Unmasked: wealthy backers behind far-right league

A property tycoon and a City-based financier quizzed by police over his links to the gunman who slaughtered 69 people in Norway are exposed today as key figures behind the rise of the far-right English Defence League (EDL).

A Sunday Times investigation has revealed that Ann Marchini, a mother from Highgate, north London, and Alan Ayling, a former director of an investment fund, have sought to mould the thuggish anti-Muslim group into a credible political force.

They are both linked to the murky world of the online "counter-jihad" movement from which Anders Behring Breivik drew ideological inspiration before committing his massacre in Norway in July. They have remained in the shadows until now by using aliases on the internet to mask their true identities.

Breivik repeatedly mentioned the EDL in his 1,600-page "manifesto" and once belonged to an Oslo-based offshoot called the Norwegian Defence League.

The EDL, whose support has mushroomed since it was formed in Luton in 2009, has organised a string of protests against what it perceives as the growing "Islamisation" of Britain.

Many have descended into violence perpetrated by a hard core of football hooligans.

However, the "brains" behind the group — which plans to field candidates at the next council elections — come from a different background.

Marchini, who is thought to be in her fifties, runs a buy-to-let property empire from her £1.6m mock-Tudor home in Highgate, a leafy suburb usually associated with liberals.

Marchini, who is believed to be divorced from an Italian banker, operates under at least two aliases: "Gaia", the Earth goddess from Greek mythology, and "Dominique Devaux".

She is said to have helped organise a "pivotal" meeting between EDL figures and anti-jihad thinkers in July 2009 and recently attended a discussion where the EDL agreed to consider an electoral pact with the right-wing British Freedom party (BFP).

A report by Gaia on the BFP website states that Stephen Lennon, the EDL leader, "explained that the EDL need to move up a notch — they cannot go on forever staging street demos. They are still widely perceived as a rabble, and as such cannot possibly obtain funding or be taken seriously by the political class".

Marchini was photographed alongside Lennon, 28, at a far-right demonstration this year and the image was posted on the website of Hope Not Hate, an anti-fascist group. Her name and address also appeared on a leaked list of EDL donors.

The 2009 EDL meeting took place at the £500,000 flat of Ayling in the Barbican in central London. Lennon attended with two relatives from Luton.

Paul Ray, who claims to be a founder of the EDL, was also there. He says he travelled to the venue from Highgate with Marchini, whom he knew at the time as "Ann", "Gaia" or "Dominique". He says he had previously stayed for "a few months" at one of her rental flats on British Street in Bow, east London.

Ray regards the Barbican meeting as "pivotal". "It was the key people being brought together," he said. "It was bringing together the ideological and political side with the boots on the ground."

Two days after the meeting, Ray received an email from "Dominique Devaux", using the account "gaia2600@hotmail.com". "Still very interested in helping EDF [sic] grow as a movement," it stated. It was signed off by "Ann".

Another email, seen by The Sunday Times, gives a mobile number used by Marchini for letting her properties.

Ayling, 57, has been operating under the alias "Alan Lake". He is an IT expert and was a director of Pacific Capital Investment Management until January this year. The fund was dissolved in August.

Last month Ayling was interviewed by officers from Scotland Yard at the behest of Norwegian police who were investigating whether he was a possible "mentor" of Breivik.

Paal-Fredrik Kraby, an Oslo police prosecutor, confirmed that "the man known as Alan Lake" had been questioned. "But his real name is not for us to give to the press," he said.

In an interview with a Norwegian newspaper nine days ago, Lake denied having any contact with Breivik. However, he admitted to having met a prolific anti-Islam blogger called "Fjordman". "People ought to read him, he is good," Lake said. Breivik named Fjordman 111 times in his manifesto.

In the same interview, Lake said Breivik was "wrong", but added the following about Norway's immigration policies: "You let in dangerous people who do not share your values, who will destroy your society and take your freedom. You will have to pay the price for that."

When shown a photograph of Lake last week, two separate sources at the Barbican confirmed that the man in the picture was Ayling. A man inside his flat denied he was Ayling when contacted over the intercom and refused to step outside. Ayling did not respond to a written list of questions.

Norwegian police say Lake was interviewed in London as a "witness". They have also spoken at length to Ray, 35, who voluntarily flew to Oslo to try to clear his name after speculation that he could have unwittingly inspired Breivik.

The Norwegian gunman, 32, who has been declared insane by psychiatrists, claimed in his manifesto that he once had an English mentor called "Richard (the Lionhearted)". Ray, a born-again Christian who subsequently fell out with the EDL, runs a blog called Lionheart.

When The Sunday Times first approached Marchini about her EDL links on November 30, she slammed the door shut on a reporter. Last week, she and her son, Paolo, hung up at least three times when contacted by telephone.

On Friday, a lawyer for Marchini said: "Ann Marchini does not operate under the alias of either Dominique Devaux or Gaia. She is a member of British Freedom, but joined only to show support for her personal friend Paul Weston [the chairman]."

Two names on Dominique Devaux's list of Facebook friends — Paolo and Bianca Marchini — disappeared on the same day.

Weston, a former UK Independence party candidate, said he could not recall befriending Devaux on Facebook. He described Breivik as "a psychopathic lunatic".

Lennon admitted knowing Marchini under the Devaux alias, but denied she was influential. He said Lake was a "nutjob" and had not been involved with the EDL "for ages". Lennon, a former member of the British National party, denied the EDL was racist and said Breivik was "a monster".

The Sunday Times

Norwegian police formally investigating EDL financier for possible terrorism links

Reuters news agency are reporting that English Defence League financier & strategist Alan Lake is now being formally investigated by the Norwegian police in order to verify if he was an ideological influence on the mass-murdering Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik.

The Guardian have formally investigated and independently confirmed Alan Lake’s authorship of a “Final Solution” blueprint targeting the entire British Muslim population along with anyone perceived to be sympathetic towards them, including death threats against British Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy PM Nick Clegg and the Archbishop of Canterbury. You can see a screenshot of Lake’s horrifying “Final Solution” here and here.

Alan Lake was interviewed by the Daily Mail in 2010 and openly discussed his involvement with the EDL as a financier and strategist.

Channel 4 News, describing Alan Lake as “the EDL’s chief financier” during their investigation of the EDL’s connections with Anders Breivik, have confirmed that Lake was interviewed on Norwegian television in April 2011. In that interview, Lake confirmed that he has funded the EDL.

Video footage is available of Alan Lake attending a meeting in London with senior EDL leaders Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”), Kevin Carroll and Roberta Moore, in a video released on 20 March 2011.

Roberta Moore has direct links to convicted terrorists in the United States whose organisation has been formally designated as a “terrorist group” by the FBI and who are banned from entering Israel.

Roberta Moore was photographed personally escorting Yaxley-Lennon while he was disguised as a rabbi before he gave a speech at the EDL’s demonstration in London on 3 September 2011. During that speech, Yaxley-Lennon publicly accused “every single Muslim” of collective guilt and publicly made a direct threat of EDL-led retribution against the entire British Muslim population.

Yaxley-Lennon is also on record as stating that he agrees with Anders Breivik’s opinions.

Alan Lake has been instrumental in facilitating the EDL’s alliances with Far-Right groups outside the UK. He also played a pivotal role in facilitating the EDL’s links to the American anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller (who was cited multiple times in Anders Breivik’s 1500-page manifesto and was in direct contact with a violent Norwegian who sounds suspiciously similar to Breivik). Lake even personally attended the protest against the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” which Geller organised in New York last year; Yaxley-Lennon also attempted to accompany Lake to the protest but was prevented from doing so by the American authorities. Full details, along with an overview of Lake’s background, affiliations and activities to further the EDL’s agenda can be read here.

Pickled Politics

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

EDL racists and fascists ditch shadowy strategist Alan Lake

Tensions inside the leadership of the English Defence League have burst into the open as the organisation publicly ditched its former funder and strategist Alan Lake.

The bust-up shows that the EDL is feeling the heat after the revelation of its links with Norwegian fascist killer Anders Behring Breivik prompted a wave of revulsion against the organisation.

Lake is reportedly a wealthy businessman in the IT industry. He has extensive links with far-right and fascist organisations across Europe. He is a vicious anti-Muslim racist who is behind the strategy of welding together football hooligan firms – who now make up the EDL’s hard core – into a unified fighting force of racist thugs. Lake told the Daily Telegraph: ‘This is a dirty, nasty, difficult struggle and you have to work with what is available.’

He has also admitted funding the EDL, telling Norway’s TV2 channel: “I have given some money to help some EDL things happen.”

