Council suspends worker linked to Norway gunman

A council worker has been suspended following a Sunday Times investigation into a network of far-right groups.

Chris Knowles, who is employed by the children’s services department at Leeds city council, has been questioned over his links to the English Defence League (EDL) and a website featuring anti-Muslim content.

Knowles has been accused by Paul Ray, a former senior EDL figure, of operating under an alias to disguise his controversial views. He has been using the name “Aeneas Lavinium” on Facebook and other websites linked to Anders Breivik, the Norwegian gunman who massacred 69 people in summer.

Last week Oslo police confirmed for the first time that Breivik travelled to Britain at least twice — in May 2002 and December 2003.

The gunman has claimed in his 1,600-page “manifesto” that during a trip to London in 2002 he met an English “mentor” who inducted him into a modern-day version of the Knights Templar Order. Police, however, have no evidence to verify this claim.

Ray says that Knowles attended a meeting in July 2009 at which members of the EDL were introduced to key ideological figures in the so-called “counter-jihad” community. He was involved at the time with a right-wing organisation called the Centre for Vigilant Freedom (CVF), which used an address in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, for correspondence. Another member of the organisation was Ann Marchini, a buy-to-let property tycoon who was revealed last weekend as an EDL backer.

The CVF is now part of the International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA) whose website includes many contributions from a writer called “Aeneas”. One article is about Fjordman, an anti-Islam blogger named 111 times by Breivik in his manifesto.

The site also features favourable items on the EDL and a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with an exploding bomb on his head.

When Knowles was asked if he was Aeneas, he said: “I’m not willing to confirm anything.”

Leeds council launched its probe after being shown the ICLA website. A spokeswoman said: “We take the allegations made by The Sunday Times very seriously and a member of staff has been suspended while we undertake a thorough investigation. If there has been any breach of the council’s policies or code of conduct we will take appropriate action.”

Additional reporting: Mark Lewis in Oslo

Sunday Times

Anders Breivik 'insane during massacre'

Mass killer Anders Breivik will be sent to a psychiatric hospital and not prison after doctors decided he was insane when he murdered 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage in Norway.

An evaluation ordered by an Oslo court found that Breivik was "psychotic" during the July 22 attacks - the country's worst peacetime massacre - which means he is not mentally fit to be sentenced to prison, prosecutors said.

The conclusions, which will be reviewed by a panel of forensic psychiatrists, contrasted with comments made by the head of that board after the attacks. Dr Tarjei Rygnestad at the time said it was unlikely that Breivik would be declared legally insane because the attacks were so carefully planned and executed.

"The conclusions of the forensic experts is that Anders Behring Breivik was insane," prosecutor Svein Holden said, adding Breivik was in a state of psychosis during the attacks.

In their report, the experts describe a man "who finds himself in his own delusional universe, where all his thoughts and acts are governed by these delusions," Mr Holden said. "They conclude that Anders Behring Breivik during a long period of time has developed the mental disorder of paranoid schizophrenia, which has changed him and made him into the person he is today."

In Norway, an insanity defence requires that a defendant be in a state of psychosis while committing the crime with which he or she is charged. That means the defendant has lost contact with reality to the point that he's no longer in control of his own actions.

The 243-page report will be reviewed by a panel from the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine, which could ask for additional information and add its own opinions. Dr Rygnestad, who heads that board, said his comments in July were based on "secondary information" and that a person's mental state can only be determined through in-depth analysis.

Independent

Far from growing, rightwing extremism in the UK may be on the wane

The far right is in chaos, and it's unlikely that both the BNP and EDL will survive for long

You report on new research from the thinktank Demos, where researchers "persuaded more than 10,000 followers of 14 parties and street organisations in 11 countries to fill in detailed questionnaires" ('We're at a crossroads in history: either we fight or hate and division will win', 7 November).

This tells us more than ever before about what motivates online engagement with far-right movements, including the BNP and English Defence League, in the UK. But this innovative method of research does not – indeed cannot – reveal anything about whether their support generally is growing.

You state that the "far right is on the rise across Europe". Whatever the situation in the rest of Europe, the far right is not on the rise in the UK. Both the BNP and EDL are in a state of chaotic collapse. The BNP is crippled with debt. The party denies that it uses funds available to Nick Griffin as an MEP for national party work, but some believe it could not function otherwise. The EDL is seen as a greater contemporary threat, but its influence may have peaked too.

You note that the EDL "struggles to muster more than a few hundred supporters for demonstrations" and it has shrunk online too. Hope Not Hate's monitoring shows that the EDL had more than 80,000 online supporters on Facebook before the massacre in Norway. After killer Anders Breivik's online engagement with the group led to its temporary suspension, the EDL has failed to rebuild this level of interest, which currently stands at 18,700. Many had joined with one click of the mouse – over 11,000 in one day when the EDL successfully exploited Anjem Choudary's idiotic poppy-burning stunt – but were not engaged enough to return.

Nick Griffin's BNP troubles are well known; the factional fight engulfing the EDL is not. This pits the EDL "Infidels" faction, strongest in the north, against EDL activists from the south and the Midlands. The Infidels hark back to the street fascism of the 1980s, working closely with the remnants of the National Front. This disrupts the EDL strategy of maintaining a moderate facade, claiming to oppose Islam without supporting racism or violence. A Newcastle meeting to resolve differences last month collapsed into a street fight.

It is unlikely that both the BNP and EDL will survive for long. Disaffected members of both the EDL and BNP are planning to form a new group from the wreckage, and hope to link up with the English Democrats and fringe elements of Ukip, though it is difficult to see how any new populist party could escape these poisonous roots.

None of this is cause for complacency. The chaotic failures of far-right movements does not mean that the grievances they exploit have gone away. As you report, the Demos research finds culture, not economics, has driven far-right populism. Mainstream parties must address issues of identity and belonging, as well as opportunity and economics. But there is no reason to gloomily accept that the extremists are winning.

Comment is free

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

EDL take on #Occupy, while new light is shed on their supporters

A couple of reports on the English Defence League that have been published by the think-tank Demos recently make for interesting reading.

The first argues that far-right populism is on the rise across Europe, pointing to the new breed of rightwing, anti-Muslim nationalism represented by the EDL, various populist groups and parties, and “lone wolf” terrorists such as mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik (whose connections with the EDL were broken on this site before the Grauniad picked up the story). The specifics of this political tendency has already been detailed here.

More interestingly, the second DEMOS report argues that the EDL is very much a (post)modern phenomenon, which is utterly reliant on the internet and social networking to survive. As we've pointed out previously, the EDL – despite claims to have hundreds of thousands of members – have no membership process at all, count membership through Facebook “likes” and forum membership, and have a self-appointed leadership. To a degree this is mirrored on the other side of the political spectrum by the global #Occupy protests, which have been largely organised and propagated online, even if they have actual democratic decision-making structures in place on the ground. Only around half of the EDL's members have been on a demo, and the authors conclude the theoretical maximum they could mobilise in one go is 12,000 (their highest attendence at a demonstration has been 2000-3000). Under a quarter of those surveyed have travelled further than 100km to protest.

