The English Defence League
Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by fashwatch in The Guilty Parties
The English Defence League are a motley bunch of right wing football hooligans, BNP supporters and disillusioned youth looking or a good day out. Their presence on the streets is the first serious attempt by the far-right to control the streets since the BNP left that ground with their tail between their legs in the early to mid 1990’s. The group first appeared in Luton on 24th May in response to the actions of supporters of the Islamic fundamentalist Anjem Choudary who had jeered British troops returning from Iraq. On that occasion the EDL, some clad in balaclavas and Union Jack flags smashed shop fronts of Asian owned businesses and attacked people of Asian origin at random.
Since their debut in Luton the group have gone on to stage demonstrations in Birmingham, Leeds, Swansea, Wrexham, Manchester, Glasgow and Nottingham. When the group have managed to leave the comfort of the local Weatherspoons violence has invariably flared. During their demonstrations in Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham scuffles broke out between local youth, anti-fascists and EDL supporters.
While the claims of some anti-fascists that the outstretched arms of EDL members in song are Hitler salutes are often far-fetched and tedious, there is little doubt as to the the groups links with the far-right. The group was co-founded by BNP member David Cooling, BNP activist Chris Renton and Paul Ray who has recently developed a friendship with German former neo-nazi Nick Greger himself a close friend of the UVF’s Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair.
While the EDL have done their utmost to veil their links and similarities with the established far-right they have been unable to silence the more overtly racist elements at their demonstrations. In Birmingham members sang “dirty Muslim bastards” at a group of Asian lads while in Swansea supporters sang “we hate Paki’s more than you” and burned an anti-fascist flag. More recently the EDL have turned their attention towards anti-fascists as well as local Muslims with EDL supporters and anti-fascists clashing in the streets of Nottingham.
The EDL have made various token gestures aimed at convincing the general public that they aren’t a racist or fascist organisation, in a well choreographed publicity stunt members of the EDL appeared on Newsnight burning a flag emblazoned with a swastika. They have also strenuously denied any links to the BNP while the BNP have also done their best to distance themselves from the group realising that any connection could spoil all their hard PR work in presenting themselves as an “acceptable political party”. While the two groups seek to distance themselves from one another it is hard not to see the similarities in the language of the two. Like the BNP the EDL know the importance of avoiding the accusation of racism. The EDL say they are not against ordinary Muslims but rather Islamic fundamentalism, however quite how going on the piss and chanting “dirty Muslim bastards” and “we want our country back” combats Islamic Fundamentalism is anyone’s guess. This strategy of scapegoating Muslims is one that has worked wonders for the BNP over the last 10 years and one that the EDL know will attract people to their cause. The group attracts some people who are genuinely concerned by the spread of political Islam, a threat which does exist but that is over hyped by the mainstream media and made more noticeable by the current war in Afghanistan. That said the role of the group in reality can be little more than to stoke up racial and religious tensions in the country.
Quite what the long term strategy of the EDL is apart from stirring up trouble between Asians and whites in local communities is unclear at the moment. What is clear is that they taken nationalist politics back to the streets and that the involvement of some British football firms in their actions shouldn’t be ignored. Around the same time that the EDL emerged BNP activist Lee Barnes wrote an article on his blog entitled “The Transition Point for Nationalism” in which he called on the National Front (NF) to abandon electoral politics and concentrate on street activism. On his wish for the NF to turn to street politics Barnes wrote;
It could take all those Nationalists that have rejected the demands required for electoral politics, for whatever reason, and train them up and deploy them as street activists to counter the reds on the streets.
Now while the NF have not disbanded as a political party nor play a leading role in the EDL, though their members have appeared on EDL demos, it isn’t hard to see that the EDL are filling this role as a nationalist street mob who’ve increasingly taken to looking for fights with members of the anaemic UAF and other anti-fascists. The BNP could never mobilise in this way since it goes against their new image of family friendly, suited euro-nationalists, however another group of nationalists not attached to the BNP fulfilling this role not only takes the pressure off the BNP from more militant anti-fascists who may be drawn into confrontation with EDL but it also opens up the possibility of a second front for nationalism in the UK
The National Front
Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by fashwatch in The Guilty Parties
The National Front have never recovered from Margaret Thatcher attracting a lot of their vote in the 1979 election and since then have fallen into obscurity. Anyone with serious ambitions in fascist politics left the party many years ago. Former members include the BNP’s Nick Griffin and Patrick Harrington who is General Secetary of the BNP scab union Solidarity . Today the activities of the NF are mainly confined to organising poorly attended demo’s at Gay Pride marches and making homo-erotic banners.
The BNP
Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by fashwatch in The Guilty Parties
The British National Party (BNP) have come a long way since their formation following John Tyndalls split with the National Front in 1982. They’ve gone from an obscure, second rate white nationalist party preaching anti-semitism to a party that can now boast over 70 councillors, 2 MEP’s and around 14,000 members according to the latest leaked membership list.