But today, the EDL monster attempted to break free from its Frankenstein creator. Lake’s shocking comments that the Norway massacre was a case of “chickens come home to roost” were followed by a story in the Guardian newspaper reporting a post made by Lake on his 4Freedoms website in May 2010, which discussed the merits of killing prime minister David Cameron, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

He claimed that “in 20 or 30 years the UK will start to fragment into Islamic enclaves”, adding:

'It’s time we decide… who we will force in the Islamic enclaves (and who we will execute if they sneak out.) By forcing these liberal twits into those enclaves, we will be sending them to their death at worst, and at best they and their families will be subjected to all the depredations, persecution and abuse that non-Muslims worldwide currently ‘enjoy’ in countries like Pakistan…It will be great to see them executed or tortured to death.'

Lake suggested that the Archbishop of Canterbury be included on the death list on the grounds that he “approves of the creation and use of sharia courts”, while David Cameron’s fate should be discussed “to help refine our criteria about who deserves to die at the hands of the Muslim overlords”.

In their statement, the unnamed EDL bosses deny that Lake is a leader of the organisation, claiming his role in the EDL was “during its early formation”. But Lake has compered and spoken at EDL demos and was among the EDL leaders at a meeting filmed by Australia’s 60 minutes documentary at the end of March (see screenshot).

The EDL statement says:

'He has always jumped on the bandwagon of the EDL when in reality all he has ever done is bring shame on our movement with his “Nazi Like” postings and his moribund rantings that would even make Himmler blush!'

It seems unlikely that the EDL members have only just come across Lake’s remarks – they have been in circulation on the internet for more than a year.

But the EDL is riddled with Nazis of its own. EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon – AKA “Tommy Robinson” is a former member of the fascist British National Party, as was founder member Chris Renton and other leadership figures including North East organiser Alan Spence. The organisation has increasingly “hardened up” its position, with more frequent attacks on traditional fascist targets such as trade union demos, socialist and anti-racist gatherings as well as against Muslims and other ethnic minority communities.

The falling out between Lake and Yaxley Lennon is only the latest in a series of leadership spats. It reflects tensions over the direction of the organisation between pseudo-intellectual “anti-Jihadists” and more traditional racist boot boys.

Earlier this week, Lake issued a statement of his own, denying that he had had anything to do with the organisation over the past six months and claiming that he had not funded it – despite his earlier public statements.

As the EDL’s links with Breivik and the fact that he was inspired by the organisation’s appalling anti-Muslim racism has become clear, both sides of the formerly cosy EDL leadership have been in an unseemly rush to ditch each other.

Lake has become an increasingly unpopular figure among sections of the EDL’s cadre for some time, with senior figures openly questioning his shadowy role. But the rhetoric accompanying Lake’s departure is a desperate attempt by the EDL to cover up the racism and fascism at the organisation’s heart.

The divisions at the top make the national demo against the EDL on 3 September in Tower Hamlets all the more important – it is our chance to bring thousands of people together to turn the tide against the EDL’s racist and fascist thugs.

Unite Against Fascism

Thanks to NewsHound and others for the heads-up

EDL leader demanded debate on killing David Cameron and archbishop

A rare photograph of Alan Lake, who said it would be ‘great to see liberals executed or tortured’.

Alan Lake ran a far-right website where he discussed execution of political and religious leaders and predicted Islamic enclaves

A senior member of the English Defence League, who founded a far-right website carrying articles by bloggers closely monitored by the Norwegian gunman Anders Behring Breivik, published an online essay discussing the execution and torture of the UK's political and religious leaders.

On 23 May 2010, Alan Lake posted on his 4 Freedoms website an article outlining his belief that "in 20 or 30 years the UK will start to fragment into Islamic enclaves". He went on: "It's time we decide... who we will force in the Islamic enclaves (and who we will execute if they sneak out.) By forcing these liberal twits into those enclaves, we will be sending them to their death at worst, and at best they and their families will be subjected to all the depredations, persecution and abuse that non-Muslims worldwide currently 'enjoy' in countries like Pakistan... It will be great to see them executed or tortured to death."

Lake urged visitors to the site to contribute the names of people who should be sent to the Islamic enclaves and made three of his own suggestions. He suggested that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, should be a candidate on the grounds that he "approves of the creation and use of sharia courts". David Cameron, he explained, should be included in the discussion "to help refine our criteria about who deserves to die at the hands of the Muslim overlords". He also included Nick Clegg on the grounds that he is "such an angelic and pure person that he upholds various 'human rights' issues more important than plebeian matters of public safety".

Soon after his posting, Lake removed the references to execution and torture. "I took it back after one day," he said. "I said, 'This doesn't help.' I'm not perfect, I will make mistakes. But the fundamental point of that piece is correct. I am holding people responsible for the consequences of their actions."

In interviews outlining the EDL's philosophy, Lake describes himself as its"events director". He has admitted to loaning the EDL equipment, but denied claims he bankrolls the organisation.

Users of the 4 Freedoms site have posted articles by a far-right blogger known as Fjordman who was extensively cited by Breivik in the 1,500-page manifesto he issued shortly after the mass killings. On a separate far right website, Gates of Vienna, Breivik is believed to have posted a tribute to Fjordman , under the internet pseudonym "year2183".

"Keep up the good work mate," Breivik writes in response to a Fjordman posting. "You are a true hero of Europe, although most ppl [people] won't realise this for a very long time."

Last week Lake issued a statement saying he did not know Breivik and had never met him: "I categorically condemn his actions, which have also killed friends of a friend of mine – one in Oslo and two on Utøya island." But Lake said he would continue his support for the EDL. "England is the only country that has anything like the EDL, a large grassroots movement that is raising issues that you are not supposed to raise," he said. "They reopen the debate."

Lake has spoken at far-right rallies in Sweden and on Norwegian television, where he has warned that Europe is in danger of becoming an Islamic state. Responding to a march by Muslims in Britain calling for the imposition of sharia law, Lake told the Norwegian channel 2 Nyhetene: "They are seeking the overthrow of the state. As far as I am concerned, I'll be happy to execute people like that."

Some of his comments have alarmed even those close to the EDL. Paul Ray, a right-wing Christian blogger, who founded the EDL in 2006 and who has denied being Breivik's mentor, said: "As things have gone on, it's become apparent how extreme [Lake's] views are. This is a guy directing an extreme far-right movement in the UK."

Ray said Lake played an important role in linking the EDL to influential far-right communities online. "The anti-jihad movement isn't your mainstream press, it's all online [far-right] blogs and websites and Lake has been able to keep them on board. They [Tommy Robinson, the EDL's leader] know that without this online presence they won't have any support."

Fjordman has condemned the killings in Norway and in an online posting said he would not be responding to calls for interviews. The EDL has also condemned Breivik's actions.

Observer

Ban London march by far-Right extremists linked to killer, say MPs

The Government was today urged to ban a far-Right demonstration by the group praised by Norwegian killer Anders Breivik.

The English Defence League is planning an anti-Islam protest in September in Tower Hamlets.

The Standard yesterday revealed links between the EDL and Breivik, who was in contact with members of the group in the days before Friday's bombing and shooting spree in which 76 people were killed. Breivik was told he would be welcome at the EDL's protests and replied: "You're a blessing to all in Europe".

EDL march organisers have released an online message to members calling on them to take "our message into the heart of militant Islam within our own country".

The message continues: "The last two years of demonstrations could arguably have been dress rehearsals for this one. We will go where we want, when we want." MPs and activists today called on the Government to investigate the EDL's links to violent extremism.

Poplar and Limehouse MP Jim Fitzpatrick said: "Any thinking person is going to be worried that someone like Breivik has been in touch with the EDL. The march will affect public order. It's better if the EDL didn't come to the East End. They should keep out."

Nick Lowles, of anti-fascist organisation Searchlight, said: "It is inconceivable after the events of the weekend and the evidence of links between Breivik and the EDL that the planned march through Tower Hamlets can proceed… We call on the Home Office to ban this provocative demonstration."

A Met spokeswoman said they were aware the EDL planned to stage a national march on 3 September and another in Waltham Forest on 30 July. She said that "appropriate and proportionate policing plans will be in place" and there were no plans to ask for the event to be banned.

A millionaire computer engineer who has admitted funding the EDL today appeared to confirm the existence of the Knights Templar group described by Breivik in the manifesto he emailed to contacts shortly before the killings. Breivik claimed to have attended a meeting of the Knights Templar in London in April 2002. In a posting on his forum Alan Lake, 45, distanced himself from Breivik but says there were "attempts" to involve him in the Knights Templar, which he resisted.
London Evening Standard

EDL Latest by ‘MacMalatesta’ & ‘Masala Tester’

Crivvens, Jings and Help Ma Boab! The members of the Tommy Robinson Band the English Defence League have been getting intae a right wee state this week over their various schisms and are running roond the forums like heedless haggis’s desperate for guidance from an increasingly distant leadership! Wee Tam has done a bit of a disappearing act recently: he is under bail conditions and must not have anything to do with the EDL. It also says on 1 forum that he is on a stag do abroad. Whether this is true or not we cannot verify but the statements that have come from EDL HQ certainly do not sound like him – ‘repudiate’ Tam? Crivvens! Whit does that mean? Kev Carroll, his ‘number 2,’ has also been maintaining radio silence so is anyone at EDL HQ or is that just Hel Gower tidying up the coke spoons and Pot Noodles?