The second Demos report, Inside the EDL, consists of a survey of over a thousand social media supporters on their opinions and concerns. There are a few things of casual interest: for example, despite the leadership's attempts to distance themselves from the BNP, around a third of EDL “members” vote BNP. They form the most popular political party for EDL supporters, followed by UKIP and the Tories. Despite the EDL's claims to be a “counter-jihad” movement and nothing else, it's surveyed supporters see immigration as a bigger problem than Islamic extremism.

Inside the EDL has this to say about the basic ideological makeup of its support base:

Quote:

The EDL appears to be symptomatic of a new brand of loosely
nationalist movements across Europe, which finds common cause
in opposing a perceived Islamification of secular liberal and
Christian societies. These groups lay claim to the mantle of the
enlightenment, espousing support for fundamental liberal values of
free speech, democracy and equality, which they seek to defend
from the threat of Islam. It is hard to know accurately when this
language is being used as a cover for more sinister or intolerant
views, and when it is genuine. There is little doubt that the EDL
contains some racist and openly anti-Islamic elements – but this is
by no means true of all supporters. The task ahead is to engage with
those who are sincere democrats, and isolate those who are not.

Of course, the idea that the UK is at risk of “Islamification” is total nonsense, and this needs to be opposed rather than engaged with. What is interesting though is that this group of casual supporters appear to be gradually dissapating (or at least refusing to leave cyberspace) as the EDL see diminishing returns on their national demonstrations. It seems that many can't be bothered with demonstrations that consist of being surrounded by an army of police in a car park. As a result, the hardcore appear to be turning to a strategy of “controlling the streets” which resembles that of traditional fascism while the wider support increasingly stay at home.

This “controlling the streets” strategy has been the model of the more openly racist EDL splinter groups North West Infidels and North East Infidels for a while. The groups split from the main EDL due to political differences and “too many chiefs, not enough Indians” syndrome. Importantly, they've pursued a strategy of threatening to attack anything they consider “lefty”:

Quote:

We have decided to put all our efforts into opposing everything you do regardless of the issue at hand its your organisations we oppose. Unlike you we won’t be announcing it all over internet when and where we will be, neither will we post your details over the net even though we may have them. Every event you hold will be a potential target along with your meetings, fund raisers and social events.

So says leading light of the Infidels, “Snowy”, who also moonlights as an anti-Irish loyalist bigot.

This strategy has also been used by EDL groups to attempt attacks on various left and anti-racist events. We have detailed some of their attempts to attack “left” events previously (which had largely been unsucessful), and won't do so again here. However, more recent events have been more serious.

EDL and National Front supporters recently attacked the Occupy Newcastle protest camp, hospitalising one person and bragging of the attack on Facebook afterwards. This weekend Liverpool EDL tried to attack the offices of the trade union Unite, but were seen off by officials. They then headed to News From Nowhere bookshop, which has become a target due to its “support for illegal immigrants”. This follows their recent appearance at an anti-cuts rally to heckle and abusing recently sacked workers laid off from a bust outsourcing company while "patrolling for leftys."

Most recently, police arrested 156 EDL supporters in London at the weekend, with reports variously citing theft from the pub they were drinking in, racial abuse of its staff, and threats made to attack the Occupy London protest camp at St. Paul's cathedral. The argument could be made that the police are looking to show some political parity following the heavy policing of last week's student demonstration (and threats to use baton rounds against it), and the banning of Islamist micro-group Muslims Against Crusades. However, actual threats had been made online:

In reality the Met likely wanted to avoid the PR catastrophe fighting between the EDL's finest and the Occupy protests on the steps of St Paul's on Remembrance Sunday would represent.

Given the Newcastle attack, it would make sense to view the threat to Occupy London as a genuine one. Which leads onto the main point of this blog article

What's the point?

At a time where living standards in the UK and across the world are facing the greatest attack in generations, and we are seeing a broadly anti-capitalist, grassroots protest movement developing around the globe, the question could be asked whether there's any point to discussing the likes of the EDL beyond political trainspotting.

It's no doubt true that investing huge amounts of time and energy into opposing the EDL to the detriment of community and workplace organising is a waste of time. However, it is becoming clear that as the EDL “boil down” to a core of activists targeting anything “left”, and in particular the burgeoning anti-austerity movement, we need to be prepared for confrontation with them.

Part of the problem is that the likes of the SWP and UAF have thrown rhetoric around about “smashing the EDL” without having anything near the muscle or political willingness to back up the threat. There's something farcical and embarrassing about EDL activists being able to turn up and disrupt anti-fascist events without suffering any real consequences. As a result their confidence has grown to the stage that they feel they can attack anti-austerity protesters at night and put them in hospital.

Anti-fascism and physical confrontation with the right shouldn't be fetishised, not should we promote getting into a gang war with the EDL or other groups.

However, there's now a clear need to be much more security conscious, both at our events and during anti-austerity meetings and demonstrations. Politically, the sacrifice in autonomy represented by gladly accepting police protection rather than organising our own defence is very problematic. There needs to be an increase in security consciousness and planning for anarchist groups, anti-cuts groups and events like bookfairs and conferences, and an awareness and planning for the fact that the right are going to attempt to intimidate us.

libcom.org

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Judge: Norway terror suspect is not insane

There is no reason to believe that Norway mass murder suspect Anders Behring Breivik is insane, District Court Judge Torkjel Nesheim said Monday.

There is also no evidence he had accomplices in the bomb and gun rampage in which he is accused of killing 77 people this summer, the judge said. The judge ordered him held in custody for a further 12 weeks, with visits and correspondence controlled by the authorities for the first eight, and a ban on media for the first four.

More than 500 people packed into a court in Oslo, Norway, to see the suspect's first public appearance, said Irene Ramm, head of press for the Oslo court. A woman whose daughter was killed in the massacre said she could not understand "how a human being could do something like that."

"That's why I had to be here today. I don't understand, so I had to see, had to be here," said the woman, who was identified only as "Carina" on Norway's TV2. "He looked cold, completely cold," she said.

He was not allowed to deliver a speech he had prepared, the station reported. Breivik said he did not recognize the authority of the court on the grounds that he opposes the multi-cultural society it is part of, TV2 said. He was stopped on several occasions when he started referring to himself as Commander of the Knights Templar, a title he used in his 1,500-page manifesto, the station reported.

"I interrupted Breivik during today's hearing because I only wanted to hear him about matters relating to today's hearing," Judge Nesheim said. "This was not the main trial where he gets to explain himself. I did not want to give him the opportunity to use this hearing as a platform for him to express his views."

