The English Defence League (also known as the EDL and occasionally referred to as English and Welsh Defence League is a British organisation formed in 2009 whose professed aim is to oppose the spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic terrorism in the United Kingdom.
The English Defence League's spokesman Trevor Kelway said in August 2009 that British Muslims and Jews who are against militant Islam can join the League "as long as they accept an English way of life".
The label Far Right is now attached to any group that opposes the status quo.
Far Right is the magic word that conquers up images of nazis turning jews into soap, or white thugs burning negroes on crosses
Far right political groups have been in existence in the United Kingdom since the end of World War II, though earlier antecedents can be discerned in the fascist and anti-Jewish movements of the 1930s. It went on to acquire more explicitly racial connotations, being controlled in the 1960s and 1970s by self-proclaimed White nationalist individuals and organisations that oppose non-white and Muslim immigration and multiculturalism, such as the British National Party (BNP) . Since the 1980s, the term has mainly been used to express the wish of such groups to preserve what they perceive to be British culture, and to campaign actively against the presence of non-indigenous ethnic minorities and what they perceive to be an excessive number of asylum seekers.
This label has been slapped onto the EDL, but does the EDL really fit the description Far Right whose only aim is to oppose the spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic terrorism in the United Kingdom.
A spokesman for the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight said: "There are a number of fascist elements that have attached themselves to EDL and Casuals United, but these groups are not extreme rightwing organisations."
As of now there are no proof that EDL are connect to nazi or white power group, in fact the evidence points the other way. The history of EDL does not go back more than a couple of months, but a couple of their members do have a history of violence (non racial)
The English Defence League has support of The Casuals Which has a long history of extreme violence
Football hooliganism in England dates back to the 1880s, when what were termed as roughs caused trouble at football matches. Local derby matches would usually have the worst trouble, but in an era when travelling fans were not common, roughs would sometimes attack the referees and the away team's players.
Between the two World Wars, football hooliganism diminished to a great extent, and it started to attract media attention in the early 1960s. A moral panic developed because of increased crime rates among juveniles, and because of the mods and rockers conflict. Football matches started to feature regular fights among fans, and the emergence of more organised hooliganism.
Fans started to form themselves into groups, mostly drawn from local working class areas. They tended to all stand together, usually at the goal-end terrace of their home football ground, which they began to identify as their territory. The development of these ends helped bring about national gang rivalries, focused primarily around football clubs.
With the growth of fans travelling to watch their local club play away matches, these gangs became known as hooligan firms, and during matches they focused their attentions on intimidating opposing fans. Some hooligans travelled to games on the Football Specials train services.Starting in the late 1960s in the United Kingdom, the skinhead and suedehead styles were popular among football hooligans.
Eventually, the police started cracking down on people wearing typical skinhead clothing styles, so some hooligans changed their image. In the early 1980s, many British hooligans started wearing expensive European designer clothing, to avoid attracting the attention of authorities.
This led to the development of the casual subculture. Clothing lines popular with British casuals have included: Pringle, Fred Perry, Le Coq Sportif,Aquascutum, Burberry, Lacoste, Timberland, Lonsdale, Sergio Tacchini, Ben Sherman, Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie and Fitch and Stone Island
.During the 1970s, organised hooligan firms started to emerge with clubs such Arsenal Birmingham City Derby County , Chelsea, Everton FC etc etc Two main events in 1973 led to introduction of crowd segregation and fencing at football grounds in England. Manchester United were relegated to the Second Division, and the Red Army caused mayhem at grounds up and down the country, and a Bolton Wanderers fan stabbed a young Blackpool fan to death behind the Kop at Bloomfield Road during a Second Division match
.In March 1985, hooligans who had attached themselves to Millwall were involved in large-scale rioting at Luton when Millwall played Luton Town in the quarter final of the FA Cup. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's immediate response was to set up a "War Cabinet" to combat football hooliganism.