The EDL Leadership

Wee Tam Robinson originally prided himself on the EDL leaderships ‘multicultural racism’ stance and oft tooted their various ‘ethnic’ members to prove they aren’t racist but things have no been going tae well: of the original leadership Richard Price, once a ‘political prisoner,’ has now been excommunicated on conviction of child porn and crack and cocaine possession. Guarmit Singh – the token Sikh member – has resigned because his Nan is poorly. ‘Mixed race yoof leader’ Joel Titus is in prison. John ‘Snowy’ Shaw has gone all religious and is promoting the bogus Protocols of Zion. As this is the first ‘big book’ he has read he naturally thinks it must all be true. Puir wee thing! He was hoofed out early on despite his part in the Dudley ‘rooftop protest.’ He is currently siding with the North West and North East Infidel factions who split from the main EDL after the do at Blackburn where Tam ‘outed’ one of his critics who got a battering. Abdul, the Glaswegian Asian laddie, has been outed this week spouting anti-Catholic vitriol which is no going tae endear him to some of the EDL members of Irish descent – like Tommy Robinson and Kev Carroll. What is clear from the demos and internet chat is that Tam is losing both his leadership buddies and control over his followers. Although he still has a fair amount of sycophants, many on the forums are unhappy with him and Kev Carroll deciding everything and although the leadership said they are no longer liaising with plod many divisions are now organising their own flash demos irrespective of what happens in Luton.

Flash!

Many members have agreed that the static demos are frustrating: being stuck in a car park on the edge of town surrounded by nervous cops with no toilets and all the boozers closed is no fun. Hence the flash demos. However, the polis will no take kindly tae that kind of behaviour and come down hard like they did in Oldham last year when the EDL tried the same tactics there. They got battered and nicked. Other more sensible EDL have realised that this kind of deliberate disorder will just create negative publicity in the national media. Not that they get much positive coverage anyway. Next week is going to prove how effective the flash strategy when various divisions hold demos in their areas: Middlesboro, Bradford, Leeds, Cambridge, Clitheroe and Halifax have all threatened them and Halifax division held a trial one yesterday though this was piss poor and covered in plod. There is the serious risk of spreading themselves too thinly as most of the demos are too close to each other to be really effective. The day could well end up as a washout.

No Moore!

The essentially paper Jewish Division had a dreadful week and lead heedbanger Roberta Moore has finally been booted out over her increasingly uncontrollable outbursts and getting intae a reet tizzy with wee Tam over multiple things. Moore’s many infractions include attempting to align the EDL with various dodgy Zionists and internet fallouts with prominent members. Many of the EDL membership have reacted positively to the ousting of Moore by saying they do not want anything to do with Israel and that they joined the ENGLISH Defence League. However, given that the leadership are funded by the Zionist Alan Lake wee Tam has made it clear that the EDL WILL support Israel whether the membership like it or not. Like most far-right groups the EDL depends on quantity not quality and have not been careful who they have sided with hence the final implosion with Moore. The EDL have already been fragmented by the Infidels split and this pro/anti Israel thing is going to likewise alienate a membership from whom the leadership is estranged and who are desperately seeking guidance and clarity. Neither of which are forthcoming (especially if Tam’s charlie’d up in a bar in Ibiza!). By the way, up here in auld Reekie we hear that the Scottish Defence League is still ‘yid free.’ Such wee charmers!

Wee Tam & The Big Huge!

As for Wee Tam, his legal problems pile up like fish supper wrappers on a Friday night. He is currently under bail restrictions and cannot have anything to do with the EDL although he still seems to be communicating with some members. He also has outstanding cases against him but not just to do with the EDL. Tam is a wee businessman and owns several properties and businesses and is under investigation for fraud. What is happening over this is unclear but we hope things work out for him.

This week, the Muslim Debate Initiative invited the EDL to come and discuss their differences in neutral and civilised territory to which a lot of members reacted with a predictable flurry of racist abuse. The EDL will not publicly debate for 3 reasons: that many of the EDL’s arguments are flawed and do not stand up to scrutiny; that the leadership have no one left who is articulate enough to debate in public; and that judging from their reactions they are unable to distinguish between moderate Muslims and the tiny percentage of Islamic extremists in the UK – as demonstrated by them singing ‘Mohammed/Allah is a pedo’ and assuming ‘moderate Muslims’ will not mind.

There is still debate on whether the EDL should ‘go political’ but again they will suffer from the above 3 reasons, flawed arguments, inarticulacy and kneejerk racism. If they did ‘go official’ they would immediately disappear amongst the multiple initials of the BNP, the fluffy fascist BFP, UKIP, England 1st and any number of independent hopefuls desperate to lose their election deposits.

In Conclusion …

It’s no looking good Tam! The original leadership has been reduced to you and Kev with many on the forums questioning your wisdom. The EDL was splintered by the North West and North East Infidels who were sick of the leadership ‘down south’ bossing everyone and saying they have to like ‘Jews and Pakis’ and the infidels are more openly racist than Tam’s boys. Fellow travellers like Billy ‘Bunter’ Baker of the English Nationalist Alliance have been ostracised and now the Jewish division have been booted oot. It is clear that the EDL has suffered from egomania as well as factionalism but there is also the fact that it has proved to be a lucrative venture: the merchandising in particular but also there are questions over the whereabouts of cash raised for the now excluded Snowy defence campaign and the Richard Price defence campaign. Other EDL members not opponents bought this up first which is how we found out about it. We will be watching how events unfold on next Saturday so see you then! Oh, and hello to Expose, keep it up!

Malatesta's blog

Puppet Master

Searchlight investigates the man behind the English Defence League.

Somewhere in North London a diminutive and slightly nervous man is scribbling on pieces of paper. He is involved in all sorts of organisations – political, street armies and religious – though conveniently keeps them quite separate.

Meet Alan Lake, at least that is the name he is using now. Lake claims to be a multimillionaire who made his money in computers. More importantly, he is the man behind the English Defence League.

Lake’s association with the EDL has been known ever since he addressed a conference in Malmö on Islamisation organised by the far-right Sweden Democrats in September 2009. What is less well known is the central role Lake has played in getting the EDL off the ground.

Searchlight has learned that it was Lake who came up with the name “English Defence League”. He had heard about Stephen Lennon after the demonstration in Luton in May 2009, when Lennon and his hooligan friends went under the banner United People of Luton. The protest had been organised in conjunction with March for England, a group that Lake actively supports.

Through an intermediary Lake invited Lennon and a couple of others to London where discussions began about forming a national organisation.

For Lake this was the chance to put into practice a plan he had been working on for at least a year. In the United People of Luton he found an uncompromis-ing group willing to take to the streets.

“Cut the politically correct tape tying everyone’s hands and do something about this Terrorist group who hate everything our great county stands for,” read the main statement on the United People of Luton website.

“There is no point sitting in your armchair and shouting at the TV. The only way to get the message across is to take it to the streets. This is a chance to show the Police and the council the power of public opinion. The entire country is behind us!”

Lake liked this approach and made much of it in his hour-long Swedish lecture. “Another strategy we’re trying to do in the UK is reach out to more physical groups like football fans, get them involved,” he told his audience. “Well actually they’re contacting us, because they’re concerned, and these are people who are happy to go out on the street. I mean your average intellectual is happy typing on his PC, but we’ve reached the end of that road. You’re not going to get a fat lot more mileage out of that.

“You can blog and write letters to your MP as much as you like. Your MP doesn’t care, he doesn’t care what you say. The only thing that is going to make people start caring again, that is our nobility, our elite leaders, is if we have more numbers, and if we sometimes get out on the street. Then they’ll care but they don’t care about our words. They don’t care whether we’re right or wrong and they don’t read the blogs.

“So if you can engage with the physical groups, people who are quite happy to go on the street, the thing about the football fans is they go see a match, and then after the match, they’re already there on the street, so if you can then bring them off for a demo that works really well. You get the numbers. And they’re not scared as well. Everybody else is scared of being beaten up and attacked. They’re not scared of that.”