Until now, the proceedings for Breivik have been held behind closed doors. The hearing was to determine whether to keep Breivik in jail until his trial in the spring. Prosecutors expect it to begin in March or April, the judge said.

Survivors return to scene of island rampage

He is accused of killing dozens of people in a bomb attack in Oslo followed by a shooting rampage on nearby Utoya island. Eight people were killed in a bombing in Oslo; 69 young people were killed on Utoya island, in the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II. The young people were attending a Labour Party youth camp. Most of the 700 campers ranged in age from 16-22, with some as young as 13.

Breivik has pleaded not guilty but admits carrying out the attacks, the judge said.

"The accused is still suspected on probable cause of criminal acts, as described in the charges. He has admitted the bombing in central Oslo and also the shooting on Utoya. The investigation has also confirmed this," Nesheim said.

He is described by authorities as a right-wing Christian extremist. The 1,500-page manifesto attributed to Breivik was posted on the Internet and is critical of Muslim immigration and European liberalism.

CNN

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

Hobson's hatred.

A former senior member of the English Defence League who was once linked to the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik and investigated over threats to kill George Galloway, has joined a secretive facebook group set up three months ago to post death threats to the Irish and Catholics in general but in particular, Celtic manager Neil Lennon.

Daryl Hobson aged 43, who is no stranger to the courts and controversy was disowned by the far-right EDL earlier this year after he allegedly boasted of the group’s links to Anders Breivik, the right wing Norwegian terrorist who murdered 77 people in two terrorist attacks in Oslo dring July of this year. In the same month as the attack, Hobson was then investigated over death threats posted on the internet about the former Respect MP George Galloway.

Hobson, from Worthing, Sussex only last week had an appeal turned down relating to a conviction he received in Aylesbury last year after EDL an demonstration where he was arrested for abusing police officers. The court heard how Hobson was also chanting and glorifying Harry Roberts who is an infamous London bank robber jailed for the killing of three Police officers.

Hope Not Hate can now reveal that Hobson has continued posting hate messages and threats on facebook and even joined a secret facebook group of just two hundred hardline neo-nazis and Loyalists administered by other former members of the EDL. The seretive group is dedicated to promoting and encouraging sectarian hatred and violence. “Orange Order & Loyalists” which is accessible by invitation only, is administered jointly by Max Graham, a Scotsman living in Merseyside, and former crack addict and Llama farmer John “Snowy”. Shaw from Knaresborough, a market town in North Yorkshire, runs a rival group to the EDL known as the “Infidels” who broke away from the EDL criticising its leaders for among other things, their Irish heritage and Catholic faith.

Shaw, who plays the flute for a Yorkshire based Flute band, “Leeds Crown Defenders” is also a close associate of former London UDA boss Frank Portanari and is one of a number of former EDL members that has drifted towards the hardline Loyalist National Front as the EDL begins to fracture and show signs of fatigue.

For Hobson however, there appears to have been no let up in his hateful activities on or off line no matter what group he is involved in. Posting on the group’s secretive wall Hobson wrote last Sunday that “the only way to cure a man of catholicism (sic) is a good burning. FGAU” [for God and Ulster].

Hobson also wrote last month “Kill all Taigs” (Catholics), and posted up an image that he had created himself of Celtic manager Neil Lennon with the message “Target The Taig, one magazine is not enough” peppered with what would appear to be bullet holes.

Celtic manager Lennon has been living away from his family and under police protection after receiving death threats and bullets through the post. He was even physically attacked on the pitch by a football supporter during a Celtic match away at Edinburgh based club Hearts in May.

Another member of the group is Gina Adair, the former gun-toting wife of former Loyalist terror chief Johnny Adair. Last month Gina was photographed with a group of well known English neo-nazis who had been previously associated with the neo-Nazi terror group Combat 18.

The hatred of Irish Catholicism is nothing knew to the British far-right. For years and years the NF, BNP and C18 gave support, money, members and arms to Loyalist terrorists, but not always with great success. Although the BNP in particular has attempted to play down its history of sectarian hatred, that organisation has seen a small number of hardline deserters move into the previously moribund National Front, which shares as well as a hatred of the Irish, a hardline anti-Semitism.

There have been a number of cases recently of people being prosecuted for inciting hatred on social media. The police in Scotland have also reacted to threats against Lennon and the wider and growing problem of sectarianism with a series of arrests.

The likes of the EDL, "Infidels" and the National Front are a repetition of some of the darkest and most dangerous days of British fascism.




Hope not Hate

Far-right extremism is much more than a political irritant

The committee on the roots of radicalisation needs to challenge the notion that only al-Qaida-inspired extremism must be tackled

What causes violent radicalisation, and how effective is the government's current approach to countering this threat? These questions are the focus of a home affairs committee on the roots of violent radicalisation, which has set out to examine the factors that lead some citizens toward terrorism and will inform the next iteration of the Prevent strategy.

In some ways, my invitation to give evidence was unexpected. I have spent much of the past decade researching what leads citizens toward the far right: a type of extremism that appears nonviolent when set against al-Qaida or "AQ"-inspired terrorism. I've also become accustomed to ministers, policymakers and other academics dismissing the far right as too weak and disorganised to mount a major security threat.

I have also long argued that our current approach to tackling extremism has focused too heavily on only one form of extremism, and that policymakers and security services should take far-right extremism more seriously. Despite the collapse of the British National party (BNP), there are three reasons why the government should devote more energy to understanding and challenging this political trend.

The first concerns the wider social and economic environment. Across Europe, conditions remain ripe for the far right. Large numbers of citizens remain deeply concerned about immigration, feel anxious about the cultural compatibility of Muslims, and are threatened by rising diversity. In fact, in recent years the Brits have become equally if not more concerned about these issues than many of their European neighbours. These voters are also extremely dissatisfied with the response of the main parties to such trends. The financial crisis has certainly added to this perfect storm, but far-right supporters were pessimistic about their economic prospects long before the collapse of the Lehman Brothers. The key issue is how to respond to voters' profound anxiety about this issue.

This not simply affecting older generations. Far from a passing fad, the potential for far-right extremists is reflected in the demographics of their support. Last year in Austria, the Freedom party was the most popular party among those aged under 30, while today almost three-quarters of English Defence League (EDL) members are in the same age bracket. These findings point toward a clear conclusions: the far right is connecting with a new generation.

The second concerns the potential for violence. Movements such as the BNP and EDL might not pursue overtly violent goals like AQ-inspired terrorists, but the wider subculture in which they are embedded is characterised by a culture of violence, which cultivates a set of narratives among supporters that would justify its use under certain conditions: it tells them that they and their loved ones are under threat from minority groups; that they will soon be involved in a race war; and that urgent and radical action is required to save them from racial extinction. The line between nonviolent protest and violence has already been crossed by "lone wolves" such as Anders Behring Breivik and, in the UK, affiliates of the Aryan Strike Force (ASF), Racial Volunteer Force (RVF) and the BNP.

