We are proud to launch the following report, which highlights the trajectory of the Democratic Football Lads alliance, offshoot groups and the ongoing engagement with anti-Muslim and radical far right movements in the United Kingdom.

The report has been authored for Faith Matters by two leading lights in this area of work, Dr Matthew Feldman and Dr William Allchorn.

This report appears a decade after the emergence of the English Defence League (EDL), a street movement that has changed the face of radical right politics in Britain.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

Key points from this report include:

  *   A number of key supporters of the D/FLA, such as ‘Tommy Robinson’, rose to national prominence through these new street movements, which include not only the ‘defence leagues’ but the ‘Infidels’, Pegida UK and now the D/FLA.

  *   The D/FLA is on the way to becoming a fully-fledged radical right movement through its overwhelming focus Islam and consistent engagement with anti-Muslim prejudice. Yet the other issues in which it is engaged (such as combating homelessness) have staved off the ‘Far Right’ label to date, but 2019 will be a pivotal year for the group.

  *   The immediate stimulus for the formation of the Football Lads Alliance clearly emerged in reaction to several UK-based ISIS-inspired terror attacks that occurred from March to June 2017.

  *   Organisationally separate from the established UK Radical Right, the D/FLA can be more fruitfully aligned with the nationalistic and anti-establishment concerns of working-class football casuals in the UK.

  *   Since the FLA-DFLA splinter in April 2018, however, the rhetoric and group of actors within this new protest movement have seen the group move onto anti-Islam and anti-Muslim issues more customarily associated with the UK Far Right.

  *   At the start of 2019, the direction of the DFLA looked unclear – it is however certain that the DFLA may yet prove to be another incubator group for the Far Right, like the defence leagues and other anti-Muslim groups before it.

People have been discussing whether the English Defence League are really a threat to the security of the United Kingdom, whilst others have taken the position that they are not so bad as ”those Jihadis across the ocean’. Senior commentators have also suggested that the English Defence League are nothing of significance in relation to threat assessments and levels in this country regarding terrorism and extremism.

These apologists for extreme fascists groups have based their assumptions on nothing else but the fact that the English Defence League and such groups are largely non-violent, an untruth that in some way, justifies their flippancy and tacit acceptance of such extreme groups.

It is in this context that the following tweet shows that the English Defence League, are nothing more than malicious anti-Muslim haters and bigots. Masquerading as ‘counter-Jihadists’ these bigoted haters stated the following on the back of the horrific accident in the holy city of Mecca. 

These cheerleaders for the death of Muslims stated:

“This will cheer you up,” as they link to the story of the collapsed crane in the holy City of Mecca that has killed over 100 pilgrims who were on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca on the Haj. Furthermore, to add insult to injury, the following comment was placed on the EDL extremist web-site by a Dan Dickens. This is his heartless and bigoted comment against Muslims:

“Awkward moment when a crane does more for Britain than our prime Minister.”

This comment elicited over 375 ‘Facebook Likes’ on-line and we will be writing to his employer on whether his employer is satisfied about the bigotry of hate of Dan Dickens? Only time will tell.

The post Unmasked for the Thugs That They Are – The #EDL Fascists appeared first on TELL MAMA.

What Draws People of Faith to Right Wing Organisations & What Effects Does the EDL Have on Interfaith Relations?

Key findings of the report include:

• EDL attempts to recruit among faith communities
• Christian leaders should publicly stand up to EDL
• UK government should examine group’s international funding
• Jewish Defence League should be banned

Christian organisations should be doing far more to combat the appeal of far-right groups such as the English Defence League (EDL), according to counter-extremism organisation, Faith Matters.

The comments from Faith Matters coincides with the launch of research into the appeal of the EDL among faith communities, particularly among a small element of Christian, Jewish, Sikh and Hindu figures.

“Christian institutions on a national level have not been robust in condemning the EDL,” said Faith Matters’ director, Fiyaz Mughal OBE. “There is no national voice from the Church of England for example, universally condemning the actions of the EDL despite the fact the EDL disrupts and attempts to divide Christian and Muslim communities. Why?”

Mughal also said that the UK authorities need to examine how hate groups such as the EDL, which have the capacity to cause huge disruption on our streets, receive international funding.

“Links with Pamella Geller’s Stop the Islamization of America campaign and the ability to raise funds from the US need to be put under the spotlight,” he said. “People in the US promoting street-based social unrest in the UK by donating to the EDL is simply not on.”

Main Findings

• The EDL uses mainly Christian symbolism in its promotion and publicity material,
• Some within faith communities believe that by allying with the EDL they can marginalise and stigmatise Muslims,
• Building community resilience against such hate is vital – anti-hate groups in other faith communities, such as the Luton Faiths Forum, Community Security Trust, the Turban Campaign and Sikhs Against the EDL, should be more fully supported,
• The UK government needs to look at how groups such as the EDL are financed internationally, via a network of supporters in the ‘counter jihadist’ network (particularly the USA),
• The Jewish Defence League needs to be effectively outlawed in the UK for inciting extreme hatred against Muslims.

