Less attention should be paid to Stephen Lennon, or ‘Tommy Robinson’ – the mumbling, spitting, uncharismatic captain of the English Defence League (EDL), for he is irrelevant and full of empty rhetoric.
Is it just the mindless and bored who listen to this man? Should he be given such a high platform to spread his venom? Or are his followers a symptom of the disenfranchisement of the white working class in modern Britain? A cause – any cause – for the marginalised few in a group to latch onto.
On Saturday up to 500 of his rogue band of assorted thugs marched on Tower Bridge towards Aldgate in a supposedly anti-Sharia law protest. Those in the EDL march displayed the St George’s flags, and it is significant that emblazoned across many of them were the words ‘South East London,’ ‘Sidcup,’ ‘Eltham.’
The far-flung reaches of South East London were once a bastion of the white working class in London, but are now as ethnically diverse as other areas within the city.
The EDL in Wythenshawe. Image credit: Gene Hunt
Yet pockets of this area still harbour sects of racists and fascists – the area where Stephen Lawrence was murdered, where young black men were targeted and trapped on a bus during the August riots of 2011, and where in Woolwich the EDL managed to create a large gathering on the evening of Lee Rigby’s murder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMxd0GsSwJ
A counter demonstration took place in Altab Ali Park, next to the East London Mosque on Whitechapel High Street, which I attended. Represented here were Unite Against Fascism, the Socialist Workers’ Party, Unite the Union and Hope Not Hate among others, and it was clear that a vast proportion of those present were of the Bangladeshi and Bengali communities of Tower Hamlets, young and old, and that this demo dwarfed that of the EDL’s.
At its very core the EDL is a fascist movement, and upon its fringes a tenuous collective of hooligans espousing hatred and violence, and promoting racism and division among peoples. Fascism has never succeeded in this country, and it never will.
Evolved from 19th century European nationalism – if such a process can be viewed as evolution – fascism in the 20th century enveloped the politics of Spain, Germany and Italy and poisoned society in those nations under the dictatorships of Franco, Hitler and Mussolini. In Britain we had the British Union of Fascists led by Oswald Mosley, who clashed with anti-fascists in the East End in the infamous Battle of Cable Street in 1936, but fascism never forced a chokehold on Britain like it did elsewhere. Perfidious Albion continental fascists may have declared, but it is something this nation can be proud of and fling in the faces of people like Dmitry Peskov, who think we are “just a small island,” but I digress.
At the counter demonstration EDL supporters and sympathisers were variously described by speakers, such as the mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman, as lost souls. Lost perhaps, certainly in remembrance and respect, for these are people that bark fascist chants and give straight-arm salutes to war memorials, desecrating the memory of those who fought against what they themselves believe in. These are the people that hijack the memory of a murdered soldier in order to propagate their hateful agenda.
Fascist groups like the EDL have no standing in modern Britain, nor have they ever had one. They do not speak for my England and they should not speak for yours. Fight them until they are silenced.
About the Author
You clearly have no understanding of the EDL, objections to multiculturalism (which the EDL does not even stand against), the British Union of Fascists, fascism in general, or politics. Very poor article and pure, classist drivel. Charges of fascism levelled against the EDL are unfounded and only the most idiotic of commenters would oppose the EDL based on their apparent ‘fascism’. There are certainly other reasons to oppose the EDL, but their alleged revolutionary political platform is not one of them. ‘Fascism’ is not a meaningless word (or one which means ‘a politic I dislike’).
Thanks for your feedback, Diana.
Firstly I would like to ask: do you sympathise with the EDL’s sentiment? I am interested to know.
And, having been to enough EDL demonstrations, and having spoken to many of their supporters in Woolwich (on the night of Lee Rigby’s murder), and elsewhere, I have sufficient understanding of the average EDL man and woman’s character to know that thuggery and xenophobia are seemingly prerequisites to run with them.
I say ‘run’ for the EDL is effectively a street gang with the ability to mobilise en masse in various parts of the country. I do not believe, as you incorrectly point out, that they are some revolutionary movement. I see them more as a sad symptom and reaction to the very huge failures in the process of immigration into this country.
I am more inclined to believe the EDL is some neo-football casual movement, if you will forgive the term, and that its supporters support it much like casuals did it in the 1970s and 80s – with violence, and couldn’t care less about Sharia law, nor know anything about it, except that they hate it.
This is a core ideal of fascism – singling out a particular group to scapegoat. Is it truly ‘idiotic’ to oppose the EDL on grounds of fascist-inspired ideals? The Nazis came to power during the Great Depression and targeted Judaism. The EDL are at their most infamous during our current economic situation and are targeting Islam.
All I’m saying is that I believe the EDL is fascist at its core, but not unlike any old football firm overall. It’s not about class, it’s about division.