He expressed similar thoughts to Matthew Taylor of The Guardian in March 2010. “The EDL has a lot of support and is growing quickly and crucially. What it has done is deliver an activist movement on the streets,” said Lake. Pressed on the levels of violence at the demonstrations, he replied: “These people are not middle-class female teachers … if they continue to be suppressed it will turn nasty in one way or another … We have put bodies on the street, writing letters to The Times does not work … if we are going to have a mess that is so much grist to the mill.”

Taylor noted: “Lake says he is opposed to violence or confrontation but regularly returns to the importance of the EDL’s physical presence”.

Lake certainly supported the EDL and soon began to put money into the organisation, giving it access to an international network of anti-Muslim organisations and, perhaps more importantly, political and strategic advice.



It was Lake who suggested that Lennon use a false name to head the group. It was Lake who insisted that the EDL immediately and publicly dissociate itself from the British National Party and any other openly fascist organisation. This was despite the clear evidence that the political origin of the United People of Luton lay in Bedfordshire BNP.

Even today Lake travels regularly to Luton to confer with Lennon and Lennon’s cousin, Kevin Carroll, number two in the organisation.

One of Lake’s key roles is to furnish international links and speakers for the EDL. This gives the group an increased profile abroad and credibility at home. It was Lake who arranged for Rabbi Nachum Shifren and the Austrian Islamophobic lecturer Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff to address the EDL demonstration in Luton on 5 February. It was Lake who previously made contact with the hardline anti-Muslim preacher Pastor Terry Jones and it was Lake who built a relationship between the EDL and Pam Geller, the director of the Freedom Defense Initiative and Stop Islamization of America.

Last September Lake and a number of EDL members attended Geller’s protest against a planned Islamic Centre near Ground Zero on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Carroll was among those in New York with Lake, though Lennon was turned away at US immigration.

Geller has subsequently publicly aligned herself with the EDL and it is clear that she and a number of other right-wing Islamophobes like the combative approach of the British street gang.

“The middle-class intellectuals are coming forward and also American speakers – some of them quite famous, although I can’t give you names yet … they love the fact that we can have people that can go on the streets,” Lake boasted to The Guardian last year.

There are even stories circulating of videos of EDL demonstrations and statements being played at right-wing meetings in the US. Lake is also actively using the EDL profile to fundraise across the Atlantic.

Christian fundamentalism

Not much is known about Lake’s political background but his antipathy to Islam could well have been formed, or at least developed, when he attended the Kensington Temple in Notting Hill Gate, west London. The Temple belongs to the Elim Pentecostal Church, a Protestant evangelical church, elements of which have attracted controversy for their hardline views on Christianity, homosexuality and Islam.

The Temple’s pastor is Colin Dye, who has links with a number of Christian right organisations, including the Christian Congress for Traditional Values (CCTV), which ran a high-profile billboard campaign in 2007 titled: “Gay aim: Abolish the Family”, and is linked to the Brentwood-based Peniel Pentecostal Church.

The Peniel Church was run by Michael Reid and attracted media attention after claims that his followers were attempting to take over the local Conservative Association.

Dye eventually broke with Reid in 2008 after a sexual scandal beset the self-proclaimed Brentwood Bishop.

During his time at the Kensington Temple Lake might have also come across the anti-Islam speaker Sam Solomon. A former Muslim who trained in Sharia for 15 years before converting to Christianity, Solomon is now a hardline opponent of Islam. He even boasts of testifying before the US Congress and being “a consultant to the British parliament for matters regarding Islam”.

In December 2006 the UK Independence Party MEP Gerard Batten presented a “Proposed Charter of Muslim Understanding”, written by Solomon, to the European Parliament. The Charter called on ”Muftis, Ulemas, Imams, community leaders, heads of Islamic madrassas, Muezzins, Mazuns and all other Islamic relevant offices including those of free thinkers and leaders of NGOs as well as NPOs (Non-Profit Organisations), youth leaders, women leaders at all levels of all Islamic institutions” to abide by a revised version of the Qur’an and collaborate fully with police and intelligence services.

Today Lake boasts of his links with Batten and in an interview with the Daily Star in the immediate aftermath of the Luton demonstration, Lennon called for a rewriting of the Qur’an.

Lennon’s political development has clearly been influenced by Lake. When the United People of Luton was formed, and indeed in the early days of the EDL itself, Lennon was at pains to stress that he opposed only “radical Islam” and not Muslims or even Islam as a religion. Today that has changed and the whole tenor of EDL rhetoric has become clearly anti-Islamic.

Pressed on this by a Newsnight reporter a few days before the Luton protest, Lennon claimed he had changed his views after learning more about Islam as a religion. Lake’s continued influence and importance to Lennon was clear to see.

Lake claims no longer to attend the Kensington Temple but it is clear that he continues to hold many of its religious views close to him. In a strange positing on his 4Freedoms website in April 2010 he linked the theory of evolution with totalitarianism.

In a chart of the political landscape, Lake put Stalin, Mao and Hitler on the extreme left of the political spectrum, all with a “Socialist Darwinist” label. He described Hitler as “left wing killer of 7 million Christians and 6 million Jews”.

He noted that “all of these dictators believed in the so-called ‘Master Race’ which stems from Darwin’s so-called higher level of Evolution”.

In his eyes Liberals Democrats are not too far away from “extreme left wing” and “totalitarianism”, while at the other end of spectrum the US Constitution is close to “extreme right wing”.

Political aspirations

The EDL is just one piece of Lake’s jigsaw and, notwithstanding the wishes of the Daily Star, he does not see it as a political project. It is simply part of his strategy of tension, of winding up tensions and forcing the issue of Islam into the media spotlight through provocative marches.

Last year Lake thought the political solution was in the UKIP, the mainly anti-EU party which however, under the leadership of Lord Pearson, was taking a more anti-Islamic stance. Pearson regularly spoke out against Islam and attempted to forge links with the Dutch Islamophobic politician Geert Wilders.

As already mentioned, Lake was close to Batten and also to Magnus Nielsen, a UKIP candidate in the general election who Lake claimed was prepared to speak at EDL rallies. Nielsen describes Muhammad as a “criminal psychopath”, “the first cult leader” and “psychiatrically deranged”. Lake told The Guardian that there “is ‘some synergy’ between the two groups”.

He boasts of connections with middle-ranking people in the UKIP though it seems that his plans came to nothing as the UKIP leadership publicly distanced itself from the EDL.

Lake has now turned his attention to the English Democrats (EDP). He has even claimed that he was recently offered a senior role in the party, which he declined, preferring to influence events in the background.

There is a clear crossover between the EDP and March for England, a group to which Lake was connected, and several EDP candidates in last year’s general election, particularly in north London, regularly attend EDL demonstrations.

Given the infighting that is currently engulfing the EDP, Lake might eventually have to look elsewhere but his project is clear. He recognises, as Searchlight’s Fear and Hope study clearly demonstrates, that there is a huge vacuum on the right of British politics, in the space between the Conservative Party and the BNP, for a new right-wing English nationalist party that has no links to the old far right and is cultural as well as political.

Lake looks enviously across the Atlantic at the growth of the Tea Party movement and has been heard advocating the need for a similar group over here. His Facebook site is linked to the Patriotic Caucus, a right-wing political action committee established in December by the Tea Party favourite and failed Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle.

Just to maintain his links with a wider movement, Lake is also involved in at least one British Army veterans organisation and promotes Armed Forces Day on his Facebook site.

While Lake waits for the party he desires to arrive he will continue to shuffle his papers and draw flow diagrams between the various organisations and campaigns with which he is involved.

Thanks to Nick Lowles at Searchlight

EDL Latest

Warning : this article may contain ‘big words’ so to help the EDL trolls, here is a link to the dickshunry : http://dictionary.reference.com/

Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, Luton! Massive cuts of public jobs, increased fuel costs, VAT rises, ‘Allah is a paedo.’ The ‘unstoppable’ English Defence League continue to prove themselves hopelessly out of step with the reality of politics both locally and internationally and insist that the ills of the UK are created by millions of Islamic extremists. In the UK, Muslims represent 3% of the population and the % of extremists is slight. The EDL believe that we are about to be subsumed by sharia law and that Muslims are ‘out-breeding’ ‘white Brits.’ Lads, in grown-up politics the real issues are the Middle East, the economy and the ideological attack on the public sector by the Tories. You have yet to identify or expose any extremists in any of the places you have had your piss-ups. The only extremists arrested have been EDL members. The ‘inclusive’ EDL claim to ‘peacefully oppose’ Islamic extremism and think that ‘ordinary’ Muslims will not be offended by chants of ‘Mohammed is a paedo.’ The leadership blame this on a few ‘loose cannons’ but do not understand that the point of leadership is to control the ‘loose cannons’ and prevent this kind of thing. And this ‘loose cannons’ excuse has no political credibility because it has happened on every demo so far.

