Is The EDL Really Not Anti-Semitic?
Last Updated on Sunday, 22 May 2011 15:20 Sunday, 22 May 2011 15:08
The following is an exchange between a Jewish person and Greater Manchester UAF.
This was the question:
Hi fellas.
I'm Jewish and have heard that The EDL are not Anti Semites. They claim they have no contact with The BNP etc.
What's the real truth?
Name withheld
The following was the reply:
Thanks for contacting Gtr Mcr UAF.
The EDL are capitalising on the current 'fashion' for attacking the Islamic faith and Muslim people. As the Tory peer Lady Warsi has put it, Islamophobia has 'passed the dinner party test' - even some educated, middle-class people feel they can openly make hostile comments against Islam. The same comments - accusing that religion of being inherently violent and anti-Western, charging Muslims with refusal to integrate - would not be tolerated if 'Jew' were substituted for 'Muslim'.
This dangerous atmosphere has not arisen by chance. Following several years of Islamophobia driven by the ideology of the 'war on terror', it is now more openly driven from the top, by politicians seeking to distract attention from parts of their programme which would attract public opposition. So, David Cameron made a disgraceful speech - in Munich, of all places - attacking Britain's multicultural society, and this on the very same day the EDL held a national protest in Luton. He and his advisers will have been aware of the deliberate coincidence. Cameron was echoing German Chancellor Merkel's speech a few weeks earlier, in which she claimed multiculturalism 'had failed, failed utterly'. Neither of these prominent European state leaders offered a shred of evidence to support their hysterical claims.
In using this to build support, the EDL have, occasionally, claimed to be vaguely politically-correct in some way. So, they have sometimes carried a placard or two bearing the pink triangle, claiming to support gay rights. And they have attempted to distance themselves from overt anti-Semitism - as the BNP have also (unconvincingly) attempted to do.
However, a glance at their websites, and in particular chat-rooms and forums frequented by these racists, shows that bigotry of all sorts lies just beneath the surface. 'Jokes' about the Holocaust are sickeningly recycled. Their actions give the game away, too - for instance, they attacked and vandalised a Hindu temple in Dudley. They have a Sikh supporter who is an anti-Muslim bigot - but whenever they parade him at their rallies, he is barracked and heckled by EDL 'troops' who don't generally distinguish between the world's great religions, but just see someone 'foreign'.
The EDL have broadened their remit, too. On their website, they have attacked the Unite union members who were on strike at BA. And the EDL offered to help the authorities in policing the student demonstrations that took place last November and December. This was a clear invitation to their supporters to attack what they depicted as a radical, 'anti-British' movement of young people.
Many leading BNP supporters are openly involved in the EDL. Their national website is run by a former BNP activist. Three BNP councillors were stewarding and directing the EDL 3,000-strong rally (their biggest) in Stoke, in January 2010. (They lost their seats in the recent local elections in Stoke.)
Hope that's helpful,
Give me a ring any time,
Regards,
Mike (Chair Gtr Mcr UAF)
07903 586 191