The third concerns our current understanding of this challenge. As the previous Prevent strategy conceded, our knowledge of the far right is much less developed than our understanding of AQ-inspired terrorism. The good news is that we do now know a lot more about what leads some citizens into the far right. This year alone has seen new research on the BNP, members of the English Defence League and populist extremism across Europe. But the evidence base remains inadequate: we know next to nothing about how those voters compare with far-right violent extremists, or the factors that lead citizens toward one form of activity as opposed to the other.

The simply reality of post-9/11 politics is that we have focused almost exclusively on tackling only one form of extremism. In the aftermath of New York and the attacks in Bali, Madrid and London, the emphasis on tackling al-Qaida marked a logical response to the priorities of national security. Today, however, the landscape has changed. We need to adopt a more holistic approach to challenging extremism and sharpen our understanding of its different branches. Most importantly, we need to overhaul the traditional view of the far right that claims this movement is nothing more than a minor political irritant.

Comment is free

1936 anti-fascist London "battle" has resonance today

Max Levitas recalls the electricity in the air as more than 100,000 Jews, Irish workers, communists and residents battled police to stop fascists marching through a Jewish area of east London in 1936.

The protesters threw marbles under the hooves of police horses and residents dumped garbage and chamber pots from their windows in what became known as the "Battle of Cable Street." Dozens were injured in the violent clashes as baton-wielding officers unsuccessfully tried to break their lines. Seventy-five years later, the sprightly 96-year-old is still out on the streets. To Levitas and his fellow anti-fascist campaigners, Cable Street stands as a still-relevant warning for Britain today.

"Look what's happening again. It's a recurrence of the fight which we had against racism," Levitas told Reuters.

With Britain's economy in a downturn and unemployment rising, academics and experts say Britain is witnessing the rise of a new "far right," with the grass-roots English Defense League (EDL) as its more publicly acceptable face.

The group, which describes itself as a nationalist movement that aims to stop Islam overwhelming British culture, says it rejects hate theories and disassociates itself with extremist far-right, neo-Nazi organizations. But for Levitas and others, there are uncomfortable echoes of the past in the EDL's ideology, followers and its protests that frequently turn violent. John Denham, a former cabinet minister, has directly compared the EDL's activities to the fascists' moves of the 1930s.

The crowd that Levitas joined on October 4, 1936, aimed to thwart a march by fascist leader Oswald Mosley and 5,000 uniformed followers by barricading the streets under the Spanish Civil War slogan "No Pasaran" (they shall not pass). Six thousand police officers and London's entire mounted division were sent in to clear the road but ended up battling the protesters until the authorities instructed Mosley to call off his march.

The conflict helped end Mosley's dream of fostering fascism in Britain and led directly to a law banning paramilitary activities and the use of uniforms by political parties.

Fast forward to 2011, when the EDL tried to organize a march through a now-predominantly Muslim area barely a stone's throw from Cable Street. This time the government took the rare step of banning the march. The group held a static protest instead. Levitas was at a counter rally.

"We've got to join together to ensure that on the various issues which affect the Muslim population, whatever color you are, there's got to be unity in the fight against racism," Levitas said.

BREIVIK LINKS

As many as 12,000 people have attended the numerous marches and demonstrations across England organized by the EDL, formed in 2009 after a group of radical Muslims shouted slogans at British soldiers during a homecoming parade. EDL leader Stephen Lennon, 28, says that no-one is addressing the discontent many Britons feel about Muslim extremists and their impact on local communities, and adds it's dangerous to take away people's right to express their anger.

"The whole country's pissed off, a lot of people are pissed off, and when you're pissed off and you're angry like a lot people are, through democracy you protest," he told Reuters. "Now they are trying to take that right away from us, they're trying to tell us we can't protest over these issues. Then what are you going to get? You're going to get people going to blow things up. They will create monsters by doing that."

Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian who killed 77 people in July as part of what he claimed was an international mission to counter Islam, claimed to have had regular contact with EDL members and leaders. Lennon has denied any formal links to Breivik and rejects the description of his group as far-right. He argues that real extremists hate him, among other things because of the group's support for Israel. The group also has a Jewish division.

Matthew Feldman, a leading authority on the British far right from the University of Northampton, says the EDL acts as a focal point.

"I see the EDL as the big whale in the right-wing movement. Even if you don't agree with them you might still, like the small barnacles of the Aryan Strike Force, attach yourself to them," he told Reuters.

Experts believe the group, which has about 17,000 Facebook friends, has a core membership of about 1,000.

"There's the football hooligan element which really shouldn't be overlooked and dismissed," Feldman said. Lennon himself was convicted this year over a street brawl involving soccer fans. And just last week he was found guilty of assault during an altercation at an EDL rally in April and could face a ban from future rallies.

"These guys like getting out on a Saturday, having some beers and having their chants," Feldman said.

In that respect, the EDL's members would appear to share some qualities with the white supremacist, neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic organizations they distance themselves from, like the National Front, Blood and Honor or Stormfront.

Former far-right activist Matthew Collins joined the National Front when he was just 15. But he began to question his beliefs and started informing on the group's activities for the anti-fascist Searchlight organization after taking part in an attack on a public meeting at a library where "little old ladies got their heads stamped on."

"I came to the realization that actually these people are really, really evil," said Collins, who has written of his experiences in 'Hate: My Life in the British Far Right'. "I didn't really want to spend the rest of my life stuck in tiny little rooms with these lunatics," he told Reuters. Collins, who fled Britain for 10 years in the early 90s after receiving death threats, said many in the far right would readily use violence to defend their beliefs.

"It's very, very difficult to pick amongst all those extremists, some of whom are very violent, very, very dangerous, who is capable of going over the line."

LONE WOLF

Senior police officers have warned Britain faces a growing threat from far-right "lone wolves" as Breivik appears to be.

About 40 individuals who hold extremist right-wing views have been convicted in Britain for violent or terrorist offences in recent years. They include David Copeland, who killed three in a 13-day bombing campaign in 1999 aimed at ethnic communities and homosexuals, and Ian Davison, described as a leading member of the now defunct Aryan Strike Force (ASF), who last year was the first person in Britain to be convicted of manufacturing a deadly chemical weapon, the poison ricin.

For the time being, right-wing groups remain on the fringes politically, although they are more visible in society than at any time since Mosley in the 1930s. The British National Party, which campaigns on an anti-immigration agenda but says it is not racist, won two seats for the European parliament in 2009, its first success at such a level. It fared less well in national elections the following year, although its support remains strong in some parts of the country.

Lennon revealed that the EDL was in discussions with similar groups across Europe about forming a political party.

"There will be an anti-Islamist political party forming his year," he said with confidence. "Britain's primed for it."

