For those who question the links between the English Defence League and fascism, or indeed the clear parallels between Islamophobia and antisemitism, this is a cartoon recently posted on the EDL London Division’s Facebook page.
It is used to illustrate the conspiracy theory that graffiti featuring the letters EDL, which has proliferated on mosques and Islamic centres since the murder of Lee Rigby, is not the work of EDL supporters themselves but of Muslims intent on smearing the EDL.
A man has avoided prison for posting an offensive comment on Facebook following the death of Fusilier Lee Rigby.
Adam Rogers, 28, pleaded guilty to sending an offensive, indecent, obscene, or menacing message by a public communication network in May.
Rogers, of Kingsman Street, Woolwich, was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for 24 months at Hastings Magistrates’ Court.
He was arrested in the town on 24 May after being identified from a Facebook entry made while in Hastings.
Update: See “Mosque fire threat man sentenced”, Hastings & St Leonards Observer, 19 July 2013
(Photo from Rogers’ Facebook page)
I haven’t covered the online activities of the National Secular Society’s favourite “comedian” Pat Condell recently.
Partly that’s because I can’t stand the sight of his smug, sneering face staring out of the screen at me, but also because I get the impression that even the NSS’s enthusiasm for Condell has cooled somewhat in the face of the increasingly vile racist views he has promoted in his YouTube monologues. (Not that this has prevented another prominent fan, Richard Dawkins, from continuing to advertise compilations of Condell’s videos on his website.)
However, Condell’s latest video rant is worthy of note because, having previously announced his backing for the anti-immigration UK Independence Party, he has now gone one step further and come out in support of the English Defence League – to the delirious approval of the EDL itself, needless to say.
English Defence League protesting at Downing Street in May
West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council are working together to prepare for a protest due to take place in Birmingham City Centre on Saturday.
Supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) are planning to stage a static protest in Centenary Square on 20 July, whilst groups in opposition to the EDL, are holding a simultaneous counter demonstration in Chamberlain Square.
These distinct and central venues have been identified to assist with a carefully planned police and council operation.
Yesterday the EDL’s sister organisation, the Swedish Defence League, held a protest in Göteborg under the slogan “Stop Muslim immigration”. SDL chairman Kamil Ryba explained that “Islam’s disregard for human life is so evil that it is our duty to protect and fight against this evil”.
Although it was billed as a national demonstration, Göteborgs-Posten reports that only about a dozen people turned up for the event. The SDL’s own photo of the event confirms the derisory turnout.
The English Defence League have been responding to news that a disused pub in Preston may be re-opened as an Islamic education centre.
Members of the English Defence League have been strongly condemned for harassment and threats of violence targeted at a young reporter.
Sarah Marshall, a trainee reporter on the Doncaster Free Press, was threatened on the Casuals United website, over an incident at an EDL rally in Sheffield six weeks ago. The website has a picture of her and the threat: “If Miss Marshall is not dealt with we will be outside Doncaster Free Press until she is.” The site gave contact details of the Doncaster Free Press.
Manic Street Preachers are taking legal action against the English Defence League for using their song ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’ to promote an upcoming demonstration in Birmingham.
Ironically, the song – taken from the band’s 1998 album ‘This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours’ – took its name from an anti-fascist slogan used during the Spanish Civil War and has now been used by the far-right group in a video about one of their demos. The song famously features the lyric: “So if I can shoot rabbits/Then I can shoot fascists”.
Michael Wongsam, the Chair of West Midlands Unite Against Fascism said in a statement: “We are appalled to discover that the racist and fascist English Defence League has used the anti-fascist song ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’ by the band the Manic Street Preachers…This song takes its title from an anti-fascist slogan used during the Spanish Civil War where anti-racists and anti-fascists from all over Europe tried to stop Franco’s fascists from taking over the country.”
Merseyside footballer Shaun Tuck was jailed after sending a string of anti-Muslim tweets in the wake of the Woolwich murder of Drummer Lee Rigby.
Tuck, 26, a former Marine FC striker who now plays for Witton Albion, in Northwich, admitted using the social network to call for mosques in the UK to be “gassed out or bombed”. The drink-fuelled online tirade also referred to beheading Muslim children and called for a riot in response to the tragedy.
Liverpool magistrates’ court was told Tuck, of Mollington Avenue, Norris Green, had been drinking after hearing the news of Drummer Rigby’s death on May 22. He tweeted the offensive messages over a number of hours on that day and in to May 23.