The EDL’s Jewish division is also a ‘loose cannon.’ Roberta Moore of the Jewish division has blundered massively over her affiliation with the Jewish Task Force and even the EDL have realised that the JTF, and indeed Moore herself, are a political liability who do no-one any favours. But she is a ‘loose cannon’ and a girl so she is probably just confused, the poor dear. The EDL think that anyone who opposes ‘Islamic extremism’ must be okay and on their side but the reality – which is where the rest of us who can read exist – know otherwise.

Another loose cannon in the morbidly obese shape of Bill Baker has been ‘proscribed.’ The portly leader of the English Nationalist Alliance, friend of pasties everywhere, has been booted out of an increasingly fragmented EDL. In case you don’t remember, the ENA have been piggybacking the EDL for a while now and have had a couple of sparsely attended demos here and there and were utterly humiliated in Brighton last summer. Even the ‘leadership’ of the EDL have realised that Baker is an unreconstructed Nazi and is doing their ‘multicultural racism’ pose no favours. Baker is after the kind of cash that sympathetic idiots willingly handover to the EDL for a ‘burka’ facemask and the thrill of being part of a barney now that they can’t get away with it at footy matches.

The embarrassments continue and it is almost sad to list them. There is the ongoing row over the Birmingham division’s tactless photo op with masks, guns and loyalist flags which the EDL are claiming that us nasty ‘fascist-anti-fascist UAF’ (i.e., anyone who does not like the EDL) have photoshopped. Best of all was the Richard Price incident with Stephen Napoleon-Lennon first supporting him, then saying Price was never part of the leadership and then the total turnaround and saying he was leadership but after being exposed as a sex offender he is now ‘proscribed.’ Some callous wag suggested anti-fascists sing ‘Pricey is a paedo’ at counter-demos but that just not nice. (Oh, and remember, when the EDL go on about ‘Asian drug gangs’ remind them about Price’s conviction for crack and cocaine which I am sure he bought from a respectable ‘white’ dealer and the fact that many EDLers are partial to a toke and a snort now and again and members have been arrested for drugs on demos).

The EDL blunder from crisis to crisis with the diminutive Steven Yaxley-Mainwaring at the helm of an increasingly contradictory, naïve and misguided ship of fools, still convinced that political efficacy is judged by how many pissed idiots you can gather at a Wetherspoons of a Saturday. Well done. Coke snorting woman beating ex-convict Napoleon-Lennon claimed on Newsnight to a rather bored Jeremy Paxman that ‘I ain’t political nor nuffink’ but forgot to mention that photo of him at the BNP meeting with Richard Edmonds. Something the EDL trolls have yet to comment on.

The EDL are always going on about opposition being middle class as if being a balding, fat, unemployed, football hooligan was somehow inherently noble. They should remind themselves that double-barrelled Caxley-Lennon owns a tanning business as well as ‘a couple of properties.’ Not very working clarse that, is it? And neither is Alan Lake founder of the EDL. Captain Yaxley-Mainwaring’s bank account has been frozen over money laundering allegations and it is a commonly held view that he has done a Griffin and siphoned off cash from the burka and hoody proceeds. He has been accused of this in the past by former EDL ‘martyr’ Snowy who also claimed Caxley-Trousers was an Irish republican. And speaking of Ireland, EDL supporters claim that their chant of ‘no surrender’ has no loyalist overtones, i.e., no relation to the footy chant ‘no surrender to the IRA’ – which is like saying the Hitler salute is in fact a Roman one and no negative connotations were intended.

The undoing of the EDL could well be over money like the BNP and Nickclops Griffin who could not keep his hands off all that lovely lolly. There were moves to make people pay for access to the EDL website but this seems to have been shelved as it is such an obvious racket. The website itself still features pro-BNP sentiments which are eventually deleted by the dozy moderators and the section for opponents to comment has been removed. So as the British government are making massive cuts in public spending and affecting pretty much every area of life the EDL fail to expose any extremists. They limp from PR crisis to PR crisis blaming Islam for the world’s ills and Stephen Hyphen-Mainwaring’s legal troubles are coming to a head. But will his Special Branch handler step into the breach and save him in time? No.

The next EDL demo is set for Rochdale on 5th March. See you there.

'Accountant' at Indymedia

Is a storm brewing in Europe?

Click on image for full-size

On platform one at Bolton train station in England a mob of about 100 men punch the air in unison as a chant - "Muslim bombers, off our streets!'' - goes up. Their voices echo loudly, and as more men suddenly appear, startled passengers move aside. The protesters wave St George's Cross flags - the red and white English national emblem - and raise placards. Some wear balaclavas, others black-hooded tops. There is an air of menace.

These are some of the most violent football hooligans in Britain and today they have joined in an unprecedented show of strength. Standing shoulder to shoulder are notorious gangs such as Cardiff City's Soul Crew, Bolton Wanderers' Cuckoo Boys and Luton Town's Men In Gear: a remarkable gathering given that on a match day these men would be fighting each other. But today they are not here for football; it is politics that has drawn them. Their destination is Manchester to support a protest by the newly formed English Defence League.

The police are here in force, too. "Take that mask off," barks a sergeant to one young man. The man does so immediately but retorts: "Why are they allowed to wear burqas in public but we're not allowed to cover our faces?" The sergeant snaps back: ''Just do what you're told."

A man with a West Country accent standing next to me says: "It's always the fxxxxx' same these days. One rule for them and another for us. I'm sick of this fxxxxx' country." He draws on a cigarette before flicking it to the ground in disgust. He starts to complain again, but when the public address system announces the arrival of the train to Manchester Piccadilly, he raises his hands above his head and starts another football favourite: "Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves ..."

His companions join in singing, and as the train comes to a halt beside the platform the crowd surges forward. The carriages are almost full, so the men pack into aisles followed by police speaking into radios. A group of young men drinking beer at a table eye the protesters warily, but one protester wearing a baseball cap notices their fear and reassures them. "It's all right lads, nothing to worry about. We're protesting against radical Islam. Come and join us," he says, and as the train draws nearer to Manchester, the singing starts again. "Eng-e-land, Eng-e-land, Eng-e-land ..." the men sing rowdily. The English Defence League is in town.

A ready-made army?

The league seemed to spring from nowhere in 2009, but since its formation the far-right movement has held major protests in nearly all of Britain's cities. Although it claims to be a peaceful group, violence has erupted at most league demonstrations, with its supporters fighting on the streets against police, Muslim youths and a group called Unite Against Fascism, an umbrella organisation consisting mainly of students and trade unionists and formed in 2003 to oppose the far-right. During the fighting hundreds of people have been arrested, weapons have been seized and city centres have been brought to a standstill.

Britain has not witnessed such street violence for many years and there are growing fears that the league - despite its official multiracial stance - has become a ready-made army for neo-Nazis who for years have operated underground and that tensions will erupt resulting in major disorder.

All mainstream political parties in Britain have criticised the league, including John Denham, the former communities secretary, who compared the group to Oswald Mosley's Union of British Fascists, which ran amok in London during the 1930s.

Tinderbox northern towns such as Bradford and Oldham - which witnessed race riots in 2001 - have been among the league's targets this year and a countrywide police team set up to combat domestic extremism, the National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit, has been investigating the movement.

I had met members of the league for the first time in a derelict building in Luton, near London, three weeks before the Manchester rally. They had agreed to talk on the condition that I did not identify them. Eleven men turned up. All wore balaclavas and most had black league hoodies with ''Luton Division'' on the back. A man using the pseudonym Tommy Robinson did most of the talking and explained the movement's background.

"For more than a decade now, there's been tension in Luton between Muslim youths and whites. We all get on fine - black, white, Indian, Chinese - everyone does, in fact, apart from some Muslim youths who've become extremely radicalised since the first Gulf War. Preachers of hate such as Anjem Choudary have been recruiting for radical Islamist groups in Luton for years. Our government does nothing, so we decided we'd start protesting against radical Islam, and it grew from there," he said.

With Islam Europe's fastest-growing religion - Muslim populations are projected to expand rapidly in coming decades - the group's fear that traditional British culture is under threat have been exacerbated.

Robinson could barely conceal his anger as he described radical Muslims protesting as the Royal Anglican regiment paraded through the town on its return from Afghanistan in May 2009. Following the incident, he and others set up a group called United People of Luton. After linking up with a Birmingham-based group called British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists and a group calling itself Casuals United, they realised there was potential for a national movement. Robinson said members wore balaclavas to protect their identities because league members had been targeted by Muslim extremists.