Reuters

The EDL: Britain’s “New Far Right” Social Movement

Click on image for full-size

Forward to 'The EDL: Britain’s “New Far Right” Social Movement'

The University of Northampton is at the forefront of the important academic research into the far-right, an area of increasing importance nationally and internationally. As Member of Parliament for Northampton North, I am very pleased to have been asked to write this Foreword because I applaud the fact that the University in the town where I have lived and worked my whole life, and which I now have the honour to represent in the House of Commons, is leading the way in this key area.

The view of the ‘new far right’ is that we should cut ourselves off from Islam and other religions and cultures. They believe we should do this, as the Prime Minister David Cameron put it earlier this year, ‘through forced repatriation, favoured by some fascists, or the banning of new mosques, as is suggested in some parts of Europe.’

This ideology, or for example the practice of burning the Koran – as promoted by Pastor Terry Jones, who has been excluded from the UK – is utterly abhorrent and must be robustly rejected.

Extremism of any kind is a threat to our country and to our way of life. In the Prime Minister’s speech to the Munich Security Conference on how best to tackle this threat David Cameron made the point that groups on the far-right, such as the English Defence League, fuel Islamophobia with their poisonous and deeply erroneous stance that Islam and the West do not mix.

No one can doubt the importance and relevance of the subject at hand. One must only look at the terrible atrocity this summer in Norway at the hands of a murderous terrorist – in the name of a crazed war against Islam – to see the relevance and currency of the subject matter in this report.

The potential for this kind of extremism to lead directly to ‘lone‐wolf’ terrorism is also dealt with in this report. These developments show the danger of allowing extremist views on any side to fester.

What began in reaction to the deeply offensive abuse of returning British soldiers – our courageous servicemen and women that have made such sacrifices over the years to fight extremism in other parts of the world – has manifested itself, through the development of the EDL, into violence on our streets and a terrifying subculture of casual racism. This report presents a very useful documentation of the EDL’s development, their use of online and social media, their links to football hooliganism, as well as the development of splinter groups.

The advance of copy‐cat organisations like the Norwegian Defence League and others, as documented by the authors, shows not only the urgency for action as a society but also shows the potency of the repugnant values represented by the EDL.

The British National Party, and other far-right parties, may try to attract voters with talk of local politics, of bin collections and council housing shortages to win them votes. But as a fascist organisation that does little to couch its views, it is my opinion that it will always struggle to garner the support of the vast majority of the British public who rejected fascism in the 1930’s, and who continue to do so today.

The EDL, however, by not asking for votes and by arguing that they do really only oppose violent Islamism – though the hypocrisies pointed out by this report are worthy of note – could potentially spearhead a movement that would have damaging consequences and divide communities.

At the same time as we confront this new far‐right politics, we must also do the same for other forms of extremism – for too long, Government policy has encouraged communities to merely co‐exist rather than co‐operate with each other. As a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons, I am particularly conscious of this issue and very supportive of the Government’s response to extremism, namely the Prevent strategy, which for the first time explicitly tackles far‐right extremism.

In addition to the recent Prevent policy, this Government is keenly aware of the importance of fostering a stronger sense of belonging and citizenship, co‐ordinated by the Department for Communities and Local Government. By empowering communities and integrating them into society, those communities become much more resilient to terrorist ideology and propaganda.

The Prevent strategy of the previous Government failed to confront extremist ideology and therefore failed to adequately tackle the threat we face. If we wish to combat the rise of the ‘new far‐right’ and the potential for ‘lone‐wolf’ terrorism inspired by such thinking, we must vigorously pursue all forms of radicalisation. I
have every confidence that, through Prevent, the current Government will do this.

This Government is committed to do more than any previous administration has to promote integration. The Prime Minister’s speech in Munich made it clear that the new Prevent strategy will be an unyielding fight against extremism. This report is an important contribution to the study of the threats that this country and Europe are embroiled in today. Rooting out extremism from all quarters must be, and is, a real priority for the Coalition Government. Twenty‐ First Century Britain is about integration and cohesion between all of our different communities.

That both Islamist extremists and the ‘new far-right’ extremists reject this belief is telling. As Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has said, ‘any phobia is by definition the opposite of a philosophy. A phobia is an irrational fear. It takes on a life of its own and no longer needs to be justified.’ It is this that makes the development of the EDL and their ilk of concern. I hope this report plays a part in our greater understanding of this problem, and in developing societal solutions to it.

Forward by Michael Ellis, MP Member of Parliament for Northampton North, Member of the Home Affairs Select Committee September 2011

The full report can be downloaded (as a 2mb PDF file) here.

The EDL: Britain’s “New Far Right” Social Movement

The EDL - good taste personified

Click to see image full-size

Cheers to Everything EDL for the pic

UDA Superfan

Snowy: Replaced his pipe for a flute

This is the far right English extremist who’s aligning his gang of thugs to the UDA.

Self-styled anti-Muslim fanatic John ‘Snowy’ Shaw is seen here posing for snaps in Derry during a recent Orange march. The former English Defence League leader – who has formed a breakaway group called ‘The Infidels’ is also seen posing in front of a UDA mural in north Antrim.

“Shaw went to Northern Ireland to try and get his photo taken with as many UDA and UVF men as possible to try and big-up his loyalist credentials,” says a loyalist source. “He went to the Apprentice Boys Parade in Londonderry, telling friends in England that he had the backing of the terror-groups in his bid to take over the EDL. He even plays the flute in an English loyalist ‘kick-the-pope’ flute band.”

Shaw is desperate to recruit Ulster based loyalists into his rag-tag bunch of football hooligans. But we can reveal the 40-year-old fascist has a bizarre background – he’s a former crack addict who runs a llama farm in Yorkshire.

The pathetic hate campaigner split from the notorious EDL after a fall out with leader Tommy Robinson.

Shaw was once charged along with Ulster’s run-away EDL leader Leon McCreery for a bizarre anti-Muslim rooftop protest in Dudley, West Midlands but the charges were later dropped.

The Sunday World can reveal that Shaw is desperately trying to get loyalist paramilitary groups involved in his violent anti-immigration campaign. And Shaw showed his true colours in a letter to far-right followers when he described EDL leader Robinson as a “little Fenian bastard” a “ginger fenian c***” and a “leprechaun ****”.

The EDL has recently been linked to the Norwegian extremist Anders Breivik, the man who murdered 76 people in Oslo in a campaign against Muslims in July. Breivik cited the EDL in his “manifesto”, describing the English group as an “inspiration”.

The EDL is an anti-Islam group that has courted controversy for its provocative and violent protests in England. It was formed after a counter protest by Muslim extremists, “Jihadists”, against a homecoming parade by British soldiers returning from Afghanistan in Luton in 2009 gained headlines around the world.

The EDL’s controversial leader Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), is a recently convicted football hooligan with a previous conviction for assaulting an off duty police officer.