On 29 May 1985, 39 Juventus fans were crushed to death during the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Brussels; an event that became known as the Heysel Stadium disaster. Just before kick-off, Liverpool fans broke through a line of police officers and ran toward the Juventus supporters in a section of the ground containing both English and Italian fans. When a fence separating them from the Juventus fans was broken through, the English supporters attacked the Italian fans, the majority of whom were families rather than ultras who were situated in the other end of the ground. Many Italians tried to escape the fighting, and a wall collapsed on them. As a result of the Heysel Stadium disaster, English clubs were banned from all European competitions until 1990, with Liverpool banned for an additional year
.On 11 May 1985 a 14-year-old boy died at St Andrews stadium when fans were pushed onto a wall by Police which subsequently collapsed following crowd violence at a match between Birmingham City and Leeds United. The fighting that day was described by Justice Popplewell, during the Popplewell Committee investigation into football in 1985 as more like "the Battle of Agincourt than a football match". Because of the other events in 1986 and the growing rise in football hooliganism during the early 1980s, an interim report from the committee stated that "football may not be able to continue in its present form much longer" unless hooliganism was reduced, perhaps by excluding "away" fans.
]Margaret Thatcher, UK Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, made a high-profile public call for the country's football hooligans to be given "stiff" prison sentences to act as a deterrent to others in a bid to clamp down on hooliganism. Her minister for sport, Colin Moynihan, attempted to bring in an ID card scheme for football supporters.
The government acted after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, when 96 fans died, bringing in the Football Spectators Act 1989 in the wake of the Taylor Report. However, the Hillsborough Justice Campaign states: "the British Judicial system has consistently found that violence or hooliganism played no part whatsoever in the disaster".
On 15 February, 1995, England played Ireland. English fans started to throw items down into the stand below and rip up seats; after battles broke out between police and English fans, 50 people were injured. Rumours of IRA retribution at Dublin Airport never materialised and no fixture has been arranged between the two neighbouring countries since
.English and German fans have a rivalry dating back to the late 1980s. Other occasional clashes have occurred with a few other teams since the mid 1980s.France 98 was marred by violence as English fans clashed with the North African locals of Marseille, which led to up to 100 fans being arrested
.In the 2000s, English football hooligans often wear either clothing styles that are stereotypically associated with the "[casual]" subculture, such as items made by Shark and Burberry. Prada and Burberry withdrew certain garments over fears that their brands were becoming linked with hooliganism. English hooligans have begun using Internet forums, mobile phonesand text messages to set up fight meetings or provoke rival gangs into brawls. Sometimes fight participants post live commentaries on the Internet.
Racial motivated violence has not had any significant role in this mayhem
There are over fifty firms, and it is not clear which firms are supporting EDL, but if we are to find any links nazism we should look at the firms, and not biased reports from the MSM, BBC UAF and Socialist shit stirrers
Several of the firms I checked on such The Birmingham City,s Zulus have members from different ethnic backgrounds.
One figure associated with the West Ham United,s Inter City Firm was Cass Pennant who was Jamaican
Not all is rosy because when looking at The Chelsea Headhunters we find There was widespread racism amongst the gang and links to various white supremacist organisations, such as Combat 18, the National Front and Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary organisations, such as the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force.
They were infiltrated by investigative reporter Donal MacIntyre for a documentary screened on the BBC on 9 November 1999, in which MacIntyre posed as a wannabe-member of the Chelsea Headhunters. He had a Chelsea tattoo applied to himself for authenticity, although the hardcore were surprised he chose the hated "Millwall lion" badge rather than the classic 1960s upright lion one. He confirmed the racist elements in the Headhunters and their links to Combat 18, including one top-ranking member who had been imprisoned on one occasion for possession of material related to the Ku Klux Klan. The programme led to arrests and several convictions. One member of the Headhunters, Jason Marriner, who was convicted and sent to prison as a result of the show, has since written a book claiming to have been set up by MacIntyre and the BBC. He claims that footage was edited and manipulated, and "incidents" were manufactured and they were convicted despite having no footage of them committing crime
It is not known if any Head Hunters have joined up with EDL
As of now I have not seen anything linking EDL to Nazism or Racism only attempts by Government supported red fascists and pro islamic media.
What I have seen are a group of very violent men who have shown great restrain under intence provocation, from an equally violent rabble of leftards and moslems who have until now run amok with out any opposition
I think the EDL and The Casuals deserve halvahs instead of libel
11 comments:
Great post Shiva.
"They tended to all stand together, usually at the goal-end terrace of their home football ground, which they began to identify as their territory"
Yep, Railway Paddock at Stoke City's homeground was my haunt for a while when I was young and stupid. Race never came into it, it was basically just organised pitched battles. For me also the restraint shown is remarkable.
Just Cause
I grew in London Brixton and Feltham Then in my mid teens moved with my family to Paignton
I had a Triumph "Bonny" 650. Mid week the local church would organize a Hop at the parish hall which nearly always ended in a brawl from bikers from Torquay, Brixham, Tiegnmouth and Newton Abbot.