The growth of the party has come about following a period of cosmetic modernisation under current leader Nick Griffin who has abandoned a policy of open anti-semitism for anti-immigration and Muslim bashing. He has also made the party more PR savvy with talk of “identity”, “heritage” and “freedom” preferred to overt racism. The reasons for this change were elucidated by Griffin himself in a talk in the US in which he shared a platform with former KKK member David Duke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04QolIvfQEw
While the BNP poses as a radical alternative to the political establishment they are often the staunchest supporters of the existing order. In 2003 the party opposed the firefighters strike asserting that firefighters should not have the right to strike action regardless of any issues regarding pay or working conditions. Meanwhile in Broxbourne their councillor voted to block a motion to allow pensioners to have free bus passes. These kinds of actions show the BNP for what it really is, a party that cares no more for working class people than any of the mainstream parties do. Then again we shouldn’t expect anything less from a party run by a Cambridge educated landowner whose father was a prominent Tory Party member!
Looming large on the BNP’s hit-list of new folk devils is Multiculturalism. However while the BNP position themselves as opponents of Multiculturalism they are really one of it’s main benefactors. The promotion of political Multiculturalism has accentuated and created divides in communities where none previously existed (in the article How to Make a Riot Kenan Malik outlines the policy of Multiculturalism). What the BNP is really against is a multi-racial society. The BNP’s claim that they represent “white” or “indigenous” Briton’s should leave most of us rolling on the floor in fits of laughter, indeed why would someone with pale skin have different interests to someone with darker skin? However the promotion of a political Multiculturalism which allocates resources and recognises people based on their ethnicity, nationality and religion gives such ridiculous claims as those made by the BNP greater credence and has given their racism a veneer of politically correct acceptability.
Despite their new found PC sugar coating the BNP retain most of their fascist ties. In 2007 Councillor Chris Beverley gave a speech to a gathering of the European National Front which brings together some of the most hard line fascist and anti-Semitic parties around Europe. More recently this year the party deputy leader Simon Darby attended a meeting of prominent fascist and neo-nazi groups from Europe in Milan. He was joined by convicted terrorist and close associate of Nick Griffin Roberto Fiore who was convicted of being part of a terrorist organisation which bombed Bologna train station in 1980 leaving 85 people dead. The party has also made links with the Hungarian anti-Semitic party known as Jobbik who can lay claim to have their own private army known as the Hungarian Guard. The family friendly face of the BNP is one that is very much used for the UK public market but not one that reflects any meaningful change in their politics.
The stated long term aim of the party is to repatriate non-indigenous (read non-white) Briton’s, reintroduce national service and bring in the death penalty for anyone involved in acts of “terrorism”. In the short term the only thing the party achieve is to divide working class communities along lines of race, religion and nationality, weakening community cohesion and diluting the fighting power of a fragmented working class.
With their election to the European Parliament giving them access to funding and publicity, the lingering recession, the continuing ineptitude of the mainstream political parties and the ongoing attacks on working class communities by the government we can expect the BNP to continue to slowly grow over the next couple of years.
The British Peoples Party
Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by fashwatch in The Guilty Parties
The British Peoples Party (BPP) are an anti-semitic white nationalist party who sit on the far fringes of fascist politics. The party have largely disappeared from the scene since their shamefully attended protest against rap music outside a Leeds branch of HMV in October 2008. After hiding in a pub protected by police for half the day the BPP emerged under heavy police protection to carry out a demonstration heard by no one but opposed by hundreds before scuttling into taxi’s and being hurried out of town under a barrage of abuse. Half the party are in prison for offences ranging from hoarding explosives to offences relating to paedophilia while the others are all too keen to inform the authorities of what other party members are up to. Not even the most cognitively challenged nationalist would touch the party with a barge pole.
Al-Muhajiroun/Islam4UK
Posted on 11. Dec, 2009 by fashwatch in The Guilty Parties
Al-Muhajiroun is an Islamic Fundamentalist group founded in 1983 by Omar Bakri, the group disbanded in 2004 but reemerged earlier this year during a hapless relaunch in which the group was kicked off the premises following scuffles between supporters and opponents. The groups main outlet in the UK is through Islam4UK a fundamentalist, right wing group run by Anjem Choudary. The group came to prominence in 2009 when they toured the country promoting Sharia Law and in one instance publicly converting a bewildered looking 11 year old boy to Islam. Supporters also attended the Luton demonstration against British troops returning from Iraq.
The barmy bunch hope to establish Sharia Law in Britain and the dominance of Islam across the world. Choudary himself once said on the BBC on the subject of killing non-Muslims that;
At the end of the day, when we say “innocent people” we mean “Muslims”. As far as non-Muslims are concerned, they have not accepted Islam. As far as we are concerned, that is a crime against God
This sort of language has given him plenty of air time but little support amongst the general population or Muslims in particular. His group is thought to have around 40 members, some of whom are most likely in the pay of Scotland Yard, Choudary himself included. While the vast majority of Muslims shun his group and see them as utterly irrelevant lunatics the likes of the BNP and EDL have taken particular interest in the group, mainly in an attempt to vindicate their notion that their is a global conspiracy to implement Sharia Law and undermine British culture.