But although the league publicly espouses peaceful protest, there is growing concern over its secrecy and quasi-paramilitary appearance - as well as some of its membership. According to the international anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, far-right British National Party activists and other fascist extremists are at the core of the league. The publication's allegations have been backed by a former league member called Paul Ray who claimed that the group had been hijacked by the anti-immigration British National Party.

Then there is Casuals United. The group came to the fore about the time the English Defence League was formed. An unprecedented alliance of football hooligans, it was the brainchild of Jeff Marsh, a member of Cardiff City's Soul Crew who has been convicted three times for violent offences. This included a two-year jail sentence for stabbing Manchester United fans. Marsh has now taken a back seat, so the public face of Casuals United is fellow Welshman and Soul Crew member Mickey Smith.

Casuals United makes full use of modern communications and uses social networking websites such as Facebook to organise the 50 or so gangs that have been recruiting members around Britain. Other neo-Nazi groups, including the British People's Party and the British Freedom Fighters, have also participated in league protests, despite their opposition to the league's multiracial position.

A 'perfect storm'?

The high command of the league is much more astute than its foot soldiers, however, and distances itself from violence. In a Covent Garden pub I meet a computer expert from London called Alan Lake who runs a website called Four Freedoms. Last summer he contacted the league and offered to fund and advise the movement.

His aim, he says, is to unite the "thinkers" and those prepared to take to the streets. He describes this marriage as "the perfect storm coming together," adding that street violence is not desirable but perhaps inevitable. "There are issues when you are dealing with football thugs - but what can we do?"

He strongly criticises fascist organisations, however, and says that one of his conditions for backing the movement is that it does not associate with far-right groups. "There are different groups infiltrating and trying to cause rifts by one means or another, or trying to waylay the organisation to different agendas. The intention is to exclude those groups and individuals."

But while some league leaders may oppose fascism, there are others who seem to have no problem with extremism. At league protests in Swansea, Wales, skinheads chanted British National Party slogans and raised Nazi salutes. In Northern Ireland, according to Searchlight, loyalists have started an Ulster Defence League, backed by the former paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association, while in Scotland, the hooligan Inter City Firm attached to Rangers football club helped set up a Scottish Defence League.

At an EDL protest in the city of Leicester, the movement's supporters pelted police officers with bottles, cans, bricks and coins resulting in 17 arrests. One police officer suffered a broken leg.

The EDL protest garnered the largest police deployment in Leicestershire since the miners' strike 25 years ago. Police deployed 1,400 officers from 12 forces to deal with around 1,000 EDL supporters and a counter demo of around 700 anti-fascists.

During the demo, the International Arts Centre Fabrika had to be evacuated, with journalists and staff making their escape through the back entrance as EDL protesters attempted to break into the building and smashed windows. The Leicester Mercury, a local newspaper, reported that there were also confrontations between the protesters and a group of Asian and black men in the Humberstone Road area, near St Matthew's, with pockets of fighting.

What is concerning many people in Britain is that the movement is becoming more organised and stronger and feeding off growing Islamaphobia. With its anti-Islam stance, the EDL has been gaining support from abroad. Pamela Gellar, the woman leading the protest against the Islamic centre near Ground Zero in New York, has backed the movement and EDL members were welcomed when they flew to the US to oppose the Muslim community's plans on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Leader Robinson was refused entry at JFK airport, however, and taken into custody and flown straight back to the UK.

Support has also come from Europe and on October 30, the EDL joined forces with the newly formed French and Dutch Defence Leagues at an event in Amsterdam. The meeting, organised by the European Freedom Initiative, was promoted as a demonstration for freedom and in opposition to Sharia. It was planned to coincide with the end of Dutch politician Geert Wilders' trial for hate speech and inciting racism.

The fears are, however, that European cities could soon be witnessing the widespread violence being experienced in Britain.

al-Jazeera

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

The EDL - One Year On

One year older so what's going on with those cheeky monkeys in the EDL?

The English Defence League is now a year old. Happy birthday. And it has been a colourful (but mainly white) year of various embarrassments, schisms, riots, accusations and speculations. The EDL formed in May 2009 when the ‘United People of Luton’ counter demonstrated against ‘Islamic radicals’ at the homecoming parade of the Royal Anglian Regiment. Around the EDL circulate various grupuscules such as the SDL, WDL, Casuals United and the Stop Islamification Of Europe, all of whom are seemingly interchangeable and ‘anti-Islamic Extremism.’ The EDL also have clearly documented links with the BNP, BPP, RVF, ‘Aryan Strike Force’ and other far right fantasists despite their by now laughable claims be neither racist nor violent.

The Year So Far

The EDL have had some interesting demonstrations over the last year in various towns and cities. What they actually achieved, beyond ego-boosting publicity, has also been varied. To recap: the Luton incident galvanised the EDL and they followed this up with a series of small fiascos in London and Birmingham, the latter which the EDL admitted was poor. Result: 35 arrests. They followed this one up with another Brum protest in September. Result: 90 arrests. Their Manchester debut saw a massive police presence, large counter-demonstration and much publicity. The result: £800,000 policing bill, 10 injuries and 44 arrests. At Leeds, there was a huge police presence costing £375,000 and 8 arrests. At the same time their ‘southern divisions’ planned a counter-demonstration in London against a radical Islamic faction which ended in a pub fight with Combat 18. Result: serious schisms between the EDL and the porcine vanguard of the far right. In November, the Welsh Defence League (comprising mainly of Bolton Wanderers fans it seems) organised a 40 strong fiasco in Wrexham. Result: 4 arrests and many perplexed locals. Their previous Welsh adventure was similarly farcical and disrupted by Nazis. North of the border has proved equally maladroit. In Glasgow their “ big success” was actually only 120 lads. According to Casuals United many supporters from England were stopped by cops en route. To add to their woes, some of the ‘leadership’ were arrested and had their homes searched and computers seized. This is all very well but the EDL do not necessarily need them: the members can simply announce a date on the website and RV point and take it from there. The EDL is more autonomous and fragmented than the police think and many ignore the ‘leaderships’ pleas.

The Nottingham demonstration proved to be costly and eventful with the EDL kettled in a pub and then by the castle. Result: £1/2 million police bill, 11 arrests and many photographs of patriots urinating on a national monument. The Stoke demo showed the EDL in their true colours (sort of pasty, pale and lager flecked): it ended with supporters fighting the cops and then rampaging through an Asian area. This caused much consternation on the EDL forum with members slamming those who rioted and seig-heiled in a beer induced frenzy. In March the EDL caused a major disruption in Bolton with about 2,000 attending. Result: heavy policing and lots of anti-fascists nicked. Although 2,000 is a serious number, their successive demos have never increased beyond this. There was also a small EDL demo outside parliament which faced militant opposition. An April demo in Aylesbury – ‘the first of many’ – saw around 2,000 again, 12 arrests and not much else. 2 of the EDL also ‘occupied’ the proposed site of a mega-mosque which was almost completely ignored by the national media and proved to be a wash out. The EDL were to hold a demo in Walsall in June but they have apparently called it off. The recent demo in Newcastle saw about 600 EDL confronted by a much larger counter-demo and they were well contained. The EDL intend to demonstrate in Bradford soon which will no doubt cause trouble: Muslim youth are bound to react to this blatant provocation. Which is the intention. Why the cops are allowing this when Bradford youth have a proven track record of militancy is only 1 question.

The State & The EDL

Many are the claims on the various left and far-right websites that the EDL are ‘state’ designed to draw in and contain violent racists and discredit the far right in general. Wherever the EDL gather they are heavily monitored by the cops, often filmed individually during dispersals, and it is no surprise that the pubs they meet in for their ‘static protest’ are Wetherspoons which are all equipped with CCTV. It is not unlikely that the cops seize any footage taken. It also requires no stretch of the imagination to believe that the state have their informants and infiltrators, as they have had in the BNP for many years, and know what is going on. Bully for the state. There is also the Sheffield question. Although these are only unsubstantiated rumours several commentators are asking what happened in Sheffield between the cops and the EDL? The ‘leadership’ were arrested and taken to Sheffield police station no doubt by Special Branch/MI5 rather than uniform. Was there a deal? We’ll go easy on the ‘moderate’ EDL you if you give us info on the serious hooligans, or even better Nazis who the ‘leadership’ want shut of anyway. Any information gratefully received.

Nazis?

Are the EDL just another violent Nazi outfit like Combat 18? No. Despite the far-right’s usual antipathy to plurality and multi-culturalism, the EDL is quite a mixed bunch and not a unified organisation in the least. The EDL is a broad alliance of football hooligans who cannot fight at matches anymore, fascists and angry but directionless youths. Inter-firm rivalries have so far been contained, as they are at most England games, but whether this will continue we shall see. The presence of the EDL youth leader and the Sikh bloke is not unanimously approved of and not everyone who goes on the demos are ‘members’ but casual racists out simply to get pissed and have a ruck. It is these ‘fringe’ elements that ignore the EDL ‘leaderships’ protestations over non-violence and Plod co-operation: once the lager is in full flow they can’t help throwing out the Nazi salutes, having a confab with the cops and breaking out of the kettles and cordons to put a few windows in. The EDL ‘leadership’, media savvy as they are, get into a flap about this and keep reiterating that they are ‘not racist.’ Which we all believe.

