There’s an interesting report at Ned May‘s Gates of Vienna blog on a recent conference of the international “counterjihad” movement:

On the morning of Saturday September 24, a Counterjihad leadership meeting convened in central London. A number of people associated with ICLA were present, including Paul Weston, Aeneas, Gaia, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, KGS of Tundra Tabloids, Henrik Ræder Clausen of Europe News (English), Liz of Europe News (Deutsch), and other activists from North America and Western Europe. There were representatives from Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the USA.

The importance of the meeting was underscored by the presence of several leaders of the English Defence League. Tommy Robinson, Kevin Carroll, and Jack Smith were among those who conferred for the first time with a cross-section of the European Counterjihad.

The most important topic of discussion concerned the current political situation in Britain. The unprecedented repression directed at the EDL and other dissidents demonstrates that the authorities are frightened by mass opposition to Islamization and sharia, and are determined to use any means to suppress dissent.

Participants from the Continent gave their own perspective, relating the struggle against repression in Britain to the larger European struggle against the illiberal regime in Brussels. Opposition to the European Union goes hand-in-hand with resistance to Islamization, because the immigration regime that is destroying European nations is guided and encouraged by the EU.

Everyone agreed that we are now at a hinge of history. What happens in the next few months or years is crucial to the future of liberty, democracy, and European culture. Prompt action is required, because the worldwide financial crisis will soon reach a climax and limit our choices.

Various programs were discussed, including novel forms of protest, and – given the ideological bankruptcy of Labour, the Lib-Dems, and the Tories – the possible formation of a new political party in Britain.

The EDL leaders described the various hardships that they have had to endure at the hands of the authorities, both individually and as an organization. They also talked about their future activities, including a planned demonstration in Afghanistan. Now that’ssomething I’d like to see.

Me too. I can just imagine the EDL stumbling through the streets of Kabul brandishing cans of lager and chanting “Allah is a paedo”. They would no doubt be assured of a warm welcome from local people.

More interesting is the discussion about the “possible formation of a new political party in Britain”. This is a move that the EDL wereconsidering earlier in the year, encouraged by the Daily Star. Perhaps a planned turn to electoral politics explains why the EDL is currently making efforts to acquire a veneer of respectability.

However, the electoral gains made by the BNP over the past decade were based on Nick Griffin’s “suits not boots” strategy, which recognised that the far right’s traditional identification with violent street protests repelled voters. It’s difficult to see how a political party associated with a movement whose public image from the start has been that of a gang of drunken football hooligans is going to get many votes.

Postscript:  And just to add, Ned May (for we must assume it is he) also reports that at the Saturday evening dinner and the Sunday 25 September sessions the assembled counterjihadists were joined by representatives of the British Freedom Party. Among those attending were Lee Barnes, who for years was the legal officer of the BNP, Simon Bennett who used to run the BNP’s website, and former BNP regional organiser Peter Mullins. So much for the EDL’s claim to have no connections to the far right.