Every Saturday there would be dances at the Towns Halls in these place, where names like Johnny Kidd, Screaming Lord Sutch, Billy Fury and a whole host of others would dike up. All the biker gangs in the area would show up, and brawls where just another part of Saturday Night at The hop
Sundays most bikers would go to a place called Bovey Tracey, where the was the only good stretch of road where it was possible to "Ton Up" and a transport cafe which was neutral ground
It was here Bikers who where beating the shit out of each the night before would talk about bikes and admire each others "machines" and burn up Bovey straits
After a while I went back to London, which was weird as most of my old school mate had become mods.
I even took one down to Brighton on my bike
The battles in Brighton where not really violent.
The violence took a turn for the worse when the Mods started to transform into Skinheads.
As you know, but many here seem unaware of that not all skinheads became racist,and that skinheads cannot be blamed for all the Paki bashing.
Around this time I signed up at an Art College, to study ceramics,to was also very weird ho! ho! My teacher was a trombone playing biker, where as every one else where Lamberetta driving hippies. I was forced to leave because the change in government Con) led to, to study at art schools the students had to have at least three GCE,s, "bollox"
Yoo, I went into the trade which was prominent in my family, Steel Erection "iron fighting", it was a great time in my life, The pay was way above average, so it was bikes booze and girls and traveling all over the UK, until that fateful day I met a Swedish girl, and gave everything up and went to live in Sweden, which led me to start traveling to many different places and doing some pretty weird stuff Ho Ho
I still drive around on a bike, but a year ago was the first time I had a serious tumble, and fucked up my right hand, and trashed my bike Honda CBR 650cc
I can no longer handle a big bike now, so I now bomb around on a honda GBR 150cc, which I imported from Thailand, its a great little machine
"There are a number of fascist elements that have attached themselves to EDL and Casuals United, but these groups are not extreme rightwing organisations."
Fascists, but not extreme right wing fascists?
Does than mean kindler gentler fascists?
Corporate, free enterprise fascists?
Fascists are joining but that doesn't mean the groups (EDL) are fasicst? Does that mean 3% fascist? 5? 12?
Maybe it's because this IS a different nation over here, but I have absolutely NO IDEA what that phrase above is actually trying to convey
Seriously ..what are they saying?
Sorry to hear about your hand Shiva, that must suck! I had a GSXR600 back in the day, it was a beauty. I used to live near the Cat and Fiddle road that runs from Buxton to Macclesfield- do you know of it? Its famous for bikers coming there to test their skills, and usually coming off. One day I was at the Cat and Fiddle pub and heard this almighty crash, a load of us ran down the road and a guy had totalled his 2 day old Ducati 916 - ouch. I'll never forget it, he was sprawled out on the road and all he could think about was his bike that was a steaming pile of metal on the other side of the dry stone wall!
Shiva, your piece comes up second at my google "EDL" alert today.
I joined the forum there, and I find most of them to be ordinary working-class people, not threatening or crazy or "fascist' at all.
"Fascist" is a term I'm sure almost no one who uses it actually understands the meaning of. It begins in Rome as a symbol in the military, signifiying strength through unity, rises again in rural 19th century Italy among dispossessed peasants fighting latifundistas, and was then used by Mussolini to echo Roman supremacy in a very backward nation in the 20s, at which point, Mussolini had fallen from grace with his former mates, the Communist "Internationale." Mussolini became interested in "Italian" socialism, a socialist binding around the central authority of the state, everything for the state, by the state, about the state. binding, as in the Roman "fasces." And total, as in "totalitarian," which many people seemed to think was a terrific good idea. Why leave anything outside the control of the state if the state is such a great thing?
Who is a fascist? Well, ask Stalin. Can't recall off-hand the meeting in the 20s where he an his gang declared taht any communist who was outside the Communist International was a "fascist" like Mussolini, to the 'right' of the soviet leadership. Mussolini, being a nationalist socialist rather than an internationalist socialist, was, like capitalists, 'right' of the Soviet programme, hence Trotsky and Roosevelt and Churchill, et al, were fascists. We see and her the same tired Stalinist bullshit today from those who won't pick up a book and find things out.
Fasces, like the word religion, means "binding." Figure this: that one is a political religion and the other in transcendent, the former emmanent, causing "god" to be the political ruler: a "Poligion."
Racism? That's a whole nother comment.