The BNP have proscribed the EDL but there is firm evidence of BNP members attending demos. Combat 18, after the central London fracas are not speaking to the EDL until they say sorry. The microscopic BPP, who are centred round Yorkshire will no doubt be putting their gluebags down and hobbling along to the forthcoming Bradford venture. The Aryan Strike Force is still reeling from the prison sentences handed down to the Newcastle father and son terror-clown act and the likes of Wigan Mike, who has attended many of the EDL demos, is no doubt worried over his oncoming court case in connection with their website.

The EDL & The Nazis

Opinion on the various far right forums is divided. The eager ones, hankering after the ‘glory days’ of the BM and the NF, are up for street level confrontation; the older ones are either jealous of the EDL’s numbers, claim state interference or are horrified by the Israeli flag waving and the even more blatant demo at the Israeli embassy this week. The Israeli flag is used to wind up Muslims but some far-righters claim that there is a larger Zionist conspiracy afoot involving Alan Lake who bankrolls the EDL. But there again, they say that about everyone including Nick Griffin so we shall see.

The Opposition

The counter-demonstrations have met with various success. That there are schisms on the left is no surprise: we have the respectable and controllable UAF, community groups and the more militant anti-fascists amongst others. Due to the EDL’s political naivety they see all opposition groups as ‘commies’ and Muslim community leaders, Weyman Bennett, SWP and anarchists as one and the same. They do not see that there is as broad a spectrum on the left as there is in their own ranks. This often embarrassing naivety of the EDL also construes that those who oppose them are therefore pro-Muslim which is clearly not the case: what many anti-fascists object to are pissed up gangs of racists coming into their communities to cause trouble.

The Future?

The EDL love the ego-boosting publicity (and we are aware that this article will be read by them): many football hooligans keep scrapbooks of ‘victories’ and ‘taking liberties’ and they will no doubt be pleased by the recent BBC3 documentary painting them out to be a significant political force. Although we must not discount the threat, the demos for many are simply the chance to drink, fight and cause a bit of mayhem to enhance their reputations amongst peers. If Bradford goes ahead there will no doubt be serious violence as well as publicity, heavy manners policing and a large bill for the community to cover. Which is exactly what the EDL want. More little pictures for their scrapbooks, more coverage on TV and more war stories to boast about in the pub. Anti-fascists! Organise!

Malatesta at Indymedia

EDL - Young British and Angry - Highlights

BBC3 broadcast a TV documentary called "Young British and Angry" about the EDL. You can always criticise a documentary for something it did not show, but overall this film was pretty good, and it did try to be balanced, showing both racist thugs and decent people in the EDL. As to whether all these EDL supporters are letting themselves be USED by Fascist provocateurs however, "Young British and Angry" did not show any of the dozens of photos of EDL making Nazi salutes, they ignored videos of EDL calling police "Paki loving Bastards", and ignored evidence of BNP activist Chris Renton's role as Commander of the EDL. The programme showed unprovoked EDL violence and rioting, and showed EDL supporters chanting racist abuse.

The film made good points about links between EDL support and poverty, but failed to ask whether poverty's much of an issue in the life of millionaire EDL backer Alan Lake. It's also unclear what EDL stunts like vandalising KFC restaurants, harassing their staff, and attending sectarian rallies in Ireland have to do with opposing Islamist terrorism.

"Young British and Angry" also showed the tiny number of ethnic minority supporters in the EDL. When it comes to using football fans as cannon-fodder, right-wing provocateurs are just as happy to use gullible black people as they are to use gullible whites. As a case in point, the programme showed EDL poster-boy and Asian Rangers fan Abdul, who made very sensible comments. However (much as I despise the IRA) the programme did not say anything about the context of sectarian bigotry among some Rangers fans, and did not show Abdul singing sectarian hate-songs which celebrate mass-murderer Michael Stone and which talk about punching and knee-capping "Taigs" (Catholics)...

bnpinfo

BNP Organisers Come Clean Over EDL Involvement

Click on image to see it full-size

As British authorities are accused of turning a blind eye to fascist racial incitement and street violence, there is damning evidence BNP organisers are, as suspected, using the EDL to do the BNP's dirty work by plotting race riots in multicultural areas

The alleged failure of the Greater Manchester Police to act impartially, coupled with the cancelling of charges against Tommy Robinson and the softening of media attitudes towards the English Defence League, have paved the way for the BNP to come clean about their interests with the EDL.

Until recently the British National Party were still peddling their tired and worn lies about the EDL being proscribed, even though Chris Renton has been outed as the Griffinite stooge with his hands on the reins of the nationalist football hooligan bandwagon. While some Aryan purists within the BNP err on caution on the presence of Uncle Toms in the EDL (just as they do regarding changing the BNP's constitution), many BNP organisers are now openly declaring their love of the EDL on hardcore neo-nazi chat sites such as Stormfront (see the screenshot), and the Griffinite "Covert Underground Nuisance Tactics" website (abreviated C.U.N.T.S).

"Covert Tactics" is one of the most racist Griffinite websites on the net, and bearing in mind their candid anti-Semitism, why would they throw their towel in with EDL rallies where a tokenite Israeli flag flown for effect (the Jew Flag as Aryan hardliners love to call it), unless the EDL had become the street-fighting division of the BNP (as suggested by the screenshot)?

On Saturday, Covert Tactics were openly supporting the EDL's visit to Bolton, carrying a live feed of the EDL rally, arguably peculiar behaviour for a website run by trusted close friends of Nick Griffin - Tommy Williams and Dave Howard.

Since the CPS dropped charges against Tommy Robinson, police forces up and down the country have noticeably dropped their guise of impartiality when policing EDL rallies and anti-fascist counterprotests. This change in attitude was first visible during the London scuffles when Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders arrived to speak in the House of Lords, when the Metropolitan Police waded heavy-handedly into law-abiding anri-racists, batons-blazing.

The policing debacle in Bolton when peaceful UAF supporters were arrested and released without charge, coupled with a parellel sea-change of the reporting of the British Media, (from the Guardian to the BBC, politically correctly labelling the EDL merely "right wing" rather than far right), questions must be asked as to what deals (if any) were done in secret, in the Sheffield Police Station interrogation room, between the authorities and the leadership of the EDL.

For the Establishment to do a sudden about-turn following the EDL's violent anti-police thuggery of Stoke, is absolutely astonishing. From the BPP to the BNP and the National Front, Special Branch are believed to have infiltrated the whole of the Far Right using the carrot as well as the stick.

For every threat or sanction comes a concession (in this case, if true, a loss of impartiality and softening of policing towards EDL racism and criminality). If it was public knowledge the leadership of the EDL had done a deal with the police or the government following interrogation in Sheffield (under coertion or otherwise), the organisation's credibility would be in tatters, and their followers would walk away, accusing the leadership of having "sold out", thus a juicy "carrot" (the Metropolitan Police viewed as taking sides rather than doing a deal). goes some way to convince the EDL's supporters its leaders still have its interests at heart.

Just how the EDL's majority football hooligan support base will react if they discover their leadership have grassed-up its loyal football hooligans to Special Branch, is not known, as for the moment, the extent of "state-collaboration" will be hidden amongst the celebrations of a seemingly victorious EDL, but if the police continue to treat the EDL with kid gloves, people will eventually ask awkward questions.

It takes a quarter of a century for official documents to be declassified. It wasn't until many years after Margaret Thatcher left office when the horrid truth was revealed about illegal paramilitary police tactics, agent provocateurs and state-approved strike-breakers in the miners strike, by which time, most if not all key players have left office, making justice for the wronged victims largely impossible. The time-friendly veil of secrecy afforded to the police, government and civil service allows human rights abuses to happen safe in the knowledge nobody will ever be held to account for their actions.

The intrigue of what went on in the Sheffield police station interrogation room might never be known, but if the authorities continue to treat the EDL with kid gloves, society will most definately suffer. How much longer must Britain's racial and religious minorities suffer open incitement, whilst the upholders of law and order continue to turn a blind eye to illegally provocative chants, Facebook and YouTube death threats to journalists, and open calls online for racist murder and the "wiping out of Muslims?"

Are peaceful anti-racist protestors to now expect regular harrasment, violence and intimidation from police, simply to keep loose-tongued EDL leaders happy?

