in this case, alluded to the British, Operation Mastiff, a successor to ‘Birdcage’ were leaflet drops told Allied prisoners of war in Japanese hands that Japan had surrendered, for the delivery of the first stages of material aid and special teams. The prolific leafleting and ‘special’ team operating in Billesley may have passed without comment if the analogy hadn’t extended to other tactics of war, including naming, shaming, and publicly humiliating individuals. Seeking to defend themselves from the bigger bully, one of the notorious families involved launched a counter-attack, Operation Truth. Aided by the British National Party (BNP), they distributed counter leaflets with glowing character references and charitable deeds. When interviewed by the press they stated the common refrain, ‘We are not racist. No one else will listen to what we are saying.’
Like many residents, I neither suffered abuse or had contact with individuals restrained by injunctions but in this courtroom drama turned farce the mugshots and maps became ever more indelible with the accompanying text, urging the community to spy and tell. Relinquishing the dodgy role of an informer in the absence of evident harm or having any ability as a super-recogniser, a sinister waking reality emerged. In these photos, mugshots and pavements merge, excluded youths stare from bedroom windows and marked zones morph into badges of honour. A simple tree study becomes a route where one ill-judged strategy uncovers another far worse. The ephemera of blossom were used in propaganda to inspire ‘Japanese spirit,’ the first kamikaze unit had a subunit called Yamazakura or wild cherry blossom and the people were encouraged to believe that the souls of warriors were reincarnated in the blossoms.
ASBOs and ASBIs were replaced by the Injunction to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance (IPNA), March 2015. The blossom tree still stands, glorious as ever!