Robinson formed the EDL to protest against what he saw as a growing Muslim influence in England and the group quickly snowballed into a pressure group that could put thousands of “counter Jihadists”, mainly ageing football hooligans, onto English streets to whip up tensions against Muslims.

In desperation, former crack addict Shaw, who patrols his desolate farm in rural North Yorkshire dressed in combat fatigues while brandishing an air gun, has turned to Loyalism and sectarianism to drive a wedge among the predominately football hooligan membership.

Interviewed in 2010 before he left the EDL, Shaw told how he had wanted to previously come to Northern Ireland as a member of the British army as a teenager, but the “hard man’s” mother had stopped him joining the army as she was scared he would be hurt if he came to Northern Ireland.

Not long after the interview, Shaw was ejected from the group after a minor power struggle and reinvented himself as a self-style paramilitary “anti-Jihadist” and rival to the EDL’s leadership. Since then Shaw has been playing on the fact that the EDL leader has Irish roots to plant sectarian tensions in the bully boy outfit.

Shaw has even started playing the drums in the Yorkshire based “Leeds Crown Defenders” loyalist flute band and now rubs shoulders with English UDA chief Frank Portinari. Portanari has even taken to counselling the former crack addict as his 50- strong gang of fascists gain a more and more notorious reputation for violence not just against Muslims, but also against EDL members.

Not surprisingly, the EDL has already allegedly rebuffed the advances of Johnny Adair and his close friend, the German neo-Nazi bomber Nick Greiger who also wanted to take over the group.

EDL leader Robinson at the time cited his Irish ancestry as a reason why he wanted nothing to do with the disgraced former Loyalist leader.

A spokesman for the antifascist organisation Hope Not Hate that monitors the far-right described Shaw’s sudden conversion from anti-Jihadist to hard-line Loyalism as “part of a longstanding pattern” that sees English extremists turn up in Belfast “looking for kudos, a pint of beer and a new tattoo”.

Sunday World via Hope not hate

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

An accident waiting to happen?

A by election has been called in the St Helens ward of Barnsley council for October 13th following the resignation of the Labour councillor Roy Butterwood.

Once seen as a BNP stronghold despite never actually winning an seat there, BNP support in the area has gradually ebbed away and the local branch like others around the country, is in disarray.

Local party moral is so low that when the by election was announced the prospective BNP candidates were scarce on the ground.

Eventually Danny Cooke, the Yorkshire deputy regional organiser put his name forward.

In a piece on the BNP website, (probably penned by himself), the self titled “Hardworking Yorkshire Deputy Organiser” announces his candidature and appeals for assistance in the election campaign. As part of his appeal, Cooke includes his contact details including a very interesting email address.

The chilling reason why that email address is of interest is that it was part of the mailing list used by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

Breivik is the Norwegian right wing extremist and self confessed killer of 69 people, mostly teenagers in July of this year, and who sent out his “manifesto” entitled 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence
to a select group of people he believed shared his twisted ideology. One of those who he chose to send it to was Danny Cooke.

Now we certainly aren’t saying that Cooke is another Breivik, but there are certainly a number of worrying traits in his personality.

He has a conviction for affray for which he received a community order and also has a particular liking for rape jokes.

He was also photographed with a firearm at the now notorious
Rotherham St Georges Day celebration that saw a number of BNP officials
pictured with guns. http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/news/article/1876/gunning-for-st-george

Most worrying of all were comments Cooke made around the
time the murderer Raoul Moat was at large in the north east. In one comment Cooke claimed that “He fancied doing a Raoul Moat” and in another comment claimed that “Listening to Raoul Moat tapes is like listening to me talking to my GP”

Cooke appears to be an accident waiting to happen, we hope the people of St Helens send him packing as we expect that they will.



Thanks to HOPE not Hate

Anders Breivik's spider web of hate

An analysis of the Norwegian killer's manifesto reveals the online network that features in his paranoid universe

Anders Breivik's manifesto mapped

The Guardian has mapped the webpages Anders Breivik links to,
and those pages that link back to Breivik's manifesto. Image: The Guardian

Anders Breivik's manifesto reveals a subculture of nationalistic and Islamophobic websites that link the European and American far right in a paranoid alliance against Islam and is also rooted in some democratically elected parties.

The Guardian has analysed the webpages he links to, and the pages that these in turn link to, in order to expose a spider web of hatred based around three "counter-jihad" sites, two run by American rightwingers, and one by an eccentric Norwegian. All of these draw some of their inspiration from the Egyptian Jewish exile Gisele Littman, who writes under the name of Bat Ye'or, and who believes that the European elites have conspired against their people to hand the continent over to Muslims.

As well as his very long manifesto, Breivik also laid out some of his thoughts on the Norwegian nationalist site Document.no. In his postings there, Breivik referred to something he called "the Vienna school of thought", which consists of the people who had worked out the ideology that inspired him to commit mass murder. He named three people in particular: Littman; the Norwegian Peder Jensen who wrote under the pseudonym of Fjordman; and the American Robert Spencer, who maintains a site called Jihad Watch, and agitates against "the Islamisation of America".

But the name also alludes to a blog called Gates of Vienna, run by an American named Edward "Ned" May, on which Fjordman posted regularly and which claims that Europe is now as much under threat from a Muslim invasion as it was in 1683, when a Turkish army besieged Vienna.

All of these paranoid fantasists share a vision articulated by the Danish far-right activist Anders Gravers, who has links with the EDL in Britain and with Spencer and his co-conspiracist Pamela Geller in the US. Gravers told a conference in Washington last year:

"The European Union acts secretly, with the European people being deceived about its development. Democracy is being deliberately removed, and the latest example being the Lisbon Treaty. However the plan goes much further with an ultimate goal of being a Eurabian superstate, incorporating Muslim countries of north Africa and the Middle East in the European Union. This was already initiated with the signing of the Barcelona treaty in 1995 by the EU and nine north African states and Israel, which became effective on the 1st of January, 2010. It is also known as the Euro-Mediterranean co-operation. In return for some European control of oil resources, Muslim countries will have unfettered access to technology and movement of people into Europe. The price Europeans will have to pay is the introduction of sharia law and removal of democracy."

Spencer's jihadwatch.org is linked to 116 times from Breivik's manifesto; May's Gates of Vienna 86 times; and Fjordman 114 times.

Spencer and Geller were the organisers of the protest against the so-called 9/11 mosque in New York City. They also took over Stop Islamisation of America, a movement with links to the EDL and to a variety of far-right movements across Europe. Of the two, Spencer is less of a fringe figure. He has been fulsomely interviewed by the Catholic Herald in this country and praised by Douglas Murray of the Centre for Social Cohesion, who called him "a profound and subtle thinker". Damian Thompson, a leader writer on the Telegraph, once urged his readers to buy Spencer's works, especially if they believed that Islam was "a religion of peace". Last week, Spencer's blog re-ran a piece from Geller's Atlas Shrugged website claiming that Governor Rick Perry, the creationist rightwinger from Texas, is actually linked to Islamists via Grover Norquist, the far-right tax cutter whom Geller claims is "a front for the Muslim Brotherhood". Geller also once republished a blogpost speculating that President Obama is the love child of Malcolm X.

