The head of Britain's leading anti-fascist organisation has said the English Defence League has replaced the British National Party as the major force on the far right of British politics.
Nick Lowles of Searchlight said the BNP had become a "sideshow" since the crushing defeat of its leader Nick Griffin in Barking at this year's general election. In recent months, he said, the EDL's anti-Muslim message had given the party a wider appeal. At the same time, the violence EDL rallies attracted meant the organisation received a great deal of media attention.
He added that the BNP were stuck with an old-fashioned neo-fascist image which alienated many who were prepared to back the EDL.
Mr Lowles has made it clear that Searchlight will no longer limit its operations to the fight against traditional neo-Nazi organisations. In the new year it will launch a think tank to examine new forms of extremism such as the anti-Muslim politics of the EDL and totalitarian Islamism.
Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville, Florida, is the controversial cleric who was first invited and then "uninvited" by the EDL, allegedly on the grounds of his racism and homophobia. In August this year, giving a deposition in a court case in which he was a witness, Mr Jones described Judaism as "a religion of the devil", along with Hinduism and Buddhism.
Gainesville is best known as the home of the University of Florida, where there are about 2,000 Jews in the year-round community with three congregations, Conservative, Reform and Jewish Renewal to serve them. On the campus itself, Hillel and Chabad-Lubavitch cater for nearly 7,000 Jewish students.
According to Rabbi Berl Goldman, co-director of the Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Centre on campus, Pastor Jones is not even on the local community's radar. He said: "I've been here 10 years and I don't know of any formal ties or relationship between Jones and faith-based organisations. I've never seen him at any meetings of the Campus Ministry Co-operative which has representatives of all different faiths and denominations in Gainesville. The Jewish community is very distressed at his provocative actions."
Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Centre (the Montgomery, Alabama-based civil rights organisation) confirmed that Pastor Jones is extremely isolated. "I very much doubt if he has connections with anyone except a dozen or so followers."
Jewish Chronicle
December 19, 2010
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7 comments:
I dont agree with this assessment. The EDL are like the old NF, street thugs, most are only there for a punch up, it doesnt matter who with. They will more than likley get themselves banned if violence escalates. They dont stand for elections and have no policies. The only danger they have is their ability to draw alienated white working class youths, they however dont have single political idea in their thick skulls. We can all see that the BNP are in a dip at the moment, but that could change rapidly.
If the EDL spark race riots which is their intention then it will be the BNP who will reap the results. Most of us see the EDL as a rival to the BNP, but its not, they compliment each other, the boot and the ballot box.
Most of us see the EDL as a rival to the BNP, but its not, they compliment each other, the boot and the ballot box.
Griffin views the EDL as a rival. He's utterly paranoid about them, thinking that they were created by ZOG with the express purpose of denying him the keys to Number 10.
Maybe he does see them as a rival in terms of funding, publicity etc, however, the EDL are not a political party and no one can vote for them. If a person is sympathetic to the EDL,s message, then if your looking for someone to cast your vote for, its going to be the BNP, so both sides benefit, thats why i meant they compliment each other
Hopefully the EDL will stay aay from the ballot box, as they would appeal to younger voters than your average BNP candidate.
Thankfully they don't have the brains or the balls to run for parliament or council elections.
The thought of the EDL appearing on telly in election broadcasts would be terrifying.
young people are repelled by politics,those that follow the EDL would not vote anyway, they are in it for the same reason they join various holigan groups, the thrill of a piss up and a punch up
Hopefully the EDL will stay aay from the ballot box, as they would appeal to younger voters than your average BNP candidate.
I'd be very surprised if the the EDL stood in elections. They have a successful (in their terms) MO and standing in elections would carry risks for them. They'll keep on doing what they're doing for the forseeable future. The far-right electoral 'marketplace' is a crowded one anyway with about 6 or so parties completing for votes (UKIP, BNP, NF, EDP, EFP etc.)
Most of us see the EDL as a rival to the BNP
I've always regarded them as the BNP's "special needs" wing.
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