What should we think of the EDL?

If you are unaware, there is a political organisation in this country called the English Defence League. Wikipedia describes them as "a far right group opposing what it considers to be the spread of Islamism...in the UK". From that description, you might be forgiven for immediately putting them in the 'BAD' group, alongside such creatures as Nick Griffin, Jerry Falwell, Enoch Powell et al.

Their own website, on the other hand, boldly displays a motto that reads, "Peacefully Protesting Against Islamic Extremism". That is an ethos that should feature in the manifestos of even the most liberal of any of the legitimate political parties. If anything, it is too soft. The true nature of Islamic Extremism sometimes begs for physical opposition. Is there smoke without fire here then? Why do BNP supporters and EDL members meet jovially in a political venn diagram?

As an atheist (or anti-theist depending on how deep you want to go), I am opposed to the introduction of Sharia Law in the UK. Church should be separate from state, and Sharia is probably the first church I'd want out. As a moral individual I do not want to ignore the atrocities carried out by Islamic fundamentalists. As a liberal, I want to have the right to criticise religion without any threat of having that taken away. Finally, as an Englishman, I absolutely resent any attack on Western democracy. Surely I should track down the next EDL rally with enthusiasm!

There is an elephant in this particular room though; A thought tormenting me as I stroll on down to the local community hall. Why do I know that the rally is going to feature many skin-heads? Why do I know that there will be football hooligans? Why can I predict with incredible certainty that some of the members will have ties to the National Front? If this is about opposing the beliefs of a self-confessed universal religion, then why are there racists there too? It’s not easy to explain.  

One reason for all of this is the connection to immigration. To a crude observer, Islam is a foreign religion. To use Pakistan as an example: Pakistani immigrants arrive here potentially bringing fundamentalist Islam with them. This would vex both the British National Party and the English Defence League. This appears to explain some of the common ground between them, and doesn’t get the anti-Islam boys into any trouble.

Another thing to take into consideration is that any political group with the sole intent of opposing a major ideology are going to attract members who are full of a certain type of anger. It is a generic anger that can be pushed in a variety of directions given enough persuasion. Tell a frustrated young man that his rival football team has fans who want to fight him and see what happens. Then once he’s fully heated, tell him that Muslims want to attack him. Then tell him it’s not Muslims, but brown and black people. Suddenly he’s walked through three factions without the slightest idea why. An organisation shouldn’t be judged on a few bad ones who slipped through because someone gave them the wrong information.  

It seems that Tommy Robinson (head of the EDL) has never publicly made a disparaging comment about another race, or advocated unprovoked violence against anyone. They will turn heads because of the nature of offense associated with Islam. People will call them Islamaphobic, but a phobia is an irrational fear. Fear of a Sharia state is completely rational.

Does that make it clear? I hope so.

....Wait.

Shouldn’t you judge a group on its members as well? Nick Griffin of the BNP can talk publicly all he wants about not being racist, but his followers are always up for a bit of good old fashioned holocaust denying. If you ever get talking to one of them in a bar, you don’t have to count past twenty before you hear a phrase that should have been confined to the history books around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation. So if there really is this large a gulf between the leader and his members then it’s not a coherent party; it’s a decapitated body. And above all, it is a racist organisation.

I get a similar feeling from the EDL. I’m not accusing all their members of racism; I do believe some of them when they say their quarrel is simply with a certain strain of religion. However, I will explain why I won't be signing up tomorrow.

Once, my friend an I were scouting a pub's front garden for seats. We ended up sharing with a blonde middleaged woman who was sitting on her own smoking. I can't remember which side first struck up the conversation but within a minute she had left the table and was walking over to a Muslim family who were dropping their children off to the Quakers centre across the road; clearly for a class of some sort. She returned having spoken to them and proceeded to rant about how they were turning the building into a mosque. She told us she was a senior EDL member. We then had to listen to a bizarre list of conspiracy theories, including something about a sinister plan to stock only halal pork in every major supermarket. I can now report that a year later, the centre across the road remains Quaker, and a quick google search on ‘Halal Pork’ yields only ironic results. Not even a googlewhack for the affirmative I’m afraid.

I found it amusing until I got home and did some research into what their meetings actually look like. They look like street fights. They look like the post match antics of a Chelsea/Millwall game. Looking at the Muslim protesters who clearly thought they were fighting some sort of offshoot of the BNP, it looked like a race war. This wasn’t fulfilling what I’d hoped when I heard there was an organisation opposing extremist Islam. That promised me something like protection from street warfare. This was hooliganism, with a cause, but hooliganism nonetheless. It cannot be the right method.

Debating Muslims must be the appropriate method for this time. Ask them for help in outing the potential terrorists. Find out how their reformation is coming along. If terrorism threatens then we'll fight our corner with all the force needed. Just don’t massage protests in such a way as to guarantee conflict out of nothing. It is the idiot end of the scale of the anti-extremist movement. In the same way that BNP members do not respect the modernised manifesto they are obliged to sign up to; the peace tinged EDL slogan does not appear to mean much to the underlings.

You may agree with everything Tommy Robinson says. But his followers don't appear to be on panels asking Sheikhs what the punishment for apostasy is. Youtube suggests they are probably squaring up to policemen in Birmingham city centre. I think it's time to take a more intelligent stance on this terribly complicated issue, don't you?