The 89 year old veteran campaigner knocked over by out-of-control riot cops was an act of criminal negligence, and the apparent taking of sides with the neo-facists of the EDL makes a mockery of the supposed impartiality of the Greater Manchester Constabulary. Several policemen have been filmed laughing and joking with EDL leaders, which proves beyond all doubt the lack of professionalism of the Bolton police.

Immediate questions must be asked to our democratically elected government in regards to whether secret deals have been done between the EDL and the state. Nobody in their right mind appreciates gangs of maurading soccer thugs fighting amonst themselves outside football grounds, trashing pubs, shops, trains and buses with insane abandon, but if the EDL leadership have indeed thrashed out a deal to grass-up their football hooligan followers in return for "public respectability", this is of concern for everybody.

If organised racism is being tolerated just so the British Sporting Scene can be cleansed of hooligans in time for the 2012 Olympics, to assure the safety of tourists, without more importantly considering the safety of our own racial and religious minorities from the "well directed boot or fist", democracy is well and truly failing.

The far right have made a meal of the fact that fewer EDL racists were arrested at Bolton, while ignoring the fact that EDL thugs were arrested for inflamatory chanting, throwing missiles, and walking the streets drunken and disorderly. If the amount of actual crimes are considered per person, the EDL would be seen as culprits not victims. The only reason there was not an Anti-Muslim pogrom as in Stoke, is down to the steadfastness and refusal to budge under intense pressure of the mostly peaceful anti-fascist supporters. Whether socialist or anarchist, Quaker, Buddhist, Muslim or Athiest, there was unity against a common enemy last Saturday, and ignoring the heavy internet trolling of the far right and the dodgy pro-EDL media spin, everybody who attended Bolton helped ensure the fight-hungry EDL yobs went home unfulfilled.

Don't be fooled by either arrest numbers or EDL lies, trolling and spin. With a ready-made army of seasoned ultra-violent football hooligans, regardless of public intent, the EDL's sole intent is to cause deadly race riots, and the greatest danger is that complacency will allow this to happen. A number of smaller-scale EDL events are happening shortly in the Midlands and the South where the EDL will "lie low", preparing for far more destructive altercations when the time is right.

The ethos of the Turner Diaries, a popular read of the Far Right, is one of "leaderless resistance", racial terrorism and open racial warfare on the streets, and this is the reason the BNP have reportedly taken control of the EDL.

Whichever puppeteer is running things at the top, be it Chris Renton, Nick Griffin, Tommy Robinson or Alan Lake, the EDL's "political agenda" is in-line with that of Geert Wilders, i.e., vehemently Islamophobic and designed to alienate an entire community not just religious extremists, stopping mainstream Muslims from practising their faith (closing down mosques, banning Halal meat), with the ultimate aim of reducing the numbers of Muslims in the UK, something that can only be achieved via forced repatriation, nazi-style sterilisation, or a Muslim Holocaust, as British Muslims are here to stay.

If you think this is alarmist, spend time trawling through the many thousands of Facebook and genocidal YouTube comments. Behind the spin and trolling of Trevor Kelway, forget the lack of arrests at Bolton. The EDL's street-fighting agenda and their continued utilisation of violent racist hooligans, inviting Wigan Mike and Liam Pinkham to attend rallies via the phone (as recently revealed on VNN), supports the observations that they are merely waiting their chance to create "the mother of all race riots".

Nobody has the moral right to march willy-nilly through towns and city centres peddling hated and fear under the guise of free speech, be it (banned) Islamic extremists or (not banned) racial supremacists. Allowing racist chants to go unpunished, while fascist-friendly police phyically assault peaceful anti-racist protestors simply exercising their opposition to organised racial hatred, is an abuse of the very Western democracy the EDL neo-Nazi thugs claim to hold dear.

If EDL grasses are (as alleged) helping the authorities entrap a handful of British football hooligans while whole communities suffer fear, hatred and desperation, this is most surely a price not worth paying.

The General Election approaching, ask your prospective parliamentary candidates how they will protect communities from EDL invasion, and vote accordingly.

Investigator at Indymedia

How sectarian hooligans are killing off Scots far-right

Scottish Defence League members recently met up in Edinburgh

Sectarianism lies behind the failure of the far-right Scottish Defence League to garner any public support in Scotland, its critics have claimed

Opponents of the anti-Islam group said that it was finished north of the border and cited religious bigotry as one of the main factors behind its failure. With the organisation apparently in meltdown, the Sunday Herald can reveal the group has only 25 members. Less than 100 SDL supporters attended a recent rally in Edinburgh where they were outnumbered by a coalition of more than 2,000 anti-fascists.

The rally was only the second time they had protested north of the border, and the low turn-out was in stark contrast to the English Defence League, which attracted more than 1,500 people to its last event in Stoke.

Amid allegations that some members were police informers, the SDL closed its Facebook page after the capital rally and directed supporters to a members-only website with strict instructions that anyone wishing to join must be known by at least two people in the SDL.

The SDL previously claimed it had 800 supporters but the new site lists only 25 members. One member called Mark1690 uses a picture of King William of Orange on a white horse while another uses the moniker God Save Our Queen. The site has a video of Enoch Powell giving his infamous Rivers of Blood speech in 1968. In England, the core of the English Defence League is football hooligan firms who have called an unprecedented nationwide truce to support the movement, but in Scotland this collective agreement has failed to materialise.

The Sunday Herald has learned that casuals who follow Hibernian and Celtic football clubs planned to attack the SDL in Edinburgh because it is made up mainly of protestant Rangers and Hearts football fans.

Members of the Capital City Service, a hooligan group that attaches itself to Hibernian, said Celtic fans had contacted them in advance of the SDL demo and asked to join together. “We were already making our own plans to ambush the SDL. The CCS would never support the SDL,” a CCS member said.

Luke Henderson, of Unite Against Fascism, said sectarianism had undoubtedly played a major part in denting support for the SDL. “The Scottish disease [sectarianism] meant that many football casuals refused to support a right-wing SDL comprising mainly of Rangers fans. There has also been a mass mobilisation against the SDL from the outset in Scotland and we have built a strong activist base.”

David Miller, Professor of Sociology at the University of Strathclyde and founder of the politics website Spinwatch, said that the failure of the SDL to garner support also reflected the political landscape in Scotland.

He said: “I think it is related to the more consensual approach of the political parties in Scotland. The political class in England has not been as united against the EDL. The sight of Tory Annabel Goldie addressing an anti-racist demonstration on Glasgow Green is one obvious contrast. Those associated with the David Cameron leadership in London, especially think-tanks like the Policy Exchange and the Centre for Social Cohesion, have been at the forefront of Muslim baiting and have limited the chances of a common response. There is also more support for the British National Party in England.”

Spinwatch revealed recently that some SDL leaders were members of the British National Party, but this claim was denied by the group.

Casuals United, a nationwide umbrella group of football casuals that supports the English, Scottish and Welsh Defence Leagues, admitted that it had not been possible to unite hooligan “firms” north of the border.

“The Scottish football lads seem unable to forget their differences and cannot get past the sectarian divide. We are speaking to various Scottish firms, trying to unite them, and we will not give up,” said Mickey Smith, a hooligan with Cardiff City’s Soul Crew, and spokesman for Casuals United. His colleague Jeff Marsh, founder of both Casuals United and the Welsh Defence League, was sentenced last week for causing an affray and possessing an offensive weapon. Marsh pleaded guilty and was given a four-month suspended jail term, 150 hours’ community service and ordered to pay £600 costs. He was also banned from football matches for five years.

Marsh was arrested in Cardiff last summer after attacking Celtic fans who had travelled for a friendly match with Cardiff City.

What remains of the SDL remains defiant, however, and the group claimed to have held a small vigil in Lockerbie last week. The meeting had been scheduled for March 27 in response to Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill’s decision to release Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi but was brought forward.

An SDL spokesman said: “The reason we changed the date was simple, we had no interest in bringing disorder and the red fascist circus to this lovely Scottish town. We wanted to remember those who were murdered [in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103] with dignity and without left-wing fascists charging around the town looking for confrontation.”

It was also claimed that EDL supporters were in discussions about visiting Northern Ireland for the annual July 12 Orange parades. The claim was made by the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, but denied by Alan Lake, an EDL leader in London, who said he had no knowledge of a Northern Ireland connection.

A spokesman for the Orange Order said anyone intent on violence should not travel to parades in Northern Ireland.

“Our parades celebrate our culture and tradition and are enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people across Northern Ireland. Anyone who wishes to attend these parades for other reasons than to celebrate Orangeism is not welcome,” he said.

The Rangers Worldwide Alliance, an official global network of supporters clubs, was contacted but declined to comment.

Sunday Herald