As well as the "counter-jihad" websites such as Spencer's and May's, analysis of Breivik's web reveals a dense network of 104 European nationalist sites and political parties. Some of these are represented in parliaments: Geert Wilders's Dutch Freedom party; the French National Front; the Danish People's party, the Norwegian Progress party (of which Breivik was briefly a member before he left, disgusted with its moderation); the Sweden Democrats. Others, like the EDL, are fringe groupings. Then there are those in between, such as the Hungarian far-right party Jobbik. But they range all across Europe. They are united by hostility to Muslims and to the EU.

One place where these strands intertwine is the Brussels Journal, a website run by the Belgian Catholic MEP Paul Belien, a member of the far-right Vlaams Belang party. The British Europhobic Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan appeared for three years on the Brussels Journal's masthead. Hannan has since denounced the European neo-fascist parties as not really rightwing at all.

To appear on this list is not to be complicit in Breivik's crime. Peder "Fjordman" Jensen was so shocked by it that he gave himself up to the police and gave an interview to a Norwegian paper in which he appeared genuinely bewildered that his predictions of a European civil war should have led anyone to such violence.

It is still more unfair to blame Melanie Phillips. Although she was cited by Breivik at length for an article claiming that the British elite had deliberately encouraged immigration in order to break down traditional society and she has written that "Bat Ye'or's scholarship is awesome and her analysis is as persuasive as it is terrifying", she has also argued, with nearly equal ferocity, against the "counter-jihad" belief that there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim.

The world view of the counter-jihadis echoes that of the jihadis they feel threatened by. The psychological world of the jihadis has been described by the British psychiatrist Russell Razzaque, who rejected recruitment by Hizb ut-Tahrir when he was a medical student. It is not just a matter of a black-and-white world view, he says, though that is part of it. "It's a very warm embrace. You felt a sense of self-esteem, a sense of real embrace. Then it gives you a sense of purpose, which is also something you've never had so much. The purpose is a huge one. Part of a cosmic struggle when you're on the right side: you're another generation in the huge fight that goes back to the crusades."

This clearly mirrors Breivik's self-image. What makes him particularly frightening is that he seems to have radicalised himself, just as jihadis do, before he went looking for advice and guidance on the internet. But he was able to take the last few steps into mass murder all alone, so far as we know. Jihadi groups also withdraw from the world into a cramped and paranoid universe of their own. Suicide bombers such as the 9/11 and 7/7 groups spent months psyching each other up before the crime, talking obsessively for hours every day. But Breivik, though he withdrew from society to his farm, seems to have spent his time alone with the internet. It allowed him to hear his own choir of imaginary friends, and hear inside his head their voices cheering him on to murder and martyrdom. Here they are, mapped.

Comment is free

Thanks to Zaahid and NewsHound for the heads-up

Activists: EDL is gateway to terrorism

Gun-toting EDL members

A British campaign group against racism and Fascism says the far-right English Defense League is a “conveyor belt for potential terrorists,” warning the Home Office of threats posed by the group.

Nick Lowles, director of the campaign group Searchlight, said the revealed links between EDL and Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian Christian terrorist that killed 77 people in Oslo last month should prompt officials to take a more decisive action against the far-right EDL. The terrorist has repeatedly admired the far-right extremists in his manifesto and has claimed he has hundreds of EDL supporters as Facebook friends.

The EDL has insisted Breivik's praise of the group is a one way matter and that the group does not endorse his views, a claim disputed by Lowles.

“Indeed, several EDL supporters have written approvingly of the car bomb that ripped through the administrative heart of Oslo. Even its leader, Stephen Lennon, while distancing himself from the murders of young people, claimed that Breivik was articulating legitimate concerns,” Lowles wrote in an article on Searchlight's webpage.

Lowles also said the Home Office has so far refused to classify EDL as a far-right extremist organization and is treating it with complete leniency as “a law and order issue”.

Lennon told the media in the aftermath of the Norway massacre that it is a sign of “growing anger in Europe”.

“People should look at what happened in Oslo and understand that there is growing anger in Europe,” he told the press. “You suppress people's rights you suppress people's voices and people will just continue to go underground - but that doesn't make the problem go away,” he added.

According to Lowles, the EDL are a “dangerous” anti-Muslim organization threatening the lives of Muslims in Britain.

“It opposes all new mosques and other Islamic buildings, its slogans and chants abuse the Muslim faith and its supporters have increasingly been involved in violent attacks,” he said warning that the group “shares much of the same ideology … with the Norwegian killer.”

Lowles said officials are letting the EDL get away with murder despite their “growing militancy” in recent months quoting the description of the group by Deputy Director of Communications at the Community Security Trust Dave Rich as a “gateway organization to terrorism” as evidence of mounting fears about the EDL threat to Britain.

Lowles said a number of EDL supporters have even “called for the taking of arms” against Muslims in Britain with others actively demanding a more confrontational and violent approach.

“A cursory study of the Facebook pages of EDL supporters reveals many posing with guns and other weapons,” Lowles said. “The EDL arguably presents the biggest threat to community cohesion in the UK today. Its strategy of provocative marches and physical attacks on political opponents is designed to increase tensions and divisions in communities with a large Muslim population,” he added.

Lowles said the Home Office needs to monitor EDL activities “as an extremist organization” and instruct the police to allocate “the same manpower and resources on monitoring its activity as they would in relation to other extremist groups.”

PressTV

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Norway killings: British 'mentor' says Anders Behring Breivik was not a lone wolf

The Norwegian man who has confessed to killing 77 people was not a "lone wolf," a British far-right activist thought to be the gunman's "mentor" said after being interviewed by Norwegian police.

Paul Ray, a blogger and former member of the English Defence League, told Norway's NTB news agency that police were "very interested" in British far-right cells mentioned by the attacker, Anders Behring Breivik.

"I don't believe Breivik is a lone wolf ... he is part of a larger movement which has its own agenda," Mr Ray said, without going into detail. "They (the police) were very interested in the British cells," added Ray. "They asked me if I was (head of) a cell."

In a statement he released shortly before embarking on his July 22 killing spree, Behring Breivik had spoken of the existence of secret cells that he said came under a new order of Knights Templar. The police were not available to comment.

Mr Ray, who lives in Malta, came to Norway voluntarily to speak to police investigating the twin attacks in Oslo and a nearby island. He is widely considered to be the unnamed "mentor" mentioned by the 32-year-old Behring Breivik in the 1,500-page manifesto he posted online shortly before carrying out the attacks.