The English Defence League: Challenging Our Country and Our Values of Social Inclusion, Fairness and Equality. A detailed report on key leaders within the English Defence League, their funders and those that formulate its strategy. This report is a damning insight into a group that promotes a non-racist image, yet those aligned and linked to it hold views that are openly discriminatory against all Muslims and some speak the same language of the British National Party – the language of exclusionism, of non-equal human rights and of the need to ‘send people back.’ These values go contrary to what our country stands for and what we as a nation are about. We are about Fairness, Freedom, Hard Work, Equality and Social Inclusion. We are a modern Britain and a modern nation born from hard work and fairness!

Please Note:
We would like to clarify that Mark Israel, described in paragraph 4.9. of our report on the English Defence League as “a former volunteer with the Board of Deputies’ Community Security Trust (CST)”, has not been a CST volunteer for many years; and that CST (a separate organisation from the Board of Deputies) has repeatedly condemned the EDL, for example in the following posts on the CST Blog:

• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=555
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=686
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=963
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=1602
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=1956

More than 300 protestors convened outside the Israeli embassy in Kensington last Sunday for the far-right EDL’s demonstration against “Islamic extremism”, which saw the Israeli flag waved alongside the cross of St George.

Fiyaz Mughal of interfaith group Faith Matters said: ” Its strategy is to reach out to floating groups such as ethnic communities that share historical angst against Muslims such as Sikhs and Jews. These communities need to be vigilant against the EDL’s attempts at cynical manipulation.”

Rabbi Nachum Shifren, known as the “surfing rabbi” from California, is among the organisation’s most prominent Jewish supporters. Speaking at the demonstration, he said: “To all my Jewish brothers who have called me a Nazi I say to them they don’t have the guts to stand up here and take care of business.”
After a few minutes of jostling between EDL protesters and anti fascist protesters, Rabbi Shifren, who is standing for the California state senate, added:

“Patriots of England, we shall be prepared. We shall not let them take over this country. We will never surrender to the sword of Islam.”

Mark Gardner of the Community Security Trust, said: “Rabbi Shifren’s speech shows why he is shunned by the rest of American Jewry.”

He also warned that: “The EDL may well replace the BNP as the new nationalist force in British politics. It is already taking over in terms of street activism, and in time may also develop political ambitions.”

A counter demonstration of around 30 people from organisations including Unite Against Fascism, Jewdas, and Jews for Justice for Palestinians, took place nearby the EDL demonstration.

Source: Totally Jewish By James Martin – Thursday 28th October 2010

Faith Matters investigated tensions amongst young Sikh and Muslim men which threatened to create local and national hotspots of tension. Conducted in 2008, it took Sikhs and Muslims to Corrymeela in Northern Ireland to explore some of the issues causing tension in some parts of the East and West Midlands and to look at commonalities between the two communities. Faith Matters was aware of rising tensions and even in 2008, it was clear that a handful of Sikhs were looking to join groups like the British National Party (and later the English Defence League), groups that were attempting to woo young Sikhs on the premise that they supposedly had historical angsts against Muslims.

What was clear was that issues of identity were affecting both Sikhs and Muslims and whilst both communities had been active in the ati-racist movements of the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, young Sikhs felt that their identity had to be defined against Muslims, rather than through any ‘organic’ movement within the community. Therefore, Muslims who were historically defined as the other, were further caricatured post 9/11 and 7/7 on the basis that Sikhs were being attacked since ‘Muslims’ were the real problem. This twisted narrative did not take into account the fact that those who had attacked and killed Sikhs, thought that they were Muslims and that Muslims had also stood in solidarity with Sikh communities against these anti-Muslim attacks which also had strong undertones of prejudice attached to them. Furthermore, leaflets distributed in Derby and Leicester and attributed by some Sikhs to Al Muhajiroun were then used to support the narrative that Muslims (in general) were looking to convert Sikhs. Allied to this, strong residual feelings that Muslims want to convert Sikh women, has led to small groups of morality police within some Sikh groups breaking up interfaith relationships and suggesting that the Sikh women have been brainwashed. Evidence on such cases to the Police have not been provided.

A summary of the work of Faith Matters on these narratives can be found through the following reports:

Cohesive Communities Report: https://faith-matters.org/images/stories/cohesive_community_report090908.pdf 

The Adab Report: https://faith-matters.org/images/stories/publications/The_Adab_Respect_Research_Programme.pdf 

Our primary reason for this work is to try and improve relations between both faith communities at a time when the Far Right, including the English Defence League, are trying to play on differences. The EDL are no friends of Sikh communities. Nor are they friends of other faiths, nor of Christianity, which they have tried to hijack. The EDL remain a threat to our country, our values and our freedoms. They are a national threat to our futures!