Thats exactly what my reaction was
Shiva and Just Cause,
This article demonstrates an interesting cultural divide between the US and the UK. It is likely, you would not be, at all, aware of the fact that there are NO WHITE GANGS IN THE US WHO AT NON-RACIST.
This is one reason we here in the US have such a hard time believing in a group like the EDL.
The truth is, the Mexican and Black gangs are racist. That is not, at all, there main focus, whereas, it is the main focus of the white gangs which do exist.
The Mexican gangs which exist are focused on territory and making cash.
The Hells Angels are, I suppose, a white gang which is non-racist. But, I think the truth is, there are an awful lot of Mexican and American Indian members of the Hells Angels.
Anyway, America is not a very classist nation, but I don't think I am alone in saying this; I, as an American, think anyone who joins a gang is a loser, a lowlife, and a good-for nothing. I think gangs are a demonstration of one's own lack of self-esteem, and a demonstration of one's unwillingness to stand on one's own.
I think gangs go against the American sense of Rugged Individualism, and I think they are for pathetic people.
I look down on gangs in the same way an upper crust Englishman looks down on a blathering Cockney drunk.
I read many criticisms of the EDL, but I have to say, this is the first time I've encountered the idea that the EDL is a crime organization.
Recently I gave a very brief explanation of the word "fascism" in the naive hope that people would take it seriously and think it through before tossing it off and using it as a meaningless pejorative. Here, even more briefly, and as naively, I'll explain the political sense of the words Left and Right:
In c. 1789 in the French General Assembly, there were political representatives of the Three Estates. i.e The Estates-General,those three groups representing the interests of the clergy, the nobility, and the rest of France. By this we mean the "ruling classes" of France, including those "bourgeois" who could buy there way into power without title. They were not "entitled." They had to buy their way into power. This latter included lawyers, among others.
This third group of The Third Estate, being radical in relation to the first two, were seated in the Assembly to the left of the door. Because they were radicals, they became known as the "Leftists."
Beyond the Left, as they were called, were those who sat in the cheap seats above, the so-called "Mountain," the "far Left," as we might think of them today. Sophisticated types call them Montagnards. One of them, Jean-Paul Marat, looks so much like me in the photo here that it is uncanny. The ultra=radical "Mountain" is not to be confused with the Ultramontane" members of the Roman Catholic Church who support the authority of the papal court authority over national or diocesan authority, ultramontane being more akin today to the E.U supporters who argue in favour of near-Papal authority for the E.U. those would be your anti-national, "multi-culturalist," One World faction. Internationalists.
The right wing of the French Assembly, the Ecclessia and Aristocracy are hardly what you all seem to think you mean when you refer to "rightwing." I wonder if you actually know what you, general reader, mean, other than that "rightwing" means "bad."
Part two:
I think I've pointed out here that "national socialists" were expelled from the Soviet led Kommunisticheskiĭ International, or Comentern, the "international" socialist programme. Nationalist socialist parties of SOCIALISTS were banned from the International SOCIALIST Russia- led Internationale.
In the early 1920s, c. 1923, Stalin et al, defined socialists as Internationa,l" i.e subordinate to the Russian-Soviet leadership, or as "Fascists" like Mussolini's nationalists. That meant that nationalists, i.e not Internationalist socialists following the Comentern leaddership, men like FDR and Churchill were "fascists." And because Stalin hated him, Trotsky was a "fascist," too.
To refer to the EDL as rightwing fascists is so baffling to me and others who read English that I have no idea what it means other than that those who make such claims just don't know what they say and write.
Epa writes of "Corporate, free enterprise fascists." Corporatism is not free enterprise, not related to share-holder corporations in the sense of IBM or Exxon, et c. Corporate means "Not Free." It means a body, a whole, coherent thing, like a strand bound to the central authority, i.e. to the Fasces, or fascism. Corporatism is not free enterprise or "capitalism." Corporatism is trade unions and manufacturers working together as one body to eliminate "class struggle" under the guidance of the Total State. No class struggle! What's a Communist to live for? No class struggle because the state controls All Things economic. Can't we all just get along? Well, yes: the government will control everything, totally, for the benefit of all, totally. It's called, (and was much admired in some circles as,) "Totalitarianism."
If so many people are so wrong about such basic terms as these, what else are they wrong about? Who else have they alienated out of lack of clarity in their judgements because they don't know what they mean when they write, and don't understand their own opinions when they communicate them? It won't do. People are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts.
I've reposted this sans tyops.
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