Describing himself as a crusader at war against multiculturalism and Islam, Behring Breivik explained in the document that he once had "a relatively close relationship" with an Englishman he gave the pseudonym "Richard", "who became my mentor."

Mr Ray, who heads the "Knights Templar" movement and runs a "Richard the Lionhearted" blog, has said he recognised himself in the Norwegian right-wing extremist's description. Asked in an interview with Norway's NRK television station if he had any contact with Behring Breivik, including online, Mr Ray said "never". He has called the July 22 attacks "pure evil".

Behring Breivik has confessed to setting off a bomb outside government offices in Oslo killing eight people, before going on a shooting rampage on the nearby island of Utoeya, where the ruling Labour Party's youth wing was hosting a summer camp, killing 69 others, many of them teenagers. He is currently being held in solitary confinement at a high-security prison near Oslo, and has claimed he acted alone.

Telegraph

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

EDL blogger on Breivik: ‘It wasn’t me’

Police are continuing their questioning of UK English Defence League blogger Paul Ray today to discuss his possible connections with Anders Behring Breivik

“Paul Ray is an interesting person for the police because Anders Behring Breivik says he is his mentor. We would have wanted to question him anyway if he had not come to Norway,” said prosecutor Christian Hatlo to NRK.

Breivik has claimed that he and Ray – or “Richard the Lionhearted” as he calls him in the manifesto he sent to 250 British contacts – met in London nine years ago when they co-founded the Knights Templar organisation. The EDL member contests having met Breivik.

“I have never spoken to him or had contact with him in any other way, and I have in no way been his mentor,” said Ray upon his arrival at Oslo Gardermoen Airport yesterday.

It is also suspected that Ray was a role model for Breivik, and the EDL blogger has previously admitted he could have been the influence behind the mass murderer’s antics.

“It does worry me that he got inspiration from my blog and it does look that way,” he said.

Ray, whose real name is Paul Sonato, confessed that he was against the attacks, though, declaring, “I am horrified that I am linked to what happened here. How can anyone in a sane mind condone what he did? The mind boggles at it and you cannot comprehend what he has done…What he did was pure evil. I could never use what he has done to further my own beliefs.”

Before his initial questioning yesterday, Ray claimed he was sure his name would be cleared. Talking of “tremendous strain” because of media pressure, he also suggested “they should focus on [the blogger] ‘Fjordman’ instead.

Police have previously interviewed ‘Fjordman’ after he came forward voluntarily to distance himself from Breivik.

Whilst several foreign police forces are assisting the Norwegians with their investigations, Paul Ray now tells Dagbladet he has evidence Anders Behring Breivik wanted to lay the blame on him. Referring to Breivik’s YouTube video, uploaded only a few hours before the attack, Ray says, “I have studied it. Breivik only mentions Lionheart to defame me. That is the only reason why the picture [of Richard the Lionhearted] is there,” he alleges.

The Foreigner

Thanks to Greg for the heads-up

Norway police to question Anders Behring Breivik's British 'mentor'

Shackled Breivik relives the moment he opened fire on Utoeya island

Norwegian police plan to question the former member of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) described by confessed killer Anders Behring Breivik as his "mentor".

Paul Ray will travel to Norway today where he will voluntarily submit himself to police investigating the twin attacks on July 22 that killed 77 people, a spokesperson said.

"(He) wants to explain himself to police and the police want to hear his explanations," said Unni Turid Groendal, Oslo police spokesperson.

"He is set to come to Norway tomorrow (Wednesday) and will be questioned by police the same day," she added.

Mr Ray is widely considered to be the unnamed "mentor" mentioned by Breivik in the 1,500-page manifesto he posted online shortly before carrying out his deadly attacks. Describing himself as a crusader at war against multiculturalism and Islam, Breivik, 32, explained in the document that he had had "a relatively close relationship" with an Englishman he gave the pseudonym "Richard", "who became my mentor."

Mr Ray, who heads the "Knights Templar" movement and runs a "Richard the Lionhearted" blog, has said he recognised himself in the Norwegian right wing extremist's description and worried that he was Breivik's inspiration.

Mr Ray has called the attacks "pure evil", and had told Norwegian media he planned to come to the Scandinavian country to clear his name, saying he did not know the Norwegian killer.

Telegraph

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

Far-right to defy ban on powderkeg 9/11 protest

A far-right organisation has threatened to take court action or stage an illegal gathering in Edinburgh after its bid to stage a formal parade in the city was thrown out.

The Scottish Defence League said it is likely to appeal to Edinburgh Sheriff Court on the grounds of "freedom of speech" after councillors ruled it posed a "significant risk" of disorder. Two members failed to convince councillors of the merits of holding the event after claiming they were opposed to the "rise of militant Islamists" in the UK and wanted to highlight the need for "drastic action".

The group had been planning to hold a demonstration passing near the American Consulate the day before the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. But the application attracted more than 1,000 complaints from politicians, anti-racism groups, community organisations and trade union leaders, who were concerned the group would trigger racial unrest in the city. SDL representatives told the council the group had distanced itself from more hard-line members but struggled to explain photographs taken at recent rallies showing placards featuring racist phrases, claiming they were not made by an official members of the group.

The SDL also claimed it had no links with the notorious English Defence League, which has been linked with Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik.

The parade would have started at Regent Road and included a rally at the Wellington Statue at the east end of Princes Street. SNP councillor Rob Munn, chairman of the council's licensing committee, said although he valued "freedom of speech and freedom of assembly", this had to be balanced with potential disruption to the life of the city.

He added: "I have no doubts that the police would be able to deal with any eventuality, but there is just too great a risk to public safety and public order. We take these decisions on behalf of the people of Edinburgh with the safety of the city in mind. We haven't been convinced, on the basis of the information provided to us, that our concerns about safety, order and disruption can be addressed and resolved."

Tory councillor Jo Mowat said: "This is a very difficult decision for the council as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are very important in the UK. It's with a very heavy heart that we make this decision, but there is a risk that this event could be a potential flashpoint." SDL spokesman Graham Fleming said after the hearing: "The SDL has changed a lot over the last few months.

Scotsman

EDL Jewish Division turn on Blacks

Far right extremists Robert Bartholomeus and Roberta Moore

The far right English Defence League's out of control Jewish Division have turned their extremism towards black people. Roberta Moore and Robert Barthomeus, neither of them Jewish or British, turned their bile towards the Reverend Jesse Jackson describing him as an 'ape faced black nazi'.

This comes a month after Moore and Bartholomeus denounced the child victims of Anders Behring Breivik as 'scum'. Bartholomeus has previously called for the rape of female EDL members for purely disagreeing with his extremist politics and is part of the banned Jewish Task Force terrorist group.

Whilst Yaxley lennon refuses to disassociate himself from the Jewish Division they are still part of the organisation. EDL News wonders what these pair of extremists have on Lennon and whether the UK security forces should look at their immigration status and whether to throw them out of the UK for security reasons.

EDL News